Season 3 of The Bear doesn’t pick up where Season 2 left off.Supplied
Season 2 of The Bear, FX’s culinary drama, was an absolute coup. The show, a critical darling with few detractors, cleaned up at the Emmys and the Golden Globes.
It nabbed Outstanding Comedy Series and Best Musical or Comedy Series, respectively, at those awards, and earned acting trophies for Jeremy Allen-White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. If TV shows could get Michelin stars, it would have earned all three.
But as any celebrity chef can surely attest, with great reviews come high expectations – and even higher peaks from which to fall. And unfortunately, The Bear’s third season arrives a little underseasoned.
The last season ended on a cliffhanger, with Chef Carmy (White) trapped in the walk-in freezer of the show’s namesake restaurant, unwittingly admitting to love interest Claire (Molly Gordon) who is standing outside the door, that he thinks their relationship is a mistake. Season 3 doesn’t pick up where Season 2 left off, or, spoiler, even resolve that final scene.
Instead, it begins by looking back, in an opening episode full of flashbacks that weave a more comprehensive tapestry of Carmy’s culinary history than has been presented thus far. It’s an important, tone-setting starting course for the entire season, which spends much of its run flitting between the past and the present. It’s also the season’s best episode, unfortunately; it’s all downhill from there.
When focused on The Bear’s kitchen, the season centres on the tension wrought by Carmy’s inability to ignore the worst habits of his culinary mentors, to the detriment of his professional-cum-personal relationships with chef Sydney (Edebiri) and cousin Richie (Moss-Bachrach).
When it’s out of the kitchen, the show revisits what made Season 2 so stellar, delving into the personal lives and backstories of its secondary players. But here, it’s half-baked: The character studies of Season 2 were fully realized and full of heart; in Season 3, they feel like second thoughts.
Matty Matheson on ‘wild’ ride from actor to screenwriter for season 3 of The Bear
The finale’s most emotionally climactic dialogue features a near-identical copy of Mad Men’s iconic “I don’t think about you at all” line, which falls horrendously flat.
Make no mistake: Season 3 of The Bear would be perfectly adequate television if measured against anything but itself. This time around, there’s no terrifyingly brilliant bottle episode; no instantly classic Taylor Swift musical moment; and with one fun exception – an addition to Matty Matheson’s Fak clan that I simply can’t bring myself to spoil – no sit-up-and-take-notice guest performance such as Jamie Lee Curtis’s Season 2 turn as the Berzatto matriarch, with apologies to Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud. (Curtis is back this season, in a much softer turn.)
The show’s characteristic – and, according to many service-industry pros, realistic – tension is often turned up so high it now feels more contrived than convincing.
What the season has going for it are its performances, including knockout turns from Abby Elliott as Carmy’s sister, Sugar; Liza Colón-Zayas as sous chef Tina; and Lionel Boyce as Marcus; plus, some well-deserved screen time for Jon Bernthal as Carmy’s late brother, Michael.
With due respect to series creator, writer and director Christopher Storer, it’s tough to pull off a flawless tasting menu. Season 3 feels very much like the show’s entree: After a stellar amuse bouche and a surprising appetizer, the main has hit the table. It’s a meat-and-potatoes course, with lots of necessary substance substituted for style.
The season ends on another cliffhanger, though, so there’s still plenty of room for dessert – and luckily, Season 4 has already been, ahem, ordered.