As a self-identified “foodie”, FX’s The Bear satisfies viewers through mouth-watering scenes of cooking. From a montage of noodles to the viral chip omelet scene, the show sticks true to its inspiration of owning a restaurant. The homage is continued with the portrayal of a hectic restaurant environment which drives the plot of the show, telling an unconventional story with an imperfect but lovable cast.
However, I believe the true reason The Bear received such high acclaim is because of its artistic serialized narratives–each which have different emotional beats and themes. As a result, the show demonstrates the topics from Jason Mittel’s paper about narrative complexity. For example, most of the episodes feature simple arcs about the wide cast of characters in only 20 minutes. However, in the episodes “Fishes” and “Forks”, The Bear upends preconceived notions about the show.
First, Fishes contradicts previous episodes by throwing the audience four years into the past without any context. Here, we learn about the main character’s messy family history and drama, which is brought up in later episodes but is not ever central to the plot outside of Fishes. The episode works as a satisfying stand alone episode and can even be skipped without any harm to the overall season arc. However, the episode adds new emotional depth to the film for dedicated viewers who praise the show for its narratively complexity.
Forks is also a mostly stand alone episode which introduces narrative complexity through only focusing on one character, Richie. Here, the episode is important for the rest of the season because Richie saves the restaurant during the finale using the skills he learned in Forks. However, the episode also interests long time viewers through introducing a different restaurant and setting. The audience can recognize similar themes to other episodes, however the novelty of a different cast and environment intrigue the possibility of a spin-off show.
Season 2 of the Bear is one of my favorite shows I have ever binged. It’s hard for me to pinpoint all the ways the show works, in many ways it feels like the show is overwhelmingly impossible to appreciate. Still, the relationship between episodes and the overall arc of the season is unique and leaves the door open for future narratively complex shows.