'The Bear' is a necessity

Plus: a very important book out this week.

View this email online by Glen Weldon Welcome! It was the week we learned that BTS is taking some PTO. It was the week we learned that in his next outing, the Joker might swap “Rock and Roll Part 2” for “Poker Face.” Which makes at least more thematic sense, you have to admit. It was the week when the trailer for a Netflix adaptation of a Jane Austen novel left some feeling … unpersuaded. It was the week we lost a magnificent character actor who was much more than his character on Seinfeld (though it must be said that his character on Seinfeld was pretty great.)  And it was the week when someone not unknown to you launched a very good book out into the world, which you should read, like, yesterday. Opening Argument: The Bear is a necessity Next Thursday, all eight episodes of the comedy-drama series The Bear will drop on FX.  And it? Is fantastic.  Smart, funny, raw, tense, warm but not sentimental and, most of all, real. Mark your calendars, clear your schedule. Trust me on this. I see a lot of TV for this job, and I don’t find myself feeling the way I feel about this show terribly often. I can think of only a handful in the past few years that have hit me this hard, have made me want to shout about them from my virtual rooftop: Hacks. Severance. Girls5evah. Ramy. We Are Lady Parts.  And now: The Bear.  Jeremy Allen White as Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto, Lionel Boyce as Marcus, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richie. Credit: FX       The premise: Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) is a young wunderkind chef at one of the world’s finest restaurants. But when his brother (Not Gonna Tell You The Actor, It’s A Surprise) dies by suicide and leaves the family’s greasy-spoon sandwich joint in Chicago’s River North neighborhood to him, he dutifully returns to run it. He’s grieving, and clashing with his sister (Abby Elliott) and with the restaurant’s staff, which includes his brother’s abrasive best friend Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). When Carmy hires a Culinary Institute of America-trained sous chef (Ayo Edebiri) to help him run the place, the staff resents them both and resists the changes the two attempt to bring to raise the level of the place’s food. Sound wacky? Zany? A classic fish-out-water sitcom? It’s anything but, happily. What The Bear is, more than anything, is naturalistic, grounded; I’ll say it again: real. Oh sure, there are stylized touches of the surreal, in the form of dreams, panic-attack visions, etc. It’s Prestige TV in 2022, baby; that stuff comes with the territory. But mostly, the series captures life on the line in a restaurant kitchen – the urgency, the tension, the heightened emotions, the raised voices. It is by no means a chill hang of a viewing experience – one late-in-the-season episode consists of what seems to be a single take, the camera weaving restlessly through the various kitchen stations as orders pile up and everyone starts to turn on each other.  Creator/showrunner Chris Storer, who writes and directs several episodes, also directed the series Ramy. He’s likely the chief reason that whenever any two characters talk on this show, they never seem like characters exchanging dialogue – they are just two people, talking. They reach for words. They talk over each other, past each other. They don’t approach every conversation as a means to deliver arch observations or to describe how they’re feeling.  Especially Carmy – he’s closed off, even sullen. White does such a good job of depicting how miserable he is, in fact, that we can’t help but wonder why he stays. (We do get an answer, eventually, and it’s a solid one.) Lionel Boyce as Marcus, Ayo Edebiri as Sydney. Credit: FX If you’re worried that The Bear represents yet another example of a show that revolves around a troubled genius  – a man who treats everyone like crap but it’s okay because he’s great at what he does –  rest assured that while Carmy may be a genius, he strives always to treat those around him with respect. Even those who don’t deserve it, like Moss-Bachrach’s obnoxious, swaggering Richie, a performance that is as outwardly directed as White’s is inwardly directed. But the thing that made me lock into the show is Edebiri’s performance as Sydney, the ambitious sous chef with big ideas and the ability to see through Richie’s abusive demeanor. She’s just so good here, confident and assured enough to weather the staff’s distrust even as she works to win them over. I rooted for every character, in turn. Even Richie, eventually. So much so that when the series provided moments for Carmy to open up about what he’s going through, I admired the craft behind them – the writing, and White’s searing, palpable performance – but I also felt I didn’t need them. I got it already. You will, too. Ditto a turn in the final episode that ties a too-tidy bow on this place, these characters. Satisfying? Sure. And you can’t say the seeds for it hadn’t been carefully planted. But where the best endings manage to feel both surprising and inevitable, this one’s just surprising. Still: Those are quibbles. (Here’s another: When you hire Abby Elliott like this series did, you should use Abby Elliott more than this series does.) The Bear is a show that’s generous to both its characters and to its audience. It’s funny but never jokey, moving but never maudlin.  