Tag Archives: Christopher Storer

The 7 Best Needle Drops in ‘The Bear’

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A middling third season aside, Hulu/FX’s The Bear has been one of the best American TV shows of the past few years. The show follows the trials and tribulations of Carmy Berzato (Jeremy Allen White), a hot-shot chef, who leaves New York City to run his family’s sandwich shop The Beef after the passing of his brother Mikey (Jon Bernthal). In Season 2 and 3, he opens his own restaurant called The Bear with the help of the staff of The Beef. The Bear features strong performances from a deep ensemble cast, a powerful sense of narrative momentum that matches the stressfulness of the culinary world, and isn’t afraid to experiment like an hour-long flashback episode in Season Two called “The Fishes” set around the Feast of the Seven Fishes featuring guest appearances from Jamie Lee Curtis (As Carmy’s mother), Bob Odenkirk, John Mulaney, and Sarah Paulson.

It also has some pretty damn great music choices of mainly the alternative rock variety that enhance the characters’ arcs or just remind the audience that Chicago is a cool city with tasty food. (I miss it, but am never driving there again.) Without further ado, here are the seven best needle drops across The Bear‘s three seasons in chronological order.

1. “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens (From Season 1, Episode 7 “Review”)

The tensest episode of The Bear Season 1 starts with a breezy little ditty from Sufjan Stevens from his concept album Illinois. (He was supposed to make concept albums about all 50 states, but only did Illinois and Michigan.) It’s diegetic music with the radio DJ from Chicago’s adult album alternative station bantering about Stevens dressing up as a unicorn at the Metro before the more vulnerable demo version of “Chicago” plays in one of The Bear‘s mini montage. With historical, black and white flashbacks, archival footage of Barack Obama and Michael Jordan, and of course, loving tracking shots of many of Chicagoland’s beloved restaurants, it places Carmy, Manny (Richard Esteras), and Sydney’s (Ayo Edebiri) commute in context before shit hits the fan.

2. “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” by Wilco (From Season 1, Episode 7 “Review”)

Wilco is one of the great Chicago bands, and their 2004 11 minute track “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” is the backbeat of The Beef being utterly torn apart when Sydney leaves the preorder option on for their to-go orders, and the receipts keep printing out orders before the restaurant has even open. Christopher Storer’s single take/single song approach to direction keeps the stress levels increasing with Carmy throwing a fit and Marcus (Lionel Boyce) and Sydney walking out after Carmy verbally abuses them. The creativity they’ve shown with their donut and risotto dishes respectively is thrown out the window to the whine of distorted guitars and Jeff Tweedy’s barely-heard vocals in-sync with the receipt machine.

3. “Can’t Hardly Wait” by The Replacements (From Season 2, Episode 5 “Pop”)

Even though Carmy is busy trying to open his new restaurant The Bear, there’s a little time for romance in Season 2. He reconnects with an old friend named Claire (Molly Gordon), who is a resident physician, and understands working in a hectic profession where everything is literally life and death. He initially gives her the wrong number, but Neil Fak (Matty Mattheson) plays matchmaker and gives her Carmy’s real number. There’s some flirtations and a long car ride to get a liquor license, but they finally kiss at the end of a long, stressful day setting up The Bear’s kitchen. (Of course, Fak interrupts them at first.) And what better song to soundtrack a first kiss than “Can’t Hardly Wait” by The Replacements with Paul Westerberg’s emotive vocals matching the yearning in Gordon’s face, and that lovely chorus with the strings and horns kicking in as they start making out. Also, the lyric “Ashtray floors, dirty clothes, and filthy jokes” definitely defines The Bear’s back of house area. Pairing one of the brightest moments of The Bear with one of the best college rock songs of all time is a genius move from director Joanna Calo.

4. “Love Story” by Taylor Swift (From Season 2, Episode 7 “Forks”)

My favorite episode of The Bear Season Two is “Forks” where Carmy sends his brother’s best friend Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) to stage at a fine dining restaurant called Ever even though he doesn’t have any culinary skill. He begins the episode by resenting having to clean forks to a spit-shine, but eventually, bonds with his colleagues, buys into their philosophy, and provides speedy, attentive service. Richie falling in love with his front of house role, suit jacket and all, is set to “Love Story” by Taylor Swift with Moss-Bachrach doing emotionally charged car karaoke vocals on the way to work. This song is emblematic of his Richie’s character development in Season 2, and Taylor Swift is his daughter’s favorite artist so there’s also a personal touch too.

