'The Bear' is back, baby: Season 4 review
Much has been written and said about the acclaimed series – which launched its cast into superstardom and took home a treasure chest full of Emmy awards – and its ability to engross and bewitch its viewers. There's the frenetic energy of its setting in a restaurant kitchen. There's the aptitude of its talented actors, who spit profanities as sharp as their chef's knives as they chop and stir and and season and argue. There's the sense of place in a perpetually overcast Chicago and the triumphs and tragedies that populate every episode. There are the Oscar-winning guest stars and family gatherings that make the Roman Colosseum look tame.
But the heart and soul of "The Bear" and its return-to-form fourth season (now streaming on Hulu, ★★★½ out of four) – the meat and potatoes, if you will – are the people. The characters keep you coming back for more. Chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) with his raw anxiety and trauma; "cousin" Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) with his anger that can be tamped down by joy; and chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), a voice of sense, reason and professionalism but also vulnerability and imposter syndrome. And "The Bear" Season 4 gets them right, to its end.
Without them, the frenzy that is this show's signature mode is just noise, not story. And that's the thread that got lost in last year's lackluster third season, where vibes and an overly artsy structure got in the way of just seeing this trio in a room together, preferably a kitchen.
In Season 4, "The Bear" is serving what we might call humble pie: a reset from the sins of Season 3. It's, if not peaceful − because there is no peace in the pandemonium that is nightly service at a restaurant − then it has a rhythm to the mad music in 10 new episodes. Creator Christopher Storer and the cast deliver more of what we love about "The Bear," sometimes sweetly and quietly and sometimes with deafening fury. But this year, the chaos is focused and controlled. Every second counts.
The new episodes pick up right after the Season 3 finale, in which Carmy and Sydney's restaurant received a rough review from the Chicago Tribune. Coupled with Carmy's mismanagement of its budget and the general ill use of the staff and resources, The Bear is just weeks away from going under. That point is underlined by a large countdown clock that investor/patron Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) has placed in the kitchen. Everyone has to get better, calmer and faster. Carmy has to make sacrifices. And Sydney has to decide if she's staying or jumping ship to a job with another buzzy chef.
Whereas in Season 3 episodes would often slip and slide around a plot and a point and blur into each other lazily, the new installments are sharp and addictive, begging you to just let the next episode play on. There is the trademark radical realism and awkwardness to the dialogue, particularly in an episode set during a wedding that sees many returns from fan-favorite guest stars, and raw emotion on every sleeve. Parenting remains the show's prevailing theme, whether it's of an older generation, a new one or even caretaking a business. Everybody could use a little therapy, particularly Carmy. But it's tantalizing to watch them work out their issues instead in front of us.
If there's one major flaw in the new season (which at times feels like it might be the final one, too), it's that the laser focus on Carmy means some members of the great ensemble are left behind. The wild-haired protagonist finally confronts the trauma of losing his brother Mikey to suicide (Jon Bernthal, back for a cameo early on), and the emotional abuse and alcoholism of his mother (Jamie Lee Curtis, also back). It is cathartic and electrifying, but his lengthy screen time means there's less for the show's other standouts, like Marcus (Lionel Boyce) and Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas).
But "The Bear" happily leaves time for some. You'll find yourself heavily invested in half a dozen subplots that seem to perfectly illustrate the old aphorism that there are no small roles, only small actors. There is so much more heart to the new season, and if you were disillusioned last year, you might be won back just as easily as I was.
As the Season 4 plot unfolds, the path forward for the series becomes uncertain. The writers could easily swing open a door to a fifth season, or perhaps close up "The Bear" for good, like so many restaurants and TV shows before it. It's a mark of the craftsmanship that you'll find yourself satisfied with either answer. This could be the end, or it could just be a beginning.
