Everyone is friendlier in the new season of ‘The Bear’

Nothing as reliable as time. Seconds tap away. Alarm clocks go off at the set time. A day always ends – no matter how heavy it is. And at some point time is gone. For all of us.

Time runs like a common thread through the fourth season of The Bearthe acclaimed series about chef Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) who takes over the Italian sandwich shop from his deceased brother in Chicago and hopes to turn it into a star restaurant. Already in the first episode, Family friend and chief investor Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt), together with his financial man The Computer (Brian Koppelman), places a digital clock in the sleek, white kitchen of restaurant The Bear. 1440 hours of reading the big red numbers. Too much money goes out, and too little comes in, says Uncle Jimmy. Two months they still get to turn the ship, eight The Computer already has the chance that they will succeed.

Even without this ticking clock, every employee understands The Bear That they have to go a tooth in order not to go down in glority and with a mountain of debt. The critical review of the Chicago Tribune With which the last season ended hard after – “anyone read something nice lately?” Asks Uncle Jimmy to everyone’s chagrijn.

Sommelier Gary (Corey Hendrix) still has to learn which red wines also match fish. Souschef Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) cannot keep track of the murderous pace in the kitchen. And host Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is unable to create unity between the front of the house (the restaurant) and the back (the kitchen). But the real problem of The Bear Is of course Carmy, whose stubborn holding on a menu with daily changing dishes ultimately led to the destructive judgment ‘inconsistent’ of the influential newspaper.

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Apologize

Whether it is this critical review, or the gapping seconds, in this season, Carmy sees fairly quickly that he was wrong. And that immediately changes the tone of the entire series. Because instead of the ruthless stress The Bear This time, this time, a sense of thoughtfulness dominates. A lot less is shouting (no less cursing by the way) and even the ‘Yes Chef’ suddenly sounds friendlier. Even more often the restaurant staff responds to each other with the simple word ‘heard’, to indicate that they understood each other. And Carmy apologizes to someone almost every episode. Something that regularly produces beautiful scenes.

Yet this season is not as strong as it could have been. Maybe even should have been. Rumor is that showrunner Christopher Storer the story of The Bear Always saw in three deeds. Only when channel FX, grateful for the success of this title, asked for more, did it become more. This can explain why the series seemed to reduce considerably in the previous third season, there was a hurry. Something that was not so much a problem (even though many critics grumbled about this); Change – especially when it comes to human behavior – never goes fast like in a Hollywood film. Sometimes we stand still for a moment.

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Need for chaos

But unfortunately the fact that the story is clearly stretched to get more episodes out of it, this season. For example, there are lines that in the meantime go for too long, with Sydneys (Ayo Edebiri) unopened partnership agreement as a frustrating peak. And are too many episodes in which too little happens. Now it is never really annoying to spend time with these beautiful characters, but when the second half of the season has arrived, there is still a need for some chaos and stress. To a classic evening in the kitchen of The Bear Perhaps, or else with the Berazzato family at home. But it is as if all those episodes have already been used up in the previous season.

In addition, this time the makers also go unabashedly for sentiment, perhaps also because there is a chance that this is the last season of the series (although there is now a lot of speculation about a possible follow -up). There are many candid conversations and beautiful, closing moments. And several well -known guest actors who were more likely to return – often return – often with a not entirely credible reason. This does not mean that it all does not have the desired effect. When The Bear At its best, it gets deep and you stay emotionally as a wrung dishcloth on the couch.

The last episode also delivers such an emotional smoker. And if those 32 minutes eventually turn out to be the last of the series, the story will not end with a nice bow around it, but with an intense episode that you can imagine that it was already on paper before the rest of the series was even written. An end that hurts a lot, and at the same time heals all wounds. Extra unfortunate therefore that it took a little too long to get there.

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