The Bear Season 2

 

Gillipedia Official Rating: Oh hey, TV shows are a thing too

Score: 10/10

          I tend to watch shows slower without binging nearly as much as other people because it allows me to enjoy the show longer. And with that mindset it’s tougher to gather thoughts for a whole seasons which is partly why I’ve never reviewed a show before. But I just finished up season 2 of The Bear, and it does so many things right that I couldn’t help but talk about it here.

          Season 2 of The Bear is one of the greatest seasons of television I have ever watched. From the food itself to the cinematography, editing, acting, progression of episodes, character development, and the emotional ride you take, on its own this season is impeccable on so many levels. I thoroughly enjoyed the first season, and this natural progression to the new season is the true epitome of what a follow-up season to hit show should produce.

          If you’re not aware, many people regard the first season as the most realistic depiction of what the food service industry looks like. We follow an Italian beef sandwich family restaurant in Chicago, and the end product of what is delivered to the customer is virtually never the focal point. Instead it’s the bickering, yelling, real talks, and behind-the-counter mess that we get to savor more than a French onion soup. Because as some of the line cooks cut corners when no one is watching or the sous chef is a bit of a try-hard or Cousin Richie yells about whatever, naturally, we as the audience place our judgment. We see Richie complain about something so minute and we write him off as a failure that won’t achieve more in life. We see breakout star Jeremy Allen White’s Michelin-star Carmen work at this restaurant and assume there’s some breaking point he has that he’ll never overcome. The first season sets up the characters so well by yes, occasionally talking through their story, but we get so much from their actions. The beauty of television is the progression of characters. Every stranger you walk past has so much more of a story than the instant judgments we make, and that rings no truer than our misfit cast of characters working at The Original Beef. All of the characters’ struggles trying to save a failing restaurant over the tragedy of a brother is certainly entertaining, but it also feels real too. Which brings us to season 2. If you haven’t watched the first season, I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers of what happened, but that’s inevitably not totally possible to review season 2. Essentially, the family gets the opportunity to close down The Original Beef and reopen as a fine-dining restaurant that the employees collectively build together. The overarching plot of season 2 is progressing toward opening day with, as you may guess, many struggles along the way.

          But the show takes its time reaching this penultimate goal in a not always linear way. The leadup to opening day, including all the electrical work, equipment, passing inspections, funding, and everything in-between adds continuous stress through many episodes, but that storyline takes a backseat for the majority of the episodes. The Bear introduced our characters in the first season, but we get to understand these people in season 2. And the beauty of it all is that we’re not taking the established character and then reheating their traits as leftovers in the microwave. No no. We take the existing ingredients and discover the new possibilities of what entrees can be created. Instead of simple origin story episodes, each character takes a journey somewhere to hone their skills to prepare for opening day. And in this time away from their kitchen, from their comfort zone, how they adapt to a new situation and interact with the people around them is how we understand where they come from. Richie is abrasively charming, and it’s this mix of the style of life he’s always lived while there’s underlying tones of feeling like he hasn’t lived up to other members of his family. Sous chef Sydney puts all of her focus into making this new restaurant perfect because of how she cracked under pressure in a previous kitchen. And just as things start looking up for Carmen, he struggles to balance work as he starts a good relationship and wonders if he’s worthy of enjoying something like a semblance of life outside the kitchen. These aren’t conversations of characters saying, “Wow, I feel sad.” It’s Richie watching front-of-house workers put in hard work and see the joy it puts on customers’ faces. It’s Sydney tasting other chefs’ menus and exploring a world that felt so far away before. It’s Carmen jolting between the extreme cooker-pressure of a kitchen versus the warm, tender embrace of his new girlfriend. The show didn’t tell me to think of these descriptions of the characters, it showed them to me.

          And with the follow-up of a success comes an increase in budget and scope. The cameos of big-name actors lending their talents for a single episode is insane. Who they get feels so impressive that I refuse to name a single one in case it means enough to you to feel the same pleasant surprise I did to see an actor I know; their roles by the way don’t feel out of place in the slightest either. Carmen sends the employees to the most impressive places so they can learn from the best.

          The food also looks exquisite. The pastry chef Marcus is sent to a Scandinavian country to learn advanced techniques. The food both looks and sounds the part, and most impressively, I believe these chefs. The squirt bottles to put little drops of colored oil as a finishing touch, or using tiny tweezers to place microgreens—you can trust me, I’ve watched enough Top Chef in my days to know what looks legit.

          The food goes hand-in-hand with the editing and cinematography. There’s quick cuts for the chaos of the kitchen, and there’s beautiful, extended shots when two characters talk life. There’s closeups of the divine food, and characters are bathed in different lighting techniques and the camera knows when to focus on key elements. This season was also simply gorgeous to look at from the restaurants, the food, and even simple dialogue-heavy scenes. And as the season comes together and the menu starts to form, let me just say I received some absolute chills with hugely emotional moments that perfectly balanced callbacks to conversations and letting characters’ emotions lead the scene.

          I would be doing a disservice if I didn’t mention the Christmas episode. This is a true flashback episode where the main family gathers for a Christmas meal prepared by the alcoholic mother. It’s an extended, hour-long episode, it’s stock full of impressive actors, and every single character gets to shine in one conversation or another. There’s some highs during the season, but this episode serves as quite the reminder that although people may look fine on the surface, there may be more going on that we wish we were aware of. It’s a very relevant topic and the episode is able to explore all the themes it wants because of the groundwork we’re already aware of because of season 1 and the prior episodes.

          This show is certainly also brass with its foul-mouthed characters, and just like with taste buds, its dramedy, heavy subject genre without a constantly progressing storyline won’t be to everyone’s liking. Restaurants are well-known as the toughest type of business to keep successful, but if you’re willing to invest in 18 episodes of mostly 30-minute episodes, well, you may just find this show worthy of a Michelin star.