The Bear Season 4 review
Creator: Christopher Storer
Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Liza Colón-Zayas
Star rating: ★★★
What if I were the food critic who had surreptitiously entered The Bear to taste the food and see for myself whether it deserved a great review? On my radar is the dish, and the way the place functions with the rest of the customers. In Season 4 of FX’s The Bear, the radar is on one side. There is a sequence early on where we are given a small view of an outsider’s perspective. We see Ritchie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) go the extra mile to make a bunch of customers happy; they deserve a special send-off. This act of faith is noticed by another customer who may or may not be a food critic. That’s pretty, his face says. He likes the warmth and kindness with which these people do their job. In a way, it is all he is allowed to see.
The premise
But creator Christopher Storer wants you to see more. He wants you to stay right beside Jeremy Allen White‘s Carmy as he finds himself trying to let go of the pain and guilt of his past mistakes. He wants to stay beside Ayo Edebiri‘s Sydney as she contemplates leaving the place for good. He wants to show his viewers the pressure cooker environment in which these people work, sweat and push harder every single day, questioning why they do this and if they are any good. If it all counts. If I were just a food critic, I would not know.
This season, the clock is literally ticking. Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) gives these cooks a timeline of two months, and within this time, if they do not manage to obtain that star (plus a great review), then they had better get going. The timer is placed in the kitchen for everyone to see, ticking away like a bomb is about to go off. For Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas, in a performance full of poignancy and subtlety), it is just about getting the work done today. Meanwhile, Lionel Boyce’s Marcus is still having issues with his pastries before service. Elsewhere, Sugar (Abby Elliot) has had a baby, but she is fully aware of what’s at stake in the kitchen. But can they really pull this off?
Even as this bunch are constantly reminded that ‘every second counts’, the episodic structure of this season does not seem to make up its mind on the same. The sense of pragmatism is missing in The Bear. The writing gets indulgent at places and veers away from the kitchen, seeking emotional truths that tend to take itself too seriously. So much of the attention is elsewhere, taking circles around Carmy’s past (his attachment with Molly Gordon’s Claire is- let’s face it- not helping at all), where Jamie Lee Curtis’ Donna Berzatto returns. So he gets more time to beat himself up and face a bitter truth.
What works
There’s a lot happening in this season; a lot of restlessness, force, and frenzy that has become a definitive trait of this show. The 70-minute episode in the middle is overlong and too flat to bring in any emotional resolution (the star-cameos do not help either). Storer still pushes through with a characteristic narrative ingenuity, which culminates in one standout episode, which follows Sydney as she gets her hair done with the help of her friend Chantel (Danielle Deadwyler; wonderful in her jaded, humorous turn). The payoff is wonderfully realised, exquisitely written.
Unfortunately, the rest of The Bear has fallen prey to a different sort of compartmentalisation. The writing has taken the bullet, dialling up the spotlight on resolutions and character traits rather than staying focused on the restaurant’s transition and how the food can get better in such a short deadline. What has remained powerful are the performances, with Ayo Edebiri delivering this season’s standout turn- a beautifully realised portrait of someone holding on to what matters to her. Even in her relatively smaller moments, the actor holds the screen with an intelligence that is lacking in the overall scream of the show.
Sydney gets to the point, and perhaps that’s all the show needed. To prioritise what’s important and what they can all bring to the table to make it the best dish in the world. The Bear is still bold, courageous and heartbreakingly alive, yet it cannot resist the urge to take a second look once again. As Sydney realises, some things are just instant- you know when to say no. And when to say, ‘Yes, chef.’ That honesty is all that matters.
The Bear Season 4 is now streaming on JioHotstar.
