Content warning: Mentions of suicide
FX’s “The Bear” released a highly-anticipated sophomore season on June 22 full of gourmet food, familial trauma and every kind of stressor imaginable.
The hit show grew to popularity off its debut season in 2022, which saw Michelin star chef Carmen Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) wrangling together a disjointedly entertaining cast of kitchen characters to save his late brother’s sandwich shop, The Beef, after he died by suicide. With its fast-paced editing and unique personalities colliding, the show brought a raw sense of authenticity to the food service industry.
Season 2 takes a new turn as The Beef team works to transform the mold-coated shop into a Michelin star restaurant: The Bear. This new adventure challenges each character as they embark on their own journeys; whether it’s Marcus (Lionel Boyce) learning about desserts in Copenhagen, Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) going to culinary school or Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) creating a Michelin star menu from scratch, everyone encounters a challenge that together determines the restaurant’s fate. This plot structure evenly distributes attention across the main cast and brings emotional depth to each character.
Main characters Carmen and Sydney still shine as their internal pressures constantly collide. Engulfed in self-doubt and living with her single father, Sydney feels alone in her journey of creating the restaurant’s menu. On the contrary, Carmen battles himself, his kooky cast of restaurant renovators and a mountain of bills all while reuniting with former flame Claire (Molly Gordon). The unique manifestation of stress in White’s and Edebiri’s performances creates a tangible tension that excites.
A more lackluster arc proved to be the romantic escapade between Carmen and Claire. Seemingly coming out of nowhere this season, Carmen’s childhood crush appears, reigniting their romantic past. While this relationship exhibits Carmen’s complete inability to accept love and his consistent destruction of his own happiness, the relationship does not feel fleshed out, with Claire mainly serving as an addition to Carmen’s story instead of being a complex character.
Episode six, titled “Fishes,” stands out as the highlight of the show, taking viewers back in time to a family Christmas at the home of Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), the matriarch of the Berzatto family. This 66-minute episode gives audiences a look into the root of the show’s anxiety through a roller coaster of masterful performances, frantic meal prep, family arguments and nonstop screaming.
Finally, after the intense pressure of meeting certifications, tearing walls apart and crafting world-class dishes, the final episode culminates with a boom of stress and anticipation. The Bear hosts a friends-and-family night which serves as a dress rehearsal for the restaurant’s grand opening. Yet, the kitchen throws audiences back into the intense pressure of Season 1 as the culinary team powers through a clogged toilet, Carmen getting locked in the walk-in fridge and overflowing orders.
A story of family, food and frustration, Season 2 of “The Bear” does a fantastic job in expanding the inner world of each character and highlighting how these worlds collide and intermingle. Family bleeds into everything whether we like it or not, and audiences will love to see it in this new season.
4 Michelin Stars out of 5
