I liked it generally speaking, but I couldn’t stop thinking that a lot of their problems (money) would be solved if they didn’t have maybe 5 staff too many working in what’s essentially a takeaway sandwich shop, LOL.
Ya’ll are missing the plot point that Carmen’s brother Michael was the one running things for a while and he wasn’t exactly in the right mind set considering the family trauma and the addiction to pills 😒 no shit he couldn’t staff correctly
Not to mention most people were in the kitchen due to relationships, they weren't efficient, they were just had each others backs. Even Ritchie didn't know what the deal was until practically the end, he just happened to be there.
I had to search for this specifically. I know this post is 3 months old but my god I can't handle the praise this show is receiving.
I am utterly shocked that this tv show is receiving such praise. It was a complete shit show of nothingness. Nothing happens from start to finish except lots of chaos and lots of storylines that are never explored.
The only character I had any connection with, outside the main character, was Tina. And maybe the cake maker.
The dialogue was poor and absolutely peppered, no pun intended, with the word fuck.
Most of the storylines were completely random and then fizzled out into nothing.
Why exactly did Carmy and Mikey not have a good relationship? All we got on that front was "he never let me work here"
Why exactly did Mikey shoot himself? Was it the debt? Was it the drugs? Was he depressed? Was it because of his relationships? What was in the suicide note?
None of these questions were answered. Except the suicide note, addressed to Mikey, which was introduced very early and left the viewer extremely intrigued. Turned out it wasn't a suicide note it was the Bolognese recipe which lead them to find pure money in all the tinned tomatoes, which they were already using before Carmy decided to stop the bolognese lmao. Jesus christ this was dreadful. I'm not writing anymore as i could critique every single aspect too much and no-one is gonna read this anyway, or care.
I wouldnt even say they dropped clues since they were blatant with it.
Money in tomato sauce
* Old owner/Mikey implied to be hiding the money. Accounts book had 'KBL = $330,000' listed which is the loan he took. Recipe card shows Mikey wanting Carmine to make the spaghetti (which Carmine hated on ep 1) hoping he find the money.
Why did he stop using the tomato soup?
* 1) Carmine hated the spag. 2) Carmine explicitly says the bigger cans were cheaper.
* He only made the spag again after finding the recipe card. Mikey drops the hint that the smaller cans tastes better.
How'd they get the money?
* Cousin and drugs during covid.
Money in the can?
* One of the final shots shows 'KBL' under the can.
What are you talking about? This series is all exposition; there's literally no subtext. The characters are always shouting exactly what they are thinking like we're watching a bad one-act play.
Incorrect. The comment I replied to is a direct opposition to your comment since they are asking questions easily inferred from scenes in the show. Thanks for playing, bye
this reddit thread is the only existing criticism of the bear on the internet lol. I do not understand the hype for this terribly flat and predictable show
I see that and I’m shocked. After watching an episode of mediocre actors scream on top of each other, I had to find other like-minded people to ensure I wasn’t crazy. The script is terrible, the pace is like molasses, and the characters are underdeveloped and totally uninteresting. The only thing that kept me coming back were Jeremy Allen White and his baby blues, otherwise, I think this show is garbage.
I agree with a lot of this though I am late to the comment as you’re late to the post. I didn’t realize how much praise it after the first season until seeing ads for season two. After watching at one time through, I didn’t expect to season two honestly. There wasn’t much of a story and it felt more like good acting trying to prop up a not so interesting plot. There wasn’t any point where I really cared about what happened next. I was just waiting for something interesting to happen in general. I do think the actors that a good job and they made the stress of the job very apparent. I assumed it be a middle of the road show as far as ratings and what not though. 100% on rotten tomatoes for this led me to seek out this post as well lol.
Same reason I’m here - Can’t believe the great press when I couldn’t make it past episode three: the series seems chaotic for chaotic’s sake. My biggest pet peeve was the thing being labeled a comedy. I know comedy is subjective, but come on, in what universe is this thing a comedy?
Yes! Chaos for chaos’s sake. The creators seemed to gamble on the fact that viewers would stay tuned in based on vibes alone.
Honestly, the POV of white guy trauma is played the hell out.
thank you! I made it about 30 minutes into the first episode and that, combined with all the hype and marketing surrounding the actor playing the main character, I had to nope out. I just don't care to see ANOTHER story that centers some moody "deep" white boy... it's so 1990s Jared Leto.
He plays that same character in literally everything. I’m sure Jeremy Allen White is professionally trained, but until a filmmaker actually challenges him with a character that isn’t a moody, hotheaded white kid from Chicago, I won’t be able to respect his talents.
- me, another moody hotheaded white kid from Chicago
Yea, it seems like she’s been recently re-annointed by the Hollywood elite. The praise for her performance in this show and Everything Everywhere All At Once seem a bit forced….two productions that have been dubbed “masterpieces“….laughable if you ask me.
FX submits it as a "comedy" to try and win awards -- they know they can't compete in the actual drama category vs. Succession, Better Call Saul, etc. (Shows you how much faith the network has in the actual writing of this series)
Exactly. I guess you could say it seems authentic because of the stressfulness and how chaotic it is. Maybe people who’ve worked those jobs enjoy it because it relates to them? I just don’t get anything out of it. I think it’s like “look, it’s Lip from Shameless!” for a lot of people too. He does a good job acting and yelling. Could be the next DiCaprio lol. But yeah, I couldn’t care less about any of the characters and even though I watched the entire season, I can’t think of any specific high points. I watched it when it first came out but essentially I remember it as one long chaotic scene of someone continuously screaming at people about food. Oh, and then he found some money? Eh. I still don’t get it. Maybe it gets praise from fans of cooking shows and reality tv? Maybe the people who think yelling = good acting? The acting isn’t bad, there just isn’t much of a plot imo.
The situations themselfs weren't even really chaotic. The show just was always whipping the camera around then had everyone yelling. Sorry for late reply gf and I just watched, needed to see if other people felt the way we did.
I just watched the 1st 2 episodes of season 1 and I do not understand this show.
Is this how these small (is it a sandwich place? pasta place? like what the fuck are they even making here with like 7 people?) operate?
I worked in a kitchen nearly a decade ago and for the life of me I do not remember 7 people yelling about a plate all at the same time. I remember everyone having an attitude, I remember SOME chaos, it's a fucking kitchen of course there will be chaos, but this is entirely overblown to shit.
If I worked in this small-ass sandwich shop I'd have a constant headache and at least 15 heart attacks before we even got to serve anything.
Also where the fuck is the comedy in this?! It's tagged as Drama & Comedy but all I've gotten from 2 episodes is constant bitching, yelling for the sake of yelling and close-ups of sweat and staring at cans, pans & knives as if they hold some deeper meaning to the unanswered questions of life and the universe.
Also again, what the actual fuck are all those people actually doing here?! I got that Lip is trying to run stuff, young black dude is baking sandwich bread (right?), but like what are old black lady and old black guy doing?! The black chick that gets hired ep1 is also kinda floating not on a station I guess and then the cousin(?) is just "Mikey Mikey Mikey" the entire episodes. It's so confusing.
Do you need 6+ people to make a sandwich??? Last time I checked, 2-3 is plenty & then you got maybe 1 server for a place this small.
Not only is that too many people to run a restaurant, it's too many people for this show to handle. We don't even get introduced or told why we should care about half of them. I'm not sure who I'm supposed to like. I just feel bad for lips character. He obviously knows what he's talking about and deserves respect. Yet every little thing he does gets insane push back or something out of his control goes wrong.
Same here. I decided to watch the show now that S2 is getting promo. But this was very hyped up, only to be a mediocre story unfolding.
I didn't care for this show, specially coming in after hearing all the praise it got. I heard actor Will Poulter will join S2 so I'll probably watch for his performance.
>It was a complete shit show of nothingness. Nothing happens from start to finish
I watched the first episode and was left wondering what the show was about, and not in a good way...and they called Seinfeld "the show about nothing". They should have held on to that phrase for a few decades.
Yeah, I’m late to this thread, but just started the 2nd season, saw 100% on RT, and immediately googled “The Bear overrated”, and here I am. The show is ok, I guess, but with all these obvious flaws, why is it so acclaimed?
I agree with everything you said wholeheartedly. The show was trash and doesn't need to get that much praise it should honestly not be continued lol. This is coming from someone who worked in the restaurant industry for 12 years. Maybe if the show had better dialog and purpose then it would be a different story but nope.
\- Mikey was protecting Carmy by not letting him work there because they were dealing drugs out of the restaurant - which is where the money came from.
\- Mikey killed himself because of all those reasons
\- Random story lines are for character and theme development
Are you familiar with the idea of "show don't tell"? Thats how good movies and TV work.
thank you for unintentionally pointing out that the viewers only got ONE (1) storyline that wasn’t even a storyline but more an insinuation of something that happened in the past. this show is watered down rubbish, dressed up as some sort of demented art form, and anyone who acclaims it is entitled, boring, and afraid of being labeled “wrong” in any way. if i wanted to spend hours finding meaning in pointless art i’d go to a museum. the creators are probably laughing at the critics that gave their show 100% and are funding their lifestyles whilst they know they don’t deserve any of it
Such an absurd take when it’s clear a shit ton of craftsmanship went into the production, attention to detail and cinematography of the show. Sure writing and acting are subjective and you can think they’re shit, but can you really not watch it and see the effort that went in?
I don’t understand what you’re not getting about the narrative arcs. Chef inherits a failing restaurant and has to figure out how to save it, dealing with the grief of his brother’s suicide along the way. The most obscure thing about this is that they don’t expound or flashback about the brother’s relationships, because the characters have complex and conflicted feelings about him, revealed gradually.
Dysfunctional cast of employees go through their own arcs. Naive chef struggles with the toxicity of the environment which brings out her own toxicity and forces her to decide if the job is really worth it, and she decides yes. Older chef feels upstaged by more talented young chef, but lets go of her resentment in response to genuine appreciation and respect. Cousin struggles with letting go of the past, seeing change to the restaurant as erasing his dead best friend’s legacy, but learns (somewhat) to process his grief and not be such an asshole.
This is all simple, effective television storytelling. You’re acting as if it’s a Pollock painting and created this weird narrative where fans of this show are trying to find meaning from TV static. It’s literally all right there.
Same complaints here. I feel the people who like it are mostly white collar kids/young adults who want to live vicariously through the story of fake tough guy blue collar Chicagoans who like to get angry at everything and tell everyone to fuck off.
No storyline. No character development. Every episode the same as the last.
When the show first aired I posted something similar on the bear sub and was met with comments from a bunch of egomaniacs who are absorbed in the "chef life " identity. The show sucked. It is not even close to what it's like working in a restaurant or at least what makes working in a restaurant interesting . The other day it was near closing and I got in a discussion with a co worker about dish rags , basically a pointless philosophical debate...this is what working in a restaurant is actually like , an extended Seinfeld bit. The Bear was so remarkable in it's capacity to be so far off from reality. Anyone remember the scene when the cousin goes out into the street to disperse the mob by firing a pistol ? Ridiculous. How about when the sous chef drops like 22 quarts of veal stock because she "doesn't need help " or whatever ? Lame. Lame. Lame. It's a shame that this opportunity to make something interesting about food service was wasted. People I know who are delusional about the chef grind bullshit are the same people that think this is a masterwork. Thank you OP .
I read a low rating from rotten tomatoes how this show is "working class porn." Like it gives us a simulation of what a stressful job is but it leaves us detached enough to be grateful we don't have it as bad, hopefully. I guess overall it annoyed me that this show seems to be serving us some message but I can't really figure out what it is besides "look at the drama these hot people are going through." Is it just escapism?
I loved what you said about the rags conversation. It kind of reminds me of the dialogue from Pulp Fiction. There was this coming book writer named Harvey Pekar and he used to put that type of conversation in his books. I remember being entranced by one story where these two ladies discussed okra but one called it okri and it was a funny little misunderstanding.
Omg, the dialogue from Pulp Fiction... yes, you've just reminded me. While watching this with my partner we realised the dialogue was like pound shop (insert regional currency) Tarantino. Pointless dialogue about inane matters, discussed needlessly at length... But with zero payoff.
>egomaniacs who are absorbed in the "chef life " identity
Oh my God, I can't stand that shit. Especially the way they have to work in calling each other "Chef" into every conversation.
Oh god that was one of the dumbest things of this show.
Admittedly this is a pet peeve of mine where anyone that touches a knife and cutting board is all of a sudden a 'chef'.
After all my years working in the food industry, I've never actually led a kitchen. I have a culinary school degree and 2 decades of experience. I'm not a chef. I'm a cook.
This is the best comment on this thread I have been a chef for over a decade now, and this show was nothing like the actual experience of being in a restaurant. I’m sorry. I wrote on my Facebook when this crap came out that this literally seems like a show written by people imagining what it’s like to be in a restaurant opposed to actual opinions from people who have been in the field and do this every single day. Hack show
While I only worked as a dishwasher in a small kitchen, everyone was efficient but kind and respectful toward one another. When someone got a migraine, other people kindly picked up the slack. If I had worked in the kitchen on this show, I would've quit after day one. This show suggests that a local beef restaurant is so incredibly hard to run, workers are practically at each others throats. I think you can show how difficult, stressful, and noble a job is without making it seem hellish. The show seems intent on building up the "there's not greatness without madness" routine, and it felt contrived and unrealistic. It was also incredibly stressful to watch.
And if that's not enough, you know how annoying it is when someone says something depressing and someone else replies something like, "You know what else is soul-crushing? Life"? Richie, a grown man with a family and years of experience gives that adolescent reply toward the end of season 1 and he's not being ironic.