5. “Save It for Later” by Eddie Vedder (From Season 3, Episode 2 “Next”)

The Bear loves its opening montage needle drops, and Season 3 is no exception with a cover of The English Beat’s “Save It for Later” by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. It kicks off episode two and looks at a hustling, bustling Chicago starting its day and finds humanity in every corner from the diner waitress pouring coffee to the zamboni driver on the ice and even the guys who literally make the sausage. It’s how society should function before going into the chaotic world of The Bear. Vedder’s take on the iconic song is soulful, and there’s a feeling of basically everything be okay in the end. It put me in a calm state of mind before an episode full of arguing.

6. “Morning Fog” by Kate Bush (From Season 3, Episode 6 “Napkins”)

“Napkins” is easily the best episode of The Bear Season 3 with its laser focus on Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas), and how she navigated economic insecurity and the job market as a middle-aged Puerto Rican woman before finally finding a home at The Beef after a heart to heart with Mikey, who spots her crying at the restaurant. In the episode, Tina talks about liking having routine through working consistently, and “Morning Fog” by Kate Bush, which plays throughout “Napkins”, reinforces this character’s trait. It helps the transitional moments in the episode like Tina taking the bus all across Chicago to hand out her resume or go to job interviews that get cancelled pass pleasantly. It’s just sad that “Morning Fog” sadly won’t get an airplay boost like its more famous Hounds of Love sister “Running Up That Hill”.

7. “In the Garage” by Weezer (From Season 3, Episode 10 “Forever”)

The Bear weirdly has a lot of Weezer songs with a track from their Christmas album wrapping up “The Fishes” and “Getchoo” from Pinkerton showing up earlier this season. However, “In the Garage” kicks off The Bear Season 3 finale with a slideshow type of montage of different influential chefs who will be attending the funeral dinner for Ever, including Carmy himself, who stands off and looks at the pictures instead of interacting with anyone. The lyrics of the song are basically about Rivers Cuomo being happier to hang out in his garage with his comics, action figures, and guitars than interacting with people and having relationships, which if you substitute the nerdy stuff for the foodie stuff, that’s Carmy to a tee. (I’m kind of ticked that they didn’t leave in the verse about Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler.) He loves tinkering with food and changing the menu every night even though this affects his colleagues and the restaurant’s bottom line. The “In the Garage” needle drop playfully creates a parallel between its lyrics and Carmy’s psyche. He just wants to be left alone cooking food.

TV Review: The Bear S3E10 “Forever”

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The Bear S3E10 "Forever"

Set at the “funeral service” and after party for Chicago fine dining institution Ever, “Forever” is a season finale with midseason finale energy. In keeping with much of The Bear Season 3’s storytelling, it starts in the past with Carmy’s first day at the French Laundry where chef Thomas Keller plays himself and teaches him how to prepare a roast chicken for the staff meal. Keller plays a nurturing figure in Carmy’s life giving him instructions laced with big picture advice about the restaurant industry and (Occasionally historically inaccurate.) anecdotes about the parts of the chicken. It’s the ideal relationship between mentor and mentee, but as we’ve seen, it’s not the kind of relationship that Carmy has with his staff, especially poor Sydney.

Much of “Forever” is a duel between theory and practice with a bunch of famous fine dining chefs delivering Christopher Storer-penned dialogue that sounds like a podcast being offset by Sydney and Carmy freaking out about The Bear and different relationships. (I’m a rube who frequents local taco stands so I didn’t recognize many of the cameos.) However, it’s jarring to go from something like “Ice Chips” that intensely focuses on the mother daughter relationship between Natalie and Donna to people that viewers don’t know showing up and spouting the themes of the show. Thankfully, it’s offset by another strong performance from Ayo Edebiri’s Sydney who tries to fit in with the big-time chefs at the dinner by sharing anecdotes like leaving the pre-order function on back in Season One. She feels imposter syndrome while also soaking in the knowledge as she basically gives Adam a “maybe” about working as chef de cuisine at his new restaurant and delays having a conversation with Carmy about her offer.

Speaking of Carmy, “Forever” is a huge episode for his character arc as he confronts his abusive chef David Fields (Joel McHale) at the dinner. David pretends to not know he is and isn’t affected by Carmy’s “fuck you’s” and overall anger. Instead he says that pushing Carmy hard at his restaurant turned him into the chef and leader he is today. Kudos to the costuming and hair and makeup department as Carmy looks disheveled while David has a fresh hair cut and well-tailored fit and glasses to show how above it all he is. But this episode cements the fact that Carmy has basically become David this season with Storer cutting between Carmy bossing Sydney around to David bossing him around. They aren’t partners, but are a dictatorship that is having a debilitating effect on Sydney’s mental health.