Either way, I'm so glad to have dined here.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
9 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Odenkirk isn't an action newbie anymore
NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Odenkirk ducks into a West Village coffee shop wearing sunglasses and a Chicago Cubs cap. Some degree of subterfuge might have been necessary for Odenkirk years ago. Surely fans of 'Mr. Show' or 'The Larry Sanders Show' might have recognized him. But with time, Odenkirk has traveled from the fringes of pop culture to the mainstream. He's well-known now, but for what is a moving target. At 62, Odenkirk is not only a comic icon, he's a six-time Emmy-nominated actor, for 'Better Call Saul,' a Tony-nominated Broadway star, for 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' and, most surprisingly, an action star. He's not even a newbie, either. With 'Nobody 2,' the sequel to the 2021 pandemic hit original, Odenkirk's butt-kicking bona fides are more or less established. In the sequel, which opened in theaters Thursday, he returns as Hutch Mansell, the suburban dad with latent powers of destruction. This time, he and his family go on vacation to Wisconsin Dells, where they run into trouble. 'My goal is Jackie Chan's 'Police Story,'' Odenkirk says, sipping an iced tea before a day of promotion obligations. 'It exists to be funny. The disconnect is the lack of irony. Hutch has to mean it.' Odenkirk's unlikely but sincere turn into Keanu Reeves territory has, in a way, only illuminated the rage that bubbled throughout his comedy. Chatting casually but intensely, Odenkirk explained how all of these iterations of him make sense — and how 'Nobody' might have even saved his life. AP: Your friends in comedy, have they been funny about you as an action hero? ODENKIRK: The whole time I was training I was thinking: They're not going to make this movie, and I'm getting free exercise training. The second thing I was thinking: If they make this movie, David Cross, Conan O'Brien, Adam Sandler, David Spade, these people are going to see me do this thing and go, 'Really?' It's just so fundamentally discordant. I could have asked for more comedy in the first one. And I didn't want that. I wanted to either make a real action movie — which would blow my friends' minds — or don't do it at all. If you're just going to ridicule the form, don't do it. Or just do 'Naked Gun,' which is super fun, too. I thought the funnier thing — what I did — was to do it. That's a joke on a cosmic scale. I'm literally pranking the universe. I am, right? That's the big joke. Now, what do I do with it? That's the question. AP: With the 'Nobody' movies and your recent Broadway experience, you've set a high bar for surprising people with what you're capable of. ODENKIRK: I thought about the character of Saul. He never quits. He gets pushed around. He's clever. He's in a spot and he has to think of a way out. That's an action character. While it's true that it feels like, 'Oh, boy, you went so far away.' I didn't really go that far away. It's one step. It's a big step. Everything else is in Saul. I did think that for people who know my comedy, this is going to be a hard sell. But that's not that many people. That's a cult group. AP: And it might not be that hard of a sell to your comedy fans, either. The lie detector 'Mr. Show' sketch, in which you calmly confess to outlandish things, has a similar what's-under-the-surface quality like the 'Nobody' movies. ODENKIRK: (Laughs) Yeah, yes. AP: Maybe the most relevant sketch, though, is the one where you and David Cross play tough guys who bump into each other in a bar and then remained locked in mutual animosity through their lives, even through marriage. 'Nobody 2' kicks off with a similar encounter. ODENKIRK: It's a tap on the shoulder that sets this whole thing off. He agrees to leave. Then this little tap happens. Then he leaves. He's outside. He can keep walking, which is what you would do. You'd get home and tell your wife, 'That guy tapped her on the back of the head.' It would just sit with you forever. The whole thing could have been avoided if it wasn't for who Hutch is, which is a person who allows himself to go crazy. AP: Allowing yourself to go crazy isn't a radically different impulse in comedy. Did you always feel like rage or anger was fueling some of the funniest things you did? ODENKIRK: For sure. I remember sitting with David Cross in the morning. We would start our time at 'Mr. Show' trying to generate ideas, sitting around with the paper. Oftentimes, it was: 'This really pisses me off,' or 'Look at this stupid thing.' So, yeah, frustration, anger, those are the very raw materials of comedy. AP: You're just funneling that rage into a different place. ODENKIRK: Life conjures up this rage in you, but there is no place that deserves it. In the first film, the first place he goes to exact revenge, he realizes all these people have nothing, they don't deserve it. In the second film, he goes after this guy and he's like, 'I'm under her thumb.' It's really not