“The Bear” Season 3: Too Much Time in The Oven

The Bear’s third season overstays its welcome despite its delicious presentation.

The Bear is ferocious. Fans became aware of this fact as soon as they pressed play on episode one all of those panic attacks, arguments, and insults ago. Time is measured in pain and dollars with The Bear; its absolutely frenetic pace and cinematic action gave it the reputation of the most anxiety-inducing show on television. However, underneath the beast is a heart as tender as the monster is wild. The kitchen crew may yell at volumes and speeds that creates a language unique to the Bearzattos, but even vein-popping Carmy needs to decompress after every screaming match. This push and pull between emotional volatility and vulnerability is what gives The Bear its signature dynamic, and by extension, a concrete direction. With a camera always moving save for the intentional heart-to-hearts, The Bear has always felt trustworthy. Even when being completely engaged from the mystery of what could possibly explode next in the back kitchen of The Bear, whether that be clashing personalities or a dish gone wrong, I was always confident in the show’s execution. However, Season 3 performs a tonal departure that results in a different cinematic language and atmosphere compared to past seasons with a more grounded and patient pace. While the construction is consistently impeccable, in execution, this experimental treatment of a perfect dish has sadly rendered The Bear’s third season an over salted experience compared to its previous two courses, the aftertaste of repetition tainting my memory of the culinary journey.

Opposite the overall show’s explosive start but paralleling its effect, season 3 makes its somber tone immediately apparent to the audience. The first episode of ten has a runtime longer than the majority of the first seasons’ episodes, which in itself had less overall installments than either of its following seasons. The season opener then moves at a contemplative pace as the camera captures Carmy’s past in what essentially amounts to a montage more than a cohesive narrative. This episode proved visually impressive for the ways in which it managed to properly reintroduce audiences to a changed protagonist while further informing his background - as a die-hard fan of the previous two seasons, I was not expecting this groundwork to end up being the new norm. Episode two is more intense, but only by way of a consistent rising tension built by static close ups and stellar dialogue instead of chaotic camerawork combined with conflicting characters. The camera in season 3 feels subdued, making the entire show’s construction the visual equivalent of Carmy’s built up tension. With a familiarly pensive soundtrack, mere sequences of unbridled chaos instead of entire episodes, and characters biting their tongues more often than not for the sake of the restaurant, at any moment it feels like the show itself could explode. Again, I worry for The Bear just as I do Carmy and the vein popping from a consistently impressive Jeremy Allen White. With the benefit of a slower pace, the show no doubt indulges in more somber sequences where the focus is a character contemplating in silence or deliberating with a close mutual instead of what we’ve come to expect from the show. Again, this slower pace is masterfully constructed with some of the most thematically evocative and emotionally engaging cinematography yet. Similarly, The Bear continues to prove its masterful editing in sequences that, when given the thought and appreciation, one realizes could have taken days, weeks, or months in the editing bay. However, consistent quality doesn’t always guarantee audience engagement, and sadly, The Bear falters here where previous seasons thrived.

One can only watch languished characters suffer in silence for so long. I don’t mean to be a bore, and I’m sure season 3 didn’t either, but the fact of the matter is that this is the longest season with the least amount of personal or narrative development. Many episodes culminate with characters ruminating on a personal issue, promising action in the next episode. An entire thirty minutes is served just to show that The Bear is struggling, which is no doubt a cinematic feast for the eyes, but one that feels repetitive by way of performing the same narrative role over and over. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the mess looks, a half hour of undeveloped action is still fruitless at its core. This same critique applies to many of the season’s weakness: The Fak’s are incessant in their comic relief, Syd takes multiple episodes to never come to a conclusion to her sole conflict of the season, and Carmy’s arch while not unfinished, ends on a “to be continued” that feels like the show laughing in the audience’s face. The Bear seemingly knows it’s moving slowly, that episodes had the extra time and the season the extra space to develop the narrative more thoroughly. Instead, much of the season appears like beautiful fluff between characters I still desperately care about, but simply want to see in new situations. Again, previous seasons felt as though they had a concrete direction, whereas the cinematic makeup here is intentionally directionless with a focus on atmosphere to make for a season more significant for individual characters than the overall plot. However, these episodes didn’t seem to reveal enough new information consistently to keep this viewer engaged; an issue avoided by previous seasons that demanded to trim the fat.

Season 3 ends on an ellipsis. Carmy’s reaction is quite literally cut off by the show’s credits. Instead of suspense, I feel teased, and while the quality is still seen on the glistening maillared surface of The Bear, Season 3 is a dish lacking proper nutrition, making for a season that left me starving in the worst way possible. No doubt I’ll be satisfied when the next course arrives, the crisis moment of any narrative promises an exciting climax, and if The Bear has proved anything, it’s that chaos is where craft truly shines. Hopefully, the tone will be realigned with the same filmmaking talent behind the scenes next season, making for a final meal truly worthy of its ingredients.