This effect is shown during one of the final scenes of “Forever”, a raucous after party set at Sydney’s apartment with “Laid” by James playing over the speakers, kegs being brought out, and Chef Andrea Terry putting her own spin on frozen pizzas and waffles. It’s cathartic for Andrea who can finally cut loose after decades of long hours at Ever, but it’s painful for Sydney, who looks at a newspaper clipping of a review for The Beef, and realizes how worse things have gotten since the stressful, yet relatively halcyon days of Season 1. Christopher Storer and Edebiri linger on Sydney outside her apartment as she has a panic attack concluding her season arc.

And speaking of season arcs, we never see the actual Tribune review for The Bear although Carmy gets a ping for it and sees multiple missed calls from Cicero and The Computer. There are flashes of adjectives from positive to middling and, of course, negative, but this could all be in his head. However, voicemails from those people are disconcerting, and The Bear ends on a downer note punctuated by “To be continued”. Basically, Christopher Storer and the writers are saying that this was only half of the arc, and the real success of the story depends on if they can stick the landing next season. (Season 4 is currently filming now.)

“Forever” is kind of a microcosm for The Bear Season 3 as a whole. The season’s strength is the standalone episodes that focus on a single character, small group of characters, or something like “Doors” that shows what a day of service at The Bear is right. Its weakness is having any kind of overarching plot as it kind of meanders around, the restaurant is vaguely struggling, and the finale spends most of its runtime with folks we haven’t seen until that episode. However, it does succeed at showing Carmy becoming utterly consumed with his work at the expense of his interpersonal relationships culminating in him walking the streets of Chicago while his colleagues celebrate at Sydney’s house. Season 3 is definitely the weakest season of The Bear so far lacking the urgency and forward momentum of the previous two seasons, but I can’t discount any season with an episode as strong as “Napkins”

Overall Verdict: 7.0
Season Overall Verdict: 7.6

Mini Reviews: The Bear! Episodes 6 to 9

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The Bear Season 3

Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.

Logan

The Bear S3E6 “Napkins” – Leave it to Ayo Edebiri to direct the best episode of The Bear Season 3. She, writer Catherine Schetina, and actress Liza Colon-Zayas tell Tina’s origin in such a beautiful way and touch on how infuriating it can be to find a job in this day and age. The quiet glory of Kate Bush’s “Morning Fog” is contrasted with the dead faces of the young employees that Tina interacts with at different jobs as not even replying to an open interview hour on LinkedIn gets her a position. She breaks and gives a “Fuck you”, but is saved by dropping into The Beef, getting a comped sandwich and coffee from Richie, and having a real heart to heart with a then-stranger Mikey (Jon Bernthal). Edebiri, Schetina, Colon-Zayas, and Bernthal cut the bullshit and just have two people venting about their days and also finding inspiration in the next generation with Mikey showing a picture of one of Carmy’s dishes that was teased in the season premiere. One benefit of TV as a medium is the ability to go deep into people’s lives and motivations for a half hour, and “Napkins” pulls that off with grace and rhythm. Overall: 9.1

The Bear S3E7 “Legacy” – This episode was okay. The restaurant review cliffhanger goes some resolved, and there’s lots of great lines and sequences, but they don’t really fit together. This is definitely a companion piece to episode 5 with the intro featuring Carmy and Claire at dinner, and an extended Fak banter bit about the “haunting”. It’s growing a little stale, but obscure character actor Paul Reilly embodies a Fak much better than John Cena. Also, Shapiro attempts to poach Sydney for his new restaurant where she would have more pay, good benefits, and get to do her own thing, which leads to a lot of frustration and hand wringing across the episode. One true bright spot of the episode is the energy Paulie James and Christopher Zucchero bring as previous employees of The Beef straightening up the sandwich with a killer Beastie Boys needle drop to boot. Overall Verdict: 7.3

The Bear S3E8 “Ice Chips” – The Bear Season 3 excels at these hyper-focused, bottle-type episodes featuring a character or two, and “Ice Chips” is no exception. Writer Joanna Calo, and actors Abby Elliott and Jamie Lee Curtis create a little magic as Natalie goes into labor, and her mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) is the only person to pick up the phone. Calo and director Christopher Storer turn in one of the most tense scenes in the show as Natalie attempts to navigate Chicagoland traffic after her water breaks and also find anyone to pick up the phone using voice to text. Donna and Natalie begin by arguing about epidurals with Curtis giving a loud, over the top performance before mellowing out and sharing stories of Natalie, Mikey, and Carmy’s birth. By the end of the episode when Pete (Chris Witaske) shows up, she’s silent and tears after sharing these beautiful moments with her daughter. Sure, the restaurant review plotline is on the deep freeze, but Calo, Storer, Curtis, and Elliott give us a window into a complex mother/daughter relationship told in an emotionally honest way. Overall: 9.2