something you're supposed to do in an action movie, and I love that. You don't just get to find a bad guy around the corner. You've got to go looking. AP: You've said you'd like to do a third one that ends with Hutch having nothing. ODENKIRK: Yeah, the moral would be that everything he loves is gone. He burned everything he loved. We let him get away with it because the movie is an entertainment and it's meant to tell you: Yes, you can let go of your rage in this magical world. But in the end, I would think that it's an addiction. And he does want to do it. He does want to have a go, and so does every guy. That's why we have movies. And that's why we have boxing matches. AP: How much credit do you give these movies for saving your life? After you had a heart attack in 2021 on the set of 'Better Call Saul,' you attributed your narrow survival to your 'Nobody' training. ODENKIRK: When I had my EKG, where you can see the heart, the doctor explained that I had almost no scarring from that incident. And that's kind of weird because of how long that incident went on and how drastic it was. They were like: 'This should all be scar tissue, and there's none.' They said that's because these other veins are bigger than we're used to seeing, and that's from all the exercise you've been doing. And, dude, I did a lot. I went from a comedy writer who exercised just by riding a bike three or four times a week to the action I did in those movies. AP: You told Marc Maron you saw no white light and tongue-in-cheek advised him to 'go for the money.' ODENKIRK: Well, I got nothing. Nothing. I did talk to my family the next day. I woke up the next day around 1:30 and talked to my wife and kids. I was talking to people for the next week, and I don't remember any of it, or the day that it happened. AP: But did the experience change you? ODENKIRK: (Long pause) It's a big component of my thinking about who I am and what I want to do with myself and my time. The thing that's driven me the most in my life is a sense of responsibility. Not just like, 'Oh, I have kids. I have to make money and take care of them.' But, like, responsibility to the universe. 'Oh, they'll let you do this action movie.' Well, then you better do a f------ great job. 'They want you do 'Better Call Saul.'' Well, let's go. The universe is saying: You can do this. And you owe that opportunity that's so unjustified and magical. I just feel responsibility almost too readily. But the heart attack, however you want to feel about everybody's expectations of you, I mean, you're going to be gone. The world's going to go on without you, just fine. So I don't know, man. Yeah, you've got to come through for people. But you've also got a lot of freedom to invite who you want to be.
Buzz Feed
9 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
Hidden Gems: Misunderstood Movies On Hulu
Whether you were too young to appreciate them, or your opinion suffered from "groupthink" via the Internet, there are so many movies I can name that have been (unfairly) maligned through the years. Okay, maybe they weren't "good" movies, but every film deserves a second chance. Besides, if I can shove popcorn in my face, I am seated. Here are 16 movies currently on Hulu that, despite getting panned by critics and/or audiences, are worth the watch: Robots (2005) This movie is filled with all kinds of unhinged robot puns and in-your-face comedy. The great Mel Brooks voices Bigweld. With a 54% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it's proof that some of you can't let kids have a laugh and some it on Hulu. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) This movie is a mess, dorky, and I love it. It's a fun thrill ride of a movie, and despite its 16% critics' score on RT, younger me still enjoyed the action and cheesy dialogue. I highly recommend it for comic book it on Hulu. The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Come for the effects, not the story. No matter the school year, I feel like I watched this in every science class whenever my science teacher was out sick. With scores 50% and below from both audiences and critics on RT, I'd argue this is the most memorable disaster movie of the it on Hulu. Father of the Bride: Part II (1995) Who says sequels have to suck? Silly plot and all, the sequel to Steve Martin's Father of the Bride is a lot of fun and laughs. A 54% on RT seems HARSH for any movie starring Martin Short as Franck. Watch it on Hulu. Flight of the Phoenix (2004) I'm sure the original starring the great Jimmy Stewart is lightyears better, but you gotta respect them for trying to take that and make it more of an action flick. For some reason, a twist in this movie still sticks out to me, and it's one of my favorites from a "bad" that alone is worth watching. (Of same twist is from the original, but I thought it was handled well in the remake.)Watch it on Hulu. Alien 3 (1992) Hear me the first two are way better. But there are plenty of great moments in the third installment. When it doesn't rely on CGI xenomorphs, the story is pretty interesting and veers away