The art of cooking amid chaos.

Synopsis: A young chef from the world of haute cuisine returns to Chicago to manage his family's restaurant.

The Bear follows the attempts of Carmy Berzatto, a renowned chef who is trying to save the sandwich restaurant he inherited from his late brother, Mikey, from bankruptcy. During this process, Carmy needs to get along with the team at The Beef (the name of the restaurant), deal with his own grief and manage his own business – a totally new challenge for him. He is a brilliant chef, who has worked in the biggest restaurants in the world, with Michelin stars on his resume, but these credentials don't help him with the challenges he faces – and that's where the support of Sydney, the sous chef he works for, comes in. hires you to support you in your mission to save The Beef.

One of the factors that attracted me to The Bear is the fact that it has short episodes, no longer than half an hour, with the exception of some 40-something minute episodes and a Christmas special (which, by the way, is a masterpiece of television). Despite the short duration, however, I was surprised by intense episodes, which touched my emotions in an unexpected way, by immersing me in the rhythm of the kitchen alongside the characters. The Bear is directed in such a chaotic way that, after finishing some episodes (especially those from the first season), I found myself physically anxious. There are episodes in which the characters spend the entire half hour shouting at each other, trying to survive the chaos of orders, with the kitchen in rags and the processes completely messed up. The Bear forces the viewer to experience in the most immersive way possible everything wrong that is happening to its characters, all the difficulties they are facing in keeping the restaurant afloat and, consequently, all the tension generated by this. They fight, shout, argue, but they also find solutions together. The construction and development of characters that happens in the kitchen is incredible and characters that you start off hating suddenly turn into your favorite characters without you even noticing, such is the series' ability to show the subtleties of each of them throughout the seasons. .

Mental health is also one of the most important topics covered in the series. Carmy's brother, Mikey, took his own life, leaving Carmy and her sister, Natalie, helpless. For the protagonist, this loss is very difficult to process, because he was far away, working as a chef in a renowned restaurant, while his brother ran The Beef. There are unresolved feelings in Carmy, who always wanted to be close to her brother and couldn't, and her entire career was based on proving her worth to him. Carmy is an extremely flawed character, often authoritarian, clearly anxious and in urgent need of therapy; but when The Bear focuses on showing his past, the viewer is able to understand all the traumas he went through, both in his family environment and at the hands of an abusive boss, which shaped the obsessive personality he has in the present, which helps to create empathy – or, at the very least, understanding. Natalie, in turn, also suffered the consequences of her brother's death, but was mainly impacted by the upbringing they had. The character's characteristics (her need for control and to please the people around her) are traits of someone who needed to take care of everyone, but had no one to take care of herself - and this is also shown by The Bear when the family matriarch Enters the scene, a woman with very serious mental health issues that affect everyone around her.

There's room for all of The Bear's characters to shine. Sydney, who I'm not particularly a big fan of, is a key player in organizing and running the restaurant; Marcus, the confectioner, is someone whose sparkle in his eyes makes you miss what it's like to feel that genuine enchantment for work, as he has the curiosity of a child learning how the world works; Richie, the Berzattos' “cousin”, was Mikey's right-hand man and best friend and lives not only the grieving process, but also reinventing himself in his own role within the restaurant's dynamics; Tina learns to put her pride aside to absorb the knowledge of what the younger generation has to teach... in short, each character has their role in the intense dynamics of The Beef and makes the series more than just a story about cooking, but also about the (often toxic) routine of the haute cuisine environment and the bonds that allow difficult situations to be overcome.

The third season (2024) I have to admit that there was a brilliance that was missing in the first seasons. If in the first and second seasons we had a progression of characters and events surrounding the restaurant, even in the midst of the daily confusion of the routine, in the third season the script caused a development of the facts behind the dynamics of the restaurant. I hope the fourth season improves these aspects, bringing a little more action in the kitchen, as The Bear's potential is huge.

I recommend The Bear to anyone looking for an intense series that will stir your emotions. I don't necessarily say that because all of her events will be strong or anything like that - although, yes, in some episodes they will be (especially because they contain triggers like su!c!de and talk a lot about mental health) -, but because the rhythm of the episodes and the mental fragility of the characters are so intensified that you also end up absorbing some of that anxiety. Personally, I loved living this experience and feeling these emotions. The brilliant performances, the well-constructed script and the immersive direction ensure that you dive head first into what the characters are feeling.