The Bear S3E9 “Apologies” – Another semi-frustrating, fragmented episode of the bear. Writer Alex Russell continues the back half of Season 3’s formula of single character-centric episode and then ensemble one, and he’s stuck with the ensemble one. There are some strong visual moments in this episode from director Christopher Storer like a dual color/split screen showing how the front of house and back of house have never been on the same page at The Bear. Between some silly moments with the Faks, Sydney and Pete finding common ground, and an overlong Cicero monologue about Carbon-14 dating, the Claire/Carmy relationship arc has barely progressed plus Oliver Platt speaks for me in his anticipation for the review of The Bear. This season’s best arc has been the dissolution of the Sydney/Carmy working relationship, and the number on her offer sheet matches the bad vibes of their interactions. There’s an interesting early scene in this episode where they lock eyes for a minute showing their distance. However, Marcus and Tina make a new dish of their own while the restaurant is closed continuing the show’s theme of little flowers of hope in the midst of despair. Overall Verdict: 6.5

TV Review: The Bear S3E5 “Children”

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The Bear S3E5 "Children"

“Children” marks the midpoint of The Bear Season 3, and writer/director Christopher Storer tries to do a true dramedy episode balancing humor (John Cena is a Fak, a man only answers to Computer) and serious stuff (Ever closing, Marcus dealing with the passing of his mother, the constant financial struggle) However, he doesn’t quite get the balance right in this taking stock episode that happened four episodes after the previous “taking stock” episode.

Unfortunately, the cliffhanger of The Bear’s Tribune review isn’t resolved even though Richie badgers the photographer while he’s lining up his shots and asking about a duck dish that no one in the kitchen remembers how to make. However, a food critic does make an appearance as Richie sees that Ever, a fine dining restaurant run by Carmy’s mentor Andrea Terry has closed its doors. This hits him like a ton of bricks and ruins his flow when he’s ironing his shirts for service. He has a phone call with Jessica (Sarah Ramos), and they reminisce about how all “the good shit is gone”. But Jessica also tells him that Terry seems more relaxed after closing the restaurant. This brush with restaurant mortality also affects Carmy when he finds out the news and freaks out thinking about his legacy. Storer doesn’t go for melodrama, but instead has him asking Ebraheim if he’s doing a good job after Ebra drops some sandwich buns.

However, this brush with the end of a restaurant doesn’t really connect to the rest of the episode. Christopher Storer officially goes a little too far with the Faks’ antics by having them goofing off and bantering for most of the running time of the episode. It’s like he was trying to balance some of the darker themes of the episode with some lightheartedness, but the bits go on for a little too long although Matty Matheson, Ricky Staffieri, and of course, Cena are gifted physical comedians and make the most with the material. I guess they show the disconnect between the environment Carmy grew up, and how he acts now, especially when Sammy Fak lights up a blunt in the middle of the dining room before the photoshoot.

Although Storer doesn’t find a throughline to tie the episode together (Especially with another Carmy staring at a picture moment.), there are plenty of good moving parts. Billions showrunner Brian Koppelman outshines John Cena in the guest star department as Nicholas Marshall aka the Computer. He doesn’t register words unless addressed as the Computer and brings a cold objectivity to what’s going on at The Bear in everything ranging from microgreens to produce and costs and sadly, their pastry chef Marcus, who has been spending the whole episode trying to make a beautiful dessert inspired by his mother’s favorite flower, the white violet. The Computer’s cut the bullshit attitude is refreshing, but wanting to lay off Marcus is a step too far. Abby Elliott gives a passionate speech about why he is so important to The Bear flowing out of a conversation they had about his dessert, her pregnancy, and wondering about what’s really going on in Carmy’s head. Even though dessert is a small part of The Bear’s offerings and revenues, Marcus is an invaluable vibes guy as one of the few nice, competent, and level-head members of the staff. I was afraid that Christopher Storer was going to have Marcus laid off to spice up the plot, but he refuses a cheap ploy for drama.

Filled with silly antics, celebrity stunt casting, a few poignant moments, and not much plot, “Children” is the weakest half hour of The Bear Season 3 so far although I’m still smiling about the Computer, and Marcus creating art through desserts.

Overall Verdict: 6.9

TV Review: The Bear S3E4 “Violet”

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The Bear S3E4 "Violet"

After the intensity of the past couple episodes, writer/director Christopher Storer takes a bit of a breather with “Violet”. In sort of a vignette style, he checks in different employees of The Bear when they’re not in the kitchen. Some of these micro plots hit the mark (Sydney and her dad looking at her new apartment, Marcus finding quiet inspiration in nature) while others aren’t so good. Let’s start with the negative because that’s how the episode starts, and how it ends because the restaurant has been reviewed despite Neil Fak’s comprehensive dossier on food critics, near and far.

