It’ hard to believe The Bear is already on its third season!
I’m also surprised with how long it took me to come around to finally watching it. Now that I’m fully through it though, I am sad it’ll be another year before I get more. I know they’re are likely already in the midst of filming, but it’s almost a guarantee that we won’t see it again until July. And for all of the mediocre reviews I’ve seen for this latest installment, those people are fools. I still walked away from this season feeling an almost high on it’s complicated excellence.
Now that Carmy is out of the freezer, The Bear is in full service swing. Of course, he can’t un-say what he said, so that means he’s got some people pretty peeved at him this season. One of those is cousin Richie, and both of them are too hot-headed to have apologized over the course of ten episodes. I think it will have to take something fairly major for that rift to be mended, but I have faith that it will be someday. Claire unfortunately was also a casualty of Carmy’s freezer spiral. What is extra sad is that I think she would have forgiven him in a heartbeat, but he never bothered to reach out to find out.
Everyone else still respects Carmy, but it feels like they’re walking on eggshells around him. The only person I think who still adores him unabashedly is Marcus. Maybe that’s because he just lost his mother, but that catastrophic loss just seems to motivate him more to be creative a flourish at The Bear. If only flourishing were that easy. Carmy is ultimately digging the restaurant into a bigger hole each and every day in an attempt to earn a Michelin star. The biggest contributors to this problem are that Carmy’s got a new menu every DAY, meaning ingredients only get used once. Hypothetically. Because Carmy is so critical of every dish that gets presented to him that they are tossing things left and right. If this is truly how a restaurant of this caliber operates, no wonder the US is the most wasteful country out there!
Similar to Carmy keeping his demons bottled up again, Sydney, too, seems ripe to combust. I just think that her breakdown will be a more internal one. She’s being offered partnership at The Bear, but is being treated as anything but. Carmy is smothering in his control, and he seems to mirror a lot the old nightmare chef he worked under many years before. Sydney hesitates on singing the paperwork, and maybe it’s for the best, because a new, significantly less toxic offer comes out of the woodwork. Of course, on top of the stresses of earning that star, The Bear is reminded that not all great things last either.
Two extremely frustrating cliffhangers are baked into the finale, and the only reprieve I have is knowing for certain that another season is coming. What I’m hoping to see is Sydney take that offer even if The Bear gets a good review. I don’t think Carmy will be changing his ways anytime soon. And while this season didn’t offer the caliber of “Fishes,” I was particularly fond of “Ice Chips” this season. Prepare for some unshed tears and some powerhouse performances.