The Bear on FX: aka HEARD! aka YES CHEF! aka Ketamine Gene Wilder cooks for u

god help me i could look at ketamine gene wilder all day

I have managed to convince the husband to watch this, which means I will be going in on season one again before season two. A treat for me!

big fan of shortish episodes too

i have read elsewhere that S2 not quite as safdi-esque insane?

We've seen five of the new season so far, and while there is still plenty of hectic screaming, it's in service of something productive. The characters, acting, music cues, use of the city, all top notch.

made it up to half-way through the guest-star packed christmas episode last night.

i got up early & watched 2 eps while eating breakfast

brb going to copenhagen

the scenes w carmy & claire are so good, the way they talk about random shit & stare morse code to each other is v good

omg that “can’t hardly wait” needledrop

literally a …

(are you ready)

.. CHEFS KISS

youre welcome

THIS GODDAMN GORGEOUS BEAUTIFUL SHOW WTF WTF

#gofastboatsmojitos obviously unassailable but the stuff with Carmy and the alarm is also A+++.

i have read elsewhere that S2 not quite as safdi-esque insane?

NCIS: Lake Michigan

well buckle up for the christmas episode fuckos

Haha was gonna say….

real talk

the family stuff at the heart of this is so real.

like, i don’t even have a 10th of that level of craziness in my own family, i don’t know chicago from shit, etc etc

but the way when you have a family w ~history~ to a level that you are a telepathic air traffic controller waving each other away from the hazards

the way when you visit after being away that at it’s worst the house itself is like a vice that is constantly squeezing you down to your smallest denominator… the way you are always, ALWAYS the person you were when you were 10, the way you start feeling like you’re 10 just being around it too long
… the way you expand & become alive when you go away and you contract & sort of die a little when you return…
the way the love is so crystallized & so real but so small you can hold it; the way it lifts you up so quickly but the way all that bad is just always there, hanging, unsaid, in the air like a poison gas that only becomes toxic if you acknowledge it

sorry tl:dr

this christmas episode really got me feeling some type of way

ok i finished the series & christ
anyone who says this season is more laid back can come tell me why i’m STILL crying

guys

this show should come with meds that final episode was like fuckin psychological kidney punches

floored by the scene in FORKS where they drop Diamond Diary by Tangerine Dream (in Hi-Fi) after only ever hearing it in the movie Thief. Fucking bravo

yeah the music this season was consistently kinda perfect

not margie’s candies putting up a “if you’re here cuz you just watched the bear, fuck off” sign

— ashley ray is ON TOUR (@theashleyray) June 25, 2023

idgi, did Margie's put up a sign?

that sundae looked fucking incredible

The editing on this series is impeccable. How you do it, folks.

I love this show so much, "ketamine GW" is jokes. But there's a lot of Philip Glass in there too, esp circa Chuck Close's 1969 portrait.

Margie's is an institution, and like many institutions, pretty unremarkable, except for the storied space/seashell sundae dishes. One of the restaurant cameos from the first half of the new season, Lao Peng You, I was actually just at a week or so ago; it's one of the few places to get great Chinese DUMPLINGS! on the north side. Another, Avec, I haven't been to in eons, but it's a linchpin of Chicago casual fine dining, kind of Mediterranean food served in a communal setting, from Paul Kahan's One Off Hospitality group. Another of his places is Publican, whose smaller outpost appeared in an episode this season; their meat guy, Rob Levitt, used to run a place called Butcher & Larder (among other gigs) before getting recruited to Publican.

Anyway, this show really seems to get Chicago, and so far there have been a ton of details it didn't need to get right that it did get right. For example, in an exterior shot montage of the two chefs going back to culinary school, I commented that they were really close to Kendall College, and ... that's where they end up!

When we were watching last I asked my wife if she thought the actor that plays Carm's sister was pregnant in real life, and that they wrote it into the show. She was, like, nah, but I was right! Apparently, she is also the daughter of Chris Elliott. And used to be on SNL?

Man, the whole cast is just perfect, including cameos and one-offs.

yeah otm

also lovvvvved Lisa this season, that episode where she busted out the karaoke was like WOWEEWOW
also borrowing the knife from Carm etc <3

So I'm only a few episodes into the new season but something that I still wonder about is Carmy's stress dream from from first season. What are the numbers that he held out (and that Kevin McHale tries to sabotage him on)?

Man, maybe I spoke too soon, that Christmas episode was full on Safdie. And clearly every actor wants a piece of The Bear. And as always, excellent music cues!

Kinda pissed that the only piece of music that wasn't identified — artist and title — in the subtitles for the Copenhagen episode was the instrumental jazz piece. I would happily have looked up whoever that was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy-v-FgiUD8

iirc

Thanks!

Doing my Monday email admin while listening to 'Scenes From the Southside', the first time I've listened to this record since maybe 1989. Opening the season with 'The Show Goes On' was kinda perfect.

cool little edit

Sydney Adamu the bear edit #thebear #TheBearFX ayo edebiri cook food omelet natalie sugar berzatto carmysyd sydcarmy hulu carmy syd cooking edit pic.twitter.com/WRW7SrKr4s

— villain (@villain_phoenix) June 26, 2023

what a great follow up season!

