"The Bear Season 4" A Recovery Too Little Too Late?

 

    How do I feel about the newest season of The Bear? I suppose in my mind I can see why people might dislike this season, after all it seems that the show has shed a lot of what made people fall in love with it these past two seasons. Gone is the tightness, the pacing, the tension, and the stakes. Instead of 20 minuteish episodes now they reach 30 minutes, and instead of snappy scenes you have longer, more drawn out ones that relish in the silence. Most importantly, most of the characters seem happier, better. Even still, I think this season was decently well done, certainly not some return to the glory of the first two seasons, but definitely not the stumble that the third one was. I promise this season did not solely focus on the characters and yes the plot actually progressed. So let's talk about it.

    Look, does this season feel a little fanservicey? Ok yes, it's undeniable. I love the side characters but you cannot tell me that the show runners aren't at least a little bit aware of what's worked in the past and what people want to see. I'm not saying that Luca helping out, or Jess and company is out of the blue, but you can't tell me that it doesn't feel a little bit out of place for when you expected it. Especially because a big theme of this season is them complaining the entire time about how they're super tight on money and are hours away from just closing down. 

    It's just the execution makes things feel a little forced is all. Honestly, as nice as it was to finally see Sugar and Francine hash it out, I hate to say a part of me would have been fine never finding out and having it be a funny gag. I mean we as viewers still don't really understand what happened between them other than their ex-best friends who hooked up one time? But hey they hashed it out, too bad it's played by Brie Larson so getting her to show up more often seems like an uphill battle.

    Keeping on the theme of fan-service, I think a good word to describe a lot of this season is the word unearned. For better or worse, they most definitely remedied the largest issue with last season, which was the complete stagnation plot wise. In exchange, they mostly have thrown out much of the satisfaction for viewers. Season 4 feels like them trying to recover from the aftermath of season 3, yet the main catalyst for causing everything to spiral, the review isn't really brought up after the first couple of episodes. And most importantly, they just start getting better, for reasons? 

    For better or worse, at the Bear, Carmy has always been the drink stirrer, one of the main sources of tension/yelling, even if he tries to go against the curve as hard as he can, the restaurant lives or dies by him. Yet, this season it feels like he's relinquished that role, everything is so calm and serene, but it feels almost anticlimactic. The restaurant is finally clicking, Carmy is finally starting to accept some peace, but he never blew up, the shift and the growing success doesn't feel earned. They just hire some extra workers and boom, it's a well-oiled machine now. Thematically, it makes sense with where his character arc is turning, but you'd expect a much more iconic/memorable/specific point at which Carmy finally stopped trying to stir so hard, and simply let the drink mix itself.

    Which of course brings me to the fact that structurally it feels like the show has changed. I'm not saying it's better or worse, but it's different, and best exemplified by the final episode which is 30 minutes and takes place entirely in one shot behind the restaurant. The show has fallen in love with these long, drawn out scenes, and sometimes they work, and sometimes they're over a third of the episode, and you can't help but ask yourself if The Bear is too cramped. And I mean that both for the show and the restaurant. I'm not saying I don't think we need an Ebra side plot, but it felt kind of underdeveloped and really random. Not to mention, why did we get a Chester sideplot? Respectfully, I don't need this much Fak or Chester. There's just a lot of side characters, and I think the show tried to do some smaller ones while also only focusing on a triumvirate of Richie, Carmen, and Syd. It was just too much and too little at the same time if that makes sense.

    All of this to say that this season has a lot of issues, but I think it does just enough to stay afloat. Sort of like the restaurant this season. The fanservice isn't that bad, but it's noticeable. Honestly, you could make an argument that it's kind of enjoyable too. I know people give the show a lot of flack, and I just did, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this season and watched all of it in two days. I don't think the celebrity cameo's are annoying, and to be honest at this point I'm very invested in the plot of this show and hope to see all of the characters end up in a better place.

Final Score: 75/100

    I mean did you really expect me to give this show a bad score? I only remember what's changed because I remember what made the show so good in the first place. It's good to change, you can only have these high stakes for so long. It's just, I don't know if the show really has pivoted the best. I don't know if I'd go as far to call the show directionless, because they have a clear vision of what they want to be now, I just feel like maybe there's this push and pull between what the showrunners want and the fans want. Either way I'm still tuned in for a season five so does my opinion even matter?