The Bear has been one of my favorite shows in the last few years. It reminds me of my buddy Vinnie LaSpadas’s chain of family-owned cheese steak restaurants named after his family, LaSpadas. The characters are very familiar to me regarding his family. The difference is that The Bear focused on a Chicago Beef restaurant and my buddy’s restaurants are focused on cheesesteaks and hoagies. This show hits home for me in this regard.

Carmen “Carmy”  Berzatto (Jeremy Alan White) reminds me of my buddy Vinnie LaSpada and Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss Bachrach reminds me of his brother Kevin LaSpada. Their bickering and arguing are right on point with the characters from the show. Throw in Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edibiri) and you have a third member of the staff who is basically in the middle between these two alpha males. That’s how I see it though. Maybe the show would be different for others. 

Season three is used as a framing device most of the time. After season two when the show introduced a new upscale restaurant Season three wants to show how Carmy learned his skills to run an upscale restaurant and how to implement his skills to the best use possible. Using the framing device we see cameos from Olivia Colman, Joel McCale,  Will Poulter, and the actual owner-operator of The French Laundry from Napa Valley  Thomas Keller. This gives Season 3 a little more credibility and gravitas than it already had. This ups the stakes, no pun intended. 

The meat and potatoes of this show are the family dynamic of the restaurant which includes the others I’ve mentioned, Natalie “Sugar” Bearzatto (Abby Elliot), its owner Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) its employees Tina Marrero (Liza Colon-Zayes) Marcus Brooks (Lionel Boyce) and Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) This relationship between these people is why this show is so successful. They have a great dynamic together. I love watching every episode and season including this one. 

Two specific episodes that stood out for me this season were episodes 6 Napkins and 8 Ice Chips. They focused on Lisa Colon-Zayes’s character and Abby Elliot’s character with cameos from Jon Bernthal as Michael “Mikey” Berzatto and Jamie Lee Curtis as Donna “DD ” Berzatto. They were female-focused episodes where most of the show was about restaurant politics and male bravado. These like Season 2  which had great episodes in the middle of Season 6 & 7 were the best by far. Episode 3 Doors was a close third for me. I was glad to see different aspects of the show explored in these episodes.

A lot of Season 3  was mainly focused on getting the restaurant to be the best it can be and achieving Carmy’s goal of getting a Michelin Star. It didn’t matter who got in his way he wanted this to happen. Even at the expense of his employees and family members. Allen White is at the top of his game this season. He brings everything in his acting repertoire to the table to show how dedicated he is to this role and series in general. He’s going to win awards for his exceptional work this season. I just know it.

Ayo Edebiri is another star actor who is giving it her all, but I feel her character is undeserved regarding the overall plot of Season 3. She has an ark,  but it doesn’t come in until later in the season. I’m sure she’ll have more of the heavy lifting in Season 4 when the show resumes next year on Hulu.  She has had a busy few years lately, maybe that’s the reason for her character to have less to do in Season 3. Who knows? Only she and the producers can answer that question I presume.

There is a change in philosophy with this show from the beginning until now. It was more of a gritty greasy spoon take on the restaurant business.  Now it’s about taking things very seriously. Money, turning around tables, cleanliness and other things come into effect. They even focus on breaking down boxes before throwing them in the dumpster. It is a whole new deal this season. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the show, but it took me a bit to get back into what I’ve already been exposed to in the last couple of seasons.  This is just a different Bear than I’m used to. Not bad in any way but just different in a good way. They haven’t slacked on the drama or character development which are the two best things about this show.

The camera work is quite good this season. There are a lot of close-up shots of food being prepared and the detail it takes to prepare such elaborate meals for people. I myself wouldn’t eat this food, but for the right price, certain high rollers will. It’s for a special clientele.  Not me, that’s for sure. It looked beautiful to see it being shot and prepared though. These men and women looked like they knew what they were doing, that’s for sure. That’s probably why it cost so much.  I’ll stick to average guy food like a cheeseburger & fries, a steak, or a good old-fashioned cheese steak with pepper, mushrooms, and onions. 

The Bear Season 3 was different from Seasons 1 & 2, but it didn’t lose what has made this show so great in the past. It’s character development and storytelling.  A couple of episodes stood out to me, 6 & 8, but overall the show was still solid. Allen White is once again the standout of this season with surprise cameos being a secondary surprise.  Those have always been one of my favorite parts of the series. The upscale aspect of Season 3 was very prevalent and the camera work and fast editing showed that very well. This season was very good, just not at the level of the previous 2 Seasons. Possibly Season 4 will make up for that with more emphasis on Edebiri and Bachrach’s characters. I for one can’t wait until Season 4 comes out because I love this show so much I want it now.

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen