The Bear Season 3 Review: The FX culinary drama starts on a high note, but loses its narrative direction in a frustrating refusal to commit to character and plot development. Impeccable performances by Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Liza Colon-Zayas.
This season showcases the challenges faced by a restaurant’s overly ambitious head chef who may be faced with more than he thought he could handle.
The Bear Overview:
This culinary drama series follows Carmi (Jeremy Allen White), a high-profile chef who takes a step back from his busy, sometimes toxic, restaurant career to take over the beef deli left to him after his brother Mickey (Jon Bernthal) committed suicide. Carmi tries to raise the deli’s status by turning it into a Michelin star restaurant. He is joined by his partner Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri), the two of whom navigate many challenges. From the reluctant cooks at the deli, especially Richie, also known as Cousin (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The third season shows the challenges their restaurant, The Bear, faces in this long and exhausting journey to greatness.
The Bear Season 3 Trailer:
The Bear Season 3 Review: Too Much Food on a Small Plate
The third season of The Bear takes you through the hurdles and struggles in the chef’s life. However, it doesn’t have much of a grip like the first two seasons. The story, while entertaining, kept moving aimlessly from episode to episode. The first two seasons, which kept the narrative moving at a brisk pace, come to an abrupt halt in the latest season of the FX drama.
The third season of the comedy drama begins with Carmi during her training days in New York. Her stressful job and fixing the broken pieces after the devastation of the last episode of Season 2. The third season doesn’t maintain the feeling of season 2, when the focus wasn’t on the entire cast as a group.
The third season somehow felt like it had too many plot lines. The show doesn’t focus on the main story, if there is any at all. One episode, set in the present day, shows the grueling kitchen of a restaurant, the next episode focuses on Carmi and Tina’s past. Continuity seemed to be missing.
All hopes of Carmi being a little less worthless this season are gone. He’s trying to be a grown man who still can’t text a girl. Carmi was so lost in his head throughout the season that his only way to communicate was the new menu every day and a list of “non-negotiable” things. Richie, whose character was very promising in season 2, is still fighting like a child. Sydney and Carmi’s partnership is still rocky.
The past comes to light
The best part of season 3 was that they finally got to the time when the family found out about Mickey’s death. Right from the first season, Mickey’s death was always talked about but never shown and never experienced.
Episode 6 directed by Ayo Edebiri delves deep into Tina’s life. Her struggle to find a job broke her down at Chicago Beef, leading to a passionate conversation with Mickey. They talk about giving up dreams to support their families and the uncertainty of life. As a result, Mickey offers Tina a job as a new line cook. The rest is history.
A 7 course meal filled with comical chaos
Episode 2 of the third season takes you back to the world of tension, screaming, and abuse that is universally loved about The Bears. The end of season 2 created a rift between Carmi and Richie. The third season picks up right there. Angry Richie and angry Carmi, a recipe for disaster. A disaster we missed so much. For five minutes Richie and Carmi just kept telling each other to “go away”. The Bear provides so much humor in his episodes that 30 minutes just fly by and you don’t even realize it. The entire episode took place in just one place, his kitchen. It was beautiful, it was messy, that’s what makes The Bear The Bear.
Conclusion
The best thing about The Bear is that the food always comes first. The precision of cutting a steak, plucking flowers from the grass, setting the sweet tadka on the pan, carefully placing the dip on the plate so your eyes feast before your stomach. It’s beautiful to watch. The show accurately depicts the music of the kitchen and the song in the chef’s heart.
This season tackles the challenges faced by a restaurant’s overly ambitious head chef who may be facing more difficulties than he thought he could handle. With the sudden arrival of food critics, the intensity is head-scratching. Each season is getting better at creating an atmosphere that is tense and anxiety-inducing.
That being said, Season 3 gets off to a great start, with a beautiful first episode showing how Carmi became Chef Carmi, but the season still refuses to move the characters and plot forward.
All episodes of The Bear are streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
