The Bear Season 2 Review: Time Well Spent
The Bear Season 2 captivated audiences with its focus on character passions and personal growth, setting it apart from other top shows known for their life-and-death stakes and malicious undertones.
[Spoilers Beyond This Point]
By exploring relatable challenges and emotional journeys, the series delved into the delicate balance between pursuing career ambitions and maintaining personal connections. The standout character of Richie, accompanied by groundbreaking cameos and innovative storytelling, added depth and memorability to the show.
The series intricately navigated the interplay of career aspirations and personal relationships through relatable challenges and emotional journeys, amplified by the compelling character of Richie.
With its ability to tackle lower-stakes scenarios while still delivering impactful storytelling, The Bear has the potential to be hailed as one of the greatest shows of all time when it reaches it’s series finale - but let’s hope the series finale is not anytime soon.
Let’s jump right in…
It Focused on Character Passions
When I rank my personal favorite television shows the subject matter is life and death most of the time.
While the Bear Season 2 does feature multiple characters grieving deaths and sickness of family members, the depiction of their grief is in a way that is easier to digest because there is primarily no malice or evil corruption involved, which is contrast to other top shows including The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and the Wire. Succession even is based in the anti-hero mold where the main characters are all despicable people.
The Bear Season 2 is easier to digest than most shows I would consider “among the elite.”
The Bear is not focused on the anti-hero. Most of our central characters are flawed (as is such because nobody is perfect and everyone has their flaws) but contain a majority of goodness in them.
For scale, Tony Soprano, I would consider to be 90% toxic and Carmy to be 20% toxic.
By immersing us in the characters' personal ambitions, such as Carmy's fight to open his restaurant or Syd's pursuit of Michelin-star status, the dire scenarios our main characters hope to avoid are centered around the consequences their career passions present.
Instead of the central worries of the main characters being extreme violence like being shot or forced into illicit activities, such as in some of my all-time great shows like "The Sopranos" or "Breaking Bad," the characters in the Bear are facing more relatable and emotionally charged challenges, like not becoming a great chef.
Related: An Analysis of the Role of Violence in "The Sopranos”
It stands out, and maybe only to me personally due to my preference for high-stakes stories, it stands out from the rest of the top shows of all time as one of the lighter watches because of these lower stakes.
Not to mention the episodes are short, around 30 minutes each.
I believe this show has the potential to be part of the conversation of greatest shows of all time when it’s all said and done. If indeed this is the case, 10 years from now, it will be interesting to see if it was able to keep us heavily invested in things that are more relatable as seasons move forward.
So far, it’s proving that low stakes do not equal low impact of a story.
Sacrificing to be the Best
There was a theme of weighing options between pursuing personal career passions and personal pleasures and emotional connections. The concept centered around personal sacrifices required to attain elite status in one's career, at least for the career choice of a Michelin-starred chef. But it can be applied to many other career pursuits.
It paralleled the sacrifices made by elite athletes like Michael Jordan or Tom Brady, who give up personal relationships and prioritize their craft. Similarly, the biggest musical artists often have to prioritize their careers over family and personal time while on tour. Carmy's storyline with his new restaurant examined this idea.
He gives Claire a fake number because he already knows deep down that, at this crucial moment in his life, he must dedicate his time entirely to his craft. But at some point he convinces himself that maybe he can maintain a relationship with Claire and manage to dedicate enough time to keep his team happy.
Carm grapples with how he should spend his time in Season 2 of the Bear.
Questions I thoroughly examined in this season: What are the implications of who and what you spend your time with? Can becoming an elite level in your chosen field be achieved without 100% of your time spent on it?
Time Well Spent
Carmy's final epiphany when he’s locked in the freezer serves as his hypothesis on the questions, “I wasn’t here. Right? What the fuck was I thinking? Like I was gonna be in a relationship? I’m a fuckin psycho. That’s why. That’s why I’m good at what I do.”
This sentiment is encapsulated in the phrase 'time well spent,' as expressed by Olivia Colman's guest appearance as the head chef in Richie's training restaurant. Ultimately, each individual must determine for themselves how to best allocate their precious time.
Richie, the Heart of the Show
Richie was a standout character who demonstrated growth and served as the show’s anchor. He quickly became my favorite character because he was funny and his connection to Michael (John Bernthal's character) carries over in his connection and chemistry with Carmy.
He was Michael’s reliable right-hand man, so Carmy and Richie both have the same type of void left by Michael’s absence.
Richie and Carm have the same void that was suffered when Mikey took his own life.
The depth of Richie's character was revealed through his relationship with his daughter and the flashbacks involving his ex-wife, Tiff. The show created a sense of mystery around their separation, adding intrigue to his backstory.
Richie's behavior towards Tiff during the Christmas meal reveals a stark contrast to his interactions with others. Despite being obstructive and argumentative throughout most of both seasons, he shows an incredibly sweet and tender side with Tiff in this flashback, showing care and consideration during her pregnancy struggles. This unseen side hints at Richie's redemptive arc in the Season 2 journey.
Despite being obstructive and argumentative throughout most of both seasons, he shows an incredibly sweet and tender side with Tiff in this flashback, showing care and consideration during her pregnancy struggles.
Later, Richie showcases emotional intelligence, even more so than Carmy. He stepped up, responded well to training, and matured as a leader, all while prioritizing his relationship with his daughter. All of this may not have been as believable without this flashback scene to the Christmas fish meal.
However, during that same flashback, Richie lies to Tiff about a job offer from Uncle Jimmy, falsely claiming it will solve their problems. This highlights his struggle with taking responsibility, which likely contributed to his divorce with Tiff.
It’s great character building in two ways. It shows his capability to achieve redemption later in the story and it also fills in a gap of why he and Tiff ultimately didn’t work out together, while keeping the audience incredibly present in what was currently unfolding in the episode.
Related: Analyzing The Banshees of Inisherin Through One Scene
Episode Six and Groundbreaking Cameos
Episode six featured an exceptional cameo and flashback premise, making it one of the most memorable episodes from any show I've ever seen.
The show had innovation, a crucial element for a series aspiring to be considered one of the all-time greats. Using the best and most high-profile actors for such scenes was a brilliant choice because why not cast some of the most well-known and interesting actors for roles that have been alluded to, but not yet portrayed on screen yet in the show? Let me explain further…
Episode 6, The Fishes, is up there among the elite standalone episodes of any series.
The function of a flashback in itself is a risky move because it can be exposition overload or even disrupt by taking a viewer too far out of a storyline. But casting the likes of Jon Bernthal (of course who made his debut in season one), Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, and many more pulled me in close before I could even digest the story of the episode. It was, ah hem, chef’s kiss. (Sorry for that pun).
In short, It allowed the show to leverage the power of flashbacks to enhance the future storyline while incorporating delightful cameos without compromising the integrity of the narrative.
The presence of these cameos and the execution of the episode were remarkable, thanks to the star power involved and the way they were all placed together in one tight setting. The episode managed to be funny, familiar, poignant, depressing, revealing, and simply outstanding.
In addition, a lot of the cameos added context to Carmy’s background in subtle ways - Olivia Colman and Will Poulter were the more subtle examples as they show up in episodes outside of 6 and are gentle nods to Carmy’s legend.
It left a lasting impact and solidified its place among the show's highlights.
Overall, I rate The Bear Season 2 and 9.1 out of 10.
Anyways, let me know what you thought in the comments below…
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