If you are one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to work Monday and is getting a four-day July 4th weekend, I highly recommend you make a reservation to binge Season 2 of “The Bear” currently airing on Hulu.
On an unscheduled week off, I watched the 10 episodes of the second season about the transformation of a beef sandwich restaurant into a high-scale restaurant in Chicago in one six-hour sitting because it was so compelling.
In the process, it gave me a new appreciation for restaurateurs who take the risky proposition of trying to get a successful business off the ground in an industry with a high failure rate and at a time of high inflation that makes borrowing money even riskier.
The key character in “The Bear” is Carmen (Carmy) Berzatto, a world-class chef played by Jeremy Allen White (“Shameless”) who came home in the first season to run the family business after the death of his older brother Michael (Jon Bernthal).
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Carmy is in love with the restaurant business. In Season 2 he is given a romance with a childhood attraction named Claire (played by Molly Gordon) that could threaten his single-minded effort to succeed. He is so focused on his restaurant that he has to Google “fun.”
Carmy is smart, kind, giving and occasionally volatile, as would be anyone who is under the stress that leads him to sip Pepto Bismol while putting together a fine dining restaurant and staff in the 10 weeks that the series counts down in each episode.
He has one brilliant partner, Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri). She loves working in the food industry as much as he does and views the making of the restaurant as a make-or-break career experience. She lives with her father and uses a book by retired Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski as inspiration to learn the value of being part of a team.
The rest of the terrific ensemble of characters include Abby Elliott as Carmy’s sister Natalie, the project manager; Ebon Moss-Bachrach as cousin Richie, who is looking for a life’s purpose; Lionel Bruce as a sweet dessert specialist Marcus; Liza Colon-Zayas as an aspiring chef; Matty Matheson as jack-of-all trades Neil; and Oliver Platt as Uncle Jimmy, who is bankrolling the restaurant project with conditions.
I didn’t go into Season 2 with high expectations that it could duplicate Season 1, which is bound to get several Emmy nominations in a few weeks for the cast and writers.
The first season became so popular within the industry that Season 2 was able to attract some stellar guest stars, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Bob Odenkirk, John Mulaney, Sarah Paulson and Olivia Colman.
To be honest, it took me time to recognize Curtis, fresh off her Oscar-winning role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
All the big guest stars except for Colman, the British actress who played Queen Elizabeth in “The Crown” and won an Oscar for her performance in “The Favourite,” are in Episode 6. It’s a flashback episode that highlights what could be the worst holiday family dinner ever.
At 66 minutes, it is the longest episode of the second season and seemed even longer because of all the hostility as the mentally fragile matriarch of the Berzatto family (played by Curtis) prepared the holiday meal.
All the shouting made it my least-favorite episode, but a needed one that helped explain all the relationships in the Berzatto family.
Considering the chaos in that episode, you might be surprised that I found some similarities between “The Bear” and the feel-good Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” that it will undoubtedly compete with for Emmys.
“Lasso” is by far a more uplifting and cheerier series than “The Bear,” which thematically is much darker. The similarities concern the structure that gives characters in each series time to shine, the writers’ ability to make all of them likable or redeemable, and the attention to detail that rivals that needed to make a successful team succeed. In addition, each series uses music effectively.
My favorite memory in the “Lasso” finale occurs when all the players sang a tune from “The Sound of Music” to honor their outgoing coach.
The music in “The Bear” could be considered a co-star as it often gives an evocative feel. I heard a good dose of R.E.M. with a dash of Taylor Swift.
Just as “Lasso” did with its secondary characters, the characters in “The Bear” get episodes of their own this season.
Marcus goes to Denmark to learn new desserts, cousin Richie trains at an upscale restaurant to learn the importance of every detail and of wearing a suit to feel good about yourself.
As in “Lasso,” all the characters – except for Uncle Jimmy – are easy to root for as they reinvent themselves for the sake of the team under the motto “Every Second Counts.”
It isn’t quite like the motto “Believe” that inspired the players in “Ted Lasso,” but it resonates. I practically enjoyed every second of a season that should come up if you Google “fun and Hulu.”
Season 2 may not have the happiest endings for Carmy but – believe me – it sets up a Season 3 that could be as satisfying as a good meal at a fine dining restaurant.