Molly Gordon is really a lovely performer, and I especially love her work in the four films I’ve seen her in, especially Shiva Baby (She and Rachel Sennott have insane chemistry.) and Booksmart. However, the chemistry that may have worked on the page (Fine dining chef and ER doctor), it doesn’t come out onscreen despite the Cocteau Twins dialogue. There’s definitely a physical connection and a kind of tender banality of having conversations about your favorite day of the week after a stressful work week. However, an anecdote about a girl covered in scars falls flat with Gordon seemingly rushing through her lines in an overlong story about how humor covers up pain, which is something The Bear explores a lot although not in that particular scene.

Another one on one character interaction is actually charming, sweet, and relatable as Sydney and her father check out an apartment she’s already signed a lease for. Of course, he thinks it’s too small, the walls are too thin, and she can save money by continuing to live with him, but he understands and will help her find an affordable couch. The Bear has been a real coming of age, spread your wings type story for Sydney (And also the career of Ayo Edebiri.), and this is a big moment for her: a place of her own. Sadly, it’s undercut by Adam (Adam Shapiro) from the restaurant Ever casually namedropping that he’s secretly been to The Bear and enjoyed it. From what’s been going on this season, The Bear isn’t ready for primetime, and the introduction of critics creates a new source of tension culminating in this episode’s cliffhanger phone call from the Chicago Tribune. The interaction between Adam and Sydney shows how cutthroat and passive aggressive the food world is: they’re definitely not besties.

The ugly to Sydney/Emmanuel’s good and Carmy/Claire’s bad is the most awkward conversation of all time held between Richie and his ex-wife’s fiance Frank. (Josh Hartnett sexy as ever) Frank knows he has it good: he’s there for Tiff and Richie’s daughter Eva, who is still confused about there relationship plus he has a house that he paid for himself. Hartnett’s leading man presence versus Ebon Bachrach Moss’ character actor energy creates a bundle of nerves out of what should be a basic interaction with Frank telling Richie that he should have told him that he was going to propose to Tiff. This is kind of ridiculous, and Richie is happy to be back at The Bear cracking jokes about how he doesn’t care about Michelin stars because he was always a Pirelli tire man. (Or Goodyear in the Chicago winter.) However, the insecurities about being single and his relationship with his daughter are always at the back of his mind as Storer shoots a powerful scene of him taking of his wedding band for the first time before service. He’s chaotic, but is definitely a yearner and lover.

“Violet” gets off to a dimly lit, weirdly paced start (I guess Carmy and Claire cleared the air offscreen.), but there are little (literal) blossoms along the way with Sydney’s newfound independence, Tina feeling herself at the farmer’s market and realizing the effects of climate change on The Bear’s produce supply, and Marcus turned a gorgeous violet among some weeds into a yummy dessert. Also, the introduction of food critics and rival restaurants to The Bear’s insular ecosystem adds some classic suspense, and my God, I need this restaurant to get a decent review, but mentioning Carmy and Richie yelling is never a good side.

Overall Verdict: 7.6

TV Review: The Bear S3E3 “Doors”

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The Bear S3E3 "Doors"

This episode of The Bear was so stressful that I almost forgot that it opened with Marcus’ mom’s funeral with a beautiful monologue delivered by Lionel Boyce. However, after the lovely words and pretty flowers, “Doors” captures the utter dysfunction of The Bear from the balance sheet to waiter faux pas and especially, the kitchen. Director Duccio Fabbri takes the helm for the first time and puts his skills working as a 2nd unit director for the Safdie Brothers and Darren Aronofsky to good use while showrunner Christopher Storer collaborates with a true insider, restaurateur Will Guidara of NoMad fame to truly bring the hellscape to life.

Score and editing continues to be the beating heart of successful episodes of The Bear. It’s the nonverbal communication that Marcus said his mom was so good at especially later in life. Flowing from the stately Catholic funeral mass, classical music swells throughout “Doors” beginning with a nice routine like a glass of Coke for Sydney, a reading of the incredibly complicated menu, and the making of the mirepoix broth. But then Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas) messes up a wagyu that Carmy pitches in the trash can, and everything starts to go to hell. The music picks up tempo, the cuts between scenes get more frenetic, and Ayo Edebiri’s face goes numb as she psychologically collapses from the weight of expoing, coaching Tina, and making sure that Carmy and Richie don’t kill each other.

