The Bear's Sophomore Season Simmers, Scorches & Sears |
With the critically acclaimed show returning for its sophomore season, Joshua Muyiwa takes stock of its progress. |
THE BEAR is back for its second season. And let me warn you, you might have to take long walks to touch grass between the episodes (especially after the sixth). I’ll tell you, I had to pop an antacid, eat a whole big bowl of curd and immediately nap after the finale.
I’m still recovering from the fast-paced, unforgiving, tight editing rhythm of the first season, which was heady, heartbreaking and horrifying. Who knew the kitchen processes and politics of our favourite restaurants were this audio-visually manic? I’d never have guessed it. Within this complete chaos, the lead Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto — wonderfully essayed by Jeremy Allen White — and the other host of super characters, have to grieve the loss of Michael “Mikey” Berzatto (Jon Bernthal), who died by suicide four months before the events of the show, while running a restaurant.
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In the second season, we follow these characters re-opening the restaurant after deciding to change its menu and motivations with a timeline of six months. With this premise, the volume on the stress levels is turned up to the maximum. Yet this season, unlike the first, does manage to have moments of levity, lightness and even laughter. Some of the self-contained episodes are simply superlative and stretch the show’s writing to reveal that certain brilliance and brutality that goes with being people in this world. While the dizzying intensity of the editing might have subtly slowed, we are given other gifts of tenderness and tugging at the heartstrings without losing the concentrated intimacy of this show.
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| OUT OF THE FRYING PAN, INTO THE FIRE |
Focus On Characters' Stories Is Ingredient That Sets 'The Bear' Season 2 Apart |
The genius of this season is that they delve into the lives of the other characters, with multiple episodes focussing on a single individual. The fourth episode, directed by Ramy Youseff – the creator and lead of another striking show, Ramy – spends time with the pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce) while he interns at a restaurant in Denmark. Another has the fiery Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) returning to culinary school and navigating space for herself with the world outside of the restaurant. There’s this beautiful scene of her singing at a karaoke bar – I’m still recovering from its just rightness. Everyone does more than their fair share of heavy lifting, which really contributes to the gravitas The Bear holds. And if an actor could actually bring light into a scene, then it is Molly Gordon playing Claire, Carmy’s new love interest. Her playfulness and seduction are the perfect foil for Jeremy Allen White’s serious stares.
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This season spends less time with Carmy and therefore — I’ll just say it — is so much less mopey. But that means the times we do return to him because he is central to the story-telling, it is more than amplified. This tension seems to be reflective of the showrunner Christopher Storer’s choice with the second season. While he and the writers’ room could have doubled down on the gloom-and-doom of running a restaurant or given us a happy-as-a-clam cooking crew, they are determined to walk the fine line between these two polarities, which seems to capture the truth of the restaurant industry. In a way, it actually isn’t interested in telling us about the restaurant industry at all, it seems to want to reveal to us that it is the interpersonal relationships that make or break any industry. (Maybe this should be compulsory viewing for every HR professional? Though I’m afraid which of the parts they will turn into paperwork and processes.)
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The interpersonal relationship really at the heart of this series is Carmy and Sydney’s (Ayo Edebiri), who lean on each other but who also aren’t afraid to express the burden of doing so. If the writers continue to mine the working relationship of this duo, then they will manage to constantly sidestep the inevitability of the story-telling and give us something else to reflect on. The Bear in its second season is still strong writing, acting, camerawork and editing that comes together superbly; it satisfies and satiates. It continues to show us the incredible hard work that goes into making something great, and it still gives us the room to wonder if the price is really worth the payoff.
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