The Bear is back, but this show has grown a long way from its comedy roots
The Bear (season four) ★★★★
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.
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