I thought it was week to week and wanted to save up episodes

I feel like it might benefit from this format though idk

jamie lee curtis barely appearing but just knocking it out of the park

her perf is so good, so fucking gut wrenching… stresses me out to think of where you have to go mentally as an actor to get ~there~

Yeah, just watched the Christmas episode and holy fuck. Didn't really like Odenkirk's or Mulaney's performances, but Curtis was incredible, an absolute ticking bomb from the first time we saw her.

idk i liked Mulaney & Odenkirk as outsiders - i think their performances fit those roles

also odenkirk facing off w mike at the dinner table felt like a+ usage of that vein of anger odenkirk always carries but often suppresses

It's funny, Curtis has always been around but never really been known for her (especially not dramatic) acting. And then she wins an Oscar, and suddenly, poof ... here's your acting!

is that true though? her perf in halloween is pretty iconic

For sure. But I think the movie itself is more iconic than her performance was. Not that there was anything wrong with her performance, it set in motion a long professional acting career, which is an achievement in and of itself, no matter who her parents were. Seeing her in this, though, it makes me wonder if in the end it was just a matter of rarely getting the right roles. For whatever reason.

Man, I just saw the Richie episode, and it made me weepy. You can do it, Richie!

Yo which one of yall is JAW?

https://uproxx.com/tv/fans-think-jeremy-allen-white-gene-wilder-related/

For sure. But I think the movie itself is more iconic than her performance was. Not that there was anything wrong with her performance, it set in motion a long professional acting career, which is an achievement in and of itself, no matter who her parents were. Seeing her in this, though, it makes me wonder if in the end it was just a matter of rarely getting the right roles. For whatever reason.

Man, I just saw the Richie episode, and it made me weepy. You can do it, Richie!

I rewatched that one after the finale bc I loved it so

Richie episode was such a great balm after the intensity of the xmas episode, and so great seeing him find his place in light of all the extra baggage the xmas episode revealed

When the Thief music kicked in in the Richie episode I laughed out loud.

Best cues ever. When the Hunters & Collectors song started I lost my shit.

yeah that was pretty fucking good

i fell out over Pearl Jam’s “Come Back” too

There's more than one Fak?

:D

yep! and he has mad Kohls cash

I love this show and everyone in it so much, I want 4 more seasons.

I'm trying not to binge it because I don't wish it to end, and was so happy when I cued up the Xmas one and saw it was double length.

Music cues have been amazing yes, with the exception of that 'Holiday Road' shite.

Funny how Muleany has gone from looking all fresh-faced to looking kinda sleazy nowadays, I'm not so well up on his film/tv career (if there even is one), but I wonder if he'll get more serious parts as he gets older.

Ayo

Adjacent to the show, but this story about abuse at Noma reminds me of what was frustrating about this show after season one. Carmy had left this exacting, abusive kitchen to return to Chicago, and take over his brother's humble sandwich shop...but then aspires to turn it into the kind of restaurant that traumatized him. This is fine in itself, but the show became about aspirational and exacting fine dining (with Amex bumper ads) without really going into: is it possible for Carmy to run an exacting kitchen without it becoming toxic? Season One was special, especially coming out of the #MeToo era, in figuring out how this diverse group of people (diverse in experience, temperament, all that) would work together, and it felt like a way of modeling that. After the first season, it just became a kitchen with the authority of EVERY SECOND COUNTS looming over them.

Well, as another story about Trauma (tm), there's that thread of generational abuse, where Carmy is simultaneously attempting to break from his family (depressives, alcoholics, emotionally abusive) while inflicting or at least enabling the same damage on his coworkers. In the past few seasons they've showed glimmers of him Doing the Work, but iirc they haven't really depicted him moving on, emotionally. Probably because the show is fueled by yelling and stress, and eliminating that leaves it with little but shots of prepping fancy food. It would be a bit like watching The Pitt if it was set in a fancy clinic instead of a big city ER.

https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/tv-shows/the-bear-gary-episode-explained/

Ahead of “The Bear” Season 5, FX dropped a surprise tie-in episode of its critically-acclaimed darling on Tuesday. The hourlong “Gary” is available to watch now on Hulu.

The installment focuses on Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Mikey (Jon Bernthal) and was written by both Moss-Bachrach and Bernthal. Series creator Christopher Storer directed the episode. Set a few years before the beginning of “The Bear,” Gary follows best friends Richie and Mikey on a work trip.

I hope we finally learn how he became the Bear.

Hell yes. Moss Bacharach & Bernthal could take turns reading the phone book & I’d watch it

In the past few seasons they've showed glimmers of him Doing the Work, but iirc they haven't really depicted him moving on, emotionally. Probably because the show is fueled by yelling and stress, and eliminating that leaves it with little but shots of prepping fancy food. It would be a bit like watching The Pitt if it was set in a fancy clinic instead of a big city ER.

Which is why this show would have been soooo much more transcendent as a shorter 3-4 season arc, with every episode firmly advancing the ensemble's emotional and professional growth rather than playing crap out (Syd's decision, Carm's mother/brother issues, Fak filler). The show needs to just end already, and I'm ecstatic the 5th season will be the final one. Wonder how they're going to handle the passing of Rob Reiner - I adored his role and it was just getting ramped up.

your enjoyment of “Gary” will vary depending on how much you enjoy coked-out conversations jk

It’s a nice showcase of how good these two actors are together, just watching them play in a sandbox for their characters. I dug it.

the ending is kinda “whoah!”

Also I am vey down with Cousin Richie’s road trip cd

*very

This was fucking fantastic imo, Bernthal was just next level good (so was Moss Bacharach but less surprised about his turn). Wondering if I'm not remembering something I should from the main series, but wasn't clear on the timeline for that ending.

also, "Althea when Althea"

I liked that the entire premise of the episode was about doing a mundane thing for Uncle Jimmy, when both the viewers and Richie are always trying to suss out exactly how shady his business dealings are. Just some unspoken tension underlying the entire plot.

mm hmm, how do they feel about ketamine vibes?
https://deadline.com/2026/06/gene-wilder-biopic-dito-montiel-in-works-1236932047/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojjCvICC86c