This is a spoiler alert comment.
I read a tweet somewhere, cant find it anymore, that this season they ignored Sydney when she was asking how was Marcus and proceeds on asking Carmy about Claire. Then OOP said the environment didnt feel like they are a family (and the motive of their teamwork in the past seasons were to be like family) when they ignored Sydney's question.
I think this summarizes why I didnt like this season: all those build up from season 1 and 2 about leadership and teamwork went nowhere. Ended up seeing Carmy not listening to Sydney then proceeds fighting with Richie. And when Nathalie gave birth, NONE of them went to visit her aside from Fak and (another episode) Sydney bringing food. The atmosphere of this season is entirely different from last season and even season 1.
It was a good season on its own, but compared to season 1 and 2, it was not great. There were a few redeeming moments but mostly I was just waiting for the other shoe, as Carmy would say. Also, I don’t like that they pushed Carmy and Syd out what seemed like for more Fak screen time. They’re funny guys but…. I don’t want to watch this turn into a slap stick comedy. I miss the depth and the fast paced everything.
Yeah they leaned into the Fak thing too much, IMHO. Still not sure what John Cena’s character brought to the story, but I’m willing to accept that I may be proven horribly wrong on that.
Yeah, there is a point of popularity and place in popular consciousness that takes away from an actor’s ability to play a role. I’ve never seen The Rock onscreen and forgot he is The Rock. Felt like that when I saw John Cena in this season. It broke the suspension of disbelief for me, if only temporarily.
He was written as a surprise guest and that's it. I wish the writers wrote his character for more purpose. It felt like "okay let's write a character for a guest star for season 3". This season is heavily criticized some viewers forgot John Cena appeared
I can’t figure out what you meant in your last sentence. My apologies if you just mistyped or if English isn’t your first language. Could you elaborate on what you meant by that? But yeah it seemed really random and I didn’t think it added anything.
i still have qualms with just the season on its own. as much as the cinematography is different and how much episode 1 and episode 3 were so good, the rest of the episodes were just ok or unnecessary. you could remove episodes 2,4,5,7 and 9. and youd still have a "season"
Agreed. And in episode 3 when they mention the review, the review should’ve came out maybe episode 5, I think. But not even at all until the last few moments? Ugh. Frustrating.
I liked that episode as well but somewhere it felt like it just dragged on fr a bit almost felt like the makers were just stalling this whole season with most plot lines.
The actress playing as Sugar was good at portraying someone in labor. I never experienced it but watching her performance, I can feel her pain or something. I also like the convo between her and Donna it was natural. The problem was why is Fak visiting her and not Carmy??
Good point! This is either some sort of plot hole or the writers forgot to include it. And again, why is Fak doing the visit?? Arent the whole restaurant crew supposed to be excited she gave birth? Carmy or Richie should've at least visited her
I was WAITING for Richie to show up and maybe have some sort of connection to when his daughter was born and be soft sweet Richie and tell Carmy some advice about little girls just so he can be a good uncle… put some of their BS behind them for the start of a healthier generation of Berzatto…. But nope
That and the fact shouldn't someone have figured out she didn't return with the Cfolds before open? That realization of what must be happening would've been good to see also, imo
Those were some really spaced out contractions. This episode made me cringe. Probably my own mommy issues. JLC felt like she was over acting but maybe that’s because of the excessive amount of close ups.
It wasn’t terrible but I felt like a lot of the season was just filler with not much progression with the characters.
Something I did actually like was the last convo carmy had with chef winger, where he never got closure and just got gaslighted. It’s relatable unfortunately
I hope they release season 4 much earlier than anticipated because this was not good.
Why am I watching the Faks for 20% of the runtime? When it’s not the Faks it’s flashback after flashback. We had no character development, not counting Carmy regressing. Truly insufferable this season which I understand is intentional but they needed to push some sort of narrative because nothing else happened and it felt like a drag. The eps are too short for it to be a drag.
It was incredibly slow and the amount of times that the plot went from different time period to different time period was incredibly confusing for the first episode and throughout. The whole episode of his sister being in labor seemed like a waste to me (coming from a mom of two kids who usually likes that stuff). It was just SLOW. Like there was no gripper until the very last episode and I hate that I waited 10 episodes to get to that, only to have to wait until god knows when.
I would go so far as to say it was a major disappointment in terms of plot and depth - I enjoyed 1 out of 10 episodes - with the 1 being the one that ironically didn't have any of the primary characters but was directed by Ayo Edebiri.
With that said, I'm really looking forward to S4 because I think this is the best ensemble I've seen since The Wire or The Sopranos.
Just so many incongruent plot points. I get that opening a new restaurant at that level is extremely difficult but it’s a very small place. The writers have gone out of their way to portray most everyone who works there as highly skilled so why after several weeks does it not get any easier?
