Deepfocuslens
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I finished THE BEAR Season 3. Here are my thoughts
🕑 Added 2024-07-03 00:56:08 +0000 UTCI have an injury so...I'm stuck sitting on my ass more than I would like. It's deeply frustrating. But it meant I could finish season 3 of THE BEAR pretty quickly. I dont watch much tv at all, but THE BEAR is one series that I began watching with someone about a year ago, and saw it all the way through, which is rare for me. I think it’s a strong show overall, and naturally I have thoughts on season 3. I will try and keep the spoilers to the minimum, much like I do in my movie reviews, just in case you haven’t seen the show, or haven’t caught up…
This new season is still attempting to push more boundaries so far as the artsy experimentation angle: the abstract sensory details of life combining with the present and past...it clearly wants to be edgy and provocative as a piece of television. The editing, and the craft that goes into this thing is off the charts. The movement and flow of each episode is orchestrated to near perfection. And yet...I struggled with this season overall narratively. It has its moments for sure. The standout episode for me was Napkins, which gave Tina her own special episode, and the results are surprisingly wonderful. Ayo Edebiri directed the episode, fun fact.
But it feels as if the experimental nature of the show is becoming puffery more than anything. I don't see the point of it when it doesn't continue to build with the momentum we were left with in season 2. All of it is beautifully embellished for sure but...the character motivations are becoming stagnant, and much of their interior worlds here feel repetitive from a tension perspective. The first episode opener called "Tomorrow" for me magnified the issues of the entire season, with its meditative attempt at framing Carmy’s angst, it merely felt like retreaded material. The Trent Reznor/Ross style scoring didn’t help. It felt pretentious, for lack of a better word. Thinking it was saying a lot more than it actually was. Carmy is still struggling with nearly all the exact same issues here as he did at the end of season 2 with little to no headway at all, and the relationships he has built up to this point continue to stall. Claire felt like a poorly constructed romantic device to throw a wrench in Carmen’s professional trajectory. That was my first glaring problem with the previous season: the beginning of finding external conflicts to force character development rather than creating more organic ones. She felt like a device, and not a character.
I will say, I appreciate that narratively they don't try and bite off more than they can chew (no pun intended). The conflicts for each character feel manageable and realistic. An example would be Natalie's pregnancy, or Sydney's professional future dilemmas, or Ritchie dealing with being a single father. These are slice of life scenarios given the operatic treatment, as if you can absorb it all as your own life. But we spend far too much time building characters in the form of flashbacks, where we've already been in previous seasons. The only time this worked well for me, was in Tina's personal episode. As we knew the least about her, and her personal motivations from a base level. You'll see what I mean when you see it, if you haven't already. Great closing flashback scene.
But my biggest problem admittedly is more a minor quip: it’s the terrible attempt at banter and creating an authentic vernacular between Mattie Mattheson and his whole Rosencrantz and Guildenstern-esque crew of misfits. I’ve struggled with it in the past on this show, but here it was glaringly forced and inauthentic. These guys try to create humor where there isn’t any, and they really beat that dead horse to a pulp long after I stopped paying attention. The attempt at creating division, chaos, anxiety between everyone is far too measured, cringe, and frankly, poorly written. Richie and Carmy as example, are exhausting in their exchanges, only providing us with hot air and noise at the end of the day rather than meaty conflicts. So much of the show is sophisticated, that all this nonsense to me really sticks out.
But certainly, if you loved the first two seasons there is a lot to admire in this one as well. But, we have perhaps crossed over into knowing how big the impact of the show is, and once that awareness sets in, something is often lost in the writing from then on (unless you are The Sopranos, which somehow never lost its ego in the clout). I understand that they did shoot both season 3 and 4 together. So I am hoping that we can stir the pot a little more in the back half of episodes to be released later on.
But yeah man…it almost felt as if Carmy’s purgatory state here throughout, serves to represent the writers own dilemmas once they were presented with major tv success, whether directly or indirectly. And all that pressure Carmy feels in his new career position has gotten him too flustered. I’m not sure that this serves us as an audience in the proper ways we deserve. Carmy basically never left that walk-in freezer. He’s been in there for almost the entire runtime of season 3. Maybe not literally, but certainly any potential progress his character had at the end of season 2, is still in that freezer, and I’d like for it to see the light of day once more.
Of course it’s hard to truly judge until the show is officially over, and we have that full perspective. I’m just giving my two cents as we are moving forward.
Also side note: if you ever need to be reminded of how strong Jamie Lee Curtis is as a performer, here is your proof. She has a wonderful intimate episode here, and it helps me feel better about that ridiculous Oscar win of hers a couple years back. lol
Comments
Dan
Also, while I agree with you in regards to The Sopranos, I know some who would disagree haha. Pauline Kael loved the first season as a great dark comedy (even likening it to Prizzi’s Honor) but if she had lived to see the rest, she probably would have hated how dark and brooding the show got for the same reasons why she hated Raging Bull
Dan
And I’m with you on the banter. The show feels very influenced by the Safdies but all the funny moments in Good Time and Uncut Gems felt spontaneous, whereas the banter in the show ranges from sitcom writing to Judd Apatow improv.
Dan
The John Cena cameo was the low point for me. I was more forgiving of the cameos in S2 because I figured the actors needed extra work post-pandemic (and also their interest helped to get the show renewed) but now I feel like it’s all taking away from the “This is a show about the working class” message.