It’s a show that knows exactly what it’s doing, and does it exceedingly well. Watch it, and thank me. Not necessarily in that order. Newsletter continues after sponsor message We Recommend Here’s a couple of first-performance-after-Tony-night-curtain-call Broadway moments that will make you whole damn week better: The cast of A Strange Loop, which won Best New Musical, and the cast of The Music Man, which brought on understudy Max Clayton when star Hugh Jackman tested positive for COVID. STAND OUT: An LGBTQ+ Celebration is a 96-minute Netflix special capturing a packed night of stand-up comedy hosted by Billy Eichner, assisted by Bob the Drag Queen. Featuring 26(!) performers means each one gets only around four minutes of stage time, so the sets are tight and if you don’t find yourself vibing with one comedian, hang in there a bit and a new one will trot out who’s likely more your thing. It’s a feast of smart, funny comedy, so gorge yourself: Mae Martin, Margaret Cho, Trixie Mattel, Joel Kim Booster, Sam Jay, Tig Notaro, Scott Thompson (as Buddy Cole), Gina Yashere, Matteo Lane, Eddie Izzard, Patti Harrison, hilarious-friend-of-PCHH Guy Branum, Solomon Georgio, Judy Gold, Wanda Sykes, Sandra Bernhard and more. (Too many favorites to pick, but Marsha Warfield’s set is a thing of fierce, savage beauty.) People I respect have been talking up the bird-identifying app Merlin for a while now, but I’m not a birder, so I merely noted this information in passing. Then I heard the app has added a feature where you don’t have to faff around with identifying markings or coloring (to people with my kind of color-blindness, most birds classify as “Sort Of Mostly Brown-ish I Guess,” which is not taxonomically helpful). No –  you just hold up your dang phone and record the bird in question’s song, and zap: That there’s a wood thrush, baby! It’s Bird Shazam, and it’s spectacular. Also, somehow, vaguely disquieting. I didn’t much care for Spiderhead, the new Netflix movie based on George Saunders’ 2010 short story about a prison in which inmates volunteer to test various psychoactive drugs. The movie is overwrought, overdetermined, tonally muddled and reaches for emotions it can’t grasp. But the short story? The story is lean, propulsive and darkly funny, a marvel of precision and economy, and you can read it on the New Yorker website. Warning: If you do read the story and then, against my explicit advice, you choose to watch the movie anyway, it will just make you angry, and mystified at how the film’s creators could so wholly and profoundly Not Get It. Oh, and: @billdancestonpr. Pretty great. Still hasn’t gotten around to PCHH, but still, you know: Pretty great.  What We Did This Week Nick Wall/Searchlight Pictures On Monday I talked to Joelle Monique and Vincent Schilling about Obi-Wan Kenobi. Also on Monday (because Mike Katzif and Jessica Reedy turned it around in a mere matter of hours), I talked to Soraya Nadia McDonald about Sunday night’s Tony Awards. On Tuesday, as noted above, Linda published her second whole-ass novel, and it’s fantastic, so get on that, people. On Wednesday, Linda, Barrie Hardymon and Roxana Hadadi reflected on how the Watergate scandal has influenced pop culture in the 50 years since the break-in. On Thursday, Aisha talked about Good Luck to You, Leo Grande with Mandalit Del Barco and Bedatri D. Choudhury.  Also on Thursday, Linda wrote up your rankings of the top 15 American Idol contestants of all time. And on Friday, Stephen talked Pixar’s Lightyear with Ronald Young Jr. and Laura Sirikul. What's Making Us Happy Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: Ronald Young Jr.: Fortnite Laura Sirikul: the BTS (sniff) album Proof and the film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Stephen: the Leikeil47 album Shape Up Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WMFE (edit station). Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free episodes. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: pchh@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy