"The Bear" on Hulu

Anywhere else to watch it besides Hulu?

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Itā€™s an FX on Hulu production, so unfortunately not. You could always sign up for the free trial week and watch it, then cancel before they charge you. Itā€™s only eight half-hour episodes.

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Renewed for a second season.

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I donā€™t like it. It felt one and done to me.

I worked front and back of house in very busy restaurants during high school, college and grad school to pay for my education. The bear is the first movie/series Iā€™ve seen that comes close to capturing the pace and chaos of working in a very busy restaurant. And honestly, I donā€™t think they did a great job capturing the sustained, frenetic pace of a night when the restaurant is crushed with 1.5 hour waits for tables.

I enjoyed the series, thought it was well-acted but maybe Iā€™m slow and I donā€™t want to give away the ending, but it seemed like a stupid plot device.

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I have been eye-rolling it for days.

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I finally watched it, in a hotel in Orlando. Thank you Chromcast!

Having assumed it would drag out to 10 episodes, I was relieved that it ended after 8. I enjoyed the glimpses of kitchen technique, and agree that it is well-acted, but there was too much that was either senseless or redundant. Had the crew begun to work as a coherent team, Iā€™d have rooted for them and been interested in what developed. Carmy is supposedly steeped in an atmosphere where precision and elegance are paramount, yet he is always disheveled and grimy-looking, with zero interest in presenting himself as a professional. We arenā€™t given any reason why so many people loved the deceased owner. The immature male characters show little prospect of ever growing up. A 35/40 year old Peter Pan is boring and pathetic. I suppose this series has more appeal for males than females.

Iā€™m female, and I generally liked it. I didnā€™t see all the male characters as immature - Richie, certainly, but not Carmy or the other guys who worked at the restaurant. I also donā€™t think heā€™s supposed to be anywhere near 35 - heā€™s the youngest sibling in his family and (if memory serves) won his ā€œbest new chefā€ award at 21 or something crazy like that.

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I wasnā€™t implying that ALL the males were either immature or over 35.

Which one(s) were you referring to?

Richie, Michael, the Oliver Platt character, Faz, another cook whose name I never caught, andā€¦Carmen, who could go either way by the time heā€™s out of his 20ā€™s. He WANTS to have a well-run and successful business, but is he capable of this? He has yet to truly appreciate that Sydney knows more about management than he does. The viewer pities Richie, whose value to the business is iffy. He can wrangle the low-lifes among the customers, keeping them coming by dealing drugs to them. If Carmen succeeds in implementing his vision, that segment of the patrons wonā€™t be welcome, nor would they be interested in eating there. So Richieā€™s usefulness lessens dramatically and heā€™s largely a liability.

Huh. I guess I donā€™t really see it in any of those characters save Richie. And I didnā€™t have much pity for Richie - heā€™s the character that functions as the ball-and-chain link to the past for Carmy, the bad influence that he is honor-bound to keep around. And I agree that the new incarnation of the restaurant is going to alienate 90% of its current customer base. Which I will bet you $100 (thatā€™s $95 more than my usual bet!) is gonna be the through-line of Season II. Shades of Big Night, for sure.

On the subject of man-babies, The Bearā€™s saving grace in this regard, according to me, is that thereā€™s no female character foil to Carmy, no one in what I think of as the ā€œoh, you!ā€ role. Examples of this relationship abound, but the one that currently gags me the most is between Ji-Yoon and Bill on The Chair. If you havenā€™t seen it, Billā€™s played by Jay Duplass, last seen as another man-baby on Transparent.

Wow. You built a lot on some small scenes. We have very little to go on Michael. He has a couple of scenes in flashbacks. Obviously a troubled person who gets hooked on drugs and then killā€™s himself. No real explanation why. If he is a so called man child so I guess was Bourdain.

I have no idea what the Platt characters is supposed to be. Uncle or wise guy. Friend or foe. He is a complicated one.

I doubt anyone else has much pity for Richie.

By the way Sydneyā€™s business failed.

If the brigade started pulling together immediately there would be no drama. Conflict and resolution is inherently more interesting to me than happy pablum shows. Thatā€™s for Hallmark.

Maybe we watched different shows.

I am a male and enjoyed the show but my wife also found it compelling. The characters are interesting and trying to figure out their motivation is part of the story. We donā€™t know yet what is driving everyone.

Jay Duplasseā€¦ugh. I pulled the plug on Transparent because the children were such selfcentered whiners. That and The Chair are the only things Iā€™ve seen him in. Perhaps heā€™s typecast and has done characters who arenā€™t as unlikeable but I am not interested in giving him more time to disgust me.

Just started. Loved Jeremy Allen White in Shameless, and itā€™s interesting that this character is also Chicago-based, intense, talented-beyond-his roots/family, struggling with addiction, and so on. Hope he doesnā€™t get typecastā€¦

Enjoying the show so far. Oliver Platt cameos are usually positive in my book.

Stopping myself from reading the rest of this chat here in case there are spoilers!

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More ā€œreviewsā€

Andrew Zimmern/Spilled Milk

And Jane Brendlinger Food and Wine

And Eater

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Iā€™ve read a number of articles from restaurant professionals who have watched the show and said how close to reality it is. Itā€™s clearly tv so itā€™s not truly reality but itā€™s very close. Having grown up in a family owned restaurant I know something of the chaos you can have on a busy night. One reason why I know I didnā€™t want to make it my profession. On the other hand the shows I have seen about my chosen profession are so unrealistic itā€™s laughable. I tried watching Industry but it just hurt my brain so much I could not get past the third episode. When I read that some of the creators had spent time at MS I wondered where? In the cafeteria kitchen? :laughing:

Here is another story which focuses on the flashback with the dead brother and making braciole. I plan on trying it.

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The Zimmern piece helped me understand a possible explanation for at least some of what I saw as an incongruity in the show. He suggests that Carmyā€™s intense imposition of a high end kitchen dynamic is this tiny sandwich shop is his way of dealing with the overwhelming loss of his brother. That could explain Carmy. I donā€™t see it explaining Sydney though, except that she seems used to that environment so just fits in. My 2Ā¢.

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