The Bear
One of the standout TV shows of 2022
What You Need to Know
The Bear is an American comedy-drama television series created by Christopher Storer and released by FX/Hulu in June 2022. It stars Jeremy Allen White as “Carmy”, a young chef from the world of fine dining who comes home to Chicago to run his family's Italian beef sandwich shop following the death of his older brother.
The first season comprises of eight episodes, typically around 30 minutes in length.
Why it’s a Recommendation
The Bear does an incredible job of building atmosphere, especially in the kitchen scenes. The close-ups make the space feel claustrophobic, the characters are doing multiple things at once, and the shouting makes everything feel stressful and urgent. The performances are excellent, and anybody with experience of a real kitchen environment will notice the attention to detail they’ve put into the show.
In the early episodes, this atmosphere is not always totally enjoyable - Alan Sepinwall in Rolling Stone described it as “the most stressful thing on TV right now” - but I found it quickly had me genuinely caring about the characters and the problems they were trying to solve. Never are the stress and the stakes more intense than in the incredible seventh episode (called “Review”). I won’t spoil it - you will see what I mean when you get there (and please do try have some patience to get through the stress and shouting to do so!).
Added to it all, the soundtrack is basically perfect, featuring the likes of Wilco, Sufjan Stevens, and Radiohead. The show was renewed for a second season quickly after its release and I’m extremely excited to see where they take it after this excellent opening season. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Learn More
Why The Bear Hits So Hard (an excellent analysis by Thomas Flight, but contains spoilers)
Eater’s review of The Bear (the last paragraph is nail-on-the-head)