The Bear is back, but this show has grown a long way from its comedy roots
The headline in the Chicago Tribune reads: 'The Bear stumbles with culinary dissonance.'
It's the long-awaited review of the fine diner at the heart of The Bear – the resolution of the season three cliffhanger – but it could almost work for the show itself. A critically acclaimed hit that has struggled with its success. If you loved season three, like I did, season four will satisfy. But if you want a return to season one, I'd make a booking elsewhere.
Season four lives by the motto on The Bear's kitchen wall: Every second counts. Every second of the 1140 hours the Bear has left to survive. It's two or so months until the money runs out, 47 days until Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) and the Computer (Brian Koppelman) pull the plug.
Carmy (Jeremy Allen White, looking more and more like Bruce Springsteen) has to find a way forward that satisfies his need for change and the restaurant's need for consistency. Syd (Ayo Edebiri) has to decide between Carmy and Chef Adam (Adam Shapiro) and his job offer at his new restaurant. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) promises not to hire any more staff (until he does) or buy any more flowers (until he does).
Bill Murray's Groundhog Day is on the TV and the clocks are literally ticking everywhere – in the restaurant and with the show's fans and critics, who were divided over season three. Vulture called it 'trapped', Variety said it was 'aimless', while The New York Times likened it to a 'wailing beast'. Yes, it was all of those things, but what if that was the point?
Like its antihero Carmy, The Bear has become stuck. It reached the pinnacle – awards, critical acclaim and a devoted audience – and, like Carmy, it seemingly did not know what to do with that success. It was easy to pick at what it wasn't – it wasn't fun any more, it wasn't a comedy – but what if we look at what it actually is?
It's a drama that has grown beyond its early comedy roots. It is, as showrunner Christopher Storer has said, about the family you're from – and the damage they can do – and your found family. It's about work, the kind that isn't just a job, but a calling, and it's about care and reinvention and finding yourself in the chaos.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
Alison Brie was 'anti-marriage' until she met Dave Franco
Alison Brie's "anti-marriage" stance was a "solid part" of her "identity" until she met Dave Franco. The Mad Men star, 42, fell for fellow actor Dave when they met during Mardi Gras in New Orleans and they went on to tie the knot in 2017 - and Alison now admits meeting her partner changed her mind about marriage because she'd previously vowed never to walk down the aisle. She told The Sunday Times newspaper: "Being anti-marriage was once a solid part of my identity and I vowed it would never get in the way of my creative pursuits. "My parents are wonderful but they divorced and I didn't have many examples of happily married adults. "Dave flipped some kind of switch in me. I suddenly felt this deep pull to make a commitment. I know it's only rings and a bit of paper but you're telling the world that this matters. We're in for the long haul." Alison also insisted she doesn't want to have children because she's kept busy by the couple's two cats, but she's not ruling anything out. She added: "In the past I said I didn't want to have kids and that's still the case. My career is paramount. "Anyway, we have two new cats ... and they are our babies. But, hey, I'm only 42. Never say never." Dave proposed during a trip to Big Sur in California and he put a lot of effort in to make sure the moment was just right - even wearing a Mardi Gras mask from their first meeting in New Orleans. He told Variety: "We were going to Big Sur, one of our favourite places on Earth. I decided I was going to do it there ... "The day before the trip, I figured I should have a placeholder ring so I could at least put something on her finger. "I went to an antiques store down the street from us and got what I thought was a cool, old ring. "We first met at Mardi Gras in New Orleans years ago, and Alison had this silver mask on her head the entire weekend. I had written my phone number on the mask, and at the end of the trip, I took it and hid it. She didn't know I'd kept the mask all these years." Alison continued: "He calls me out onto the patio. I turn around and Dave's on one knee in a Zorro mask, holding a weird box with an old rock in it. I had no idea what was going on."