This numbness hits like slow-mo in an action sequence with all the training, skills, and ideas thrown to the wayside as Carmy stares and has flashbacks while repeatedly yelling “Hands”, or Richie, who usually takes ownership of the dining room sees a discarded fork (Like the ones he had to polish last season when he staged at Ever.) and an expensive handbag on the floor. It’s only 3 episodes in, the restaurant has barely gotten started, and everyone is at a breaking point. The Bear is a true ensemble show, and Storer and Guidara explore around the edges of the restaurant to show Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) struggling by himself at the sandwich window, or Manny (Richard Esteras) being pelted with dishes and glassware. The Bear isn’t a sustainable ecosystem, and even though the food is mouth watering, the exterior is the very definition of normcore with Cicero getting in a crack about how they should have the restaurant name on the outside.

And it’s these little moments of self-aware gallows humor that break up the tension of “Doors” and make it less of a stress headache than Season 1’s “Review” where the Beef accidentally turns on the pre-order option and spews out a neverending wad of order receipts. Matty Matheson is delightful as Neil Fak channeling his inner Amelia Bedelia and pouring fancy broth into cups and walking away after Carmy told him to pour the broth in front of the customers. Some of the edge has also been taken off with Cicero being the only adult in the room at time and confronting Carmy in the middle of service with his extravagant spending habits like $20,000 for butter in Vermont. It’s cool that Carmy is living his dream of making different, minimalist dishes every night that everybody (Even Sydney) forgets, but how the hell does The Bear make any money. (There’s spreadsheet montages to go with the food and cutting ones.)

“Doors” is the first great episode of The Bear Season 3 putting the strained relationships that Carmy has with Sydney and Richie in the pressure cooker of a trendy fine dining restaurant. But the real strength of the episode is when Fabbri cuts to characters not played by Jeremy Allen White and shows their pain and struggles. My heart breaks for Tina struggling to keep up with constantly changing menu, and maybe one episode, we’ll actually learn a wait staff member’s name.

Overall Verdict: 9.0

TV Review: The Bear S3E2 “Next”

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The Bear S3E2 "Next"

If “Tomorrow” is all nearly dialogue-free ambience and visual fragments, “Next” is overlapping conversations and loads of snarky dialogue from writer/director Christopher Storer and co-writer Courtney Storer. (Courtney acts as the show’s culinary producer so it’s fitting this entire episode takes place in the kitchen of The Bear with the exception of the opening montage and a cute scene with Sydney and her dad.) It’s the messy praxis to The Bear Season 3 premiere’s glorious theory. In the words of Richie and Carmy, this episode of The Bear Season 3 explores how badly fucked the restaurant is, and how Carmy’s goal of getting a Michelin star at all costs doesn’t endear him to the staff and ownership of The Bear.

The Storers channel David Mamet in the rapid-fire, profanity-filled dialogue that peppers “Next”. The episode feels like a stage play-meets-one of those business Tik Toks where they say what time each person gets to work as the cast dynamic is set up for the next season. And all of the optimism and high ideals from Carmy navel-gazing in the kitchen gets torn to shreds as different staff members poke fun at his “non-negotiables” or treat them like suggestions or ideas. The one that gets critiqued the most is having a different menu every day. Richie almost bursts a blood vessels when he reads that one, and Cicero (Oliver Platt) shakes his head and wishes that he’d sold the property for condos.

The most charged interactions in “Next” are between Richie and Carmy with Sydney forced to be mediator. Work and life bleed together as they go from yelling about table placements and pricing to Carmy’s relationship with Claire, who doesn’t make an appearance, but is the main topic of conversation for an extended scene. Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Bachrach Moss, and Ayo Edebiri feed off each’s other frenetic energy in this sequence with Edebiri’s comedy background serving her well in reacting to the bullshit of these long time frenemies. Richie’s use of therapy speak with the usual “fuck yous” is comedic gold as he continues to work on his toxic behavior, but isn’t 100% there yet. The heartfelt apology scene in premiere turns out to be a sham, and one of the nine Fak family members drops some hot gossip that Claire is also still unhappy with Carmy. He’s unpopular on the culinary, financial (He drew up a DocuSign for ownership of the restaurant with letting the lawyers or Natalie know.), and definitely interpersonal front. A seemingly throwaway line about four employees aka the entire wait staff quitting shows how self-absorbed Carmy is as he’s caught up in flights of fancy and French tire tread men instead of having a profitable business or a good place to work.

However, Marcus’ appearance towards the end of “Next” puts everything into perspective, and Lionel Boyce does a great job of capturing a man whose lost his mother and wants to find escape through the work that he loves. His presence causes all the gossip and arguing to end, and Carmy actually finds some empathy in an episode-closing one on one conversation where Marcus realizes that he’s at the place he needs to be in this stage of his life and trusts Carmy to make the restaurant a success and help him reach his potential as a pastry chef. It’s an emotional, understated way to end the episode after a lot of sound and fury showing that some things are bigger than a list of arbitrary bullet points on a piece of paper.

