Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Bear’ Season 3 On FX/Hulu, Where The Restaurant Is Open And Carmy Is Even More Of A Mess

Remember when The Bear won all those Emmys earlier this year? People forgot that those Emmys were delayed from the fall due to the joint writers and actors strikes. That means that armful of awards the show won was for its first season, which aired all the way back in 2022. Anticipating even more awards for the show’s even more intense second season, we’re now have to brace ourselves for an eventful third season. Will it be as good as the second? Oh, and it goes without saying that what’s ahead is full of spoilers for the the first few episodes of Season 3.

THE BEAR SEASON 3: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see a commuter train speed through a station at night. More scenes of Chicago in the evening.

The Gist: Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) stares out the window of his apartment, then gazes down at the healing cut on his hand.

Early in the morning, after the friends and family opening at The Bear, Carmy walks into the restaurant, cleans up debris and rearranges tables and flowers. He goes into the kitchen, starts writing down names of dishes, and pulls out his old notes from his time at The French Laundry.

At that point, we get a flurry of memories from Carmy, ones we may be familiar with but might not have seen before. There’s when he left for New York and his sister Nat aka “Sugar” (Abby Elliott) sees him off and tries to give him a wad of cash. We also see him studying under Daniel Boulud, learning advanced techniques as he staged at the renowned chef’s restaurant Daniel. We also see him in Copenhagen, outpacing fellow trainee Luca (Will Poulter) and impressing executive chef Terry (Olivia Colman). Then he’s being berated by his boss (Joel McHale) at his last New York stop, being told to simplify his plating.

In the aftermath of all of the things that happened during the friends and family opening, we see Syd (Ayo Edebiri) telling Carmy that he needs to apologize. Not to Claire (Molly Gordon), the girlfriend who dumped him earlier that night when he said he couldn’t have a girlfriend and run the restaurant at the same time — remember, Carmy was stuck in the walk-in and thought he was talking to Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas). Syd tells him to apologize to Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who saved all of their bacon by stepping in to expedite after Carmy got trapped in the walk-in and Syd started to panic. Their blowup, which happened in response to Carmy accidentally busting things up with Claire, was one of the cousins’ worst dust-ups in quite awhile.

There are definitely personal memories in Carmy’s flurry of thoughts, including moments with Richie, with Sugar, his mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) and with his late brother Mikey (Jon Bernthal). During this flurry, Carmy not only puts together a number of dishes that he wants on the menu, but a long list of “Non-Negotiables” that he thinks will help get The Bear a Michelin star right out of the gate.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Hard to compare The Bear to anything at this point. But we’ll say this: In a year when Baby Reindeer sparked a debate about (among other things) whether a mostly dramatic half-hour show with some big laughs was a drama or comedy, it’s pretty safe to say that The Bear is definitely a drama.

Our Take: Our description of The Bear‘s first Season 3 episode, written and directed by the show’s creator, Christopher Storer, doesn’t do it justice. Storer, leaning on his penchant for closeups so detailed you can see the actor’s open pores, gives this first episode more of a stream-of-consciousness vibe, with a swirling soundtrack that sounds like white noise in the back of your brain. The dialogue is minimal, often spoken in low tones as if it’s in the background.

It’s the kind of opening episode that a show that’s confident in what it’s doing and the praise it’s gotten can do and get away with. It still pushes the story forward, but it does so by showing Carmy looking back at everything that got him to this point. It also keeps up the intensity that is a signature of the series, only in this instance we’re looking deeply inward, finding out just what parts of Carmy’s life and career have influenced him the most and having a visual insight into his thought process. We even get a flashback to the first scene of the show’s premiere, where Carmy approaches the caged bear on the bridge. It’s all a part of the very frenetic journey to this point.

Subsequent episodes are more along the lines of what we’ve seen from the show during its more traditional-seeming episode, which includes lots of conflict, pressurized speech and arguing. Richie and Carmy are not completely OK, Marcus (Lionel Boyce) is still reeling from the death of his mother, and Jimmy (Oliver Platt) is wondering where his money is going. The third episode, where the team churns through a month of service, exposes the warts in Carmy’s non-negotiables, as well as showing that folks like Tina and Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) might be in over their heads.

Will we get an episode as divisive and captivating as Season 2’s “Fishes”? Who knows? But given the fact that Storer and company shot Seasons 2 and 3 back-to-back, there really isn’t much of a chance that there will be a change in tone or a drop-off of intensity in Season 3.

Sex and Skin: Nothing besides the usual food porn.

Parting Shot: After this blizzard of memories — though we get a small glimpse of someone outside of his memories, eating his food in New York — Carmy steps back from the dishes he prepared that will be on the menu the next day.

Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Matty Matheson this year, especially given that he’s also an executive producer and co-created the story for episode 1. But, boy is he funny as Neil Fak. He’s a great chef in real life, so the fact that he’s one of the funniest people on the show is a bonus.

Most Pilot-y Line: If you ever wondered what a “typical” Joel McHale character would be if it had the freedom of language that being on streaming allows, it would be Carmy’s old New York boss. Not that he’s not great as that character, but we also don’t need any more of him at this point.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Bear continues to be intense and frenetic, with characters that we now know so well that we’re willing to go on all of their emotional roller coaster rides. We’re looking forward to watching the rest of the season.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.