I have a confession to make about “The Bear.” Though the FX on Hulu drama series has been racking up Emmys and Golden Globe Awards since it premiered in 2022, I initially stopped watching after Episode 2 because of the yelling. The show’s fast-paced, superlatively crafted depiction of life in the kitchen of a Chicago sandwich joint triggered my stress response, big time.
And I haven’t even worked in a restaurant. The creator of “The Bear,” Christopher Storer, has a chef sister, Courtney, who serves as the series’ culinary consultant. Many food professionals find the show “so accurate that it was triggering,” in the words of Genevieve Yam in Bon Appétit. Her fellow veterans of Michelin-starred restaurants, she wrote, “all agreed the show is a stark reminder of our trauma.”
So no, “The Bear” isn’t the frothy kind of food-centric entertainment. But I’m sure glad I gave it a second chance for the Food Issue. Season 4 premieres on June 25.
The deal
Season 1 throws us into the kitchen of the Original Beef of Chicagoland, the struggling sandwich shop that Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) recently inherited after the suicide of his older brother, Mikey (Jon Bernthal). A talented chef who left Chicago for New York and Napa Valley, Carmy now finds himself dealing with rowdy regulars, crumbling equipment and a staff without formal culinary training.
While Carmy is burnt out on the industry, periodically flashing back to the verbal abuse he endured in a celebrated kitchen, gifted young chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) still has stars in her eyes. She joined the Beef specifically to work with Carmy, hoping to elevate the neighborhood joint. But Sydney and Carmy’s efforts to transform the Beef put them on a collision course with Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Mikey’s rage-prone best friend. And looming over the whole enterprise is Mikey’s creditor (Oliver Platt), a family friend who turns from avuncular to sinister on a dime.
Without spoiling the details, I can say that Season 2 finds Carmy and Sydney preparing to launch the fine-dining restaurant of their dreams — the Bear. Season 3 starts in the wake of their soft opening. While the plates get prettier, the yelling never stops for good, because these people are damaged.
Will you like it?
Immersive scenes of kitchen chaos are the calling card of “The Bear.” But the show features just as many well-wrought quiet moments — sometimes whole episodes with very little dialogue. And its themes emerge from the counterpoint of noise and productive silence.
At its heart, “The Bear” is about the joy of making things. We see it in self-taught pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce), often a still point in the commotion, as he tinkers and experiments and hones his skills at a farm-to-table restaurant in Copenhagen. We see it in Carmy’s rarified creations and in the growing confidence of line cook Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) as she blossoms in culinary school.
Why do people stay in a profession that “doesn’t pay much, doesn’t amount to anything and doesn’t make a lot of sense,” as Carmy puts it? Ego and obsession may be involved, but so is the sheer gratification of creating something that nourishes others. In one of the show’s best quiet scenes, Sydney prepares a simple omelette for Carmy’s sister, Natalie (Abby Elliott), who’s pregnant and exhausted from managing the restaurant. We see the whole prep, then the satisfied smile on Natalie’s face. As Thomas Keller of the French Laundry says in the Season 3 finale (which features a slew of real chefs commenting on their industry), “It’s all about nurturing.”
“The Bear” trusts its audience in a way that few shows do today. It trusts us to pick up on restaurant jargon and the complex web of family and neighborhood history from which the Berzattos emerged. (A running joke involves unrelated people calling each other “unc” or “cousin.”) Creator Storer likewise trusts us enough not to “explain” the siblings’ dysfunction — why Mikey turned to drugs, Natalie frets and Carmy sabotages his own happiness — until we really know them as individuals. When we meet their mom (Jamie Lee Curtis) in a doozy of a Season 2 flashback episode, all that yelling suddenly makes perfect sense.
Bingeing the show, I appreciated the ensemble’s talent more with each season. “The Bear” features some of the best TV portraits of male insecurity in the forms of both Carmy and Richie, with the latter evolving from a loudmouth jerk into someone we root for. (Moss-Bachrach does magic with the role.) In Season 1, Sydney is the only female character explored in much depth, but that changes in subsequent seasons. And the comic-relief characters are gifts that keep on giving.
If you had the sense not to put off watching “The Bear,” you already know all this. If you’re like me, I suggest you start nibbling at the feast — and know that you may not be able to stop.
If you like this, try…
The Taste of Things (2023; AMC+, Hulu, Kanopy, rentable): For a more sedate but still loving portrayal of fine cuisine, try this acclaimed French period drama with a nearly 40-minute opening sequence in which a chef (Juliette Binoche) prepares a meal for her aristocratic patron and lover.
“Carême” (2025; Apple TV+): This series chronicles the adventures of the “world’s first celebrity chef,” who apparently combined his work as Napoleon’s pâtissier with espionage.
“Chef’s Table” (seven seasons, 2015-2024; Netflix): Each episode of the award-winning documentary series focuses on one chef’s approach. This year’s “Legends” spin-off profiles Keller and other greats.