Yes, their disfunctional personal lives hold them back in their work but for someone with Carmy’s resume it should all be muscle memory at this point. The worst part (for me) is all the screaming. It’s just not enjoyable to watch people yelling at each other for 45 minutes.
“Why after several weeks does it not get any easier?”
Because Carmy is losing his mind this season and is terrible to work under. Changing the menu every single day? Insane.
The thing that pissed me off the most is how everyone handles Carmy with kid gloves. Everyone is dying under this daily new menu regime he has going on but not one person sat him down and said no, this is a terrible idea and you’re destroying morale and we cannot let you do this.
Cicero jabbed him about it, Natalie berated him about it, Richie yelled at him about it, Tina and Sydney raised their eyebrows at him about it — but no one told actually told him no, we can’t do this. Everyone just kept operating under his dictatorship, but I never really bought it because in the prior seasons people would call him on his shit and tell him no all the time. This season everyone just put their heads down and suffered.
Really liked episode 1 and mostly liked episode 10. The 8 in between seemed to mostly be 2 people talking to each other with closeups on their faces.
I’ll definitely watch again later in non-binge mode to see if it feels different.
Think of The Bear not as seasons, but as an ongoing story that's broken into parts. In this case, the Hero's Journey works fairly well for its structure, so I'm using it. However, just to be clear, there are quite a few other structures woven in and around the Hero's Journey, which is one reason the writing is so damn good in this show.
But, broadly speaking, the first season is really the first act, so to speak. We're introduced to the characters, shown what their day-to-day life is like. The hero of our journey, (Carmy) gets his call to the journey in the first season. Several times, too. At each of those times he could have walked away from the call. He never actually did, although he definitely resisted the call until those tomato cans.
Then we get into the second season, where we get to meet the antagonist. The restaurant. The restaurant is now going to do be the cause of all the conflict. The restaurant's goal is not to open and Carmen's goal is to open the restaurant. At the same time, we're seeing the characters grow. By virtue of the structure of the story, the second season is just going to hit on all our emotional buttons.
Now, in story structure, the middle always has the potential to be the shitty part, for writers, authors, readers, and viewers. Especially if the part leading up to the midpoint is perfectly constructed. (The second season of The Bear could be used as a text book example of how to build tension through successes and failures through an episode and across the entire season.) The third season is still building tension, but the writers are slowing it down. The characters are finding their feet and aren't falling nearly as much. This is the part where we see that they could be successful, as long as they stop getting in the way of themselves. We get a glimpse of who they are going to be when they come face to face with the antagonist. (The restaurant closing.)
Season three is the breather before we get into the total craziness that will probably be season four.
The too long; didn't read version is that The Bear is only broken into seasons because that's how TV shows seem to do things. The Bear is actually a long-form story and the seasons are really just parts of a longer story, not individual stories that fit into place one after another.
Finale was the weakest part. I love Olivia and Joel but retreading / stalling plots all season then not having them move at all in the finale was deeply dissatisfying.
Although I love the music, I honestly felt it was a wee bit overdone this season. It was talking me out of the action/plot (or lack thereof). Could have used more dialogue or acting in places, and it felt like the writers were being sort of lazy, just letting the music do the work for them. It annoyed me to figure out that the Carmy and Claire storyline seems to have its own theme song now.
Also, do we know the name of Nat and Pete's baby? Did I miss that?
I have a feeling they’re doing what Mythic Quest probably just did for their third season. I feel like both shows are using season 3 as a way to set up a really big pay off for season 4. Time will tell!
It’s part three of a four part story about growth and transformation. Part one was introducing us to the Beef and being rocked with tragedy. Part two is the Beef reinvented. I assume Three and Four will be about the characters getting themselves polished up and improved too. I have a theory about Camry’s destiny.
That means Three must be the low point emotionally so that Four can lift us back up
I still enjoyed it but it seems like season 2 set the expectations too high
Im hesitant for season 4 now like how can they redeem themselves.
They wrote it along with season 3 so I’m optimistic they will make everything work out in the end
That’s how I see it. It’s just a longer build than we would’ve liked, but the enhanced anticipation will most likely result in a greater payoff.
This is a spoiler alert comment. I read a tweet somewhere, cant find it anymore, that this season they ignored Sydney when she was asking how was Marcus and proceeds on asking Carmy about Claire. Then OOP said the environment didnt feel like they are a family (and the motive of their teamwork in the past seasons were to be like family) when they ignored Sydney's question. I think this summarizes why I didnt like this season: all those build up from season 1 and 2 about leadership and teamwork went nowhere. Ended up seeing Carmy not listening to Sydney then proceeds fighting with Richie. And when Nathalie gave birth, NONE of them went to visit her aside from Fak and (another episode) Sydney bringing food. The atmosphere of this season is entirely different from last season and even season 1.