from the norm Alien franchise fans are used to. The sub-50% scores on RT are credited to the disappointment of the film (and the opening twist), but I'd crank it up by it on Hulu. Lost in Space (1998) The nostalgia hits with this one. That design for Robot, the cast, my childhood movie had everything. Great? Not quite. But it is a fun ride. Sub-30% by both critics and audiences is WILD. What happened to everyone's sense of (silly and campy) adventure?Watch it on Hulu. Prometheus (2012) My cat's favorite movie (it's something with the colors). Again, I think people allow disappointment to drag their ratings down, because 68% RT audience score, although not the worst, is still extremely low for a film of this it on Hulu. A Haunting in Venice (2023) This is a case of overexposure. The Hercule Poirot films are often overlooked, but this one in particular really flew under the radar. It has a 6.5 on IMDb, but is certified fresh on RT. Mixed signals, much? It's a cool mystery thriller movie with plenty of horror it on Hulu. Tammy (2014) Comedy is quite subjective, and if you like Melissa McCarthy, you should probably ignore the ratings. It is a cast made up of mostly women, which spells bad news for any comedy looking for honest critiques, and the reviews def reflect that if you read the downvotes. Watch it on Hulu. The Monkey (2025) So this is new-new, but I was shocked to discover audiences did not love it (56% audience score on RT). It's a dark comedy with plenty of gore and scares. I thought it was hilarious, and although not the most fantastic horror movie I've seen this year, "rotten" feels a bit harsh. Stop disrespecting horror, or we are gonna have to throw hands, it on Hulu. The Proposal (2009) A 45% critics' score on RT. 45%! You all are wild. Any movie starring Betty White deserves at least an 80% rating. I don't make the rules! Also: Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. You will at least get a few laughs even if your heart is it on Hulu. Presence (2024) Horror fans, beware. This isn't a hardcore ghost flick, but it is an incredibly original idea and shot beautifully. I feel like the poor ratings from audiences are due to expectations (52% audience score on RT), but I think it's a unique experience in "movie-going" even at it on Hulu. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (2005) People are afraid to let their "goof flag" fly. Although not a "rotten" score, people really bashed this when it came out because they weren't able to embrace silly sci-fi. Ironic, now so many superhero movies have become full-blown comedies. Wrong place, wrong time...I guess. Watch it on Hulu. I, Robot (2004) Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Everyone sleeps on this film as far as sci-fi joints are concerned. It's got plenty of memorable dialogue, fun action, and I'd argue it's one of Will Smith's more fun leading man roles (Alan Tudyk is great as always, too). Fans enjoyed it, but the critics' score is a 57% which is a rotten opinion if you ask it on Hulu. Evil Dead (2013) Scary as hell, tough to watch, and a pretty memorable installment to the Evil Dead franchise. Not as popular as Evil Dead Rise, the film still packs a punch that it's RT score of 63% does not do it on Hulu. Is there a movie you think everyone was WAYYY too harsh about? Comment below! Watch all your favorite guilty pleasures on Hulu.
San Francisco Chronicle
39 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Wrexham smashes its transfer record by signing Broadhead in a deal worth up to $13.5M
Wrexham's spending moved into a new stratosphere Thursday when the team owned by Hollywood celebrities signed winger Nathan Broadhead from Ipswich in a club-record deal that could reportedly reach 10 million pounds ($13.50 million). It took the Welsh club's outlay in the transfer market to more than 20 million pounds ($27 million) in this window as Wrexham reshapes its squad for life in the second-tier Championship following an unprecedented three straight promotions. The 27-year-old Wales international is a former Wrexham academy player and a versatile forward who was a fringe player at Ipswich in the Premier League last season. 'He's a local boy who had a real desire to come and play for his hometown club," Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said in the team's announcement. Among Wrexham's other signings over the last couple of months is former England defender Conor Coady and New Zealand international Liberato Cacace. Lewis O'Brien also joined from Nottingham Forest for what was reportedly a club-record fee of around 3 million pounds ($4 million). Wrexham, which started its Championship campaign last weekend with a 2-1 loss at Southampton after conceding two late goals, is owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and has gained outside investment via the New York-based Allyn family. It is also the subject of the Emmy-winning 'Welcome to Wrexham' documentary, which takes viewers behind the scenes at the club and has boosted the team's global appeal primarily because of the presence of Reynolds. ___