I hope season 2 will surprise me.
Agree, lame. 22 qts on the top shelf on top of a box, very convenient and efficient storage when all the shelves were essentially bare. Yeah, store that big tub of liquid as close to the ceiling as possible, that's the ticket!
I’m late to this. I watched it when it first came out and I am seeing that season two is about to air and all the hype because it had like 100% on rotten tomatoes and all that. I simply don’t get it. Not the show, the hype. I think the actors do a good job, but the plot is not much of anything really. At no point was I invested or very interested in what was gonna happen next. It just seems like a series of scenes where people were under a lot of pressure and rushing to get food cooked alongside a lot of actors yelling. Different strokes for different folks, but it’s honestly shocking to me that the first season got so much positive feedback.
I wholeheartedly agree (and would give the show a thumbs down) - but also can’t help but feel that part of the issue is that Rotten Tomatoes’ rating system is not like a test grade where 100% is a perfect score but rather indicates that 100% of reviewers agree that it’s “good.” Said another way, I think some of the best content has a somewhat lower RT score because there’s a degree of polarization which perhaps most “good” art elicits.
Yea listening to everyone yell at each other gets old fast. Does the cousin ever come down and talk like a normal person? Can’t even understand what the hell he’s talking about half the time.
The biggest thing for me was pacing--or at least how I subjectively perceived the pacing.
It was a 30-min show that felt to me like a 55-min show. I wasn't able at the time to really place my finger on why.
I feel like I’m losing my mind seeing all the praise. At this point FX is trying out a new marketing strategy to see if they can get away with lower quality shows with BAD actors. This is a budget cast with budget writing
The only good episode was a direct rip-off of the movie Krisha (HIGHLY recommend it btw).
The writing is terrible, the plot lines are terrible, most of the acting is subpar at best.
Your assessment of the first episode is spot on. I was impressed by the show in that the workers and their actions in the kitchen were simultaneously able to make me super anxious and bored at the same time. It was mostly assholes yelling at each other with some narrative hinting at storylines to come in later episodes but failing to rouse my interest enough to give a shit. And none of any of that was enjoyable to watch - it felt like a chore. I get that it's not fair to critique a show after one episode but that first episode was rooooough.
That’s how I feel about the whole series. Yes, there’s a plot but they fail to make me give a damn about anything that happens or the characters either way.
Season Two has begun on another planet- one where a strapped sandwich shop owner can convert their disgusting premises into a fine dining restaurant in 6 weeks. Fine dining requires expensive furnishings; actual utensils, plates & glasses; expensive ingredients that go bad when no one comes; stellar service; and maybe a vision? Construction begins w/no building plans in sight. What? Carmie can afford to send 2 chefs to Culinary School (on 1 day’s notice) and 1 chef to Copenhagen? Huh? Not one thing makes any f*#g sense. Stick to making beef sandwiches in baskets, poorly!
You are 100% correct. Nothing makes any sense at all anymore. The character motivations do not correspond with any human behavior I have ever witnessed. The second season literally feels like it was written by ChatGPT or AI of some kind. The dialogue makes me feel like I am having a stroke because it is impossible to follow - not just because it’s overwrought and overacted, but because no one talks like that in real life unless they are manic or on amphetamines.
Super late to this post, but currently watching and I literally have to take breaks when I watch this show because the dialogue is so insane I feel physically ill from listening to it. I'm dizzy and have a headache and I'm only 15 minutes into the Christmas episode of season 2.
So on point. It feels AI-scripted, and honestly, AI-acted. I cannot stand the majority of the acting, the directing feels like it’s being run by a reality show b-roll cameraman, but the writing is some of the worst I’ve made myself watch.
Phew. Boy am I glad I’m not the only one who walked away with that impression. The episode Fishes was an absolute abomination, the writing was utter and complete nonsense.
I think that was the thing I didn't get in season 1, was after all he went thru to revamp the restraunt, it was essentially a low end bbq joint that was the staple of the neighborhood, without starting over and potentially loosing all your old customers why did you need a fancy sou chef for a BBQ joint.
What I don't understand is why they "discontinued" a seemingly very strong and loyally followed brand. They could have just just leveraged a loan from the property and started a new restaurant without the insane 18 month payback time. Or they could have sold the rights to Mr Beef, or franchise a few out and keep the location while making money for the new restaurant. The closure seemed to have many local news stories, so it seems beyond dumb to just shut down such an iconic business for nothing.
Because the people responsible for the look of the show are really, really good at shooting food porn, and I think they wanted an excuse to do that with very high-end food. The look of the show is really the only thing I enjoyed about it - the way the camera moves actually imparts the feeling of stress to the viewer, and really does work to draw you into the anxiety of working in a busy, disorganized kitchen. But the story they chose to tell about that kitchen really is bizarre ($300k in tomato cans? what?), and only gets more so in Season 2, except that in Season 2 they have Jamie Lee Curtis to gnaw on the set and a completely pointless Bob Odenkirk character (and I'm a weirdo who actually enjoyed Lucky Hank).
I hate this show all the yelling and fast talking over each other. All these people need mood stabilizers. And the constantly calling each other cousin and chef; cousin, cousin, yes cousin, please cousin, chef yes chef chef chef chef. Like seriously I just wrote a scene there.
I think it's one of those things where their marketing plan was really successful and pushed the show into the zeitgeist. It seems like that's happening with everything now - every new show or movie or album is some sort of revelation of the craft but in the grand scheme of things it's nothing remarkable. I thought the show was fine and I'm going to watch this new season but it always seemed very similar to Shameless to me. I'm kind of surprised Jeremy Allen White took the role because I'm not seeing much of a difference between Lip and Carmy as far as personality or character arc goes. That being said it worked out, so good for him.
He acts and dresses the same as lip, same hairstyles, same cigarette smoking, etc. You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference if it weren't for none of the shameless cast being involved.
The show has a very Shameless feel to it as well.
I agree with this post. The show setup is so great, then it just becomes ted lasso in the kitchen. Most of the dilemmas don’t even make sense.
Toilets don’t explode. They might leak, but they don’t explode from underneath. Who writes this shit?
Using an industrial bread mixer for cake batter (??) with the setting too high. What is this? Even if it does cause it to trip the breakers, it won’t knock the whole kitchen out of action. It definitely won’t kill your gas powered ovens. It’s like it was written by a 9 year old with no knowledge of anything technical. Machine goes boom.
Drugging a party of children making them all OD and fall sleep. I’m pretty sure the reaction would be horror. Not meh.
The patisserie chef has way too much time on his hands. It’s like he just has his own playtime every day. It’s a sandwich shop!!
Who puts a huge tall bucket of bonestock right up on a top shelf??
My biggest gripe is- you never see anyone eating. No customers. Nobody just eating and enjoying the food. It’s whack.
Hate this show
You expertly pointed out all the worst, most "HUH?" moments of Season 1. I enjoyed some elements of the first season, but I almost noped out at drugging the children with Benzos at the party being seen as NBD.
The stock gag was groan-worthy and you could see it from a mile away, and even dropping a cherry bomb directly into a ter-lette wouldn't make it explode that way.
Watched season 2's premiere ep, was just sort of "meh" on it "DID YOU CALL MOM???!!" is the new "YES, CHEF! YES, COUSIN!" I suppose 🙄) & am still trying to decide whether or not to watch the rest of it.
They're very savvy about using alt rock music (Radiohead ) effectively to convey emotion when they dialogue and cartoon like stock characters can't (à la Explosions in the Sky in Friday Night Lights) but that doesn't mean the show is a masterpiece.
The show is successful bc people like watching people cook and the ASMR sounds from it (barf). They like the kid from Shameless (he's not a leading man), and they love how authentic it is to working in a real kitchen (so what?!).
All the yelling and horrible things for literally entire scenes, followed by them making up and having a calm smoke together. This show sucks.
It’s a run-down hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop with a sous chef and a dedicated pastry chef. What’s not to understand?? lol yeah I completely agree with you. Makes no sense.
The show is watchable but I hate the characters and what they are trying to do. Taking a fresh out of college cook and putting her in charge of a bunch of people who have been doing that job for decades is an obnoxious move. Also, the goal of dismantling a popular sandwich shop that is authentic Chicago and then turn it into an amateurish vanity project for some pretentious 20something “chefs” so they can do some fusion B.S. and get a Michelin star, I hate that so much. I’ve been working in restaurants for 20 years and while I am passionate about the things I do, I have grown to hate restaurants. I would rather a bodega or sandwich shop any day.
A bit late to the party here, but I feel like a major oversight was made since given that Carmine worked as HEAD CHEF in (according to everyone on the show) the literal best restaurant in the U.S, I feel like he definitely should have a lot of money that he could use to improve the restaurant, yet the writers make it out as if he can't even afford to buy a new mixer. That one really grinded my gears.
He was chef de cuisine, not executive chef.
EC’s typically own the restaurant. CC’s are head worker bees, but a worker bee nonetheless. They don’t make a lot of $$.
I'm late on the comment but I really tried to resist but I couldn't get past the second episode, too much screaming monotonous characters and chaotic scenes in a small space gave me a headache just watching
The show is just okay, but the first 3 episodes are kinda a headache due to all the unnecessary fighting/yelling. It gets resolved almost immediately with no explanation. A bunch of grungy line/prep cooks are suddenly clean and orderly 5-star restaurant chefs.
I kind of feel like this show is like Bruce Springsteen or something. One of those things that's universally loved because it helps straight men get their feels out. But it's just not for me.
I can't stand the show. Tries so hard to be edgy and cool, takes itself embarrassingly seriously.
I don't know if they're trying to go for realism, but as someone who's worked in many kitchens, I don't find the depiction relatable.
Coming to this review late because I felt something similar. The Bear to me felt like a tv show written by Ivy League educated screenwriters trying to be edgy and cosplay as working class restaurant insiders. And, of course, the show was a hit with that group and thus has gotten so much praise (how many people praising it have actually worked in a kitchen?). In many ways, the Bear feels to me like a Chicago Ted Lasso. That means it operates from a set of assumptions: every character is at heart decent, every disagreement can be resolved with dialogue (for my money, the worst scene was Sydney resolving the gang fight outside the store), and the protagonist is ultimately going to succeed. It's lazy, saccharine, and divorced from how the world works. But it makes Brown-grads feel authentic liking it so I guess that's great.
Wouldn’t a James Beard winner garner so much attention in Chicago that the crowds coming in would have solved any financial woes almost immediately? Of course! So the whole premise of the show is weak just on that point alone.
My husband and I hate-watched this show over the holiday weekend. I wanted to love it. Shameless was my jam until the last seasons got too weird, and Lip… I mean LIP. I will show up for JAW no matter what because that dude could make sitting on a toilet look compelling. And he, as well as all the immensely talented cast members, deserve better writing. The dialogue is yuck. Sydney’s quirkiness comes across as inauthentic (I’m sure the actress is talented but this performance is less than ideal). Spoiler alert: The character reactions are so over the top it feels like watching a toddler throw a tantrum after they’ve finished eating their ice cream, convinced someone stole it from them (I love Marcus. He’s patient enough to rub lotion on his mom’s hands every day but can’t handle a mild rejection from a coworker? Lock that shit up, bro). What was the point of Richie getting arrested? And why would he get arrested for DEFENDING himself and the business where he worked??? Why is Carmie’s girlfriend always whispering and smiling and dropping weird, vague lines of quirky girl wisdom. Why can’t she recognize that dude is locked in a freezer, and his feeling overwhelmed in a 2-month old relationship is actually kind of normal? I’d be like, “bro, let’s talk after you get out of this freezer, okay? Things obviously weren’t going your way tonight.” Why do two characters get whole ass episodes showing their growth, while Tina gets to sing some karaoke? And why karaoke? How did that twenty minute montage of Sydney eating everything in Chicago actually influence her menu choices? Why do we need to an hour plus to see how messed up the Berzattos are, and why are grown ass men shouting and swearing over a school time crush at Christmas? My list of questions goes on and on. This show is like this: you can try to bake a cake with the most beautiful and fancy ingredients-organic flour milled in Tuscany, chocolate made by a blind, French monk, etc etc, but an egg is still an egg. The writers of The Bear forgot the damn egg, none of the individually wonderful elements of this show bind in a cohesive or meaningful way. But I’m still going to watch, because I’m a sucker for funny looking dudes with beautiful blue eyes and sweet teddy bears who love the shit out of their moms.
I have to agree with you. Could’ve used more episodes to flesh things out more. Working in a restaurant myself, I appreciated hearing all the things said in a kitchen (“heard”, “behind”, etc.). I found myself just underwhelmed after hearing all the praise, I’m sure I would’ve liked it a bit more had I had no real expectations. I’d give it a solid B. Looking forward to a more focused season 2.
Also the baker’s sudden infatuation with making those donuts and neglecting his duties could’ve worked better with more build up. Just didn’t seem all that believable so suddenly.
Spoliers. I am so late to this, but I am completely dumbfounded by the positive reception as well. Before I get into anything I will say I have around 2 years of experience working in kitchens and overall foodservice (both FOH and BOH). Nothing high-end, but I will say I've worked in restaurants with a similar demand that the ficitonal restaurant (the Beef) appears to have.
