The Bear - Season 1
“The Bear is more inclusive than its premise would have you think.”
Title: The Bear
Episodes Reviewed: Season 1
Creator: Christopher Storer 👨🏼🇺🇸
Writers: Christopher Storer 👨🏼🇺🇸 (4 eps), Joanna Calo 👩🏽🇺🇸 (2 eps), Sofya Levitsky-Weitz 👩🏼🇺🇸 (1 ep), Karen Joseph Adcock 👩🏾🇺🇸 (1 ep), Catherine Schetina 👩🏼🇺🇸🌈 (1 ep), and Rene Gube 👨🏻🇺🇸 (1 ep)
Reviewed by Li 👩🏻🇺🇸
—MILD SPOILERS AHEAD—
Technical: 5/5
With the quivering energy of films like Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) and Uncut Gems (2019), back-of-the-kitchen drama The Bear storms its way through your TV screen. Frenetic yelling and claustrophobic framing deliver the madness of running an Italian beef joint in Chicago’s River North district, as viewers follow fine dining chef Carmen Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) on his return home to take over the failing restaurant left behind by his brother Michael (Jon Bernthal).
A family-like cast of characters populate the Original Beef of Chicagoland, including Carmen’s new sous chef Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri), a passionate pastry chef with no formal training named Marcus (Lionel Boyce), and Original Beef’s old guard spearheaded by the foul-mouthed, gun-toting Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Sparks fly as newcomers Carmen and Sydney shake up the kitchen. It’s a familiar plot, to be sure, but the sheer chemistry between cast members bowls over the viewer with superlative charm.
Precisely tailored to the format of modern TV, the 8-episode season plays fast and loose with runtimes which span 20 to 47 minutes, allowing creator Christopher Storer’s show to breathe and explode at an organic pace. Artful realism from cinematographer Andrew Wehde and keyed-up editing by Joanna Naugle and Adam Epstein showcase Storer’s own back of house, and alongside writers and directors, everyone performs at the top of their game as they serve up a lean yet satisfying experience.
Gender: 3.75/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES
Although the cast is male-dominated and the crux of The Bear follows a posthumous reconciliation between brothers, women carve out key narratives. Sydney sees plenty of screen time and goes head to head with Original Beef stalwarts like Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) and Richie, both of whom eventually come to respect her. And her relationship with Carmen feels deliciously complicated, both of them talented and stubborn with different ideas of how to improve the restaurant.
Behind the camera, Storer’s show sits even prettier. Aided by a gender-balanced team of directors and writers, the final product exhibits a confident mix of “feminine” and “masculine” modes of storytelling. Intimate close-ups we might normally associate with female directors zero in on a character’s internal dialogue, microexpressions flitting across furrowed brows or boring out of vacant eyes. Moments later, puffed out chests and shouted insults tap into alpha male aggression, sometimes devolving into physical brawls or gunshots.
No matter which brand of energy we see, the full range applies to each member of the kitchen. Though soft-spoken and diplomatic, Sydney still threatens Richie with a comically large knife when they argue. Head chef Carmen barks orders like a drill sergeant and jitters with the coiled gait of too much adrenaline, but still finds time to expend emotional labor as he calms down a distraught Marcus. When each character is afforded such dimension, they become real people, not gendered caricatures.
Race: 4/5
Though the show is helmed by a white male lead, Sydney (played by Edebiri, who was born to immigrants from Barbados and Nigeria) holds her own. And although the rest of the primarily Black and brown restaurant workers jostle for scant air time, each retains a sense of personhood. They push back against Carmen and Sydney; when Carmen asks Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) what he thinks of a sandwich, the man casually jokes, “It’s redundant and white, just like you.”
Even better are the times characters of color develop relationships with each other, outside the kitchen that’s lorded over by the outsized presences of white men like Carmen, Richie, or even the memory of Carmen’s brother Michael. Tina (Colón-Zayas, Afro-Latinx) and Marcus (Boyce, Black) each enjoy character development that plugs in with Sydney. With Marcus especially, Sydney encourages him through carefully placed moments throughout the season. This patient tending to pays off in the final episode: A long scene at Sydney’s apartment between the two exudes easy camaraderie, deeply affecting in its warmth.
Disability: 3.5/5
The Bear hinges on topics of mental health such as grief, addiction, and suicide. However, its curiosity stops at the individual experience. While this makes for compelling drama and relatability, as viewers observe the varying ways that Carmen copes with his brother’s suicide, any broader commentary is absent. The Bear is content to portray these issues without remark—a perfectly fine approach but one that doesn’t move the needle on real-world discussions around these societal challenges.
Mediaversity Grade: B 4.06/5
The Bear is more inclusive than its premise would have you think. And at just four hours total, it’s a no-brainer to boot up the fantastic, self-contained season. Carried by strong word of mouth, FX just renewed the show for a second season, so you might as well dig in now.
Like The Bear? Try these other titles that brim with manic energy.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Uncut Gems (2019)
Succession - Seasons 1-2