The FX show The Bear is getting rave reviews and they are all deserved. Without reservation, I’d say it’s currently the best show on television, now that Season 1 of Sarah Lancashire’s HBO Max reincarnation of Julia Child is over.
I’ve watched six of the eight episodes, savoring what is left. I missed it when it was broadcast on FX, so I’m watching it on Hulu. If you don’t have Hulu, get it, even if it’s just for a month to binge watch this show.
So what about it is so great? First: it’s about food. The camera work on the chopping, braising and mashed potato-making is thrilling – yes, I said it: thrilling. Brilliant. Fabulous. Second: the storyline is fresh and incredibly well cast, with one exception. I’ll get to that in a minute. Third: It has Oliver Platt. Who? Oh good grief. Oliver the fluffy guy who was incredibly verbose in Lake Placid to Bill Pullman’s straight man routine. Oliver who was the useless husband to Laura Linney in HBO’s The Big C, another great show from years ago. Oliver, who now plays Uncle Jimmy, a character of questionable background who is anything but stereotypical. He alone would make this worthwhile. But wait! There’s so much more.
The main character called Carmy is a guy who uses a family tragedy to escape the mental pressure of foody work at a fancy New York restaurant. We know that from snippets of flashback where he’s being tortured by a sadist of a chef boss. Carmy tries to bring his knowledge and the ways of New York French cuisine to the family sandwich shop in Chicago, and the culture shock is hard on everyone, but especially on Carmy who is struggling with the loss of his brother Michael. That character isn’t even shown until Episode 6, and is played by the incredible Jon Bernthal, lately of the newest series from The Wire guys on HBO about Baltimore’s police corruption. Hope to see more of this character in Season 2.
But the guy who steals the show in this series is Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the wild and crazy cousin Richie who thinks the place really is his. But Richie is a fossil, stuck in the old ways when Michael was running the place into the ground, physically and financially. Michael’s drug problem is mentioned but you the viewer have to make the connections to resulting money and relationship issues. This makes the plot rich without patronizing us. How fresh and unusual!
The one fly in the oatmeal is the dynamics in the relationship between Carmy and Sugar, his sister. Their dialogue doesn’t work, as it fails to help us understand why Carmy avoids Sugar and Sugar is so angry. Abby Elliott, formerly of SNL, plays Sugar and she just doesn’t work in that role. Oh well, everybody has a blind spot.
The Bear has been renewed for Season 2. There is no reason why a second season shouldn’t be as successful as the first, as there is so much more plot to explore. As previously mentioned, I hope Bernthal will be back as he is a force of nature that fits perfectly into the cast. So I, for one, am looking forward to another round of this show. So watch it, people! You’ll like it.