“The hottest show on TV…”

I thought it lived up to the hype. If you’ve ever worked in hospitality it’s damning triggering in parts. While at uni and briefly after I fell into working in kitchens, culminating in cooking in a fine dining restaurant. If I hadn’t moved to London I’d likely be a chef by accident.

Some caveats for plot devices that pulled me out of the realism.

I felt the pacing of the character arcs were really well done, not cheesy or forced, Tina and Marcus especially.

The show’s a mix of insanely stressful and slow burn. Also 30min run times.

Not perfect but pretty great television

I liked the first season but didn't stick with it. Having worked in restaurant for several years, there's a definite realism to it. Not crap.

Krev wrote: Mon Jan 15, 2024 3:44 pm I liked the first season but didn't stick with it. Having worked in restaurant for several years, there's a definite realism to it. Not crap.

The second is worth the watch. Some nice character development.

Outstanding. The one continuous shot stress fest in Season 1 with the ticket printer set to Wilco's "Spiders" gave me brutal flashbacks to my brief tenure as a line cook.

Season 2 might even be better. Going into this school year it really got up my protestant work ethic manic side which is hilarious because I think it's kind of a cautionary tale against workaholics.

Didn't we C/NC this already? I feel like it merits a kerble...

Liked Season 1 a whole lot. A whole lot. Winningly tense. And those kitchen scenes were incredible. Seemed groundbreaking at the time, for sure.

(Warning: Maybe a mild semi-spoiler or two ahead?)

Season 2 has some moments, namely the Xmas episode and the one that takes place in Copenhagen. I appreciate some of the character development, as well, and Sugar finally becomes way more fleshed-out. But I feel like the aforementioned tension is mostly gone, and the show ends up reveling too much in its place as Critically Acclaimed Television. Suddenly, you have excessive (and expensive-to-license and completely unnecessary) soundtracking in almost every scene plus these pointless, corny-ass montages. Just b/c you know, they can afford it now. Some awkwardly inserted identity politics and social issues (which the first season had already started to handle far more effortlessly and naturally), as well. And I rather dislike the Carmy-related love story, plus I'm not sure that I buy into the whole transformation of Richie (he's far more effective and believable when being a dick).

Some of the acting (Ayo Edebiri and Liza Colón-Zayas, in particular) remains terrific, and I'll certainly check out the next season, but the tone has changed dramatically and seems all wrong now. Overall, The Bear became way, way more like a "normal" American tv show. Very Hollywood.

Still Not Crap for the time being, but just... Bearly [groan!]?

Agree with OE nearly point by point. Season 2 was a letdown: the love story was sappy and with a predictable ending. The charm of the show was seeing something that actually kinda resembled Chicago, and S2 seemed more.. slick?

Still watchable, but maybe it should have been a limited series.

I agree on season two having a different tone. To me it was better and worse at the same time. I thought they dropped the ball on Carmy but upped the game on the others. Richy worked I thought, as they kind of slow burned his inner life from episode 1.

One thing I think the show messes up is the music. A bit of Wilco… make Chicago music The Thing. You could have easy swapped out New Noise for a TJL tune. Every time Pearl Jam kicked off it really grated. They tried to make music a character in the show, but fucking REM… I realise there’s an inbuilt bias here but Chicago alternative and jazz as a “character” would have been so easy.

Gramsci wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2024 2:19 am I agree on season two having a different tone. To me it was better and worse at the same time. I thought they dropped the ball on Carmy but upped the game on the others. Richy worked I thought, as they kind of slow burned his inner life from episode 1.

One thing I think the show messes up is the music. A bit of Wilco… make Chicago music The Thing. You could have easy swapped out New Noise for a TJL tune. Every time Pearl Jam kicked off it really grated. They tried to make music a character in the show, but fucking REM… I realise there’s an inbuilt bias here but Chicago alternative and jazz as a “character” would have been so easy.

Agree with all of that, especially the Chicago music part.

REM had their merits as a band, but were definitely "emotional TV soundtrack" fodder. Chicago gave more than enough appropriate music for it.

Saw 1st episode ages ago due to hype, and thought it was really very dumb "guys cursing each other out loudly" comedy. Since then I saw the Copenhagen Episode and the Christmas Episode, and those were both fine, but trying way too hard. Reminds me a bit of Master of None. The only one of these new-fangled tension-wrought dramedy shows that I think is consistently worth anything is Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.

Waffles for bringing the "Italian Beef" to a global audience.