Commentary: The Third Season Of ‘The Bear’ Slowed Its Pacing To A Crawl
by Frank Martin
The first two seasons of The Bear established that the series was going to move at a fairly slow place. It wasn’t geologically slow or even particularly noteworthy for its pacing. It just didn’t move as briskly as other streaming shows while remaining in the “normal” parameters for pacing. This is an effect of The Bear‘s plot not being its central focus, — character is. The plots for both earlier seasons could be summed up in a sentence or two. And yet, the pacing for Season 3 really pulled back even more and delivered one the slowest seasons of television in recent memory.
As it begins, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and the rest of The Bear’s staff continue to operate the restaurant under extremely strenuous circumstances. His drive for perfection puts enormous pressure on everyone, pushing the restaurant’s budget to the max. Other events this season: Natalie (Abby Elliott) gives birth and Ever, a restaurant Carmy used to work at, closes. The season ultimately ends when The Bear receives a glowing review.
For ten episodes, it’s pretty amazing just how little those plots moved forward. Yes, Natalie did have her baby, which does move things along. But an entire episode was dedicated to it, slowing the overall pacing of the program to a crawl. In fact, the entire first episode was primarily just flashbacks. There’s also a second flashback episode focused on Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), detailing how she came to work at The Beef. That’s not to say these episodes lack merit. They were expertly crafted and give the characters their due spotlight. But there’s definitely a stark contrast in this season’s pacing compared to the previous two, which is to say it was practically non-existent.
The Bear is now streaming on Hulu.
