Fine-Dining and Anxiety Never Tasted So Good
FX (2022).
By C. A. Ramirez
‘The Bear’ is what Hollywood does not seem to understand: organic story-telling.
Once every hundred thousand years or so, when the sun doth shine, and the moon doth glow, a competent writer’s original story is green lit. The Bear grabs hold of your grease-stained lapels and shoves your face into a vat of clarified kitchen chaos so good it has to be fattening. The Hulu series will make you feel like you are in a broiler of debt, liberally seasoned with interpersonal hell, whilst braised in a silken sauce of sadomasochistic hopelessness—The Bear captures restaurant life so accurately.
Creator, writer, and director Christopher Storer has boiled down what working in a dysfunctional kitchen can be like. Applebee’s and other corporate restaurants might have a dysfunctional staff, but they’re never too worried about how the company is doing financially. Mom-and-pop restaurants are entirely different. The staff are as recognizable as the food. A small restaurant is a family, and a family is never too calm for that long.
The Bear centers around Carmen, played by Jeremy Alan White. A fine-dining chef who has inherited his older brother's sandwich shop, “The Beef”. A far cry from his top tier Michelin cooking, Carmen has also inherited six figures of debt. His first day is not going so well. Coming off the heels of the hit show, Shameless, Jeremy Alan White brings an uncompromising amount of passion to the character. Nearly every scene drags Carmen across a cement floor littered with broken bottles, and White executes these emotions flawlessly. You can taste his anguish and feel his frustration pump its way through your veins as the frenzy of the lunch rush picks up his staff and throws them against the wall, like Sinatra sending back egg noodles and ketchup. Carmen hates “The Beef” almost as much as he hates himself, and his suffering is made all the better with a supporting cast of fantastic acting talent.
Episode one lays down the trials and tribulations of Carmen’s daily life while simultaneously introducing us to Sydney, an aspiring sous-chef looking to get her feet wet under the tutelage of Chicago’s best kept secret, Carmen. Sydney is played by actress Ayo Edebiri, and she is one hot pepper. Sydney is a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and is no pushover when it comes to creating fine dining entrees. Fearless and ready to rake herself over the coals, Sydney is looking to become the best sous-chef in the area and wants to make a splash at “The Beef” in order to do so. Her biggest problem is understanding how hectic a real kitchen can be, especially when she meets the disaster that is Carmen’s cousin, Richie. The two nearly come to blows in spectacular fashion, but that’s just another weekday at “The Beef”.
Family issues. The Bear, FX (2022).
The cast of The Bear is supported by a host of acting heavyweights who have been up hitting their marks for decades. Richie is played beautifully by Ebon-Moss Bachrach. His character ran “The Beef'' with Carmen’s older brother, Michael. When Michael killed himself, it destroyed Richie’s world as much as Carmen’s fine-dining career; the two were best friends. Richie is a loud and boisterous force of aggressive misfortune, constantly ice skating uphill simply because others refuse. His faults are equally weighed by his love for “The Beef '' and Michael, and now, Carmen. Family restaurants are famous for stubborn staff and owners, but there is always one among each rank that retains the right to be as immovable and unlikable as can be. Coincidentally, they are also the glue that holds the staff together, for better or worse.
Carmen’s kitchen staff might seem unorthodox, but they generate the love and respect that restaurant workers develop with each other after years of working so closely together. A second family that is born out of the one that founded the establishment. A good kitchen staff should be able to love and hate each other and still bang out a flawless dinner service.
When a series takes place at the heart of a single location, your supporting cast needs to be on par with your stars. Tina, played by Liza Colon-Zayas, is a perfect example of how a long-time series actress can help enhance the main characters. Zayas has had roles on the big screen from Freedomland to Righteous Kill, and TV roles on New York Undercover, House, and Nurse Jackie. Zayas is what every cast deserves in order to come off as natural and authentic, and she is what every show needs in order to be successful. Experienced acting is hard to recognize but is a glaring distraction when absent. Zayas is a Bronx native, and her Latin heat burns through Richie’s childish antics and snubs Sydney’s positivity. Every kitchen has at least one firecracker Hispanic; the one who gets it done no matter what. Zayas’ Tina, adds a flash of heat and spice that brings tension and authenticity to The Bear.
Moving down the bench at “The Beef”, is Marcus, played by Lionel Boyce. The Bear has a cast of heavyweights, and Boyce slides into place perfectly. Hisrole as Marcus adds a layer of calm and quiet to the staff. His character is not overtly loud, obnoxious, or annoying. Marcus might be in charge of your run-of-the-mill diner desserts, but he wants to move up from being a simple kitchen porter and develop his pastry skills. Eccentric though it may be, sometimes the best way to learn how to cook an omelet is to have a gifted chef bludgeon you over the head with it.
Rounding out the bench at “The Beef” is a former rebel from the heart of Africa, Ebraheim. Played by Edwin Lee Gibson, Ebraheim is a mystery. Every kitchen has a staff member with a nefarious past. Ebraheim likes to regale the staff with stories of Black Hawk helicopters and war-crime waging militias. Gibson started his acting career in 2010. As is often the case, some of the best actors and actresses enter the game middle aged, but loaded for bear. Gibson has that presence. He didn’t start off in acting, and to be honest, those actors are unique; able to draw from a lifetime of living instead of a simulated existence through acting classes and theory. When these actors hit their mark, their authenticity is impossible to miss.
The cast. The Bear, FX (2022).
The Bear is what Hollywood does not seem to understand: organic story-telling. The protagonists, however flawed, have been created by a writer who knows them intimately. Christopher Storer, has nailed the look and feel of a hectic family kitchen, and more importantly, his story is seared to perfection. The audience will never see the secret of the small tomato cans in the season finale coming, nor will they be prepared for how sentimental and remorseful Carmen is as a character. Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri were born for their respective roles, and the supporting cast is spectacular. The Bear is one of the best culinary driven series to date, and will have any viewer fantasizing about being a despotic three-star chef. Now, where’s my lamb sauce?!?!?!