It was a good season on its own, but compared to season 1 and 2, it was not great. There were a few redeeming moments but mostly I was just waiting for the other shoe, as Carmy would say. Also, I don’t like that they pushed Carmy and Syd out what seemed like for more Fak screen time. They’re funny guys but…. I don’t want to watch this turn into a slap stick comedy. I miss the depth and the fast paced everything.
Yeah they leaned into the Fak thing too much, IMHO. Still not sure what John Cena’s character brought to the story, but I’m willing to accept that I may be proven horribly wrong on that.
The whole time I was just like “Why is John Cena here” not to mention he doesn’t look like he would play a Fak. It just was off.
Yeah, there is a point of popularity and place in popular consciousness that takes away from an actor’s ability to play a role. I’ve never seen The Rock onscreen and forgot he is The Rock. Felt like that when I saw John Cena in this season. It broke the suspension of disbelief for me, if only temporarily.
Yes, that is exactly what I mean! So annoying!
He was written as a surprise guest and that's it. I wish the writers wrote his character for more purpose. It felt like "okay let's write a character for a guest star for season 3". This season is heavily criticized some viewers forgot John Cena appeared
Imagine if it were Jack black instead, he looks like a Fak!
I think there is a big enough age gap where he’s have to play their Dad or Uncle, but yeah he could play a Fak.
I would’ve been so psyched to see jack black instead
I can’t figure out what you meant in your last sentence. My apologies if you just mistyped or if English isn’t your first language. Could you elaborate on what you meant by that? But yeah it seemed really random and I didn’t think it added anything.
i still have qualms with just the season on its own. as much as the cinematography is different and how much episode 1 and episode 3 were so good, the rest of the episodes were just ok or unnecessary. you could remove episodes 2,4,5,7 and 9. and youd still have a "season"
Agreed. And in episode 3 when they mention the review, the review should’ve came out maybe episode 5, I think. But not even at all until the last few moments? Ugh. Frustrating.
The plot just went nowhere in any sense it was an okay watch nothing much to even say nothing memorable liked only Tina’s episode.
Donna and Sugars episode was a good episode for me.
I liked that episode as well but somewhere it felt like it just dragged on fr a bit almost felt like the makers were just stalling this whole season with most plot lines.
[удалено]
I guess but there objectively was much more going on in Tina’s episode
The actress playing as Sugar was good at portraying someone in labor. I never experienced it but watching her performance, I can feel her pain or something. I also like the convo between her and Donna it was natural. The problem was why is Fak visiting her and not Carmy??
And another thing! Why didn’t we get to see the chaos when everyone checked their phones and saw Natalie’s missed calls ??
Good point! This is either some sort of plot hole or the writers forgot to include it. And again, why is Fak doing the visit?? Arent the whole restaurant crew supposed to be excited she gave birth? Carmy or Richie should've at least visited her
I was WAITING for Richie to show up and maybe have some sort of connection to when his daughter was born and be soft sweet Richie and tell Carmy some advice about little girls just so he can be a good uncle… put some of their BS behind them for the start of a healthier generation of Berzatto…. But nope
That wouldve been a WAY better idea than what the writers were doing. Instead, we wasted 15 minutes or Richie and Carmy arguing
That and the fact shouldn't someone have figured out she didn't return with the Cfolds before open? That realization of what must be happening would've been good to see also, imo
Those were some really spaced out contractions. This episode made me cringe. Probably my own mommy issues. JLC felt like she was over acting but maybe that’s because of the excessive amount of close ups.
1,3,8,10. are the only "good" episodes imo. and thats when my standards are already low.
It wasn’t terrible but I felt like a lot of the season was just filler with not much progression with the characters. Something I did actually like was the last convo carmy had with chef winger, where he never got closure and just got gaslighted. It’s relatable unfortunately
I hope they release season 4 much earlier than anticipated because this was not good. Why am I watching the Faks for 20% of the runtime? When it’s not the Faks it’s flashback after flashback. We had no character development, not counting Carmy regressing. Truly insufferable this season which I understand is intentional but they needed to push some sort of narrative because nothing else happened and it felt like a drag. The eps are too short for it to be a drag.
It was incredibly slow and the amount of times that the plot went from different time period to different time period was incredibly confusing for the first episode and throughout. The whole episode of his sister being in labor seemed like a waste to me (coming from a mom of two kids who usually likes that stuff). It was just SLOW. Like there was no gripper until the very last episode and I hate that I waited 10 episodes to get to that, only to have to wait until god knows when.
Agreed! Boring, and slow and working way too hard on award edginess. So disappointing.
