Spoilers for The Bear to observe.
As somebody who has binge-watched all 4 seasons of The Bear instantly upon their launch, I really feel uniquely certified to touch upon all of the issues that piss me off about this present. Nothing brings an annoying propensity to make use of lingering musical montages as an alternative to good writing into reduction fairly like watching so many episodes directly. And after bingeing the present’s much-anticipated fourth season, I believe I’ve lastly discovered why The Bear is each unattainable to cease watching — and completely infuriating.
Creator Christopher Storer admittedly selected a wealthy world to mine when he determined to make a present about eating places. However so frequently he refuses to dig into the meat of the trade’s most advanced points in favor of flashy dishes and chef worship. The Bear positions kitchen work as a noble pursuit, a labor with intrinsic, inventive worth past placing meals on the plate, and it actually is. However the present by no means actually makes a robust sufficient case for why this work is value placing your self by means of emotional hell, as its protagonist Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) has completed for years.
As a substitute of analyzing one thing just like the trade’s unimaginable reliance on underpaid, undercredited labor from immigrant cooks who by no means see their names in a restaurant overview or the phases who present as much as peel potatoes without cost, Storer spends most of those 4 seasons of The Bear caught inside the top of his major character, Carmy. That may be nice if we ever actually received to see what Carmy was considering past sheer panic. When he involves his conclusion about what the restaurant truly must survive — his departure — it solely appears sudden and surprising as a result of there’s been no construct as much as that call, and it by no means actually feels earned.
Loads has clearly occurred between Carmy tacking up his listing of “non-negotiables” in Season 3 to the tip of Season 4, when he decides that it’s time to stroll away from eating places ceaselessly, however these occasions are by no means examined in any significant method till the very finish. I assume we’re simply speculated to infer that Carmy has been constructing internally towards a choice to go away the trade that he loves by means of the various scenes he spends wistfully staring off into area, soundtracked by maudlin dad rock. Or possibly the emotional arc was secretly happening throughout all these lengthy pictures of characters watching one another blankly earlier than a dialog begins, the prolonged transition pictures viewers slogged by means of, or the various loud arguments between Berzatto relations that by no means actually appear to go anyplace.
One thing that actually frustrates me about this present is that many interactions between the characters appear so floor, so shallow, even when the writers are seemingly making an attempt to dig deeper. When Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) tells Carmy about how a lot he disliked culinary college and the way he didn’t really feel like he was creating worth for the restaurant, Carmy can muster little greater than “that sucks, man.” I get that we’re supposed to grasp that these are characters who battle to course of and specific their feelings, however typically the portrayal comes throughout as flat — and typically simply straight-up lazy writing — as a substitute of an actual examination of why it is likely to be troublesome for Carmy to meaningfully hear the considerations of Ebraheim and everybody else round him.
I additionally don’t suppose that The Bear actually ever makes the case for Carmy because the type of man you’d go to conflict for. That, too, is irritating, as a result of should you actually believed that Carmy’s culinary genius was value all of the melodramatic bullshit he causes, it’d on some degree justify that habits. Tortured genius is a trope well-trodden, however The Bear expects us to only take their phrase for it that Carmy truly is one. He doesn’t look like an particularly good mentor, and even the most effective prepare dinner within the room. We see diners responding extra enthusiastically to Sydney (Ayo Edebiri)’s cooking, which appears to simplify Carmy’s directionless chaos into truly scrumptious dishes.
Storer and the writers repeatedly inform us that Carmy is among the finest cooks on the planet, however he by no means truly exhibits us why that’s true. In failing to look critically at Carmy’s precise ability as a chef, The Bear misses the chance to indicate — not inform — us how he’s altering and rising in a method that makes him need to go away eating places ceaselessly.
What makes this all so exasperating is that The Bear is replete with moments of greatness, and that’s why we hold watching. As a result of we need to see these moments coalesce into one thing actually distinctive, however that by no means occurs. As a substitute it’s disjointed, chasing countless rabbits till Season 4’s finish. I perceive that the present is exasperating as a result of Carmy is exasperating and since restaurant work is inherently that method, however there’s solely a lot annoyance a viewer can take. If that is truly the tip, if Season 4 is The Bear’s final, the present went out doing what it does finest: completely infuriating the fuck out of its viewers.