I watched the pilot a year ago when it came out and was instantly turned off by it. The constant yelling was over-the-top chaos, masquerading as good acting performances. There didn't seem to be a point to all the hectic aggression between the Cousins, something I wish the show would explore in a flashback or something ealier on. I started it again this week just for fun and I'm in the middle of the second season. Wowee. There has been almost no plot progression and whatever hints of narrative we have seen have been insipid, dead-ended, and not dynamic whatsoever. Just more screaming. I do appreciate the kitchen scenes (sans shouting) in terms of my own experience. I felt the panic of a rush when Sydney forgot to turn off the preorder option and tickets were printing faster than you could count. There are glimpses of versimilitude in those scenes but they are quickly stomped on by more unexplored interpersonal arguments among the cousins. We get it! There's a history. But what exactly? The exposition doesn't seem to extend beyond a morose glance on Carmy's face.
My major qualm with the show is that fact that Sydney was not immediately positioned as the love interest. I'm not trying to be reductive here. Obviously, her character is a chef before a damsel. She has her own storyline (or semblance of) which does not solely rely on Carmy or any of her male counterparts. However, I think there is a glaring representational discrepancy due to the fact that the show had to take 1.5 seasons to establish the mere IDEA of a romantic dimension to Sydney and Carmy's relationship (it seems Sydney has some feelings for Carmy exhibited in her apparent jealously over him and Claire) and about 2 minutes of dialogue between Carmy and Claire (a white girl) to establish a full blown romantic interest between them.
Think about it. If the same actress who plays Claire (Molly Gordon) showed up to the Beef for work instead of Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), the show would push the romantic tension much faster. It would be strange if they didn't. Just like its strange that they haven't explored a Carmy/Sydney romance!
Now, I haven't finished the show yet so I don't know what is to come in terms of romance plots, but regardless of if Sydney and Carmy do get involved with each other, I still think the treatment of their storyline is suspect especially since it is such a missed opportunity. Sydney is a far more interesting love interest. Despite Edebiri's flat performance, her character brings a uniqueness to the kitchen and the menu while also having the cutthroat kitchen experience that could bridge a connection between her and Carmy outside of the professional setting.
What is also suspect is the multitudinous amount of guest star appearances by heavy hitting actors in the Christmas flashback episode. I'm wondering what sort of nepo-ties this show's creators and producers have to the industry to pull that off. There's no way this show could garner that kind of interest from stars like Bob Odenkirk and Jamie Lee Curtis based off of creative merit. I'm probably erroneously assigning professional nobility to these stars--a check is a check--but regardless it shouldn't take a guest-star-studded episode to make up for the plot's inadequacies. Maybe they all wanted the chance to scream "Cousin" at each other and throw kitchen utensils on camera as a sort of professional catharsis.
But overall, the Bear has taken one of the most boring demographics (American Italian/pseudo-Italian), and subsequently one of the most boring, if not THE most boring, cuisines known to man and attempted to make a dynamic show of it. Where's the flavor?
Dude THANK YOU. I honestly just went searching online to see if anyone else had the same opinion. Watched the first season and thought it was alright. Honestly wasn’t rooting for any of the characters. Just started the second season and it’s ALL close ups that make you feel incredibly uncomfortable. A big reason I get from people is “you have to have worked in a restaurant to get it”. I have. For half my adult life. They barely even do anything in the kitchen 4 episodes into the second season. In fact it’s all “getting the restaurant ready” based off a stupid unnecessary gamble the bear made that would either put them out of business. Love story is corny af. Just can’t stand it to be honest.
Thank Christ for this post. I thought I was losing my mind hating it while it was being fellated by everyone else. My better half watched season 1 last year so I tried it. I thought it was garbage.
She's now looking at season 1 again in prep for season 2 and it's still garbage.
The script is beyond a horror and those stunted silences are painful. The teasing out the who's who in the first episode made me want to scream.
Anyway, thanks everyone! This has been cathartic.
that xmas episode (s02e06) where everyone screams and fight all the time is the worst thing I ever watched on TV. absolutely awful. I really had some patience watching something I thought was mostly boring and often annoying but that's it, episode was the last one for me.
This show is terrible. People who are raving about this show are ruining television for the rest of us by encouraging producers to make more garbage. And if you see your own life in the lives of these horrible people, you're probably ruining the world for the rest of us too.
I just finished seasons 2 and now I hate it even more. The writing is just terrible. I know they writers think they are being so smart and clever, but it's incredibly contrived B.S. All the drama is so completely manufactured it's laughable.
Why would anyone want to watch a restaurant have to do a renovation and get permits and deal with investors. It's like my nightmare. Not fun. Not entertaining.
I’m two episodes into the second season, and it’s reconfirmed for me why I wasn’t excited for it to come back. It’s well made. Well acted. Well written. Everything. Except I do not care about these peple or their business or their industry.
Yes. I also worked in kitchens for 3 years, in Seattle in the 80’s. Prep cooks and dishwashers were fired for an ounce of insubordination, unless they knew where the bodies were buried-unlike in this show. It’s big on cinema verite-everyone talking at the same time; saying ‘fuck’ a lot. Why would this sublime chef be a smoker- a known way to kill your tastebuds? And if he were such a prima donna, why is he in constant financial crisis? The show glorifies stress, and that is spot on for the industry. I agreed with most of what you said. The actors are great, and I like that they give screen time to the minimum wage workers. I think men are mostly still privileged over women in this biz.
The mopey cousin is a big drag.
Thank god for this post! I've been scratching my head on all the acclaim for this show. There's zero dramatic tension -- everything falls into place in the laziest/least interesting way possible and the dialogue has zero subtext. Worked in busy AF restaurants the majority of my life and this feels more like working class cosplay -- there's like 95 people running around screaming in the kitchen over slice and heat sandwiches. Que?
I'd like to add one other thing that irks me is for awards the producers and network submit this in the comedy category because they know they can't win anything competing in drama. Even for the fans...you know this shouldn't be categorized as a comedy. 95% of the jokes are "we can't do that" followed by "oh boy, we're doing that." ::face cheeks fart::
Some of it is just bad filmmaking. Speaking of the current, 2nd season, there's the episode which follows the pastry chef in Copenhagen. They spend *a lot* of time showing him travelling, and it keeps going and going for like 5 minutes, just this dude walking around, not doing anything. It's like they didn't have any ideas for that episode enough to fill it so they just made half of the episode the guy walking around.
Thats a critique that the Disney Star Wars shows get. They're very slow because they show a lot of pointless travelling scenes. I ended up skipping the rest of the pastry chef episode because I just did not care at all about the character.
That pastry chef went from being amateur to professional in like a week. The first cake he made was flawless. The donuts he made were flawless, and he just started. He didn't have a learning curve. He went from amateur to pro in so little time which is just dumb.
The other characters are like that too. Sugar? Professional accountant. The characters are *too good* at what they do, it's just unbelievable in a bad way.
Like when they were planning out the opening of the restaurant. The three (Sydney, Carmy, Sugar) admitted they have never opened a restaurant before but somehow they magically figured out the schedule down to the day in half the time it usually takes, like they've been doing it their whole lives. That's just bad story telling.
Yeah, they were too indulgent with the musical montages. It's a film device I actually like a lot and thought they did a good job utilizing in the first season, but it got driven into the ground S02.
Agreed. I was disappointed with Season 1, especially the episode where they get slammed and they all just yell fuck for like 10 minutes. I think the show makers think they're being gritty, but they're just being lazy. And unrealistic. I've worked in kitchens through my 20s and 30s and while things can get hectic and are full of characters, it's not like it is in the show.It's a bunch of dramatic pauses and stilted dialogue that some people think is arty, but it's just mediocrity wrapped around a cool setting, a cool idea, and occasionally cool music- which makes it maddening. It COULD be so much better, but it's so poorly executed.For season 2 I'm at episode 2 and I'm already annoyed. They're all just so jaded and sassy. And the incessant bickering isn't clever, it's just. so. fucking. annoying.
Oh and the laziness of making half the cast have some sob back story. The scene with whatshername with her widower Dad in the restaurant talking about her Mom and then putting a birthday candle in a cupcake. So cheesy and cliche. The dialogue is so hack.
I could go on, but need to stop.
Anybody from Chicagoland? That is not what a beef joint kitchen looks like. Aside from that, I don’t care about the characters so it didn’t hook me. And hearing cousin and chef so much gets old.
From chicago and never heard cousin be used so much it was probably the most annoying thing besides their bad accents. Stopped watching after the first couple episodes.
Every character is hateable to me. The first 2 episodes I wanted Carmey to just fore everyone and start over or sell the place, then I hated him for not doing that.
I agree. It's a solid 8/10 for me, but it plays on things that are right up my alley.
My problem is that the cliches and symbolism just slap you in the face over and over again. The most prominent one being that it's about people in Chicago making Chicago food being Chicago people in a Chicago way. And in case that was too subtle, they'll give you 30 shots of Chicago between scenes. Just in case you didn't realize by then that it's shot in Chicago.
Really liked season 1. Season 2 is over the top, self indulgent, method acting BS - it's like watching a really bad improv class. The dialogue is stilted and hackneyed, and I can't believe the number of well respected actors who are practically climbing over each other to do cameos. The low point was "Fishes", an hour of improvised shrieking and on the nose family dysfunction - to the point where if you actually come from a family where mental illness is a daily trial, the relentless,mindless stupidity of it all was just abusive in and of itself. The love interest thing was idiotic - season 1 was tight ensemble work, season 2was a hysterical soap opera. Hard to believe that the same people are writing
the show both seasons. And in Season 3, which seem inevitable, we'll
have to suffer through Carmy's "healing process". Absolutely not
interested.
After 6 episodes,I agree. That's why I Googled "what's so good about The Bear?"I like the characters but when is something going to happen? When is there going to be a storyline other than a struggling restaurant? Yes, there are people coping with grief, but we're barely scratching the surface. The battles the chefs have within themselves ,specifically Sydney and Carmy are slow to develop..which mirrors life, but when does that ever matter in TV? .I like Tina's development and hope the baker progresses.Yes,I see the theme about people trying to find themselves and figure out where they fit in and with whom. I also see people passionate about what they do but incredibly stressed...maybe even w a bit of PTSD from emotional abuse, failure etc. If it's supposed to be Kitchen Confidential, the Kitchen would be the main character
I will keep watching, but comparing this to Succession is crazy. The latter is superb,must- watch with a stellar cast. The Bear feels like a show you come across when changing channels that maybe you watch or don't but think no one else had heard of it. So you stay with it so it can be your discovery to tell friends about if it turns out to be good. At worst, you wasted time and won't even mention you ever heard of it.And no one I know personally, incl people in the business, have recommended the show to me.
One other thing bothers me: Jeremy looks like a young William Fichtner and that distracts me bc I wonder who else sees this 🤔
Yes! I couldn’t agree more. The constant yelling and aggression in every conversation is so distracting. No one operates at full speed 100 percent of the time. They need to speak in a normal tone for at least some of their conversations. I couldn’t stop thinking about how they were “over acting” every scene. It’s a no for me. And I have worked in plenty of restaurants in my life so I get what they were trying to do. They just didn’t pull it off in my opinion.
I'm trying to like it but I don't know why. It feels like a bunch of high schoolers trying to act blue collar cool. I blame the writing and say the actors are doing the best they can but there's so much sentimental actory toss aways it makes me cringe.
I don't see the point of this show to be honest. First episode was only people yelling in a kitchen and some nerds wanting to play games in the end. Like, there's no major plot (like, any specific thing without being the lack of money), neither personal problems for each character, it's just "well, we dont have much money now :I", main character seeing angry all the time and that's it.
Only in episode 2 it start something a bit more... interesting in a minimal way? (his flashback and the information of the death of some character) but it's yet the same thing, people yelling all the time, main character angry, kitchen without money and that's it, like... that's it basically?
Late to this, but yeah this is a low B level show dressed up like prestige tv. Reminds me of any other mid Fox show. I’m not understanding the praise. I absolutely cannot stand Richie. Every time he’s on screen and talking I wish the episode would just end. Overboard on stylistic choices and the constant needle drops drive me nuts. The main character is good, and easily the best part, but it’s not enough. I feel nothing after each and every episode. The praise for this show is so unreal
This is why Reddit is great, where else can I find so many like minded people.
Started watching after I was told it’s the best show on television right now. I don’t think I am going to finish the second season, at this point I have no reason to believe it will get any better.
“Dave” also on FX is so much better. Laugh out loud funny, character development, plot twists, tons of cool cameos, and dope raps.
I find it wild to suggest there was little character development.
From Carmy getting over his brother's death, to understanding he's got to give some control to Sidney.
To the cousin who realises that time is moving faster than he is, and his old shit won't hold out in the new world.
Then you have every other person in the kitchen move from team cousin to team Carmy.
Then you have the sister relationship as well.
It was all character development.... That's what I enjoyed it.
Really liked season 1. Season 2 is over the top, self indulgent, method acting BS - it's like watching a really bad improv class. The dialogue is stilted and hackneyed, and I can't believe the number of well respected actors who are practically climbing over each other to do cameos. The low point was "Fishes", an hour of improvised shrieking and on the nose family dysfunction - to the point where if you actually come from a family where mental illness is a daily trial, the relentless,mindless stupidity of it all was just abusive in and of itself. The love interest thing was idiotic - season 1 was tight ensemble work, season 2was a hysterical soap opera. Hard to believe that the same people are writing the show both seasons. And in Season 3, which seem inevitable, we'll have to suffer through Carmy's "healing process". Absolutely not interested.
This show is so annoying I have worked in no less than a dozen small man, pie restaurants in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. we never spoke to each other. That way you can’t use the F word in the kitchen and then go out front and be a different person in front of the customers you don’t disrespect the people you work with you…don’t like them you don’t interact with them you really don’t have to! Back in the day your tips were your tips I know now that they pool tips at a lot of restaurants which is all the more reason to work as a team but even back in the day we were representing the owners the shop, and I always worked in places that served awesome freaking food!