“Next” definitely reads as a companion episode of “Tomorrow” focusing on Carmy’s relationship to the talented, regular cast of The Bear in the present of the first few hours a restaurant opens. Christopher and Courtney Storer excel at writing the verbal sniping that is the complete opposite of the waving, smiling workers of Chicago filmed to an Eddie Vedder cover of “Save It for Later” by The English Beat. The Bear’s survival seems hopeless at this point without compromise and actual collaboration, but the end ends on a hopeful note so maybe this dysfunctional kitchen will make it. (Plus the show’s already been renewed for a fourth season.)

Overall Verdict: 8.1

TV Review: The Bear S3E1 “Tomorrow”

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The Bear S3E1 Tomorrow

Taking place the day after the family and friends soft open at the show’s titular restaurant, The Bear’s Season 3 premiere “Tomorrow” is a taking stock episode of sorts with Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) trying to mend fences with his sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) as well as his “cousin”/manager Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and girlfriend Claire (Molly Gordon). Co-writer/director/show creator Christopher Storer also seeds in flashbacks to his past chef gigs featuring the show’s star studded guest cast along with fragments of interactions while Carmy writes his non-negotiables to create an ambient/ASMR-y collage effect ending on a beautiful grace note about the ability of food to be art and inspire people.

Storer and co-writer Matty Matheson (He plays Fak on the show and is a chef in his own right.) create continuity and an air of pondering and mindfulness by setting the entire episode to a Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross track. We go from the Chicago skyline to the kitchen at the Bear to past work stops for Carmy in New York and Copenhagen that pass almost like a twinkle in the viewer’s eye. There’s the peacefulness of shelling peas and cutting flowers to make the dining experience that little bit better for guests contrasted with Carmy’s old boss David (Joel McHale) denigrating him and abusing him at every turn as well as flare-up’s of family arguments and drama set against Carmy’s burnt hands from working in kitchens. This is contrasted with the constructive feedback that Carmy gets from Andrea Terry (Olivia Colman) as well as her seeing his drawings of different dishes that later become menu items at The Bear.

However, “Tomorrow” isn’t just montages, ambience, and flashbacks. There are several real phone conversations sandwiched between the prep work like Sydney calling pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce), and Carmy apologizing to Richie and Claire as well as Sydney herself for his actions in the season two finale. That episode and much of season two (Especially the all-flashback episode “Fishes”) was utter chaos, and Carmy hopes to have a cooler head as he launches the restaurant even though this isn’t realistic in the high-stakes, low margin of error world of fine dining. A recurring visual that Christopher Storer uses in this episode is shots of Carmy’s notebooks at different stops (“New York”, “Copenhagen”) to show how he uses writing and drawing to process his feelings as well as craft ideas for his restaurant culminating in the non-negotiables list that he pens in this episode.

“Tomorrow” might not be the most exciting episode of The Bear and definitely is a palate cleanser after the toxic thrill ride that was the previous season’s finale. However, Christopher Storer, Matty Matheson, and Jeremy Allen White provide a big picture view of Carmy’s psyche through things that were, things that are, and some things that haven’t come to pass. He has put his blood, sweat, and tears into his career as a chef, but this has also led to alienation from his family and friends. For example, we learn in this episode that he didn’t attend his brother’s funeral and sat in a car outside watching Richie and the staff members of Original Beef. However, he has a fresh-ish start with The Bear and is working hard to rebuild his relationships with his family/friends/colleagues (They’re basically interchangeable.), but we’ll see how long that lasts in the new season.

Overall Verdict: 8.1

‘The Bear’ finds nuanced humanity in a toxic work environment

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The Bear

Hey everyone! Sorry for the informal opening to this article, but I just wanted to let you all know that I’m happy to be back writing about television (And soon, comics!) at Graphic Policy after almost a four month hiatus. One day, I’ll go into why I took the hiatus, but I really missed analyzing the media I consume and sharing my thoughts on this website even if I feel like my memory/cognitive abilities/attention span have been on the decline for the past 4-5 months or so. Well, on to the article, I guess.

Hulu/FX’s The Bear was a show that was on my radar, and a couple weeks ago, I decided to watch it while folding laundry because I thought it would have good Chicago vibes. (Chicago is probably my favorite city in the United States.) It definitely did, especially any of the close-ups of the food (Fuck, I want Italian beef.), the opening of the penultimate episode, which is a historical/montage love letter to the city set to the dulcet tones of “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens, and funny anecdote featuring the Blackhawks and Bill Murray. However, the main reason that The Bear resonated with me is because it’s the most anxiety-inducing piece of visual media I’ve watched since Uncut Gems and captures what it feels like to be in a fast-paced toxic work environment that never lets up with frenetic editing, a jarring score, and its own unique sense of humor. Seriously, with the exception of flashbacks, we rarely get to see outside The Original Beef of Chicagoland. However, there are a moments of hope and beauty along the way, especially in the season finale.

