The Bear (2022-Season One) * * * 1/2

 

Starring:  Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Matty Matheson, Jon Bernthal, Abby Elliott, Oliver Platt, Edwin Lee Gibson, L-Boy

Carmen Berzato (White) is a former chef at a posh, demanding New York restaurant who now finds himself making sandwiches at his late brother's Chicago sandwich shop.  His brother Michael (Bernthal) willed it to Carmen after his suicide, which leaves Carmen and the others to pick up the pieces and try and run a popular dining establishment.  He would love to advance the menu beyond sandwiches in order not to waste his training.   His help include longtime staffers, cousin Richie (Moss-Bachrach), and new hire Sydney (Edebiri), a student who wants a career in management and the culinary arts.  

Carmen wants to rebuild the restaurant, called The Beef, but finds it is a dicey proposition.  Health inspector visits, unpaid invoices, and a visit from Uncle Jimmy (Platt), from whom Michael borrowed $300,000 and no one can account for.  Carmen attends Al-Anon meetings as a way of coping with his brother's death (caused by addiction).  He is a man unable to grasp his feelings and express them.  He can shout out orders to his staff and is in his element at The Beef, but what about when he isn't there?  Carmen has almost no time for a social life.   We see him, and most of the others, in the restaurant environment, which establishes their characters.  

Where The Bear succeeds brilliantly is capturing the sometimes unbearable tension of trying to fill orders, deal with unruly customers, deal with unpaid bills which threaten the shutdown of utilities, and Uncle Jimmy sniffing around asking for his money.  Plus, the longtime employees trying to learn and understand Carmen and Sydney's new system.   They are a makeshift family, but even they have their limits on their sanity and dealing with each other in a pressure cooker like The Beef.  

White, who has won multiple awards for his role, is a quiet center whose body language looks like a man taking on more responsibility than he can handle.  The weight pressing on him is immense, and he looks it.  Edebiri is gives us a fresh-faced newcomer to the restaurant business who believes her system will be a perfect fit for The Beef, until she finds out it isn't.  We hope she isn't worn down by cynicism. Ebon Moss Bachrach's Richard is a special case.  He wants The Beef to stay as is, and fears change, but also supports the crew even if it hurts him.  His face is full of pain.  Bachrach gives us a sympathetic man who acts tough on the outside to hide his pained insides.  

The Bear is listed as a comedy series and recently won Emmys in that category.  To me, it isn't a comedy, but it isn't hard drama either.  Like the characters, we maybe laugh so that we may not cry.