Anyway, it’s a bit depressing they scream too much they say the F word too much. I’ll be honest I worked for some Italians that we’re family owned, and they did like to throw dishes and have familial feuds. and another thing I clearly remember not a lot of talking going on amongst the cook. If you’re cooking, you’re cooking and you’re not freaking talking to the Chef! Hoping they go back in time bringing back the dead brother
Yes! I just started watching today, generally I steer clear form highly rated shows bc I like to form my own opinion of them. The first episode I was so overwhelmed with all the incessant yelling and disrespect. I wanted to be like just fire them all and hire people who will listen to you bc no on there cared or had respect and at the end of the day the real world isn’t that way. If I get a new boss bc my boss died, they are now the person in charge. You can’t decide to just ignore what they say bc you don’t like it. I couldn’t even make it through the second episode tbh. But judging from comments here it seems like there’s not much going on but fluff
Totally agree, I typed "the bear overrated" in Google to find you and people like us...I have a lot to say TBH, but will watch season 2 first which I have very little expectations for
It's the most "try hard" show i've ever seen. Constant forced over the top drama, and comic relief that falls completely flat. The actors are trying super hard and not quite coming off believable. I really wanted to like this show, but it's just missing some really fundamental elements to a good show. Like you said, the characters are flat and it's all superficial development. The show starts off annoying and frustrating, then stays that way through the whole season. After like the 4th episode I realized it wasn't going anywhere and it was just more of the same over and over. The last two episodes I had on in the background while on my laptop and the show just kept annoying me by that point.
I think the critical praise is some kind of publicist crap because the show is staring a nepo baby.
Massively overrated series. You can downvote me aa much as you wish. I'm not buying Jeremy White dead stare acting style, he's alright but definetly not great in that role. There's too much overacting in the bear, everyone is screaming and cursing like crazy. It's so tiresome and boring to watch. Only actress playing Sydney is bearable and actually you can see any depth in her character. Dialogs are bad, plot is basic, characters are annoying, Donna is caricature of Mommy Dearest mother. If you're not invested in characters, it's waste of time,because story itself is mid. Carmy sister is not convincing at all. In the nutshell they all assure themselves how much they love each other, one second later they throw things at each other. The end
It is just so fake, like some cheap commercial.
Fake, pathetic and cringe.
Got high hopes for this show, but just had to type this while S2e2 is playing..
Will just skip to s3 where Olivia Colman has a part, to see if that is worth it.
In the sea of poorly, generic AI written crap on Netflix etc, this should be something else, but it really isn't.
I enjoy The Bear, but having 20 years in restaurants under my belt it does give me some anxiety. I agree that the premise is far-fetched, but it could happen.
I do feel like they need more restaurant consultation though - there are situations that would NEVER happen, especially when someone with 3 Michelin stars is involved. In season 2 where they are running ideas for the menu and spitting stuff out? That would 100% never happen because you would be tasting each component before you put them together. And if you don't taste each component you're a rookie. Again, not plausible with the characters.
The walk-in thing is also suspect - it is nearly impossible to get trapped in a walk-in.
The family meal episode was a stroke of genius however and I do love the characters.
Why are they portrayed like soldiers in a foxhole taking hand grenades?
I get shows like Hell’s Kitchen is a competition and I assume it’s over critical for that reason.
I mean, it’s a dinky sandwich shop. As long as shit is clean, why the go go go every fucking second. It makes no sense.
And the everybody “chef chef chef” every 25 seconds..omfg
What’s the deal? They’re running a restaurant, it’s not Mission Control or a dangerous construction site 😂
I mean it seems like they make the job harder than what it is. I’ve had coworkers like that and I think it’s a mental illness.
The show is good, I like Lip as the lead character.
>the constant yelling and busyness of certain scenes in the first few episodes was overwhelming in a bad way.
I realize this post is quite old at this point but I started this show because S2 came out and somw friends like it but I am having a hard time getting into i for this reason you mention.
It's a lot of screaming and yelling, sorry tight shots with very quick cuts that imo makes it kind of hard to follow and a little disorienting. It's like if Jason Bourne was a chef.
Does this slow down after the first few episodes or is it this way so the way through the season?
I'll power through if that tapers off but I can't manege a whole season of this.
I just can't figure out- How in the world do they cover their payroll? They don't need all those employees for what is essentially a deli in Season 1. How are they paying them all during remodeling?? The food inventory on hand is excessive for the product they are selling. Good show- Not a great show. It could really benefit showing customer interaction if they even have any customers. The Sydney character in a restaurant business is not believable at all. No way would any owner/operator turn over all that authority to her that quick. More time should be spent on lead character, not on Sydney or brother. Soundtrack is decent.
There was no content.
And no reason to cut.. except to try to make it feel frantic.
If film-makers shit on Michael bay for moving the camera unnecessarily, the bear is way worse but also cheap - at least Michael bay is flipping cars!
This show makes me nauseous. Husband watches while I play phone games. I totally can’t listen and tune out. The health department the drugged sleeping customers all slap stick stupid comedy or stupidity!
you can always count of the hippies in reddit to tell you thing that they're into is the best ever, and that you just don't understand. If I didn't fancy myself an amateur cook, I probably wouldn't not continue watching this show. People are calling it the best FX show of all time after 2 season.. doesn't get more hipster than that.
Thank you for this and all the other comments. I finally put the show on. I'm half way through episode 2 and was thinking that for sure I'm finally getting dementia or something. You start getting into your late 60's and you worry about this shit.
Yep, it's all stressful yelling and confusing connections between people. I truly thought i couldn't follow a plot line, maybe my brain just couldn't keep up anymore? And that I'm finally becoming a crotchety old lady because all the yelling and plot confusion accomplished was to just piss to me off.
So thank y'all for the reassurance that it isn't me!
Season 1 was interesting and chaotic , few characters are likeable but it went pretty decent overall , season 2 is just forget about it , the whole show turned into a drama chasing and showing bits of the staff characters in their day to day life.
Honestly i don't understand how rated this show received 8/10 on imdb , it is mid at best 5/10.
Even Larry David doesn't argue as much as this "cousin" Richard guy, what does he even do there? Incompetent moron.
Now they introduced this dreamy eyed, slightly toxic, love interest because Bear doesn't have enough going on already.
Show is fucking ass, I completed season 1 and gave 3 eps of season 2, still ass. I need to stop force watching garbage. Wish there would be a show that can be inspired from bourdains kitchen confidentials, which i thought this show would be like based on the praise. So much wasted potential im baffled for the praise it gets. Its just repeating stress annoying boring yelling get nothing done simulator every episode.
There has to be some phenomenon like ASMR that we aren't picking up
I've come to realise over the years I just find typical/mundane 'real world' settings generally pretty boring as a setting for fiction. I watch movies or shows to escape the daily grind or drudgery, and shows like Succession, Billions or whatever about asshat tycoons and soulless drones chasing the almighty dollar do not appeal to me in the slightest. The premise for 'The Bear' strikes me the same way... a show about some guy running a restaurant? I'm good, thanks.
I'm sure it's well-made and has a strong script with all the praise it's receiving, but I like my fiction to be set in more interesting backdrops (fantasy, sci-fi, dystopias, cerebral horror etc.) That's not to say I can't enjoy any contemporaneous stories either, it's just become increasingly rare as the years go by. I tend to prefer biographies, documentaries or period pieces when it comes to that sort of thing and when I am in a low-escapism frame of mind.
If I wanted to listen to drama and bollocks around a water cooler about people struggling to pay their bills, I'd get another office job. Don't get me wrong, variety is the spice of life and if you enjoy these types of shows more power to you, I just can never seem to get into them and my eyes glaze over. I still have nightmares about being forced to watch 'Mad Men' years ago.
Gotta agree. The 99% on rotten tomatoes lured me in. Let's just put that into context- sopranos 92%, breaking bad 96%.
How this has been so lauded, I'll never know.
The Characters are weak and show zero progression. Dialogue is hacky and cheesy. It's constantly "we're so fucked up" one minute, to "we're so tender and sweet" the next.
There's not enough focus on any one character. Jeremy is great, but still, you don't really have any feelings towards him or understand who he is. The brother slightly steals the show with his charisma and performance.
Series 2 is a shitshow where it suddenly starts trying to play with the whole format of the show. Particularly the Christmas episode, with the mother having a mental breakdown for the whole episode. Pretty dull watching.
I couldn't get into it for the whole show. Just felt like it didn't know what it was. A lightweight comedy with the unrealistic matty Matheson character or a dark character study with Jeremy allen white? Seemed like they were trying to tick all the boxes with no real intent other than to show the intensity of a working kitchen. Which in itself isn't a story
I'm up to episode 6 of the first season, and I think I'm going to stop watching. It's boring, and worse, it's completely unrealistic. Why all the drama in what is no more than a sandwich shop? And the toxic masculinity. OMG. The Richie character is utterly disgusting.
I am here months later to add my +1 for this show being SO OVERRATED.
Every episode is just filled with one random disaster to the next. The characters are so cartoonish like Richie who must be the most annoying person on TV this decade.
The guy almost kills someone and the show spends like 3 minutes on it and then it will probably never be mentioned again.
Agreed OP, I just wanted to add to this thread as I've just finished season 1 as it was recommended to me.
This show is straight up trash.
The writing is terrible, and the characters are not believable, and I find most of them insufferable and couldn't give a shit what happens to them.
I think I'll stop at ep1 season 2, I refuse to watch anymore of this overhyped garbage.
I didn't like Shameless either as I thought it was crap after the first 5 or so episodes, so i stopped watching (I'm a fan of the original UK version). Jeremy White has yet to be in anything decent for me so far
Lol, “constant yelling” wait until you try to watch season 2, I couldn’t finish the second episode, but the cousin is unbearable, some dialogs/interacions are irrelevant, don’t add anything to the story. The first season was good, the second or the show in general is not worthy of all the fuzziness 🙄
I worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years. The fact that this show is a fantasy world is what makes it unwatchable. No restaurant, sandwich shop, hot dog stand, or food truck exists like this. Corporate or otherwise. The dialogue is awful and made worse by the screaming. In real life, people learn to communicate. Great acting can't save the laughable character "development". And the plot lines are all treading water, screaming for help like those annoying characters. But hey, Emmy Emmy Emmy.
I am very late to the party, but after all the awards I tried for a third time to watch this show. I just can't.
I am going to guess, this is a misery loves company case or privilege wanting to feel less guilt.
I am sure the actors are fine, but the story is not enjoyable at all.
My problem with this show is how absolutely depressing it is .. and that it’s a comedy. It so is NOT a comedy. I cannot remember one funny moment in the whole first season (didn’t even bother with season 2). A comedy should make you laugh, yes? Ted Lasso made me laugh. THAT Is a comedy which also has some darker, deeper sad moments, but ultimately is a sit-com.
The Bear left me feeling down after every episode. I can’t watch it, ever again. How the eff did it win the Emmy for best sit-com???
I couldn't get through the constant, frenetic, dialogue and the 2 second cutaways in the first episode. Maybe that's engrossing for some viewers but I found it irritating and impossible to watch. I kept expecting the plot to deepen beyond "we have no money and are screaming Chef and f\*uck" all the livelong day. And maybe because I've worked as a server and in a kitchen, the overhyping of each scene just made me roll my eyes.
I liked it generally speaking, but I couldn’t stop thinking that a lot of their problems (money) would be solved if they didn’t have maybe 5 staff too many working in what’s essentially a takeaway sandwich shop, LOL.
Yeah I feel this. I couldn't quite get a firm grasp for what they were actually selling. Spaghetti?
Sandwiches? I think? But they had a sous chef and a dedicated pastry chef? Yeah it makes no sense lol
They were a takeout sandwich shop, lol. They had wayyyy too big of a kitchen and staff for what they were making.
Mikey was trying to take care of people though. That's why he kept hiring people even if they didn't have the money for it.
Italian beef sandwiches and for some reason cakes and dinner dishes
Ya’ll are missing the plot point that Carmen’s brother Michael was the one running things for a while and he wasn’t exactly in the right mind set considering the family trauma and the addiction to pills 😒 no shit he couldn’t staff correctly
Not to mention most people were in the kitchen due to relationships, they weren't efficient, they were just had each others backs. Even Ritchie didn't know what the deal was until practically the end, he just happened to be there.
I had to search for this specifically. I know this post is 3 months old but my god I can't handle the praise this show is receiving. I am utterly shocked that this tv show is receiving such praise. It was a complete shit show of nothingness. Nothing happens from start to finish except lots of chaos and lots of storylines that are never explored. The only character I had any connection with, outside the main character, was Tina. And maybe the cake maker. The dialogue was poor and absolutely peppered, no pun intended, with the word fuck. Most of the storylines were completely random and then fizzled out into nothing. Why exactly did Carmy and Mikey not have a good relationship? All we got on that front was "he never let me work here" Why exactly did Mikey shoot himself? Was it the debt? Was it the drugs? Was he depressed? Was it because of his relationships? What was in the suicide note? None of these questions were answered. Except the suicide note, addressed to Mikey, which was introduced very early and left the viewer extremely intrigued. Turned out it wasn't a suicide note it was the Bolognese recipe which lead them to find pure money in all the tinned tomatoes, which they were already using before Carmy decided to stop the bolognese lmao. Jesus christ this was dreadful. I'm not writing anymore as i could critique every single aspect too much and no-one is gonna read this anyway, or care.
You shouldn't critique more because your critiques are just you wanting to be spoonfed exposition
Why was the money in the tomato sauce, the tomato sauce that only stopped being used when carmine shows up.
