Mission UnBearable #8, #9, #10
Season 4, Episode 8: “Green”; Episode 9: “Tonnato”; Episode 10: “Goodbye”
The thing about a streaming show is that you can be done with it at any time, if you truly want to be done with it. Actually, this is true of almost everything, but most people weirdly don’t want to acknowledge that you can just stop doing things if you don’t like them.
I mention this because I got so tired of the show I watched the final three episodes of The Bear back-to-back. This unequivocally qualifies as an act of self-hatred and self-harm, but it was necessary. I tried so hard to resist the temptation, to commit myself mentally and physically to the process of blogging this show one episode at a time. But I didn’t enjoy it and I wanted it to be done, so I ended it.
Episode 8, “Green”, was yet more random scenes bundled. It could have been an email. Subject Line: SYD NOT QUITTING BEAR??? I remain convinced that she should have quit, even if she didn’t go work for Shapiro, but The Bear and I can agree to disagree, because soon I’ll be done watching this show.
After this episode, I began to circle the drain mentally. I took a break to watch ten minutes of Farscape. Experiencing anew all the Big FEELINGS and Big DIALOGUE and Big ACTING felt like inhaling after holding my breath for over thirty minutes. The puppets, as always, stun and sparkle, but I would not suggest that The Bear needs puppets.
Reminded of the joy of exquisite television, I returned to The Bear. A strange thing happened: the final two episodes of Season 4 didn’t suck.
Episode 9, “Tonnato”, was more killer than filler. Carmy goes to see his mom, and discovers her repentant and earnest in her sobriety. It’s a touching sequence, and reminded me that Jeremy Allen White is a good actor. It’s not his fault Carmy is an incoherent, uninteresting character defined by his enormous self-pity and all-consuming psychic inertia. Touched by his mother’s bravery, Carmy makes her a delicious meal, breaking the familial cycle of cooking as crisis trigger.
Back at the restaurant, we receive the punchlines to everyone else’s story. Tina learns to make pasta in under three minutes, thanks to the power of pre-portioning and loving the stress of your job. Okay, Boomer. Ebraheim’s business advisor exhorts him to franchise the Beef Window. I wish him the best on this new endeavor. Marcus receives news that he’s been crowned a Food & Wine Best New Chef of 20--. Perhaps that will land him a better job than working at The Bear.
Syd, fresh off not deciding to take risks to make her life better, learns that Carmy is cutting himself out of owning The Bear. He’s offering it to Syd and his sister Natalie (she’s the operating manager of the restaurant, but her shadow of a storyline has been so uninteresting I haven’t detailed it). This seems like a devious scheme by Carmy to leave these two women holding the bag on an unsuccessful restaurant, but what do I know?
The worst thing about this episode was the reappearance of the Eddie Vedder cover of “Save It For Later”, a song that I shouldn’t really hate and which it isn’t really The Bear’s fault that I hate. However, its incredible radio-play oversaturation around the time it originally appeared on The Bear made it my Manchurian Candidate activation phrase.
The final episode of the season, “Goodbye”, takes place in the alley behind the restaurant. Syd confronts Carmy about his departure from the restaurant, then Richie joins in. They go around in a three-hander and hash it all out. Carmy explains that he’s stepping away from fine dining to get healthier in his mind, which is genuinely a good choice for him. Syd insists that Carmy add Richie to the ownership pact alongside her and Natalie, building on the arc of their improving relationship. We depart with the belief that our characters have finally broken through to a new, better version of their lives.
The whole affair is filmed like a stage play, which blessedly precludes the use of Montages and A Song You Know. It is not, unlike other episodes I could name, fully one hour long. It raises interesting questions like “So you, the creators of the show, know how to make episodes that don’t lean completely on Montages and A Song You Know, yet you choose to deploy them constantly anyway?” Let us ponder that.
Most relevant to my concerns is the absence of a Wilco song at the end of the finale. I promised that I would eat a shoe-shaped cake in that event, and so I will, though it may take me a bit to prepare it. Watch this space.
What did I learn from this season of The Bear? I learned that they almost certainly stretched one season into two on Hulu’s orders. This kind of content greed not only undermines the structure and coherence of the show as a story, it results in utter mediocrity. Between seasons 3 and 4, I saw six or seven good episodes, which is very nearly the number of episodes in a single decent season of The Bear. Instead of one season which was equal to the decent second season, we got two seasons which largely sucked.
Hulu would rather have zombie content for zombie viewers than greenlight a new show. Now they’re pushing a fifth season of this.
The most important thing I learned is that I don’t want to watch The Bear anymore. So I won’t. Hulu squeezed and squeezed and squeezed this show to get every drop of juice and then some. Now it’s a scrungly crusty rind and I don’t want it.
Moreover I don’t need it.
The next TV show I will review on this blog will be Farscape, but in an incredible act of mercy to you, my followers, I will review two episodes at a time. There’s 88 episodes and a miniseries to cover! I love them all :)
Okay, I don’t care for “Jeremiah Crichton”.
Bearconomics: Let’s Do The Numbers
Optimism Level: 0 out of 5
Soundtrack-Related Torment: 2 out of 5
Montage Fatigue: 3 out of 5
Final Score for “Green”: 2 out of 5
Optimism Level: 3 out of 5
Soundtrack-Related Torment: 4 out of 5
Montage Fatigue: 2 out of 5
Final Score for “Tonnato”: 3 out of 5
Optimism Level: 3 out of 5
Soundtrack-Related Torment: 0 out of 5
Montage Fatigue: 0 out of 5
Final Score for “Goodbye”: 4 out of 5
