‘The Bear’ Grows Up
In the second season, Carmy, Richie, and Sydney work on both themselves and their restaurant to make it become a premier dining establishment.
Things were looking up for Carmy as Season 1 came to a close. For those who may have forgotten, here is a brief summary: Carmy, a fine dining chef of prodigy caliber, has returned to Chicago following stints in some of the world's finest restaurants. Since Carmy's brother Mikey (Jon Bernthal) committed himself, he has moved back to Chicago to run the Original Beef of Chicagoland, a popular lunch establishment. The Original Beef becomes successful after Carmy makes some changes to the menu. The Original Beef, like any real eatery, needs a constant flow of cash to keep its doors open, and Mikey provides this in the form of a stockpile of cash hidden in tomato cans.
The new season shows the restaurant and its staff going through significant changes. Sydney, the sous chef played by Ayo Edebiri, is constantly brainstorming new dishes while reading self-improvement books to help her develop into a strong leader in the kitchen. Chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce) travels to Copenhagen to stage at a temple of modernist cuisine with (ridiculously hot) chef Luca (Will Poulter), while snarky line cooks Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) enroll in culinary school to hone their talents.
The restaurant Carmy and Sydney want to open will be cutting edge, so they are also renovating the space that was originally home to the Original Beef. During the first few minutes of the pilot, Carmy has already piled up over $100,000 in remodeling and upgrade plans. Sugar (Abby Elliott), his sister and the project's supervisor, makes it quite obvious that more money is required, and soon. Carmy and Sydney go to see Carmy's allegedly dodgy uncle Cicero (Oliver Platt), who handed Mikey the money from the tomato cans. He reluctantly agrees to be the project's financial backer after some convincing, but only on the condition that he possess the Original Beef building and sell it if they fail to pay him back within 18 months.
The Bear Adds Even More Star Power in Season 2 With These Guest Stars
The whole issue of funding is wrapped up pretty quickly — maybe too quickly, in fact — and Carmy and Sydney set an admittedly aggressive timeline of just 12 weeks to get their new restaurant ready for the public. While plenty of real-life restaurateurs will roll their eyes at the idea that Carmy somehow managed to get all of his building permits squared away in just a few weeks or that there weren’t massive delays in construction, The Bear still feels eminently accurate when it comes to the often crushing tedium of navigating the world of taxes, permits, and insurance. In what other show about the restaurant industry do we hear about the struggles of getting a fire suppression system to pass inspection, or get an inside glimpse into the absurdity of navigating a mold remediation project? Those aren’t exactly sexy subjects, but they are very real for actual restaurant owners, and The Bear manages to play them both for laughs in a way that actually succeeds.
While the Original Beef is being revamped, the men of the series are revamping themselves. Carmy attends group therapy sessions to deal with his imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and anxiety, and is even starting to process Mikey’s death in a meaningful way. He’s also allowing himself to be vulnerable with new-old love interest Claire (Molly Gordon), a girl from his childhood who makes a surprise reappearance. This relationship marks the first time we’ve seen him connect with someone outside of the restaurant. And it’s not just Carmy. While in Copenhagen, Marcus confronts his dying mother’s mortality as he learns how to gently scoop a quenelle of shiso sorbet. Even dopey cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is processing his feelings, trying to cope with his own insecurities of being left behind as the Original Beef transforms into the Bear.
Meanwhile, Sydney is struggling. She began the series feeling confident and ready to take charge of the kitchen, but in Season 2, she’s having trouble with her recipes. There’s too much salt or too much acid — it’s just not right, and Carmy is too distracted by his budding relationship with Claire to fully focus on helping her refine those flavors. Sydney’s struggles don’t get the same depth of consideration as Carmy’s, and that’s a glaring flaw in this season. We get a few scenes, especially in the finale, that delve into her fear of failure, but the writing doesn’t quite match Edebiri’s incredible acting.
The Bear delves more into the specifics of running a restaurant, including fire suppression systems and ServSafe certifications, toward the end of Season 2. For an education in the art and, more importantly, the point of hospitality, Carmy sends Richie to a three-Michelin-star restaurant. Richie is well on his way to becoming a proper general manager by the end of Episode 7, when he has started reading Will Guidara's book on service. He's even taken to wearing suits. The space is finally coming together by the eighth episode, despite Neil Fak (Matty Matheson) getting electrocuted numerous times as he finishes wiring up the structure. Carmy is a little more focused by this point, working out his familial issues through a dessert inspired by that terrible Christmas meal.
The anxious and frantic atmosphere of the first season returns as opening day approaches. However, we have considerably more faith in its success this time around because Carmy and Sydney have solved this problem before.
Whether or not Carmy is happy is an open question. On the surface, he appears to be happy, especially during his brief escapes from the restaurant to spend time with Claire, yet this plot point is consistently underdeveloped. Although this restaurant may torture Carmy, it is clear that it is his true love. Claire's random appearances show that even Carmy is aware of this fact.