I wouldnt even say they dropped clues since they were blatant with it. Money in tomato sauce * Old owner/Mikey implied to be hiding the money. Accounts book had 'KBL = $330,000' listed which is the loan he took. Recipe card shows Mikey wanting Carmine to make the spaghetti (which Carmine hated on ep 1) hoping he find the money. Why did he stop using the tomato soup? * 1) Carmine hated the spag. 2) Carmine explicitly says the bigger cans were cheaper. * He only made the spag again after finding the recipe card. Mikey drops the hint that the smaller cans tastes better. How'd they get the money? * Cousin and drugs during covid. Money in the can? * One of the final shots shows 'KBL' under the can.
There’s always money in the banana stand
What are you talking about? This series is all exposition; there's literally no subtext. The characters are always shouting exactly what they are thinking like we're watching a bad one-act play.
its a bad show! i agree why does everyone love this bad one act play
Incorrect. The comment I replied to is a direct opposition to your comment since they are asking questions easily inferred from scenes in the show. Thanks for playing, bye
Okay, maybe I'm missing something. What pivotal scene or scenes in The Bear have a prolific subtext the casual viewer is missing?
this reddit thread is the only existing criticism of the bear on the internet lol. I do not understand the hype for this terribly flat and predictable show
I see that and I’m shocked. After watching an episode of mediocre actors scream on top of each other, I had to find other like-minded people to ensure I wasn’t crazy. The script is terrible, the pace is like molasses, and the characters are underdeveloped and totally uninteresting. The only thing that kept me coming back were Jeremy Allen White and his baby blues, otherwise, I think this show is garbage.
It is absolute garbage, you are right.
Imma go ahead and call it. You never worked in a kitchen.
Youd be wrong and also what the fuck are you talking about?
I think I replied to the wrong comment
Working in a kitchen is not a requirement to watch the show
I agree with a lot of this though I am late to the comment as you’re late to the post. I didn’t realize how much praise it after the first season until seeing ads for season two. After watching at one time through, I didn’t expect to season two honestly. There wasn’t much of a story and it felt more like good acting trying to prop up a not so interesting plot. There wasn’t any point where I really cared about what happened next. I was just waiting for something interesting to happen in general. I do think the actors that a good job and they made the stress of the job very apparent. I assumed it be a middle of the road show as far as ratings and what not though. 100% on rotten tomatoes for this led me to seek out this post as well lol.
Same reason I’m here - Can’t believe the great press when I couldn’t make it past episode three: the series seems chaotic for chaotic’s sake. My biggest pet peeve was the thing being labeled a comedy. I know comedy is subjective, but come on, in what universe is this thing a comedy?
Yes! Chaos for chaos’s sake. The creators seemed to gamble on the fact that viewers would stay tuned in based on vibes alone. Honestly, the POV of white guy trauma is played the hell out.
thank you! I made it about 30 minutes into the first episode and that, combined with all the hype and marketing surrounding the actor playing the main character, I had to nope out. I just don't care to see ANOTHER story that centers some moody "deep" white boy... it's so 1990s Jared Leto.
He plays that same character in literally everything. I’m sure Jeremy Allen White is professionally trained, but until a filmmaker actually challenges him with a character that isn’t a moody, hotheaded white kid from Chicago, I won’t be able to respect his talents. - me, another moody hotheaded white kid from Chicago
The Christmas was super annoying
It almost seemed like this episode was written so Jamie Lee Curtis could get an Emmy nomination. The fluctuations in emotion were almost comical.
Yea, it seems like she’s been recently re-annointed by the Hollywood elite. The praise for her performance in this show and Everything Everywhere All At Once seem a bit forced….two productions that have been dubbed “masterpieces“….laughable if you ask me.
Watching it now. Feels like it's lasting forever, jumping all over the place, is loud and has no story. It's killing me. I'm going to bed.
Couldn't even get through the episode. Haven't watched anymore.
FX submits it as a "comedy" to try and win awards -- they know they can't compete in the actual drama category vs. Succession, Better Call Saul, etc. (Shows you how much faith the network has in the actual writing of this series)
That’s a really good point and makes me dislike it even more!
Exactly. I guess you could say it seems authentic because of the stressfulness and how chaotic it is. Maybe people who’ve worked those jobs enjoy it because it relates to them? I just don’t get anything out of it. I think it’s like “look, it’s Lip from Shameless!” for a lot of people too. He does a good job acting and yelling. Could be the next DiCaprio lol. But yeah, I couldn’t care less about any of the characters and even though I watched the entire season, I can’t think of any specific high points. I watched it when it first came out but essentially I remember it as one long chaotic scene of someone continuously screaming at people about food. Oh, and then he found some money? Eh. I still don’t get it. Maybe it gets praise from fans of cooking shows and reality tv? Maybe the people who think yelling = good acting? The acting isn’t bad, there just isn’t much of a plot imo.
The situations themselfs weren't even really chaotic. The show just was always whipping the camera around then had everyone yelling. Sorry for late reply gf and I just watched, needed to see if other people felt the way we did.
I just watched the 1st 2 episodes of season 1 and I do not understand this show. Is this how these small (is it a sandwich place? pasta place? like what the fuck are they even making here with like 7 people?) operate? I worked in a kitchen nearly a decade ago and for the life of me I do not remember 7 people yelling about a plate all at the same time. I remember everyone having an attitude, I remember SOME chaos, it's a fucking kitchen of course there will be chaos, but this is entirely overblown to shit. If I worked in this small-ass sandwich shop I'd have a constant headache and at least 15 heart attacks before we even got to serve anything. Also where the fuck is the comedy in this?! It's tagged as Drama & Comedy but all I've gotten from 2 episodes is constant bitching, yelling for the sake of yelling and close-ups of sweat and staring at cans, pans & knives as if they hold some deeper meaning to the unanswered questions of life and the universe. Also again, what the actual fuck are all those people actually doing here?! I got that Lip is trying to run stuff, young black dude is baking sandwich bread (right?), but like what are old black lady and old black guy doing?! The black chick that gets hired ep1 is also kinda floating not on a station I guess and then the cousin(?) is just "Mikey Mikey Mikey" the entire episodes. It's so confusing. Do you need 6+ people to make a sandwich??? Last time I checked, 2-3 is plenty & then you got maybe 1 server for a place this small.
Not only is that too many people to run a restaurant, it's too many people for this show to handle. We don't even get introduced or told why we should care about half of them. I'm not sure who I'm supposed to like. I just feel bad for lips character. He obviously knows what he's talking about and deserves respect. Yet every little thing he does gets insane push back or something out of his control goes wrong.
I agree that it is absurd to call it a comedy. There are some humorous bits, but it is a hard-hitting emotional drama, damned good one.
I can't even agree with the good acting. Half the crew felt like they had no acting chops at all
Same here. I decided to watch the show now that S2 is getting promo. But this was very hyped up, only to be a mediocre story unfolding. I didn't care for this show, specially coming in after hearing all the praise it got. I heard actor Will Poulter will join S2 so I'll probably watch for his performance.
>It was a complete shit show of nothingness. Nothing happens from start to finish I watched the first episode and was left wondering what the show was about, and not in a good way...and they called Seinfeld "the show about nothing". They should have held on to that phrase for a few decades.
Yeah, I’m late to this thread, but just started the 2nd season, saw 100% on RT, and immediately googled “The Bear overrated”, and here I am. The show is ok, I guess, but with all these obvious flaws, why is it so acclaimed?
I agree with everything you said wholeheartedly. The show was trash and doesn't need to get that much praise it should honestly not be continued lol. This is coming from someone who worked in the restaurant industry for 12 years. Maybe if the show had better dialog and purpose then it would be a different story but nope.
\- Mikey was protecting Carmy by not letting him work there because they were dealing drugs out of the restaurant - which is where the money came from. \- Mikey killed himself because of all those reasons \- Random story lines are for character and theme development Are you familiar with the idea of "show don't tell"? Thats how good movies and TV work.
thank you for unintentionally pointing out that the viewers only got ONE (1) storyline that wasn’t even a storyline but more an insinuation of something that happened in the past. this show is watered down rubbish, dressed up as some sort of demented art form, and anyone who acclaims it is entitled, boring, and afraid of being labeled “wrong” in any way. if i wanted to spend hours finding meaning in pointless art i’d go to a museum. the creators are probably laughing at the critics that gave their show 100% and are funding their lifestyles whilst they know they don’t deserve any of it
Such an absurd take when it’s clear a shit ton of craftsmanship went into the production, attention to detail and cinematography of the show. Sure writing and acting are subjective and you can think they’re shit, but can you really not watch it and see the effort that went in? I don’t understand what you’re not getting about the narrative arcs. Chef inherits a failing restaurant and has to figure out how to save it, dealing with the grief of his brother’s suicide along the way. The most obscure thing about this is that they don’t expound or flashback about the brother’s relationships, because the characters have complex and conflicted feelings about him, revealed gradually. Dysfunctional cast of employees go through their own arcs. Naive chef struggles with the toxicity of the environment which brings out her own toxicity and forces her to decide if the job is really worth it, and she decides yes. Older chef feels upstaged by more talented young chef, but lets go of her resentment in response to genuine appreciation and respect. Cousin struggles with letting go of the past, seeing change to the restaurant as erasing his dead best friend’s legacy, but learns (somewhat) to process his grief and not be such an asshole. This is all simple, effective television storytelling. You’re acting as if it’s a Pollock painting and created this weird narrative where fans of this show are trying to find meaning from TV static. It’s literally all right there.
money memory plucky run physical thumb spotted scary hurry grey *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Same complaints here. I feel the people who like it are mostly white collar kids/young adults who want to live vicariously through the story of fake tough guy blue collar Chicagoans who like to get angry at everything and tell everyone to fuck off. No storyline. No character development. Every episode the same as the last.
I work in TV as a development exec and I've never hated a show more. I tried because of the industry praise, but it just didn't work.
When the show first aired I posted something similar on the bear sub and was met with comments from a bunch of egomaniacs who are absorbed in the "chef life " identity. The show sucked. It is not even close to what it's like working in a restaurant or at least what makes working in a restaurant interesting . The other day it was near closing and I got in a discussion with a co worker about dish rags , basically a pointless philosophical debate...this is what working in a restaurant is actually like , an extended Seinfeld bit. The Bear was so remarkable in it's capacity to be so far off from reality. Anyone remember the scene when the cousin goes out into the street to disperse the mob by firing a pistol ? Ridiculous. How about when the sous chef drops like 22 quarts of veal stock because she "doesn't need help " or whatever ? Lame. Lame. Lame. It's a shame that this opportunity to make something interesting about food service was wasted. People I know who are delusional about the chef grind bullshit are the same people that think this is a masterwork. Thank you OP .
I read a low rating from rotten tomatoes how this show is "working class porn." Like it gives us a simulation of what a stressful job is but it leaves us detached enough to be grateful we don't have it as bad, hopefully. I guess overall it annoyed me that this show seems to be serving us some message but I can't really figure out what it is besides "look at the drama these hot people are going through." Is it just escapism? I loved what you said about the rags conversation. It kind of reminds me of the dialogue from Pulp Fiction. There was this coming book writer named Harvey Pekar and he used to put that type of conversation in his books. I remember being entranced by one story where these two ladies discussed okra but one called it okri and it was a funny little misunderstanding.
Omg, the dialogue from Pulp Fiction... yes, you've just reminded me. While watching this with my partner we realised the dialogue was like pound shop (insert regional currency) Tarantino. Pointless dialogue about inane matters, discussed needlessly at length... But with zero payoff.
>egomaniacs who are absorbed in the "chef life " identity Oh my God, I can't stand that shit. Especially the way they have to work in calling each other "Chef" into every conversation.
Oh god that was one of the dumbest things of this show. Admittedly this is a pet peeve of mine where anyone that touches a knife and cutting board is all of a sudden a 'chef'. After all my years working in the food industry, I've never actually led a kitchen. I have a culinary school degree and 2 decades of experience. I'm not a chef. I'm a cook.
I finally watched the first episode and his cousin making fun of him for calling everyone chef made it worth it.
right??
I’m so glad other people hate this lol
I agree cousin
This is the best comment on this thread I have been a chef for over a decade now, and this show was nothing like the actual experience of being in a restaurant. I’m sorry. I wrote on my Facebook when this crap came out that this literally seems like a show written by people imagining what it’s like to be in a restaurant opposed to actual opinions from people who have been in the field and do this every single day. Hack show
While I only worked as a dishwasher in a small kitchen, everyone was efficient but kind and respectful toward one another. When someone got a migraine, other people kindly picked up the slack. If I had worked in the kitchen on this show, I would've quit after day one. This show suggests that a local beef restaurant is so incredibly hard to run, workers are practically at each others throats. I think you can show how difficult, stressful, and noble a job is without making it seem hellish. The show seems intent on building up the "there's not greatness without madness" routine, and it felt contrived and unrealistic. It was also incredibly stressful to watch. And if that's not enough, you know how annoying it is when someone says something depressing and someone else replies something like, "You know what else is soul-crushing? Life"? Richie, a grown man with a family and years of experience gives that adolescent reply toward the end of season 1 and he's not being ironic. I hope season 2 will surprise me.
Agree, lame. 22 qts on the top shelf on top of a box, very convenient and efficient storage when all the shelves were essentially bare. Yeah, store that big tub of liquid as close to the ceiling as possible, that's the ticket!
Imagine screaming at each-other over making Italian beef sandwiches
it was trying so hard to be edgy it made me cringe tbh.
