The Bear Season 3: Still The Best Show On Television
The Bear returns for Season 3 with the same recipe of chaos, heart, precision, and pain. The show is at the top table of current television, and season 3 continues the excellent work of the last two seasons. It's stressful, joyful, challenging, and revelatory in ways that a show about a restaurant selling beef sandwiches shouldn't dare to be. Chefs often talk about the privilege of being an essential part of so many important moments in people's lives, with their food being the centerpiece of memories. It's hard not to get romantic about The Bear itself in those terms.
The Bear Season 3 feels like a confident evolution of an already excellent show: it is complex, chaotic, and uplifting in equal measure. It isn't entirely consistent, but the rough edges do add to the flavor.
The Bear Season 3 Compares To The Highs Of Season 2
It would be wrong not to immediately address one of the few major complaints about The Bear: the release method. This should be event television, despite the lack of dragons or lightsabers, and the binge-watch model simply doesn't mesh. It is no more appropriate to gobble down 10 episodes of something this tense, that demands reflection, than it is to eat a 7-course tasting menu all stuffed between two slices of bread.
There needs to be rumiNation between the episodes, just as watching Forks straight after Fishes in season 2 would give neither the respect to impress for as long as they deserved. And there are high-points as high as those stand-out episodes. There's nothing quite as provocative as the festive disaster movie of Fishes, but there is one episode that runs it close for emotional stakes. And Forks' irresistible propaganda for passion is explored in a different, but not less impressive way here.
There's Another Slam Dunk Emmy Episode (Or 2) In The Bear Season 3
Not all The Bear Season 3 is a 5-star experience, but that's an almost impossible task. It's also a little tempting to compare all of it to the high-points of Fishes and Forks from season 2, but that would be unfair. That said, there are four episodes in season 3 that could reasonably claim to be 5 stars: The opening episode deserves separate mention for what it represents and the trend it sets.
The Bear could be a linear story without any issue: there is a simple but rich reward in spending time with these people - a sentiment the show itself actually states in one of the new episodes. If Christopher Storer gave us 10 episodes of recipe and character development, it would make for a satisfying meal, because his shot choices are beautiful, his characters warm, and his scripts funny and raw, with tension poured over to finish. But Storer goes further.
The Bear Season 3 Is Brave Enough Not To Answer All Of Its Mysteries
As already mentioned, bravery is an important point here. The broad creative choices are one thing, but the writing is quite apart from it. By now, fans of The Bear know to expect whip-sharp dialogue, and exchanges between characters that feel like they suck all the air out of the room, but the big picture of season 3 is a different thing.
The season is driven by three intertwining main storylines, that all seem to be heading for conclusions, but just as the mystery of Francie Fak was so delightfully unresolved, The Bear Season 3 is brave enough not to answer everything. And there's no cheap trickery to make you want more (despite the To Be Continued tag), because the real pleasure is in the story-telling journey. Like great food, The Bear is about feeling, not about completion.
The Bear Season 3's Cast Gets The Right Share Of Screen-Time
Conventional wisdom would say that Carmy's story in The Bear is the most compelling thread, but the show explores the idea of family, and works its large cast well. Some of the most memorable moments in all three seasons have belonged to side characters, and in this world, the category of "supporting" characters feels less like an indication of lower status, and more a confirmation of importance.
There's one episode devoted entirely to Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), which is among the best; one bottle episode for Nat that is the best of the 10; and space given to development of most. Ebon Moss-Bachrach's Richie is a little more blunted than I would have liked at times, but it's in the name of Drama, and it's an acceptable compromise. Jeremy Allen White's performance as Carmy is ridiculously good. He is tightly wound; a stripped nerve of anxious energy whose physical performance is so convincing that he barely needs to speak at times. This is, as ever, a show about the weight of trauma and the idea of legacy, and White's convincing portrait of both is a gift. After season 2 introduced an eye-watering wealth of talent in cameos and supporting roles, season 3 pushes the boat out once again. Some of those favorites return, thankfully, but there is one new surprise halfway through the season that is completely joyous. It's just a shame it's going to be clipped and posted all over social media as soon as The Bear's audience find it.
