I Forced Myself To Finish Season 3 Of "The Bear" This Week Just So That I Could Blog About What A Giant Letdown This Season Was
By now there should be no spoilers as everybody has had plenty of time to watch this latest season.
I made myself finish the bear this week just so that I could write about how much of a letdown this season was. it took me this long since it came out (June 26h) to finish it. That's how rough of a season it was. Several of my friends gave up on it completely.
I hopped on this show before the premiere episode of Season 1 dropped for several reasons:
1- It took place in and was actually filmed in Chicago.
2- it revolved around the hospitality/culinary industry
3- It was on FX, which has a track record for having some great television shows
4- It came on in the summertime when there is literally nothing good to watch
And it paid off because it was for all intents and purposes, a great show.
If it's not sports I don't usually watch TV. I like shows that don't require a ton of thought or attention that I can throw on late at night when I'm in bed trying to fall asleep. "The Bear" was perfect for this. It was light hearted, entertaining, funny, and had a decent amount of drama to push the storyline forward. The writing was also fantastic and the various character storylines pulled you in enough that you found yourself rooting for them all. Even the prototypical "misunderstood asshole" Ritchie.
But this season was different.
Everything felt off.
I couldn’t get through the ninth episode (the "pentultimate episode" with Jamie Lee Curtis) for the life of me. It was brutal. It was as if the showrunners let all of the accolades and acclaim they received for Season 2's sixth episode, the famed "Fishes" throwback Christmas Eve episode, all go to their heads, and they tried to recreate that magic. Except that they took away all of the crazy and eccentric personalities that made that Feast of the Seven Fishes episode so great, and removed all the choas of a family meal on the holidays, limiting it to just Sugar and her lunatic mother (Curtis), inside of a delivery room. For almost one entire hour.
"The Bear" Season 3 divided audiences this past month, with some praising its introspective tone and character-driven approach while others criticized its loss of focus, slower pace, and stylistic indulgences.
Season 3 seemed to lose the tight, focused storytelling of the previous 2 seasons. The plot felt less cohesive, with these episodes often focusing on individual characters' journeys rather than driving a central narrative forward. This made the season feel disjointed as fuck and all over the place.
The last few seasons seemed to fly by in terms of plot development- for crying out loud they managed to reconcept, redesign, and build out an entirely new restaurant concept in one season (2). Fucking Ritchie went from a slob fast food counter worker, to a hotshot czar of upscale hospitality, and a maitre de who could give Craig from Craig's a run for his money, just by spending 1 week interning at Ever. But this season couldn't have dragged on any slower.
Klemmer wrote a review the same week the season debuted, and having waited to watch, and then going back and reading, I agree with a lot of his points.
Everything about this season seemed to be overly sentimental and "preachy." The characters delivered so many lengthy monologues that felt forced and out of place. The show seemed to be striving for this "profoundness" all of a sudden which comes as a surprise to viewers that have been fans since day 1 of this show, because the recipe had always seemed about keeping it simple- something I believe attracted the average viewer to the show to begin with.
While the season offered glimpses into the characters' inner lives, it felt like their arcs lacked significant development. Key characters like Carmy seemed to be treading water, stuck in the same fucking rut he was stuck in since season 1, episode 1.
We get it guys, he's haunted by his past relationship, and thinks constantly about his ex, Claire. Why hasn't he STILL not reached out?
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The one bright spot for the entire season, for me, was the opening scene of the final episode, where Chef Thomas Keller and Carmen share a lengthty convo at The French Laundry on Carmen's first day as a "stage". Keller imparts some very valueable wisdom on the rough-around-the-edges Carmen. He tells him not to expect to become great overnight, but to put in the work, show up every day, and focus on improving just 1% each day. The result would be a compound interest factor that over time, would be astounding. (Something that really resonated with me, and I believe in fully ever since meeting my buddy Chris Nikic, who lives by this motto, and reading the book "The Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson). He also goes on to talk about the practice of young aspiring chefs coming to work in elite kitchens, under the best of the best, in order to learn the skills and regimen that it takes to run a place of that caliber. After they put in the work, hone their skills and eventually set out on their own path, they will take all of that knowledge and discipline with them, effectively carrying on that very same "legacy" as Keller put it.
This seemed rather simple but it was really awesome to hear explained.
As somebody who has always been mystified by this upper echelon of the hospitalty world, I have always been curious just how, and why, chefs are so willing to "suck it up" for so long, being glorified interns in these incredible kitchens for so long, putting in insane amounts of hours, being yelled at like cadets hearing it from an angry drill instructor every day, all for what amounts to barely a "liveable wage".
I have a good friend who is crazy talented, and moved to Chicago from Iowa to work in Alinea's kitchen under the famous Grant Achatz. (Who appears in this seasons final episode along with a slew of other Chicago, and national, restaurant heavy hitters.) Micah's first job was at Alinea's new cocktail concept, "Aviary". His official job there, for much longer than you could imagine, was to shave and carve pieces of ice off of giant ice blocks every day.
He did this for months and months.
And for pretty much free.
When I asked him if he was crazy one night, over some beers, he equated what he was doing to Daniel LaRusso learning the fundamentals and foundation of karate by performing backbreaking and painstaking menial jobs like waxing Mr. Miyagi's cars over and over for days on end.
Fast forward a couple of years and Micah was heading up the entire beverage program for Aviary, as the beverage director, helping oversee their expansion into other cities, and authoring an award winning drink recipe book. And he's now one of the most respected and well-liked people in the entire business, in the entire world.
On this particular episode of The Bear, hearing from one of the most revered chefs to ever walk the Earth, hearing it explained that its a mutual understanding between teacher and student, kind of like any old school "trade", and that this cycle goes on and on and on was pretty cool. And enlightening.
The idea of chefs paying their dues and passing on their knowledge to the next generation reflects the reality of the culinary world. It highlighted the importance of mentorship and the cyclical nature of learning and growth in the industry.
This used to just be a fun, overblown-drama filled show you didn't have to think too hard to watch. There was even an underlying comedic element to it that made it even more entertaining. But they threw all that out, like Carmen tossing his nearly perfect Wagyu dishes, instead opting for something this show never was.
"The Beef" transforming from a blue collar worker frequented staple into a stuffy, scheduled seating, prix fixe menued restaurant is the perfect metephor for the way this show changed in its third season.
Ending with a "to be continued..." felt cheap. I really hope this show bounces back and returns to what made it so great in the beginning.