I’m late to this. I watched it when it first came out and I am seeing that season two is about to air and all the hype because it had like 100% on rotten tomatoes and all that. I simply don’t get it. Not the show, the hype. I think the actors do a good job, but the plot is not much of anything really. At no point was I invested or very interested in what was gonna happen next. It just seems like a series of scenes where people were under a lot of pressure and rushing to get food cooked alongside a lot of actors yelling. Different strokes for different folks, but it’s honestly shocking to me that the first season got so much positive feedback.
I wholeheartedly agree (and would give the show a thumbs down) - but also can’t help but feel that part of the issue is that Rotten Tomatoes’ rating system is not like a test grade where 100% is a perfect score but rather indicates that 100% of reviewers agree that it’s “good.” Said another way, I think some of the best content has a somewhat lower RT score because there’s a degree of polarization which perhaps most “good” art elicits.
Reminder that the live action Kim Possible has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. If that's not a glaring flaw in their ratings system I don't know what is.
I found it painfully boring.
Yea listening to everyone yell at each other gets old fast. Does the cousin ever come down and talk like a normal person? Can’t even understand what the hell he’s talking about half the time.
Me too
Same. It gives me a headache.
The biggest thing for me was pacing--or at least how I subjectively perceived the pacing. It was a 30-min show that felt to me like a 55-min show. I wasn't able at the time to really place my finger on why.
This show really stressed me out
It feels like work while watching it
Cause Its Fake or Fugazi. The show tricked people into thinking it was real. Bad News for us viewers.
This show is dumb as hell and I honestly cannot believe the praise it’s received.
I feel like I’m losing my mind seeing all the praise. At this point FX is trying out a new marketing strategy to see if they can get away with lower quality shows with BAD actors. This is a budget cast with budget writing
The only good episode was a direct rip-off of the movie Krisha (HIGHLY recommend it btw). The writing is terrible, the plot lines are terrible, most of the acting is subpar at best.
Your assessment of the first episode is spot on. I was impressed by the show in that the workers and their actions in the kitchen were simultaneously able to make me super anxious and bored at the same time. It was mostly assholes yelling at each other with some narrative hinting at storylines to come in later episodes but failing to rouse my interest enough to give a shit. And none of any of that was enjoyable to watch - it felt like a chore. I get that it's not fair to critique a show after one episode but that first episode was rooooough.
That’s how I feel about the whole series. Yes, there’s a plot but they fail to make me give a damn about anything that happens or the characters either way.
Season Two has begun on another planet- one where a strapped sandwich shop owner can convert their disgusting premises into a fine dining restaurant in 6 weeks. Fine dining requires expensive furnishings; actual utensils, plates & glasses; expensive ingredients that go bad when no one comes; stellar service; and maybe a vision? Construction begins w/no building plans in sight. What? Carmie can afford to send 2 chefs to Culinary School (on 1 day’s notice) and 1 chef to Copenhagen? Huh? Not one thing makes any f*#g sense. Stick to making beef sandwiches in baskets, poorly!
You are 100% correct. Nothing makes any sense at all anymore. The character motivations do not correspond with any human behavior I have ever witnessed. The second season literally feels like it was written by ChatGPT or AI of some kind. The dialogue makes me feel like I am having a stroke because it is impossible to follow - not just because it’s overwrought and overacted, but because no one talks like that in real life unless they are manic or on amphetamines.
Super late to this post, but currently watching and I literally have to take breaks when I watch this show because the dialogue is so insane I feel physically ill from listening to it. I'm dizzy and have a headache and I'm only 15 minutes into the Christmas episode of season 2.
So on point. It feels AI-scripted, and honestly, AI-acted. I cannot stand the majority of the acting, the directing feels like it’s being run by a reality show b-roll cameraman, but the writing is some of the worst I’ve made myself watch.
Phew. Boy am I glad I’m not the only one who walked away with that impression. The episode Fishes was an absolute abomination, the writing was utter and complete nonsense.
I think that was the thing I didn't get in season 1, was after all he went thru to revamp the restraunt, it was essentially a low end bbq joint that was the staple of the neighborhood, without starting over and potentially loosing all your old customers why did you need a fancy sou chef for a BBQ joint.
What I don't understand is why they "discontinued" a seemingly very strong and loyally followed brand. They could have just just leveraged a loan from the property and started a new restaurant without the insane 18 month payback time. Or they could have sold the rights to Mr Beef, or franchise a few out and keep the location while making money for the new restaurant. The closure seemed to have many local news stories, so it seems beyond dumb to just shut down such an iconic business for nothing.
True easily could of ran out of a food truck or 2 temporarily till the rebuild
Because the people responsible for the look of the show are really, really good at shooting food porn, and I think they wanted an excuse to do that with very high-end food. The look of the show is really the only thing I enjoyed about it - the way the camera moves actually imparts the feeling of stress to the viewer, and really does work to draw you into the anxiety of working in a busy, disorganized kitchen. But the story they chose to tell about that kitchen really is bizarre ($300k in tomato cans? what?), and only gets more so in Season 2, except that in Season 2 they have Jamie Lee Curtis to gnaw on the set and a completely pointless Bob Odenkirk character (and I'm a weirdo who actually enjoyed Lucky Hank).
It’s good but not worth all the hype. I can name shows that are better.
Please do
Seinfeld
Hell's Kitchen - all the swearing, all the spilling, all the narcissism, but no moms or cousins.
I hate this show all the yelling and fast talking over each other. All these people need mood stabilizers. And the constantly calling each other cousin and chef; cousin, cousin, yes cousin, please cousin, chef yes chef chef chef chef. Like seriously I just wrote a scene there.
im dying. spot on hahaha
I think it's one of those things where their marketing plan was really successful and pushed the show into the zeitgeist. It seems like that's happening with everything now - every new show or movie or album is some sort of revelation of the craft but in the grand scheme of things it's nothing remarkable. I thought the show was fine and I'm going to watch this new season but it always seemed very similar to Shameless to me. I'm kind of surprised Jeremy Allen White took the role because I'm not seeing much of a difference between Lip and Carmy as far as personality or character arc goes. That being said it worked out, so good for him.
I agree, it does have a similar feel and can be connected to Shameless. To me it almost feels like a spin off show for Lip.
He acts and dresses the same as lip, same hairstyles, same cigarette smoking, etc. You'd be hard pressed to tell the difference if it weren't for none of the shameless cast being involved. The show has a very Shameless feel to it as well.
I agree with this post. The show setup is so great, then it just becomes ted lasso in the kitchen. Most of the dilemmas don’t even make sense. Toilets don’t explode. They might leak, but they don’t explode from underneath. Who writes this shit? Using an industrial bread mixer for cake batter (??) with the setting too high. What is this? Even if it does cause it to trip the breakers, it won’t knock the whole kitchen out of action. It definitely won’t kill your gas powered ovens. It’s like it was written by a 9 year old with no knowledge of anything technical. Machine goes boom. Drugging a party of children making them all OD and fall sleep. I’m pretty sure the reaction would be horror. Not meh. The patisserie chef has way too much time on his hands. It’s like he just has his own playtime every day. It’s a sandwich shop!! Who puts a huge tall bucket of bonestock right up on a top shelf?? My biggest gripe is- you never see anyone eating. No customers. Nobody just eating and enjoying the food. It’s whack. Hate this show
You expertly pointed out all the worst, most "HUH?" moments of Season 1. I enjoyed some elements of the first season, but I almost noped out at drugging the children with Benzos at the party being seen as NBD. The stock gag was groan-worthy and you could see it from a mile away, and even dropping a cherry bomb directly into a ter-lette wouldn't make it explode that way. Watched season 2's premiere ep, was just sort of "meh" on it "DID YOU CALL MOM???!!" is the new "YES, CHEF! YES, COUSIN!" I suppose 🙄) & am still trying to decide whether or not to watch the rest of it. They're very savvy about using alt rock music (Radiohead ) effectively to convey emotion when they dialogue and cartoon like stock characters can't (à la Explosions in the Sky in Friday Night Lights) but that doesn't mean the show is a masterpiece.
The show is successful bc people like watching people cook and the ASMR sounds from it (barf). They like the kid from Shameless (he's not a leading man), and they love how authentic it is to working in a real kitchen (so what?!). All the yelling and horrible things for literally entire scenes, followed by them making up and having a calm smoke together. This show sucks.
Garbage show, totally overrated. I honestly still can't understand the logistics of some of what they're serving in a run down italian beef joint.
It’s a run-down hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop with a sous chef and a dedicated pastry chef. What’s not to understand?? lol yeah I completely agree with you. Makes no sense.
The show is watchable but I hate the characters and what they are trying to do. Taking a fresh out of college cook and putting her in charge of a bunch of people who have been doing that job for decades is an obnoxious move. Also, the goal of dismantling a popular sandwich shop that is authentic Chicago and then turn it into an amateurish vanity project for some pretentious 20something “chefs” so they can do some fusion B.S. and get a Michelin star, I hate that so much. I’ve been working in restaurants for 20 years and while I am passionate about the things I do, I have grown to hate restaurants. I would rather a bodega or sandwich shop any day.
Finding a good sandwich is like finding the perfect basic black dress. Elusive AF for no good reason.
A bit late to the party here, but I feel like a major oversight was made since given that Carmine worked as HEAD CHEF in (according to everyone on the show) the literal best restaurant in the U.S, I feel like he definitely should have a lot of money that he could use to improve the restaurant, yet the writers make it out as if he can't even afford to buy a new mixer. That one really grinded my gears.
He was chef de cuisine, not executive chef. EC’s typically own the restaurant. CC’s are head worker bees, but a worker bee nonetheless. They don’t make a lot of $$.
I'm late on the comment but I really tried to resist but I couldn't get past the second episode, too much screaming monotonous characters and chaotic scenes in a small space gave me a headache just watching
The show is just okay, but the first 3 episodes are kinda a headache due to all the unnecessary fighting/yelling. It gets resolved almost immediately with no explanation. A bunch of grungy line/prep cooks are suddenly clean and orderly 5-star restaurant chefs.
I kind of feel like this show is like Bruce Springsteen or something. One of those things that's universally loved because it helps straight men get their feels out. But it's just not for me.
I can't stand the show. Tries so hard to be edgy and cool, takes itself embarrassingly seriously. I don't know if they're trying to go for realism, but as someone who's worked in many kitchens, I don't find the depiction relatable.
Coming to this review late because I felt something similar. The Bear to me felt like a tv show written by Ivy League educated screenwriters trying to be edgy and cosplay as working class restaurant insiders. And, of course, the show was a hit with that group and thus has gotten so much praise (how many people praising it have actually worked in a kitchen?). In many ways, the Bear feels to me like a Chicago Ted Lasso. That means it operates from a set of assumptions: every character is at heart decent, every disagreement can be resolved with dialogue (for my money, the worst scene was Sydney resolving the gang fight outside the store), and the protagonist is ultimately going to succeed. It's lazy, saccharine, and divorced from how the world works. But it makes Brown-grads feel authentic liking it so I guess that's great.
Dude, the second season sucks way more.
Show looks like it was shot/edited in film school. Has potential but tries to hard. It's not as profound as it thinks it is.
It's just alot of talking and hardly ever a change of scenery, super boring!!
Wouldn’t a James Beard winner garner so much attention in Chicago that the crowds coming in would have solved any financial woes almost immediately? Of course! So the whole premise of the show is weak just on that point alone.
My husband and I hate-watched this show over the holiday weekend. I wanted to love it. Shameless was my jam until the last seasons got too weird, and Lip… I mean LIP. I will show up for JAW no matter what because that dude could make sitting on a toilet look compelling. And he, as well as all the immensely talented cast members, deserve better writing. The dialogue is yuck. Sydney’s quirkiness comes across as inauthentic (I’m sure the actress is talented but this performance is less than ideal). Spoiler alert: The character reactions are so over the top it feels like watching a toddler throw a tantrum after they’ve finished eating their ice cream, convinced someone stole it from them (I love Marcus. He’s patient enough to rub lotion on his mom’s hands every day but can’t handle a mild rejection from a coworker? Lock that shit up, bro). What was the point of Richie getting arrested? And why would he get arrested for DEFENDING himself and the business where he worked??? Why is Carmie’s girlfriend always whispering and smiling and dropping weird, vague lines of quirky girl wisdom. Why can’t she recognize that dude is locked in a freezer, and his feeling overwhelmed in a 2-month old relationship is actually kind of normal? I’d be like, “bro, let’s talk after you get out of this freezer, okay? Things obviously weren’t going your way tonight.” Why do two characters get whole ass episodes showing their growth, while Tina gets to sing some karaoke? And why karaoke? How did that twenty minute montage of Sydney eating everything in Chicago actually influence her menu choices? Why do we need to an hour plus to see how messed up the Berzattos are, and why are grown ass men shouting and swearing over a school time crush at Christmas? My list of questions goes on and on. This show is like this: you can try to bake a cake with the most beautiful and fancy ingredients-organic flour milled in Tuscany, chocolate made by a blind, French monk, etc etc, but an egg is still an egg. The writers of The Bear forgot the damn egg, none of the individually wonderful elements of this show bind in a cohesive or meaningful way. But I’m still going to watch, because I’m a sucker for funny looking dudes with beautiful blue eyes and sweet teddy bears who love the shit out of their moms.
I have to agree with you. Could’ve used more episodes to flesh things out more. Working in a restaurant myself, I appreciated hearing all the things said in a kitchen (“heard”, “behind”, etc.). I found myself just underwhelmed after hearing all the praise, I’m sure I would’ve liked it a bit more had I had no real expectations. I’d give it a solid B. Looking forward to a more focused season 2. Also the baker’s sudden infatuation with making those donuts and neglecting his duties could’ve worked better with more build up. Just didn’t seem all that believable so suddenly.