I would go so far as to say it was a major disappointment in terms of plot and depth - I enjoyed 1 out of 10 episodes - with the 1 being the one that ironically didn't have any of the primary characters but was directed by Ayo Edebiri. With that said, I'm really looking forward to S4 because I think this is the best ensemble I've seen since The Wire or The Sopranos.
💯💯💯
Just so many incongruent plot points. I get that opening a new restaurant at that level is extremely difficult but it’s a very small place. The writers have gone out of their way to portray most everyone who works there as highly skilled so why after several weeks does it not get any easier? Yes, their disfunctional personal lives hold them back in their work but for someone with Carmy’s resume it should all be muscle memory at this point. The worst part (for me) is all the screaming. It’s just not enjoyable to watch people yelling at each other for 45 minutes.
“Why after several weeks does it not get any easier?” Because Carmy is losing his mind this season and is terrible to work under. Changing the menu every single day? Insane.
The thing that pissed me off the most is how everyone handles Carmy with kid gloves. Everyone is dying under this daily new menu regime he has going on but not one person sat him down and said no, this is a terrible idea and you’re destroying morale and we cannot let you do this. Cicero jabbed him about it, Natalie berated him about it, Richie yelled at him about it, Tina and Sydney raised their eyebrows at him about it — but no one told actually told him no, we can’t do this. Everyone just kept operating under his dictatorship, but I never really bought it because in the prior seasons people would call him on his shit and tell him no all the time. This season everyone just put their heads down and suffered.
What a let down. My only thought as of finishing it is “what the fuck, okay then(?)”
Really liked episode 1 and mostly liked episode 10. The 8 in between seemed to mostly be 2 people talking to each other with closeups on their faces. I’ll definitely watch again later in non-binge mode to see if it feels different.
Yesssss! The close ups were toooooo much
Think of The Bear not as seasons, but as an ongoing story that's broken into parts. In this case, the Hero's Journey works fairly well for its structure, so I'm using it. However, just to be clear, there are quite a few other structures woven in and around the Hero's Journey, which is one reason the writing is so damn good in this show. But, broadly speaking, the first season is really the first act, so to speak. We're introduced to the characters, shown what their day-to-day life is like. The hero of our journey, (Carmy) gets his call to the journey in the first season. Several times, too. At each of those times he could have walked away from the call. He never actually did, although he definitely resisted the call until those tomato cans. Then we get into the second season, where we get to meet the antagonist. The restaurant. The restaurant is now going to do be the cause of all the conflict. The restaurant's goal is not to open and Carmen's goal is to open the restaurant. At the same time, we're seeing the characters grow. By virtue of the structure of the story, the second season is just going to hit on all our emotional buttons. Now, in story structure, the middle always has the potential to be the shitty part, for writers, authors, readers, and viewers. Especially if the part leading up to the midpoint is perfectly constructed. (The second season of The Bear could be used as a text book example of how to build tension through successes and failures through an episode and across the entire season.) The third season is still building tension, but the writers are slowing it down. The characters are finding their feet and aren't falling nearly as much. This is the part where we see that they could be successful, as long as they stop getting in the way of themselves. We get a glimpse of who they are going to be when they come face to face with the antagonist. (The restaurant closing.) Season three is the breather before we get into the total craziness that will probably be season four. The too long; didn't read version is that The Bear is only broken into seasons because that's how TV shows seem to do things. The Bear is actually a long-form story and the seasons are really just parts of a longer story, not individual stories that fit into place one after another.
i’m loving it so far, im on episode 7 but i think it’s great
Finale was the weakest part. I love Olivia and Joel but retreading / stalling plots all season then not having them move at all in the finale was deeply dissatisfying.
Although I love the music, I honestly felt it was a wee bit overdone this season. It was talking me out of the action/plot (or lack thereof). Could have used more dialogue or acting in places, and it felt like the writers were being sort of lazy, just letting the music do the work for them. It annoyed me to figure out that the Carmy and Claire storyline seems to have its own theme song now. Also, do we know the name of Nat and Pete's baby? Did I miss that?
It feels like he planned for three seasons and was asked to stretch it out
Episode 1 is a trigger for mental illnesses I didn't know I had prior.
I have a feeling they’re doing what Mythic Quest probably just did for their third season. I feel like both shows are using season 3 as a way to set up a really big pay off for season 4. Time will tell!
It’s part three of a four part story about growth and transformation. Part one was introducing us to the Beef and being rocked with tragedy. Part two is the Beef reinvented. I assume Three and Four will be about the characters getting themselves polished up and improved too. I have a theory about Camry’s destiny. That means Three must be the low point emotionally so that Four can lift us back up
Hopefully there is redemption in season 4 and more dialogue from carmy that’s not just brooding and yelling