The Bear (FX on Hulu) TV Show • Page 57

I think the Faks were one of the best parts of the Christmas episode, so it makes sense they would want to use them more this time. They keep mentioning a sister, “Franzy” or something, can only imagine they must have some huge guest star planned for that role and the timing just maybe didn’t work out this season.

 

there was definitely a 200% increase in Ted screen time this season

 

still have 9 and 10 to go, but imo so far this season has been every bit as strong for me as the prior two.

 

Love The Bear. Love living in Chicago. Love Honey Butter Fried Chicken. Loved this sandwich that I had for lunch.

 

The second half of the season was kind of not good. I feel like nothing happened. Every scene felt too long, just drawn out moments with no substance. I was worried about them shooting 3/4 together, it feels like they didn't have that many ideas but knew they had to get shit filmed while they still can.

Every time there would be a semblance of plot developing, they would go into some weird sad montage of nothing.

Pretty disappointing, especially after just rewatching season 1 and how sleek and intense it is.

 

The only one I really liked was Thomas Keller near the end, but yeah besides that yeah it was a little insufferable. Especially that way too long scene at the Ever funeral with all those chefs at the table talking

 

I don’t know why I thought this was a week to week release.

the first episode was solid. A slower one than expected but I loved the way it was edited.

 

Overall I give this a B+

Some glaring flaws, but the good parts are still better than 90% of what is on TV

 

I understand the problems people had with it, they just personally don’t bother me at all. I don’t really mind if nothing is happening, I just want to savor every second I have in that world with these characters.

 

Never seen this show.

But WaPo did a feature today that wondered if the Bear characters were real, where they would eat in Chicago. And my friend’s bakery, Sugar Moon, was featured.

Pretty awesome. If you are in Chicago, go check them out. Best shit you’ll ever eat.

 

Sugar Moon is so good! I live not far from it.

 

For the first time celebrity guest spots this season I'd rank it

1. The wise master Thomas Keller teaching young Carmy how to prep a gamehen
2. Josh Hartnett playing Tiff's fiance
3. David Zayas playing opposite his real life wife in 1x6
4. Billions showrunner and veteran screenwriter Brian Koppelman as The Computer
5. John Cena being almost too goofy for this show
6. All those celebrity chefs at the funeral dinner being extremely self indulgent

 

What about Rene Redzepi?

 

He had one 10 second clip where he was just staring at a wall and smiling. I didn't even think to count it lol

 

Funniest moment in this season for me was when Sydney went over to take food to Nat and Pete while Nat was sleeping with the baby. The misunderstanding of why the food would wake them up and Pete eagerly asking Sydney "Can I make that one now?" like a little kid. I freaking love Pete. And like Pete, I also thought Sydney was worried about the sound, not the smell, which added an extra layer of humor.

 

I like that they acknowledge in that scene the best part of lasagna is the burnt corners.

 

is that even up for debate

 

Episode 2 good

 

this is just my personal wild speculation: but it almost felt like the over abundance of Faks hijinks this season was result of studio notes telling them to add in more blatant comedy to make a better case to be considered a comedy to the Television Academy.

 

I think I personally was a little mixed on this season while still appreciating the positives, but I made the mistake of looking at some of the negative audience reviews (currently 59% Rotten audience score on RT) and goddamn this season was way more polarizing to general audiences than i thought

Like I loveddd episode 1, but so many people watching saw that and were like "I was waiting for the show to start the whole the time, but it was just a giant montage, bunch of artsy fartsy pretentious bullshit!"

Basically the artistic risks Storer took this season:

 

Eh it’s getting into too cool to like territory so some of the natural pushback is gonna start to happen with a show this popular

 

Season's been unfocused and the dialogue's getting way too self-indulgent for me, but man that conversation between Mikey and Tina hit me like a ton of bricks. Favorite moment so far.

I'm all for this show being mostly "vibes" now because the characters and artistic direction are so strong it still works, but that first season had all of that with such powerful and solid storytelling, so it's hard not to compare.

 

At this point there’s not much else to do storytelling wise besides the restaurant succeeding or failing so I guess it depends on how long they want to stretch the show.

 

have 2 episodes to go. while it's definitely not as strong as the last two seasons, it's still really well-executed. i could be proven wrong by the end, but i don't really get criticisms that it feels directionless, especially with Carmy's arc. everything really seems to be set up around his anxieties about success driving his actions and treatment of others. leaving them unregulated takes them to their logical conclusion, i.e. chaos and strained relationships. my thought is that if they reverse that pattern, we'll see it next season. idk, part of me wants to think of this season as half of a larger whole since new episodes are coming sooner rather than later, so i'm fine if some arcs aren't entirely fleshed out.

 

he doesn't really have an arc though. all he does is yell at people, throw food in the trash and stare into the void for 10 episodes. I feel like he and Sydney barely even interact beyond him yelling, changing the menu and her making a shocked face and saying "...okay".

I understand season 3 and 4 are meant to be part of the same story but it's incredibly unsatisfying on its own.