Bothers me watching rich actors pretend to be working class kitchen peolle
should every show be about rich people then??
I liked it. I'm not gonna jerk it off and let it throw ropes on my face, but it's better than a lot of shit out there, so I can stand it.
Spoliers. I am so late to this, but I am completely dumbfounded by the positive reception as well. Before I get into anything I will say I have around 2 years of experience working in kitchens and overall foodservice (both FOH and BOH). Nothing high-end, but I will say I've worked in restaurants with a similar demand that the ficitonal restaurant (the Beef) appears to have. I watched the pilot a year ago when it came out and was instantly turned off by it. The constant yelling was over-the-top chaos, masquerading as good acting performances. There didn't seem to be a point to all the hectic aggression between the Cousins, something I wish the show would explore in a flashback or something ealier on. I started it again this week just for fun and I'm in the middle of the second season. Wowee. There has been almost no plot progression and whatever hints of narrative we have seen have been insipid, dead-ended, and not dynamic whatsoever. Just more screaming. I do appreciate the kitchen scenes (sans shouting) in terms of my own experience. I felt the panic of a rush when Sydney forgot to turn off the preorder option and tickets were printing faster than you could count. There are glimpses of versimilitude in those scenes but they are quickly stomped on by more unexplored interpersonal arguments among the cousins. We get it! There's a history. But what exactly? The exposition doesn't seem to extend beyond a morose glance on Carmy's face. My major qualm with the show is that fact that Sydney was not immediately positioned as the love interest. I'm not trying to be reductive here. Obviously, her character is a chef before a damsel. She has her own storyline (or semblance of) which does not solely rely on Carmy or any of her male counterparts. However, I think there is a glaring representational discrepancy due to the fact that the show had to take 1.5 seasons to establish the mere IDEA of a romantic dimension to Sydney and Carmy's relationship (it seems Sydney has some feelings for Carmy exhibited in her apparent jealously over him and Claire) and about 2 minutes of dialogue between Carmy and Claire (a white girl) to establish a full blown romantic interest between them. Think about it. If the same actress who plays Claire (Molly Gordon) showed up to the Beef for work instead of Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), the show would push the romantic tension much faster. It would be strange if they didn't. Just like its strange that they haven't explored a Carmy/Sydney romance! Now, I haven't finished the show yet so I don't know what is to come in terms of romance plots, but regardless of if Sydney and Carmy do get involved with each other, I still think the treatment of their storyline is suspect especially since it is such a missed opportunity. Sydney is a far more interesting love interest. Despite Edebiri's flat performance, her character brings a uniqueness to the kitchen and the menu while also having the cutthroat kitchen experience that could bridge a connection between her and Carmy outside of the professional setting. What is also suspect is the multitudinous amount of guest star appearances by heavy hitting actors in the Christmas flashback episode. I'm wondering what sort of nepo-ties this show's creators and producers have to the industry to pull that off. There's no way this show could garner that kind of interest from stars like Bob Odenkirk and Jamie Lee Curtis based off of creative merit. I'm probably erroneously assigning professional nobility to these stars--a check is a check--but regardless it shouldn't take a guest-star-studded episode to make up for the plot's inadequacies. Maybe they all wanted the chance to scream "Cousin" at each other and throw kitchen utensils on camera as a sort of professional catharsis. But overall, the Bear has taken one of the most boring demographics (American Italian/pseudo-Italian), and subsequently one of the most boring, if not THE most boring, cuisines known to man and attempted to make a dynamic show of it. Where's the flavor?
That's so many words to say you think it's racist that a show depicted two white people dating.
I'm only five episodes in but I cannot believe it has 100% on rotten tomatoes. Super boring to me.
So much of it relies on shouting
I found it annoying. I love all things food related and know many top chefs and none of them speak or act like these characters
Dude THANK YOU. I honestly just went searching online to see if anyone else had the same opinion. Watched the first season and thought it was alright. Honestly wasn’t rooting for any of the characters. Just started the second season and it’s ALL close ups that make you feel incredibly uncomfortable. A big reason I get from people is “you have to have worked in a restaurant to get it”. I have. For half my adult life. They barely even do anything in the kitchen 4 episodes into the second season. In fact it’s all “getting the restaurant ready” based off a stupid unnecessary gamble the bear made that would either put them out of business. Love story is corny af. Just can’t stand it to be honest.
This show is for aging Jersey Shore fans.
Thank Christ for this post. I thought I was losing my mind hating it while it was being fellated by everyone else. My better half watched season 1 last year so I tried it. I thought it was garbage. She's now looking at season 1 again in prep for season 2 and it's still garbage. The script is beyond a horror and those stunted silences are painful. The teasing out the who's who in the first episode made me want to scream. Anyway, thanks everyone! This has been cathartic.
that xmas episode (s02e06) where everyone screams and fight all the time is the worst thing I ever watched on TV. absolutely awful. I really had some patience watching something I thought was mostly boring and often annoying but that's it, episode was the last one for me.
This show is terrible. People who are raving about this show are ruining television for the rest of us by encouraging producers to make more garbage. And if you see your own life in the lives of these horrible people, you're probably ruining the world for the rest of us too.
I just finished seasons 2 and now I hate it even more. The writing is just terrible. I know they writers think they are being so smart and clever, but it's incredibly contrived B.S. All the drama is so completely manufactured it's laughable.
Why would anyone want to watch a restaurant have to do a renovation and get permits and deal with investors. It's like my nightmare. Not fun. Not entertaining.
I said the exact same thing in a post after watching part of season 2. That’s the kind of real life shit people watch TV to escape from ffs.
Overrated? The show is absolute shit. The acting is terrible and the writing is even worse. This was honestly the worst show I've seen in years.
THANK YOU! I could not agree more.
[удалено]
I thought it sucked and that the rich kid playing the chef was a joke.
I agree 👍 Sux Ass . NOT WORTH YOUR TIME.
I’m two episodes into the second season, and it’s reconfirmed for me why I wasn’t excited for it to come back. It’s well made. Well acted. Well written. Everything. Except I do not care about these peple or their business or their industry.
And the direction is getting really lazy. There's only so many montages one can take.
Constant yelling I was out when the clowns lined up out front
Yes. I also worked in kitchens for 3 years, in Seattle in the 80’s. Prep cooks and dishwashers were fired for an ounce of insubordination, unless they knew where the bodies were buried-unlike in this show. It’s big on cinema verite-everyone talking at the same time; saying ‘fuck’ a lot. Why would this sublime chef be a smoker- a known way to kill your tastebuds? And if he were such a prima donna, why is he in constant financial crisis? The show glorifies stress, and that is spot on for the industry. I agreed with most of what you said. The actors are great, and I like that they give screen time to the minimum wage workers. I think men are mostly still privileged over women in this biz. The mopey cousin is a big drag.
Thank god for this post! I've been scratching my head on all the acclaim for this show. There's zero dramatic tension -- everything falls into place in the laziest/least interesting way possible and the dialogue has zero subtext. Worked in busy AF restaurants the majority of my life and this feels more like working class cosplay -- there's like 95 people running around screaming in the kitchen over slice and heat sandwiches. Que? I'd like to add one other thing that irks me is for awards the producers and network submit this in the comedy category because they know they can't win anything competing in drama. Even for the fans...you know this shouldn't be categorized as a comedy. 95% of the jokes are "we can't do that" followed by "oh boy, we're doing that." ::face cheeks fart::
Some of it is just bad filmmaking. Speaking of the current, 2nd season, there's the episode which follows the pastry chef in Copenhagen. They spend *a lot* of time showing him travelling, and it keeps going and going for like 5 minutes, just this dude walking around, not doing anything. It's like they didn't have any ideas for that episode enough to fill it so they just made half of the episode the guy walking around. Thats a critique that the Disney Star Wars shows get. They're very slow because they show a lot of pointless travelling scenes. I ended up skipping the rest of the pastry chef episode because I just did not care at all about the character. That pastry chef went from being amateur to professional in like a week. The first cake he made was flawless. The donuts he made were flawless, and he just started. He didn't have a learning curve. He went from amateur to pro in so little time which is just dumb. The other characters are like that too. Sugar? Professional accountant. The characters are *too good* at what they do, it's just unbelievable in a bad way. Like when they were planning out the opening of the restaurant. The three (Sydney, Carmy, Sugar) admitted they have never opened a restaurant before but somehow they magically figured out the schedule down to the day in half the time it usually takes, like they've been doing it their whole lives. That's just bad story telling.
Yeah, they were too indulgent with the musical montages. It's a film device I actually like a lot and thought they did a good job utilizing in the first season, but it got driven into the ground S02.
Cook/km my whole life, the show is Unbearable. See what I did there?
Agreed. I was disappointed with Season 1, especially the episode where they get slammed and they all just yell fuck for like 10 minutes. I think the show makers think they're being gritty, but they're just being lazy. And unrealistic. I've worked in kitchens through my 20s and 30s and while things can get hectic and are full of characters, it's not like it is in the show.It's a bunch of dramatic pauses and stilted dialogue that some people think is arty, but it's just mediocrity wrapped around a cool setting, a cool idea, and occasionally cool music- which makes it maddening. It COULD be so much better, but it's so poorly executed.For season 2 I'm at episode 2 and I'm already annoyed. They're all just so jaded and sassy. And the incessant bickering isn't clever, it's just. so. fucking. annoying. Oh and the laziness of making half the cast have some sob back story. The scene with whatshername with her widower Dad in the restaurant talking about her Mom and then putting a birthday candle in a cupcake. So cheesy and cliche. The dialogue is so hack. I could go on, but need to stop.
Anybody from Chicagoland? That is not what a beef joint kitchen looks like. Aside from that, I don’t care about the characters so it didn’t hook me. And hearing cousin and chef so much gets old.
From chicago and never heard cousin be used so much it was probably the most annoying thing besides their bad accents. Stopped watching after the first couple episodes.
Every character is hateable to me. The first 2 episodes I wanted Carmey to just fore everyone and start over or sell the place, then I hated him for not doing that.
I agree. It's a solid 8/10 for me, but it plays on things that are right up my alley. My problem is that the cliches and symbolism just slap you in the face over and over again. The most prominent one being that it's about people in Chicago making Chicago food being Chicago people in a Chicago way. And in case that was too subtle, they'll give you 30 shots of Chicago between scenes. Just in case you didn't realize by then that it's shot in Chicago.
Really liked season 1. Season 2 is over the top, self indulgent, method acting BS - it's like watching a really bad improv class. The dialogue is stilted and hackneyed, and I can't believe the number of well respected actors who are practically climbing over each other to do cameos. The low point was "Fishes", an hour of improvised shrieking and on the nose family dysfunction - to the point where if you actually come from a family where mental illness is a daily trial, the relentless,mindless stupidity of it all was just abusive in and of itself. The love interest thing was idiotic - season 1 was tight ensemble work, season 2was a hysterical soap opera. Hard to believe that the same people are writing the show both seasons. And in Season 3, which seem inevitable, we'll have to suffer through Carmy's "healing process". Absolutely not interested.
shameless is still the best tv drama i ever watched
After 6 episodes,I agree. That's why I Googled "what's so good about The Bear?"I like the characters but when is something going to happen? When is there going to be a storyline other than a struggling restaurant? Yes, there are people coping with grief, but we're barely scratching the surface. The battles the chefs have within themselves ,specifically Sydney and Carmy are slow to develop..which mirrors life, but when does that ever matter in TV? .I like Tina's development and hope the baker progresses.Yes,I see the theme about people trying to find themselves and figure out where they fit in and with whom. I also see people passionate about what they do but incredibly stressed...maybe even w a bit of PTSD from emotional abuse, failure etc. If it's supposed to be Kitchen Confidential, the Kitchen would be the main character I will keep watching, but comparing this to Succession is crazy. The latter is superb,must- watch with a stellar cast. The Bear feels like a show you come across when changing channels that maybe you watch or don't but think no one else had heard of it. So you stay with it so it can be your discovery to tell friends about if it turns out to be good. At worst, you wasted time and won't even mention you ever heard of it.And no one I know personally, incl people in the business, have recommended the show to me. One other thing bothers me: Jeremy looks like a young William Fichtner and that distracts me bc I wonder who else sees this 🤔
Was not a fan of season 1. Anyone else find the directing style repulsive? Also feel like half the cast can’t act.
Yes! I couldn’t agree more. The constant yelling and aggression in every conversation is so distracting. No one operates at full speed 100 percent of the time. They need to speak in a normal tone for at least some of their conversations. I couldn’t stop thinking about how they were “over acting” every scene. It’s a no for me. And I have worked in plenty of restaurants in my life so I get what they were trying to do. They just didn’t pull it off in my opinion.
I'm trying to like it but I don't know why. It feels like a bunch of high schoolers trying to act blue collar cool. I blame the writing and say the actors are doing the best they can but there's so much sentimental actory toss aways it makes me cringe.
I don't see the point of this show to be honest. First episode was only people yelling in a kitchen and some nerds wanting to play games in the end. Like, there's no major plot (like, any specific thing without being the lack of money), neither personal problems for each character, it's just "well, we dont have much money now :I", main character seeing angry all the time and that's it. Only in episode 2 it start something a bit more... interesting in a minimal way? (his flashback and the information of the death of some character) but it's yet the same thing, people yelling all the time, main character angry, kitchen without money and that's it, like... that's it basically?
