The Bear Season 3 Gets Off to a Rough Start (Season 3 Eps 1-3 Review) 

I think the criticism of the “screaming cousin” dynamic is valid, and there is not clear plot direction set off the bat. However, I just truly love spending time with these people. The snapshots of their world-the good the bad and the awful-all move me. And they don’t always show clear growth because that’s how people work. One of the many, many things that I think makes this show special is how new character moments (and sometimes entire episodes dedicated to them) retroactively make scenes we’ve already seen so much more beautiful. Things feel earned. The show will need new directions, new dynamics, but as long as it doesn’t overstay its welcome, I’m here for all of it.

I actually thought the first three episodes were the strongest of the season! It was later in the season for me where it really began to feel a bit aimless and muddled. Great vid!

I have strong theories on where they’re going with this and they’re directly tied to my own experiences cooking in extreme fine dining (CIA alumni, worked In Yountville, Napa; Staged at Gary Danko in San Francisco, know lots of friends that worked at The French Laundry, DANIEL, Bouchon, Gordon Ramsy’s rest.) as well as the not to be missed picture cameo in the season finale.

Regarding the comment at around 23:33, the restaurant is located in River North in Chicago. The demo there definitely suits fine dining.

A "sub shop", Dave? Clearly you've never had an Italian Beef. $15? Who are you, Lucile Bluth?

The expectations are mega high after the second season. I think, this season will marinade. To excel in anything, there is always a component of trauma. Carmy’s true demons came up from the bowels of his subconscious after he opened, the Bear 🐻 then continued to destroy his relationships around him because as we learned in Whiplash, “The two worst words in the English language are good job.” However there is a caveat to be THAT great. The abused become the abuser and the scary part is someone might take that trade-off if they’ve tasted success thinking the abuse was the key when the will to succeed was there all along…it just might take longer than expected.

Without getting into spoilers, the first episode is basically a crystallization of everything I didnt like about the season as a whole.

Thank you so much for taking this stance

Wait, wait, wait. What redemption arc did Carmy have in this show??? I'm totally confused about that criticism.

I think the star can be seen as the McGuffin for this season, just like saving the restaurant was in season one and changing from a sandwich shop to a fine dining restaurant was in season 2. In that way "The real Michelin Star is the friends we made along the way" is actually true. Is it trite? Perhaps, but as David said, this show is at its best when the characters are driving it forward. Carmie being stuck and unable to progress is what seems to me to be holding the show back right now but at this point I still trust the show to move forward. I think they put themselves in a bit of a corner setting up Claire as a lifeline and then having there be just zero chemistry between the actors, IMO. Especially on a show where literally everyone else seems to have great chemistry. I understand the frustration with Carmie and Junior not growing up but I think showing different views of men not growing up is maybe the underlying theme of the show. Michael can't find a way to grow up and dies. We watch Junior hit bottom and grow up. We see Carmie trying to grow up without a good father figure to emulate. Episode one we were arguably in his head as he tries to determine which parts of his past and past mentors he is going to rely on to push himself forward and if he can do that without the toxic parts. Uncle Jimmy and the Faks are almost Shakespearean archetypes as the elder who seems they were born grown up and two perpetual boys who will never grow up. It's a lot of dudes chewing scenery with the performances of Edebiri and Elliot doing amazing, understated work keeping the show grounded. (Elliot's "It was really fun, though" is maybe my favorite moment so far, three episodes in.) A point about Marcus' mom: I am a nurse who works around people in this situation quite a bit and one thing we see all the time is the sick parent, recently made hospice or "comfort care" hanging on for days with the children at the bedside. Then, at a moment when the patient seems to rally, the family heads home for an hour or two to shower and eat real food. Maybe 40, 50% of the time, a parent will let go right after their kids leave. I'll never know what's going on there, of course, but my coworkers and I are pretty certain the parents don't want their kids to see them die. I'm not saying they want their kids to be at work, but it's interesting.

This show has definitely highlighted repurposing trauma, as well as found family, so I think that's what is at the core of this show. Things are going to progress slow because the Berzatto family as a whole avoids dealing with trauma, and Carmy, the youngest sibling, is a master avoider, to his own detriment. The writers and show runner(s) can't expedite and sacrifice storyline that would properly develop a character like Carmy for the sake of appeasing an impatient, and at times, highly unaware audience, and I'm glad they aren't. Now, is this season or show as a whole above criticism? Absolutely NOT, but this show has never been about hand holding its audience, and spoonfeeing us what we want, when we want, it's always been more about showing, NOT telling. I also think this season was written and developed knowing that they would get a season 4 (or a season 3, part 2?).

ummmm - No engagement on your RU-vid channel might explain low like numbers, low comment numbers, etc. Unsubscribing, unfollowing on Threads, unsubscribing on patreon. Peace!