‘The Bear’ is a little wonder. A small series with 8 chapters, which premieres today October 5 on Disney+ after creating a critical phenomenon in North America following its premiere on FX in June. Starring Jeremy Allen Whitewho has been seen in the US remake of ‘Shameless’, is about how an extremely talented chef leaves his position as head chef of the “best restaurant in the world” to return home to Chicago.
The idea of knowing the glory in his profession to decide to manage his brother Mikey’s steak sandwich shop, after he committed suicide, drives the whole spirit of the series. A story of losers full of glory, failures and small triumphs that are worth much more, and in general an ode to Chicago and its working class that takes its title from a small anecdote related to the movie ‘The Bad News Bears, 1976’.
The series explores how a chef accustomed to excellence and working with a talented and disciplined team manages in a kitchen without financial stability, with a rebellious staff, supplier problems and others typical of his location in the middle of the urban jungle full of mafia and all kinds of characters. Emphasized from the start is the change of setting of Jeremy’s character, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, with lots of yelling and lots of fightingoften with Richie Jermiovich, a close friend of her brother with whom they treat each other as a cousin.
Ode to losers with the smell of sofrito
‘The Bear’ follows these two, introducing upbeat and budding young chef Sydney, who wants to implement changes at the restaurant to help turn it into a profitable business much to the dismay of Richie, who has a pragmatic approach and sees how in a raft full of punctures and a lack of patches to cover them offers him changes of approach that he has no spirit to consider. Also, his mental state is as chaotic as the screaming environment that takes place in both work shifts.
Mikey’s suicide is prevalent throughout the series, and the effect it has clearly had on Carmy and her sister, Natalie, becomes the driving force behind the entire story, right up to the point where Carmy opens up about the whole thing. terrible experience in an incredibly moving 7 minute monologue during a support group meeting Al-Anon in the season finale. Series creator Christopher Storer shot this scene in one take, absorbing the viewer in a way that really makes you feel like you’re sitting in the room with them.
That’s the magic of the series, combining chaos with the most intimate moments, alternating a dynamic where Carmy argues at the restaurant or with her sister, even asking each other when they’re going through the accounts, “Do you want to fight now?” Mikey makes an appearance in a flashback, with the stupendous choice of Jon Bernthal in the casting, whose familiar face has the effect of creating an aura of inherent sympathy that further explains the pain of Carmy and Ritchie’s loss, making the hole left by their absence greater.
One of the best endings seen in years
Episode 7 is a particular highlight, an 18-minute piece that was also shot in one take that they shot five times. They finally used the fourth attempt although according to the directors they could have used the first. It’s a catharsis that explodes in a perfect storm that gives rise to a coda that doubles the duration of the rest with good reason. Although ‘The Bear’ has already been renewed for a second season, its ending is so perfect, harbors so much magic and is so well orchestrated in advance that it seems impossible for them to reach that level of emotion.
The series has been compared to ‘Whiplash’, in terms of editing, and background on the demand within an artistic discipline, but intentions couldn’t be less aligned with Chazelle’s moviewhich seemed like a justification for how excellence can only be achieved through punishment and the almost psychopathic suppression of affective ties, while the conflict in ‘The Bear’ has a beating heart that breathes humanism and camaraderie at street level, raising the emotion about the purpose or results of the effort.
The most surprising of all is how the themes, characters, good dialogue and drama are compressed into episodes so short that they don’t even last half an hour including the credits, a format reserved almost exclusively for comedy that is adapted here to a story between the indie piece of the 90s, Scorsese’s cinema and the culinary documentary.
‘The Bear’ is agile, intelligent, with attitude and a resolution capable of bringing tears to the most undaunted, an example of outstanding television, one of those that appear from time to time within a cascade of mediocre productions and bland hits like ‘Andor’. One of the series of the year and beyond.