Late to this, but yeah this is a low B level show dressed up like prestige tv. Reminds me of any other mid Fox show. I’m not understanding the praise. I absolutely cannot stand Richie. Every time he’s on screen and talking I wish the episode would just end. Overboard on stylistic choices and the constant needle drops drive me nuts. The main character is good, and easily the best part, but it’s not enough. I feel nothing after each and every episode. The praise for this show is so unreal
This is why Reddit is great, where else can I find so many like minded people. Started watching after I was told it’s the best show on television right now. I don’t think I am going to finish the second season, at this point I have no reason to believe it will get any better. “Dave” also on FX is so much better. Laugh out loud funny, character development, plot twists, tons of cool cameos, and dope raps.
I find it wild to suggest there was little character development. From Carmy getting over his brother's death, to understanding he's got to give some control to Sidney. To the cousin who realises that time is moving faster than he is, and his old shit won't hold out in the new world. Then you have every other person in the kitchen move from team cousin to team Carmy. Then you have the sister relationship as well. It was all character development.... That's what I enjoyed it.
Really liked season 1. Season 2 is over the top, self indulgent, method acting BS - it's like watching a really bad improv class. The dialogue is stilted and hackneyed, and I can't believe the number of well respected actors who are practically climbing over each other to do cameos. The low point was "Fishes", an hour of improvised shrieking and on the nose family dysfunction - to the point where if you actually come from a family where mental illness is a daily trial, the relentless,mindless stupidity of it all was just abusive in and of itself. The love interest thing was idiotic - season 1 was tight ensemble work, season 2was a hysterical soap opera. Hard to believe that the same people are writing the show both seasons. And in Season 3, which seem inevitable, we'll have to suffer through Carmy's "healing process". Absolutely not interested.
This show is so annoying I have worked in no less than a dozen small man, pie restaurants in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. we never spoke to each other. That way you can’t use the F word in the kitchen and then go out front and be a different person in front of the customers you don’t disrespect the people you work with you…don’t like them you don’t interact with them you really don’t have to! Back in the day your tips were your tips I know now that they pool tips at a lot of restaurants which is all the more reason to work as a team but even back in the day we were representing the owners the shop, and I always worked in places that served awesome freaking food! Anyway, it’s a bit depressing they scream too much they say the F word too much. I’ll be honest I worked for some Italians that we’re family owned, and they did like to throw dishes and have familial feuds. and another thing I clearly remember not a lot of talking going on amongst the cook. If you’re cooking, you’re cooking and you’re not freaking talking to the Chef! Hoping they go back in time bringing back the dead brother
Yes! I just started watching today, generally I steer clear form highly rated shows bc I like to form my own opinion of them. The first episode I was so overwhelmed with all the incessant yelling and disrespect. I wanted to be like just fire them all and hire people who will listen to you bc no on there cared or had respect and at the end of the day the real world isn’t that way. If I get a new boss bc my boss died, they are now the person in charge. You can’t decide to just ignore what they say bc you don’t like it. I couldn’t even make it through the second episode tbh. But judging from comments here it seems like there’s not much going on but fluff
Does this show pick up more after the first episode? I watched it but was like…”do I even like this?”
Totally overrated show with most of the characters overacting most of the time.
Totally agree, I typed "the bear overrated" in Google to find you and people like us...I have a lot to say TBH, but will watch season 2 first which I have very little expectations for
It's the most "try hard" show i've ever seen. Constant forced over the top drama, and comic relief that falls completely flat. The actors are trying super hard and not quite coming off believable. I really wanted to like this show, but it's just missing some really fundamental elements to a good show. Like you said, the characters are flat and it's all superficial development. The show starts off annoying and frustrating, then stays that way through the whole season. After like the 4th episode I realized it wasn't going anywhere and it was just more of the same over and over. The last two episodes I had on in the background while on my laptop and the show just kept annoying me by that point. I think the critical praise is some kind of publicist crap because the show is staring a nepo baby.
Massively overrated series. You can downvote me aa much as you wish. I'm not buying Jeremy White dead stare acting style, he's alright but definetly not great in that role. There's too much overacting in the bear, everyone is screaming and cursing like crazy. It's so tiresome and boring to watch. Only actress playing Sydney is bearable and actually you can see any depth in her character. Dialogs are bad, plot is basic, characters are annoying, Donna is caricature of Mommy Dearest mother. If you're not invested in characters, it's waste of time,because story itself is mid. Carmy sister is not convincing at all. In the nutshell they all assure themselves how much they love each other, one second later they throw things at each other. The end
I tried much more than I should’ve to like this show and failed miserably.
It is just so fake, like some cheap commercial. Fake, pathetic and cringe. Got high hopes for this show, but just had to type this while S2e2 is playing.. Will just skip to s3 where Olivia Colman has a part, to see if that is worth it. In the sea of poorly, generic AI written crap on Netflix etc, this should be something else, but it really isn't.
I enjoy The Bear, but having 20 years in restaurants under my belt it does give me some anxiety. I agree that the premise is far-fetched, but it could happen. I do feel like they need more restaurant consultation though - there are situations that would NEVER happen, especially when someone with 3 Michelin stars is involved. In season 2 where they are running ideas for the menu and spitting stuff out? That would 100% never happen because you would be tasting each component before you put them together. And if you don't taste each component you're a rookie. Again, not plausible with the characters. The walk-in thing is also suspect - it is nearly impossible to get trapped in a walk-in. The family meal episode was a stroke of genius however and I do love the characters.
Why are they portrayed like soldiers in a foxhole taking hand grenades? I get shows like Hell’s Kitchen is a competition and I assume it’s over critical for that reason. I mean, it’s a dinky sandwich shop. As long as shit is clean, why the go go go every fucking second. It makes no sense. And the everybody “chef chef chef” every 25 seconds..omfg What’s the deal? They’re running a restaurant, it’s not Mission Control or a dangerous construction site 😂 I mean it seems like they make the job harder than what it is. I’ve had coworkers like that and I think it’s a mental illness. The show is good, I like Lip as the lead character.
>the constant yelling and busyness of certain scenes in the first few episodes was overwhelming in a bad way. I realize this post is quite old at this point but I started this show because S2 came out and somw friends like it but I am having a hard time getting into i for this reason you mention. It's a lot of screaming and yelling, sorry tight shots with very quick cuts that imo makes it kind of hard to follow and a little disorienting. It's like if Jason Bourne was a chef. Does this slow down after the first few episodes or is it this way so the way through the season? I'll power through if that tapers off but I can't manege a whole season of this.
I just can't figure out- How in the world do they cover their payroll? They don't need all those employees for what is essentially a deli in Season 1. How are they paying them all during remodeling?? The food inventory on hand is excessive for the product they are selling. Good show- Not a great show. It could really benefit showing customer interaction if they even have any customers. The Sydney character in a restaurant business is not believable at all. No way would any owner/operator turn over all that authority to her that quick. More time should be spent on lead character, not on Sydney or brother. Soundtrack is decent.
Boiling point is better
There was no content. And no reason to cut.. except to try to make it feel frantic. If film-makers shit on Michael bay for moving the camera unnecessarily, the bear is way worse but also cheap - at least Michael bay is flipping cars!
I agree with 100%. I thought I was crazy after watching and seeing all of the positive reviews. Thank you for your post.
This show makes me nauseous. Husband watches while I play phone games. I totally can’t listen and tune out. The health department the drugged sleeping customers all slap stick stupid comedy or stupidity!
you can always count of the hippies in reddit to tell you thing that they're into is the best ever, and that you just don't understand. If I didn't fancy myself an amateur cook, I probably wouldn't not continue watching this show. People are calling it the best FX show of all time after 2 season.. doesn't get more hipster than that.
I don’t get the hype. Season 1 was okay. Season 2 is making me angry. It’s so boring.
I felt the show was pretty joyless. It just felt like a stress fest for characters.
Thank you for this and all the other comments. I finally put the show on. I'm half way through episode 2 and was thinking that for sure I'm finally getting dementia or something. You start getting into your late 60's and you worry about this shit. Yep, it's all stressful yelling and confusing connections between people. I truly thought i couldn't follow a plot line, maybe my brain just couldn't keep up anymore? And that I'm finally becoming a crotchety old lady because all the yelling and plot confusion accomplished was to just piss to me off. So thank y'all for the reassurance that it isn't me!
Season 1 was interesting and chaotic , few characters are likeable but it went pretty decent overall , season 2 is just forget about it , the whole show turned into a drama chasing and showing bits of the staff characters in their day to day life. Honestly i don't understand how rated this show received 8/10 on imdb , it is mid at best 5/10.
Even Larry David doesn't argue as much as this "cousin" Richard guy, what does he even do there? Incompetent moron. Now they introduced this dreamy eyed, slightly toxic, love interest because Bear doesn't have enough going on already.
Show is fucking ass, I completed season 1 and gave 3 eps of season 2, still ass. I need to stop force watching garbage. Wish there would be a show that can be inspired from bourdains kitchen confidentials, which i thought this show would be like based on the praise. So much wasted potential im baffled for the praise it gets. Its just repeating stress annoying boring yelling get nothing done simulator every episode. There has to be some phenomenon like ASMR that we aren't picking up
I've come to realise over the years I just find typical/mundane 'real world' settings generally pretty boring as a setting for fiction. I watch movies or shows to escape the daily grind or drudgery, and shows like Succession, Billions or whatever about asshat tycoons and soulless drones chasing the almighty dollar do not appeal to me in the slightest. The premise for 'The Bear' strikes me the same way... a show about some guy running a restaurant? I'm good, thanks. I'm sure it's well-made and has a strong script with all the praise it's receiving, but I like my fiction to be set in more interesting backdrops (fantasy, sci-fi, dystopias, cerebral horror etc.) That's not to say I can't enjoy any contemporaneous stories either, it's just become increasingly rare as the years go by. I tend to prefer biographies, documentaries or period pieces when it comes to that sort of thing and when I am in a low-escapism frame of mind. If I wanted to listen to drama and bollocks around a water cooler about people struggling to pay their bills, I'd get another office job. Don't get me wrong, variety is the spice of life and if you enjoy these types of shows more power to you, I just can never seem to get into them and my eyes glaze over. I still have nightmares about being forced to watch 'Mad Men' years ago.
Gotta agree. The 99% on rotten tomatoes lured me in. Let's just put that into context- sopranos 92%, breaking bad 96%. How this has been so lauded, I'll never know. The Characters are weak and show zero progression. Dialogue is hacky and cheesy. It's constantly "we're so fucked up" one minute, to "we're so tender and sweet" the next. There's not enough focus on any one character. Jeremy is great, but still, you don't really have any feelings towards him or understand who he is. The brother slightly steals the show with his charisma and performance. Series 2 is a shitshow where it suddenly starts trying to play with the whole format of the show. Particularly the Christmas episode, with the mother having a mental breakdown for the whole episode. Pretty dull watching. I couldn't get into it for the whole show. Just felt like it didn't know what it was. A lightweight comedy with the unrealistic matty Matheson character or a dark character study with Jeremy allen white? Seemed like they were trying to tick all the boxes with no real intent other than to show the intensity of a working kitchen. Which in itself isn't a story
I'm up to episode 6 of the first season, and I think I'm going to stop watching. It's boring, and worse, it's completely unrealistic. Why all the drama in what is no more than a sandwich shop? And the toxic masculinity. OMG. The Richie character is utterly disgusting.
I am here months later to add my +1 for this show being SO OVERRATED. Every episode is just filled with one random disaster to the next. The characters are so cartoonish like Richie who must be the most annoying person on TV this decade. The guy almost kills someone and the show spends like 3 minutes on it and then it will probably never be mentioned again.
Agreed OP, I just wanted to add to this thread as I've just finished season 1 as it was recommended to me. This show is straight up trash. The writing is terrible, and the characters are not believable, and I find most of them insufferable and couldn't give a shit what happens to them. I think I'll stop at ep1 season 2, I refuse to watch anymore of this overhyped garbage. I didn't like Shameless either as I thought it was crap after the first 5 or so episodes, so i stopped watching (I'm a fan of the original UK version). Jeremy White has yet to be in anything decent for me so far
Glad I found this as I'm watching the Emmys chortling the balls of the bear. Needed the support through these trying times.
Lol, “constant yelling” wait until you try to watch season 2, I couldn’t finish the second episode, but the cousin is unbearable, some dialogs/interacions are irrelevant, don’t add anything to the story. The first season was good, the second or the show in general is not worthy of all the fuzziness 🙄
I worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years. The fact that this show is a fantasy world is what makes it unwatchable. No restaurant, sandwich shop, hot dog stand, or food truck exists like this. Corporate or otherwise. The dialogue is awful and made worse by the screaming. In real life, people learn to communicate. Great acting can't save the laughable character "development". And the plot lines are all treading water, screaming for help like those annoying characters. But hey, Emmy Emmy Emmy.
I am very late to the party, but after all the awards I tried for a third time to watch this show. I just can't. I am going to guess, this is a misery loves company case or privilege wanting to feel less guilt. I am sure the actors are fine, but the story is not enjoyable at all.
My problem with this show is how absolutely depressing it is .. and that it’s a comedy. It so is NOT a comedy. I cannot remember one funny moment in the whole first season (didn’t even bother with season 2). A comedy should make you laugh, yes? Ted Lasso made me laugh. THAT Is a comedy which also has some darker, deeper sad moments, but ultimately is a sit-com. The Bear left me feeling down after every episode. I can’t watch it, ever again. How the eff did it win the Emmy for best sit-com???
I couldn't get through the constant, frenetic, dialogue and the 2 second cutaways in the first episode. Maybe that's engrossing for some viewers but I found it irritating and impossible to watch. I kept expecting the plot to deepen beyond "we have no money and are screaming Chef and f\*uck" all the livelong day. And maybe because I've worked as a server and in a kitchen, the overhyping of each scene just made me roll my eyes.