The basic premise of The Bear is that after the suicide of his brother Mike (Jon Bernthal), award-winning fine dining chef Carmen (Shameless‘ Jeremy Allen White) returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his family’s Italian beef restaurant that is drowning in debt, health code violations, and is barely staying afloat. Carmen seeks to change and modernize the restaurant while still staying true to its spirit while also dealing with the demons of his past experiences in fine dining kitchens and the loss of his brother. Writer/director/creator Christopher Storer uses slightly surreal imagery to show the fear, anxiety, and tenseness he feels, including an encounter with a literal bear and a darkly comic parody of a day time cooking show. Instead of going for boilerplate suspense, Storer and the other directors linger in a negative moment almost daring the characters to screw up. For example, Carmen’s sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), who has formal training at the Culinary Institute of America and idolizes him, drops jus after refusing one of her co-workers’ help, and baker Marcus rushes his preparation (Odd Future’s Lionel Boyce and easily my favorite character) and ends up tripping a breaker for the whole restaurant.

The Bear

Although the season finale features big reveals and heartwarming moments, The Bear‘s arc is one of toxicity boiling under the surface, and everyone can be the asshole. Even Sydney, who is one of the show’s kinder characters, is a passive aggressive and doesn’t offer constructive feedback when Carmen switches the restaurant’s workflow to a French brigade model. The same goes for Carmen, who lets Marcus explore his creative side and create a custom donut for the restaurant in earlier episodes before throwing the donut on the floor towards the end of the season because he’s behind on his tasks and throws a full-on tantrum when the restaurant gets unexpected influx of to-go orders. The Bear can have its wholesome moments, but something overtly or passively aggressive is always on its way as the whole season untangles Mike legacy’s for the restaurant and Carmen as a person.

I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but my only experience working food service was a three month stint at Little Caesar’s when I was 16 so a lot of the lingo that Carmen, Sydney, and their compatriots throw around was confusing to me. The big one is everyone being called “chef” as a sign of respect, but this ends up being parodied by Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas), who calls Carmen “Jeff” and clashes with Sydney because she came into a leadership role without paying her dues. Colon-Zayas has killer sarcastic timing, but she also has a softer side like when she brings her son into the restaurant for Sydney to teach him how to work in the kitchen and any time she reminisces about Mike. This is just one of many ways the writers use the language of the kitchen to flesh out characters and create tension, especially during the to-go order fiasco. It seems like a script or a template at times, and Carmen often uses it as a crutch for how he’s actually feeling.

A character who always exactly says what he’s feeling and will somehow to make nearly every situation an opportunity for an overlong story or stale homophobic or sexual joke is Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who was Mike’s best friend and was basically the interim manager of The Beef before Carmen returned. A flashback sequence shows that Richie was basically trying to pattern himself off Mike, but is weighed down by insecurities and a gnawing feeling that he can’t do anything useful at the restaurant except for threaten cosplayers with his gun or run the cash register. Fittingly, he’s in his ex’s phone as “Bad News”, but The Bear‘s writers don’t just portray him as an asshole or a heel all the time. For example, he has a conversation with his daughter where he empathizes with her being bullied and loses the wise guy act for a minute even admitting to Sydney that she knows more about restaurant repairs than him.

This interaction and others in The Bear showcase its greatest strength, which is finding the humanity beneath the toxicity. If it wasn’t for capitalism and gentrification, we could noodle with doughnuts and braised beef risotto plus the bar down the road would still be open. Jobs could be pleasant and not hellscapes of verbal abuse delivered by Joel McHale (Who plays a chef from Carmen’s past.) and Jeremy Allen White. The Bear‘s final scene includes the whole staff of the restaurant plus Carmen’s sister and her boyfriend sitting down for a meal along with one lingering shot of Michael. Not all of the interpersonal issues between Carmen and the staff are solved, but the season wraps up with him finding some closure (and financial windfall) after his brother’s passing and a golden opportunity to do thing his and his staff’s way instead of trying to decipher Michael’s “system”.

The Bear is a cathartic, at times painful viewing experience for anyone who has felt trapped in a toxic environment and has had their hopes and dreams stymied by others’ expectations or forgot what work/life balance is. It also has yummy shots of food and some wonderful dad rock needle drops and is thankfully getting a second season to explore the new restaurant and the cast’s dynamic in that space.