re: The Bear season 3 - spoilers ok

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eason 2 was better overall but I did enjoy S3.

Jamie Lee Curtis was absolutely amazing in the hospital episode.

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Just finished S3 last night, and I feel the same way. I'm not sure if others have expressed this already, but my take is this:


S3 seems to have lost what made S1 and even S2 work so well: the family dynamic between everyone working there. There were too many single POV episodes, and there wasn't really enough development of them as a group/family. It is missing the focus of their relationships with each other, and that's what put this show into elite level.

Enough with season ending cliffhangers. It's such an annoying schtick. S1 was a perfect ending with them all sitting down and eating together like a family after all the hardships they had been through. That was special. Now we have two seasons in a row with a mild (S2) and now major cliffhanger.

S2 ended with Bear and Clair ending, but none of that was ever resolved in S2. They are taking way too long to move the character stories forward. Instead they focused more on the success/failure of the restaurant itself and a few POV's of the cast.

I did enjoy S3 a decent bit; the directing was top notch, and it plays like a long form highly rated indie film. It's still a wonderful series that can be studied in any film class. I just feel like they lost sight of what made this show so special and instead focused on what should be the backdrop to the overall story.

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whole season 3 felt like a very well executed and stylized reality show with a lot of extended conversations about feelings and experiences

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That's a great summation. It felt like I was watching great films, but once it was done I realized how empty it all was. It lacked depth.

Agreed. They show has artificially elevated her when the reality is nobody would know much about her. The restaurant hasn't even had its first review, yet somehow she is so beloved that she's being sought after to run a new restaurant.

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another thing that troubles me is the last episode, these people who have all spent years working in restaurants at the highest level and under the most demanding environments just accept Sydney as a peer even though she hasnt done much besides her 2 years of work with Carm

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Have they stated the actual timeline? I'd assumed all of this has happened in the span of like 6-12 months TBH

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Have they stated the actual timeline? I'd assumed all of this has happened in the span of like 6-12 months TBH

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I assume this is over a 2-3 year window because of the nature of some of the big plot points are very time consuming

Carm comes in after Mikey's death and takes over
The issues with the restaurant and the permitting delays for repairs
Finding the money, getting Unc to invest
shutting down, design plans, concepts, engineering etc
Remodel Project start and delays
Project completion and moving in, ramping up
Soft opening the Bear
The Bear fully open and functional

Sugar got pregnant and delivered a baby in this time frame

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I also think they haven't been explicity about Sydney's experience or lack thereof. We know for sure:
1) She graduated from CIA
2) She had a catering company that failed.

It, however is implied that her "resume" is very impressive when Carmy first interviews her and asks her why she would want to work at The Beef. I need to go back and review that scene to see if anywhere specific is mentioned, but I don't think she's as much of a "nobody" as a lot of people assume. She's also extremely successful and knowledgeable in the first season, as Carmy turns over so much of the operations and culture change of the restaurant to her, and she implements those things, such as the brigade.

Her risotto dish is also the dish that gets the Beef their initial positive review, despite Carmy insisting that it not go on the menu because it wasn't ready

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true but none of that would be impressive to people that worked at NOMA, Ever, Daniel, French Laundry, etc

she was WAY over qualified to work at a place like The Original Beef of Chicagoland

I guess it doesnt really matter

Pretty cool list of Chicago establishments from the show

The way Sydney acts and speaks is just very aggravating.

She’s always so awkward and never really says anything of susbtance just um, and like umm, and ok yeah ok umm sure

They definitely try to make her "quirky"

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She’s always so awkward and never really says anything of susbtance just um, and like umm, and ok yeah ok umm sure

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It’s the same way they talk in Succession.

Nobody ever says what they want or mean. It’s so aggravating. The “can we talk?” And they never ever talk.

It feels so unrealistic to me .

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I also think they haven't been explicity about Sydney's experience or lack thereof. We know for sure:
1) She graduated from CIA
2) She had a catering company that failed.

It, however is implied that her "resume" is very impressive when Carmy first interviews her and asks her why she would want to work at The Beef. I need to go back and review that scene to see if anywhere specific is mentioned, but I don't think she's as much of a "nobody" as a lot of people assume. She's also extremely successful and knowledgeable in the first season, as Carmy turns over so much of the operations and culture change of the restaurant to her, and she implements those things, such as the brigade.

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Its funny I have a cousin that:

Is in his 20s
Lives in Chicago
Went to CIA
Has worked in very good restaurants
Has worked for about a year at a 3 Michelin Star restaurant

No one is offering him to head a potential 3 Star restaurant any time soon