I’m not sure if anybody out there is lacking for streaming television show options at the moment…or at any moment anymore, really. As far as the breadth and type of programming available, this is absolutely the all-time viewing peak right now. It seems like there are shows being made literally for every demographic…and I think that’s great. But it can result in creating stress simply involving the decision of what to watch. So I’m going to hand out two shows that I give a big, enthusiastic “thumbs up” to, and they couldn’t be more different. One has had a lot of buzz and some “show of the summer” talk. The other…definitely has not. But I really loved both. Maybe one of these will hit a sweet spot for you too. First up…
The Bear. Hulu, eight episodes, all episodes available now.
Wow.
I’m blown away by this show. I’m obsessed with it, honestly. I heard some chatter about it back in June when it came out, but I was in such streaming-overload that I paused my Hulu account for a few months—side note: this is a great feature, and an excellent way to be sure that I’ll just take a hiatus rather than cancel my account altogether.
Anyway…
The Bear is about a talented chef who has worked in some of the finest restaurants in the world, and what happens when he takes over running the family roast beef sandwich shop in Chicago after his brother’s death.
First, there’s the authenticity. I started working in restaurants when I was a teenager, and I’ve done it all at some point—dishie, busboy, waiter, line cook, you name it. I also went to a high end culinary school a few years back. Let me tell you that The Bear absolutely nails it. It’s the little things. The attention to detail is phenomenal. You can practically smell this restaurant through the screen. There have been plenty of attempts at the “chef as rock star/tortured genius” genre before, and most of them miss the target by a mile.
Not here.
One brilliant choice is that there is no hand-holding with the storytelling. Viewers are thrown right into the fire (pun intended) with Chef Carmen Berzatto and the rest of the crew at The Beef. The manic, claustrophobic feel and energy of the cramped restaurant kitchen immediately lets you know what kind of show this is. I read somewhere that one of the producers, who is also a chef, answered as follows when asked about designing it for the show: Think of it like a submarine.
It’s a perfect comparison. Tight quarters, everyone on the same team and ostensibly working toward the same goal, despite personality conflicts and other ongoing drama. And oh, man…is there plenty of that. A couple of characters are wildly, unapologetically, aggressively unlikeable at the start of the season. They do things that might make you question whether you can even handle continuing to watch the show.
And it’s a fair question. This is absolutely not for everyone. If you don’t like some stress with your viewing, I totally get that, and I suggest you take a pass on this one. But over the course of eight brisk episodes, The Bear earns all of it. We learn something about everyone at the restaurant. For those more negative characters, we get a lot of insight into why they act the way they do. It’s not all feel-good hugs and understanding. It’s an accurate reflection of different types of life that these characters are living.
I applaud the writers and producers for not taking any easy detours or shortcuts. There is one character that’s starting her first day at The Beef in the premiere, and it would have been a simple and understandable choice to make her some clueless ingenue—someone that has to be shown the ropes at every corner, in order to fill the viewers in more on what’s happening.
That absolutely does not happen.
Yes, she’s young, and in some ways she is that “point of view” accessibility character. But she’s talented in the kitchen too, with her own motivations, and the way that she fits into this group immediately becomes an integral aspect of the chemistry of the show.
I also love some of the directing and editing choices. There are some lightning-fast cuts—so fast that they are almost subliminal, and you definitely might miss a few. They involve things like a shot of an overdue bill, or a quick look at a person’s resume or accomplishments…just tiny little glimpses of background information. And as a writer, I respect the decision to mete out some information this way. One of my least favorite cliches in all of television and film writing is the “a character gets his or her resume read to them by someone else” scene. We’ve all seen these numerous times. They’re lazy. It’s just an information dump. You might as well bring on Basil Exposition from Austin Powers to read the resume.
There is none of that here. There are cuts so fast that they make you want to watch the show again. Which I did. I can’t remember the last time I did that so recently after watching a show, but that happened. I finished all eight, then jumped right in and watched them all again over the next weekend.
And I haven’t even talked about episode seven yet.
I know that a lot of us have TV on in the background now, while we doing something else on a phone, tablet, or laptop . I do it all the time. If you find yourself enjoying this show, please put any distractions aside when you get to episode seven. I implore you. It’s the shortest one of the season. The entire episode is about 20 minutes long. But it warrants and deserves your undivided attention. You’ll see why.
I can’t end this without a little more praise for the writing. I don’t want to spoil anything, so here are three completely out-of-context quotes, said by three different characters, that made me think long after I first heard them:
“You can’t start at ‘fucked.’”
“One bite of a donut brings much joy. Two bites brings sadness.”
“Is there a name for that thing where you’re afraid of something good happening because you think something bad is gonna happen?…I don’t know. Life?”
Season two of The Bear cannot come soon enough for me. I hope some of you out there enjoy it anywhere near as much as I have.
I rambled more about this than I intended, so I’ll save my second show recommendation for another post. It’s lighter and completely different.
(Note: I’ve shed a fair number of subscribers over the last few months. I expected it and I understand it, considering that most of you lovely people came here for precisely one case that I cover—appeal brief due there on Monday, by the way. So I’m not putting this one behind the paywall, because I think that The Bear is an amazing show and I want to do my part, however small, to bring more attention to it. So if you are so inclined, please feel free to share this article however it is convenient for you to do so—email, Twitter, owl post—whatever works for you. I appreciate it, and more importantly, I sincerely appreciate you if you are reading this. Thank you!)