What is "The Bear"?
And Why is it so Good?
title card for The Bear featuring the show's name and the characters in it
FX’s “The Bear” gets everything right and has become an iconic show for its drama and accuracy in the restaurant world. It follows Chef Carmen Berzatto (Carmy), a world-renowned chef who left his job at one of the best restaurants in the world to take over and eventually transform his late brother’s restaurant, The Beef, into The Bear. Carmy spends the first season trying to establish a proper restaurant alongside his sous Chef Sydney, but not without major conflicts with the rest of the staff, himself, and even the restaurant’s building. By the second season, the entire crew has come around to Carmy’s vision of what the restaurant should be and spend their time bettering themselves and overcoming massive hurdles. The characters being played on the show demonstrate the pressures of time, anxiety, stress and so much more that comes with working in the cutthroat, risky business of owning and working in a professional restaurant. The show also features many integral aspects of Chicago and “prides itself on its accuracy to the nuances of the city’s vibrant restaurant scene” (Worthington & Wroblewski, 2023). Christopher Storer, the show’s creator, had an interview with Esquire about the important details (finances, hygiene, inspections, etc.) often overlooked in chef movies and shows. He commented, “You can’t make this show without talking about how the finances ripple through… The cooking? That’s one skill of a hundred that it takes to operate a place” (Gordinier, 2022). With help writing and directing from Joanna Calo and Matty Matheson, the crew who produced “The Bear” showcased the importance of having those hundred-and-some skills on screen.
An article from Collider commentates, “The TV chef on screen is often represented as someone who is tortured by their job, by their passion to give customers the ultimate food experience. The ultimate irony is that the food is supposed to be nourishing but, in the end, takes away from the very people making it” (Galea, 2022). This is where the show connects best with its audience. In the episode titled “Forks,” in season two, with Richie acting as a viewing tool for the audience, we see how purpose and motivation play important roles in everyone’s lives. The personal issues that each character grapples with are the real sources of the show’s content, while blending with the harsh, culinary world.
One of these personal issues is the darkness of drug and alcohol addiction. Carmy’s brother Michael’s death from drug overdose is the catalyst that gets Carmy thrown into The Beef, Michael’s restaurant that he wouldn’t let Carmy work in. Bodden mentions, “It's no secret many chefs suffer from drug and/or alcohol abuse. It ends up feeling like the only way to survive. And, it can at times feel like the way to fit in” (2023). The audience is shown how harsh the effects of drug addiction are, especially when it leads to the death of a loved one. A handful of the chefs in the show also smoke lots of cigarettes. This sort of addiction is common in chefs, as it is used as an appetite suppressant.
The show has reached into dark corners of the minds of viewers who have worked in the food industry. “It was so accurate that it was triggering… It reminded me a little too much of what it was like to fend for myself in a chaotic, cutthroat kitchen. After watching, I spoke with other restaurant workers. We all agreed the show is a stark reminder of our trauma” (Yam, 2022). From physical burns, to complete and utter fatigue, from the hissing of gas stoves to the precisely sliced pieces of masking tape to label containers, “The Bear” is too familiar to its audience members with any culinary background. The camera shots, pacing, score, and acting inside and outside the kitchen deliver a perfect representation of the stress and work that people put themselves through for reasons they may not even fully understand.