The Bear

Art has to be what I want it to be and resolve what I want it to resolve to be “good”

There's trauma porn and there's trauma porn. Yellowstone is the former; this is the latter.

Just now got around to watching season 2 and holy **** episode 6 is one of the worst things I've ever watched. Felt like it was a 3 hour episode. Jamie Lee Curtis blew the role away in both appearances. Its such a stressful show where everyone is awful and nothing ever happens, then you get this little piece of perfection and that is what keeps me watching. The end of Richies episode leading into the chocolate covered banana really got me. Oliver Platt delivers such a subtle yet impactful moment.

I've heard enough about season 3 that I'm really not looking forward to watching it. I didn't even enjoy most of season 2

It sounds like you don't watch things to enjoy them but to experience them, season 3 is a thing to be experienced even if the flavour is less.... sharp, perhaps, than season 2. It's still a very well-made show with compelling storyline and cast and everything, just season 3 is less pizzazzy, and season 2 set the bar higher than it would ever be likely to retain in season 3.

Interestingly you nailed that season 3 is an experience. I find its more pizzazzy though, oozing style over substance.

Season 4 looking wild!

Spoiler

Show

I just binged season 3. After having worked in kitchens (in chicago) for the last 16 years, I can't help but judge this show based on the realness of it. I'm fully aware it's fiction and not based on a true story, but they obviously try to recreate the atmosphere of a real restaurant kitchen, so I think criticizing the show, and criticizing reviews of the show, based on realism is fair in this case.

Sydney is the only realistic character on the show, and that's probably why no one likes her. Sydney is like a hybrid of every chef I've ever worked for. If I walked into a kitchen for the first time and Sydney was the chef, it would seem perfectly normal.

If I walked into a kitchen for the first time and Carmy was the chef, I'd consider walking out immediately. Carmy is an idiotic childish bipolar emo nutjob whose personality doesn't resemble any chef or any human I've ever seen. The actor who plays Carmy can't seem to decide if he's doing a Gordon Ramsey impression or if he's a melodramatic soap opera character. He doesn't pull off either one. The Carmy character is poorly written and poorly executed in every possible way.

Carmy is like Omar from The Wire. A silly cartoon character in an otherwise raw, real, and gripping story.

The Sydney character is so real she makes me uncomfortable. Her eye rolls, her annoying snippy comments. Her anxiety, insecurity, and fragile ego are exactly what make her a believable chef.

Season 3 was not great overall. They gave up on telling a coherent story and decided to make a show that's not much more than a hoity toity chef circle jerk. The last episode of S3 was insufferable. No plot whatsoever, it was nothing more than "look at all these famous chefs we got in a room together, aren't you impressed???!!!!) Especially the scene where there was a guy asking Grant Achatz questions about some of his most famous dishes. Every single question the guy asked could've been easily answered by reading the Alinea cookbook, which every fine dining chef and every "foodie" in the world has a copy of. That was the dumbest piece of dialogue I've seen anywhere in a long time.

I guess that's why I don't have any chef friends.

No one watching Season 4?

I like it so far (4 episodes). Much more straight forward narrative structure.

I've been on the fence about it, hoping to hear opinions before I decide. I think I have to commit to the whole season or nothing

I had no clue the new season started. Will probably just wait for all the episodes to release at this point

They already have. It’s the one huge show that drops all at once.

I loved s4. I can see how some people might not. The great news is its back to advancing the narrative as opposed to whatever the **** s3 was.

6 eps into the new season and I think it's great. I didn't read any of the posts ITT to avoid getting spoiled, but if you liked the previous seasons yet thought S3 was a drag... well this is a return to form.

Is anyone ever going to tell this guy to see a therapist or take a pill or something

Felt like I just rewatched S3. Nothing happened. The wedding episode was some sort of heartwarming antithesis to Fishes, and it fell very flat for me. The show is composed of 10x the exact same character, everyone just has Titanic levels of emotional baggage. Show has steadily gone downhill since a great S1.

They had to rework it to make it four seasons.

I think they should have resolved the tension with Richie at the end of s3. The Mikey stuff is just so stale four years later.

The final season should have centered around Sydney/Carmen. I liked the finale until Richie entered. I wish they could have come to a more concrete understanding that Carmen needs to step away and seek some type of mental health counseling.

“Carmen went to Mikey’s funeral” is not the bomb that they thought it was

Lol yeah. I think it started super promising but got more stale towards the end of the season when you started to realize that there's actually nothing cooking.

I think the vibe shift compared to s3 was strong enough to make it a decent improvement for me - I very much enjoyed it and would happily watch another season of the same thing... even though the writing is frustrating, the plotlines are aimless, and nothing ever happens.

Only realized now that the guy playing Uncle Computer was poker legend Brian Koppelman.