TV Review: ‘The Bear’ Season Three’s Mid-Season Highs and Lows
by Allison Dempsey
Flashbacks, hidden memories and background stories emerge halfway through the FX drama’s newest season.
After an eventful and fast-moving first three episodes, The Bear’s third season peels back the contextual curtain — both for better and for worse — during episodes four, five and six.
Episode four, “Violet,” features some more dark, scenic shots hinting at the cast’s deeper issues that might play out later in the run. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) feels vulnerable when his daughter, Eva (Annabelle Toomey), worries about his loneliness after his ex-wife, Tiff (Gillian Jacobs), and new boo, Frank (Josh Hartnett), announce their engagement. There’s more jolting flashbacks of familial unrest as Richie and Sugar (Abby Elliot) wonder if their traumas will pass on to their next generation. A short, intimate memory between Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Claire (Molly Gordon) reveals just how much the restaurant infiltrated their relationship, and a decision to hang photos of food critics on the office walls reminds him of the harsh criticisms in New York. There’s plenty of buildup to speculate over in “Violet,” but it comes almost halfway throughout the season, where the restlessness of waiting for the other shoe to drop is beginning to overwhelmingly creep in.
John Cena makes a surprise appearance as the third Fak brother, Sammy, during episode five, “Children.” While the comic rapport between Neil (Matty Matheson) and Theodore (Ricky Staffieri) is authentically funny and natural, the forced chemistry of involving Cena in the mix seems out of place and unnecessary. The Bear is not the type of show that needs to rely on the crutch of celebrity guest stars, and the drawn-out back-and-forth arguments between all three of the brothers serve little purpose and cloud any plot that could be unfolding otherwise. Sammy proves to be of use when he’s sent on a mission to retrieve a duck for The Bear’s newspaper photoshoot, but it seems to be more of a coincidence rather than a useful purpose destined for his character.
In the triumphant, Ayo Edebiri-directed episode six — “Napkins” — Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), one of the most beloved chefs of The Bear, gets her long-awaited and well-deserved origin story. After an exhausting and painfully real layoff/job search, she stumbles into The Beef and shares a tender moment with Mikey (Jon Bernthal), leading him to offer her the line cook position. Throughout her unsuccessful unemployment process, she faces familiar struggles of the modern job hunt: adapting to Linkedin applications, not meeting impossible qualifications, and getting frustrated at the anti-social, younger receptionists who don’t have to hustle like she has.
“Napkins” confronts Tina’s revelations about her older age, the animosity-turned-jealousy she feels towards the younger generation of workers, and how fragile and cutthroat a long-term job can be in a powerful and genuine way. After two episodes of mostly filler and worldbuilding, it stands out as one of the more poignant moments of the season thus far.
