Series about Top Chef - Where's the plot, motherfucker?
The fucking sandwich sales need to get going already. The fucking hippie pottery is too expensive. And the fucking teaspoons are always running out. Fuck! The staff of "The Bear" restaurant has already thrown a salty "fuck" twenty-seven times in the second episode.
The third season of "The Bear" on Disney Plus is back with all its charm that makes the successful series what it is. Chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) opens his spotless fine dining restaurant in Chicago. Gone is the rundown sandwich shop he took over from his brother in previous seasons. Napkins are now aligned at the table edge. Carmy's girlfriend accidentally left him at the end of the last season. At least he can now fully focus on his new goal: earning a Michelin star.
It's almost the same as always in "The Bear": crude jokes, brilliantly clean shots of boiling pots and perfectly filleted fish. Rapid-fire dialogue that feels so authentic you believe you're right there, sweating on the edge of a stainless steel kitchen, with a warm cola in a plastic cup. It crackles and hisses, boils and bangs. Somewhere, a stove keeps beeping, someone swears and barks "Yes, Chef!"
"The Bear" on Disney Plus confronts the past
The season has a lot on its plate. Carmy's driven sidekick Sydney (underutilized: Ayo Edebiri) starts to assert her independence from her father. We learn how Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) ended up in the kitchen. Carmy's annoying sister Natalie Berzatto (Abby Elliott) is pregnant and worried she won't overcome her troubled childhood in time.
But above all, it's about Carmy and his trauma. He's haunted by flashbacks of his early career under a sadistic boss (appropriately creepy: Joel McHale). Carmy's toxic work experience bleeds into the present. He imposes draconian rules and drives his team mad with a constantly changing menu: duck with apricot or cherry or orange - or maybe cherry? When Carmy confronts the toxic boss with "I think about you too much," you want to shout: Yes, exactly.
It gets much darker than in previous seasons. And it doesn't look as appetizing as before. The "Seven Fishes" dish, a family tradition of the fiery mother, is reduced to just one fish. Carmy remembers his former boss drilling into him: "Reduce!" He wants to cook star-quality cuisine, not a plate of nachos. Perfectly cubed vegetables with colorless broth and bizarrely arranged meat joints look like a parody of fine dining in some scenes.
Who needs plot?
What remains is unfortunately: the plot. We learn little new about Carmy and his team. If you understood Carmy's past trauma from the first meaningful flashback, you can skip the entire first episode and a large part of the last one. And we mostly wait for... for labor pains to set in or for a gastronomic critic to drop by.
But if you've grown fond of the ensemble over the past seasons, you'll likely enjoy this one too. Director Christopher Storer seems to know he can rely on the hype around the series. Of course, with four Golden Globes and ten Prime Time Emmys. In the US, where the series has been airing since June, every guest appearance, every hint, and every recipe has been dissected and analyzed. The recipes from "The Bear" restaurant's menu can all be cooked at home by fans.
For its painstaking authenticity, "The Bear" was celebrated from the start. From the elevated dishes ("Aiguillette of Hamachi with a blood orange reduction"), to the shouted jargon, down to the plastic cups, everything is meant to be as close to real restaurant kitchens as possible. In its intense moments, "The Bear" is full of subtle nods to chefs. When Carmy's team hangs a row of photos of famous food critics, real heavy hitters like Naomi Fry from The New Yorker are included. "Helium-filled apple balloons" and "caviar ice cream" have actually been served in restaurants. Even the pen Carmy uses to scribble phrases and recipes (a Pilot G2 Gel Roller Pen) is a nod to the restaurant "The French Laundry," one of the most renowned in the world. Three Michelin stars – naturally.
Watching "The Bear" is intense – but worth it
This skewering of the industry can sometimes feel cringe. In her guest appearance, the brilliant Olivia Colman is given the line: "It's a miracle that these places exist." She means not pyramids, but restaurants. Of a chef's work, it's said that it's "an experience where every single experience in life happens at the same time within the same four walls, and then you get to be the conductor of it all." It's a bit much, even with all the admiration for the craft.
A season of "The Bear" feels like a Saturday night shift in a restaurant: You've been shouted at and insulted, you've missed something in the chaos, and by the end, you're too tired to want anything more than a plate of spaghetti. In an interview, lead actor Jeremy Allen White hinted that Season 4 has already been filmed. That's good to know, because the final episode of Season 3 ends on a cliffhanger. And with the word: "Motherfucker!"
The third season of "The Bear" is now available to stream on Disney Plus, allowing fans to continue their culinary journey with Chef Carmy and his team. Despite its intense storyline and darker themes, the series remains true to its roots, offering an authentic portrayal of the restaurant industry.
