2024-07-19 15:03:14
The continuation of the popular series set in the Chicago restaurant Medvěd shows that opening a restaurant with Michelin ambitions is one thing. But then someone still has to keep it running, keep the staff happy and not collapse under the weight of family traumas. These are the ones that come to the surface in the third and quietest series so far, which can be watched in the Disney+ video library from Wednesday.
The FX series became a hit shortly after its premiere in 2022. Perhaps surprisingly, since it was not a star-studded “A” title, but deservedly so. A witty script, unsung, charismatic actors led by Jeremy Allen White, energetic storytelling and an authentic look inside a family-run beef sandwich shop delighted audiences and critics alike.
They did not resent Medvěd even after the slower second series, which recycled conflicts from the first. Even some over-the-top narrative techniques, such as long montage sequences, already seemed cruder.
However, there was one important plot shift. The main character, the tattooed chef Carmen Berzatto, managed to turn the beloved family business into a luxury restaurant. But the grand opening goes terribly wrong at the end of the second series. Carmy, as the hero is nicknamed, spends his time locked in a cold room due to a broken handle, where he suffers a panic attack. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the door, his career dream is collapsing, as is his relationship with doctor Claire, who realizes that she will never be as important as work for the blue-eyed blond with a talent for cooking.
Carmy’s representative, Sydney, has a lot to do herself, not to throw away the rondon and walk away frustrated from the kitchen crammed with negative emotions. Neither the choleric operator Richie nor Carmy’s sister Natalie, who, in addition to her advanced stage of pregnancy, copes with the ungrateful role of head manager can bring harmony to the resulting chaos.
Although the third season begins immediately after a stressful night, the first part is unusually contemplative. Carmy comes to the apartment window. He examines the scar on his palm. Daybreak over Chicago. It takes a few minutes before someone says the first sentence. But without shouting and cursing, as we would expect in Medvědov. The half-hour episode consists of an associative series of retrospectives.
For Carmy, played by Jeremy Allen White, cooking is both a salvation and an escape. | Photo: FX
Carmy is gaining experience in a top New York restaurant. Before leaving home, he says goodbye to his sister. She amazes the boss with her perseverance and beautiful drawings of imaginary dishes. He lives in Copenhagen, where the local masters initiate him into the secrets of Danish desserts. He learns about his brother Mikey’s suicide. He looks at the fruits of the vegetable garden with a smile.
Fleeting moments of joy and wonder, mostly linked to food in one way or another, are contrasted with scenes of workplace bullying, family arguments and partner misunderstandings. The fragments help us understand how Carmy became a neurotic perfectionist with many obsessions and unhealed scars, for whom cooking is both salvation and escape.
The poetic range of images, reminiscent of the dreamy films of American director Terrence Malick, also sets the tone for the entire series. Compared to the previous ones, it is less hectic, more introspective. And also emptier.
Disaster on the horizon
However, this does not mean that the Bear has become a completely silent “feeler”. The very second episode, when a group of people with different ideas about the direction of the company stand around the table and shout at each other for twenty minutes, brings us back “home”.
Carmy’s team is still dealing with a lot of trouble. Pastry chef Marcus is grieving the loss of his mother, chef Tina is struggling to keep up the pace at the grill, and Sydney is tired of being the only rational and balanced person in the room. Her friendly and professional relationship with Carmy could catch fire at any moment like oil in a frying pan.
Although on the surface it appears that the restaurant is full of guests, financial uncertainty, a dysfunctional team and the impending birth of Natalia’s child give the appearance of an inevitable approaching disaster. The feeling that all good things have already passed is enhanced by the faded, gloomy looks of the characters. Their earlier banter gives way to dark musings about the future. Also, the humor usually consists of someone yelling “fuck you” at someone, which gets more tiresome with each episode.
The performances of the actors, previously one of the highlights of the series, are also monotonous and lifeless. Emotional intensity is usually only simulated by frenetic cuts between individual faces.
The fact that the development of the characters has almost stopped and it is not clear where anyone is going does not contribute to the liveliness of the narrative. Carmy continues to struggle with both inner turmoil and external pressure to be perfect. Because of the maximum concentration on caramelized onions and nettle puree, it neglects everything around it. Family, friends and your mental health. Therefore, a trifle, a slight difference between the ordered stone bowls is enough to lose balance. But we already know all this.
Others are still unable to agree on basic things and take an important step due to the burden of inheritance – whether it is a family restaurant or transgenerational trauma. Indecisiveness becomes a defining feature of the series. Relationships remain complicated, but in the same way as before. Just variations, no new notes. The creators devote separate episodes to events that happened years ago, without resolving the present conflicts and pushing the plot forward.
The identity of the heroes of the series slowly dissolves in the creation of menus and cooking. Pictured are Ayo Edebiri as Sydney and Jeremy Allen White as Carmy. | Photo: FX
Everything as before
Much of the third season feels like a constant departure from the theme and the questions we would like to know the answers to. The series devotes more space to ornamental shots of beautifully decorated plates than spectacular gastronomic programs like MasterChef. In doing so, he keeps repeating the same patterns. Details of meals alternate with details of actors’ talking heads. Cuts are quick and haphazard. The surrounding environment remains out of focus. The camera rarely leaves the interiors, so it practically does not exploit the Chicago environment, one of the strengths of the opening sequences.
As if the gray, proximity-based style had to reflect the fact that the characters can’t get out of their heads and see anything other than the job at hand. Their identity slowly dissolves in menu creation, baking, cooking and frying. At the same time, food is the only means for them to establish contact and achieve at least short-term satisfaction.
If it wasn’t clear to us from all the details of the dishes and the scenes where the heroes talk over the plates, the dialogues repeat this idea ad nauseam.
The filmmakers, led by Christopher Storer, on the one hand sometimes adopt the techniques of art cinema and make it clear enough that this time it is a serious matter, not a comedy. That they have bigger ambitions.
At the same time, however, they do not believe in non-linearly composed images enough to leave them without half-hearted explanations. When Carmy confides in the final episode to Chef Terry about how wonderful it is that there are places like fine dining restaurants, it’s just one of countless cotton balls repeating the obvious.
Everything the Bear wanted to say about anxieties, ambitions, selfishness and the inability to see relationships as anything other than obstacles on the way to success has already been said in the first and second rows. The third one lacks any plot development besides the justification of playing with the form. It resembles a restaurant that entices you with a multi-course menu, but then only serves a bland starter. Let’s hope that the already filmed fourth series will be more substantial.
Serial
Bear III
Creator: Christopher Storer
The third season of the series can be seen in the Disney+ video library.