Matt C
I just watched the first episode of The Bear the other night so I can't comment much on the show specifically. But it sounds as if it may suffer from what many series do the longer they go. Oftentimes when a series starts to stall it's because they writers have an overarching narrative they're trying to complete but don't have enough material to bridge the cap between the beginning and the ending. What you get is a lot of flashbacks, as you said, and filler episodes. I think filler episodes are fine as long as the stories are good and the characters are enjoyable, but eventually the story is going to have to start moving again preferably before the last episode of the season. A TV show can definitely change the bigger it gets and the pressure to outdo previous seasons or, conversely, stay the course by giving audiences more of the same (when the story should be developing further) can turn an otherwise clever show into either a melodrama or a story of repetitive gimmicks. It's also true that when you have a living, breathing hero/heroin who is dynamic enough to walk right off the page, the character can move along faster than the plot. Thus the writers have to stall to come up with more material. The maxim of a good story has always been about a character who wants something badly and is having a difficult time getting it (oftentimes this includes some sort of internal moral dilemma). It is therefore important to give the character something to do. A proactive main character is always more interesting than a reactive one. When the external plot is spinning its wheels the emotional stakes need to be higher. That's how I feel, anyway.
Deepfocuslens
I hope so. I just feel all of what you described is too little too late, and not nearly enough legs for that particular cliffhanger to work for me. I still think it would've been more interesting had they either shifted focus, or built things more from the ground up this season, rather than meandering so long. That first episode was pure filler
Jared Angcanan
Yeah, I agree it’s not as strong as 1 because of the lack of focus. But I don’t mind the cliffhanger too much. (SPOILERS) At the start of the last episode they show Carmy’s memory of Thomas Keller, who tells him “it’s all about nurturing”. And then some of the conversations at the funeral dinner pointed to Carmy’s failure to nurture Syd and Richie at The Bear. So the review, to me, was the final signal that he had to change or lose everything - that because of his abuse, he’s forgotten Chef Keller’s lesson and been going about it the wrong way. It’s not super strongly written, and I agree, not as satisfying, but it’ll hopefully be a good pivot point for the character.
Deepfocuslens
The writing here feels aimless compared to season 1. Take Sydney's arc in the first season. She grows tremendously and learns on the job. In the second to last episode she has enough due to feeling under appreciated. But then she comes back in the end having learned a lot about her boss versus her perceptions initially. Here in season 3, she has almost the same arc, but watered down with little nuance. But...one key difference is that nothing is resolved here in the end. That final episode left us in an unsatisfying spot. It might've been acceptable had we built more of Sydney's reasoning for leaving from a personal standpoint, financially as well. But it all felt abrupt, and then in the end, we learn nothing. And we have to wait? I dunno. Feels kinda lame to me from a narrative standpoint. The narrative felt so much more organized and well designed in season 1. What should've happened, was make the finale here, the second to last episode, or perhaps third to last. Then end everything on the cliffhanger of Carmy realizing his mistakes with Sydney as she prepares to leave. That way we have a great place to start off from season 4. We don't have to do any forcing that way. And look at that?....suddenly you have resolved a bit of the Carmy arc problem too. Ending things on the bad review, didnt feel satisfying as example....because that particular story thread was shoehorned into the latter half, and then not properly built up.
Jared Angcanan
My thoughts on S3 pretty much match yours. But I was also frustrated with how stagnant the characters were in S1, and all that setup ended up really paying off in S2 (Richie’s growth, Marcus’ talent blossoming, Syd and Tina’s relationship, etc.) So I am optimistic that the show will maybe follow that pattern, so that all the conflicts happening in S3 that are currently in stasis will set up character growth in S4.
Alexandros Alexandropoulos
Very good one. Get well soon.
Wolfman Brandon
I'm not really a tv series person like I used to be. The last show I watched while it was still going was The Walking Dead and I quit during season 9 because the writing was just redundant and poorly constructed ever since season 7 and it never got better. If I watch tv now, which isn't often, it's only for sports. Now that hockey season is done, I'm waiting until October for next season along with the MLB postseason where I can see some real baseball unlike our sorry excuse of a team. Anyway, hope your injury isn't serious and you'll be better soon.
Shane Palamara
I’m on s1e8 and I’m really liking it so far. It’s like if Uncut Gems was about cooking. But the ads on Hulu are annoyingly spoiling season 3.
Bennett Oliver
Out of all the streaming channels available, the only one I don't have is Hulu. And this show is the reason that frustrates me. I suppose I should remedy that situation by springing for a subscription but unfortunately I don't really have the funds available. But someday soon I will catch up to this show. I saw enough clips of the family get-together from season 2 that make me want to. Sorry about your injury. Hope you recover soon.
Deepfocuslens
He seems great as a guy, and as a chef. But yes he never worked for me on the show. But this season he's gotten much worse. The writing isnt helping him. It doesnt even feel like writing. It's like they told all these guys to just improv their lines like a bad SNL sketch
Mees
Man, Matty Matheson’s comic relief was painfully unfunny to me from the start, glad to see it wasn’t just me. Seems like a nice guy though
Deepfocuslens
Being mis-categorized for marketing and awards season consideration, seems like a very stupid and unconvincing reason why you would suddenly change the tone of your show.
Sutil
I honestly think that the creator or writer or everyone involved in this show got offended that they were labeled a "comedy" ... (personally "who cares" right? ) but the show was awesome as it was... it was never a comedy... and the emmy's labaled them a comedy or musical show and it seems to me they got butt hurt and went all pretentious on it.... ugh... I hope humans aren't that simple and this is just my brain being weird... but that is what I believe...