Perth Now
7 hours ago
- Perth Now
Ron Howard threatened to quit Happy Days over title change
Ron Howard threatened to quit his hit Happy Days over plans to change the title. The actor-turned-moviemaker played Richie Cunningham in the hit TV show with Henry Winkler as best friend Arthur 'Fonzie Fonzarelli and he's revealed he almost walked away from the popular series when his bosses floated the idea of changing the name to Fonzie's Happy Days because of the popularity of Winkler's character. He told Vulture: "I never, ever challenged what they were doing creatively. It made perfect sense that you'd build this Fonzie character and maximize that. "But the optics of now being in a show called Fonzie's Happy Days, my ego wouldn't allow for that. I wasn't bluffing. I would've left. "And my contract, I'm sure, had no clause connected to titles." However, the idea was eventually ditched and Ron credits the show's creator Garry Marshall with keeping him onbaord. He said: "They could have said: 'F*** you. We changed the title, and we expect you to show up Monday morning.' But thank God for great bosses. Garry Marshall said, 'If you're not cool with it [we won't do it] …'" Ron went on to reveal he later found out his co-star Winkler wasn't happy with the title change either, adding: "I later found out Henry himself thought it was a terrible idea. "I think the position I took made it easy for both Garry and Henry to also say: 'No, let's not do that.' "Years later, Henry said they were ready to do a spinoff and other things for Fonzie and he just said: 'Why fix it if it's not broken? My success depends on the ensemble I'm in'." Ron appeared in Happy Days between 1974–1980 and he went on to leave the show behind to focus on carving out a new career behind the camera as a director. His daughter Bryce Dallas Howard eventually followed him into the movie business, but she recently admitted she's never seen the TV show that made her dad a household name. During an appearance on Busy This Week, Bryce said: "I'm going to admit something, which is that I've never watched an episode of Happy Days." She has ties to the show because Winkler is her Godfather but she has no idea why she hasn't actually watching a single episode. Bryce went on to say: "I love him [Winkler] so much, and I love my dad so much, and I love all the Happy Days folks, and it would be so easy just to watch it, and I don't know why." Asked if Ron and Henry were aware that she hasn't watched the show, Bryce said: "Yeah, kind of." The movie star even suggested that her siblings - Paige, Jocelyn and Reed - haven't watched the hit sitcom, either. She said: "I kind of don't think they have. I don't think they have."
Perth Now
11 hours ago
- Perth Now
Pete Davidson is keeping his Hillary Clinton tattoo
Pete Davidson is keeping his Hillary Clinton tattoo. The 31-year-old comedian has been undergoing laser treatment to get rid of his inkings, but he's insisted he will not be getting rid of the body art tribute to the politician which he had done after she lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump. During an appearance on The Breakfast Club radio show, Pete explained: "I love that Hillary. I got Hillary after she lost, because ... I know her personally and she's a lovely lady - but also just, like, she's tough, man. "She was really at the forefront of some b*******, and as someone who has been at the forefront of some b*******, I was just, like, I just wanted to cheer her up a little bit." Pete went on to reveal Hillary actually got in touch with him to check he wasn't planning to remove the inking, adding: "What was cute is when I got them removed, she hit me up and she's like: 'You're not removing me, are you?' I was like: 'Of course not, of course. Hillary stays'. She loves it." The 31-year-old TV star went on to reveal removing his tattoos is a long and painful process and it's going to take many years because he has to space out the treatments between work commitments. He explained: "Essentially, they burn off a sheet of your skin and then its gotta heal for six to eight weeks. And the healing thing, you have an open gash on your arm and then you gotta put all this stuff on it, keep it out of the sun. And then after six to eight weeks, you gotta do it 10 more times ... "It sucks. If anyone is actually thinking about getting a tattoo, I would recommend thinking about it for a couple of years because your feelings change, you know?" Pete previously had more than 200 tattoos and recently revealed he's spent more than $200,000 having them removed. He told Variety: 'It's a pretty uncomfortable amount of money to disclose, but I think one of the tabloids already leaked it. "I've already spent like 200k and I'm like 30 per cent done. So, like, it's gonna suck ... My arms are pretty much gone, and my hands and neck are gone. But I still have to do my torso and back."
