The kitchen of a crappy eatery lost in Chicago's working-class neighborhood is in chaos. A lunch tsunami is just around the corner, and leftover low-quality meat, which had to be won back on the black market, takes an extra couple of hours to cook. The toilet pipe, wrapped in duct tape, is ready to flood the establishment at any time, and a gasping mixer can add an impressive fire to the flood.
Chef Carmy, who was hiding in the back room a second ago, rushes into action at the first sound of restaurant chaos — swearing by workers trying to boil down the broth and a heated showdown over busy pots. After working in a prestigious establishment, making sandwiches should be as trivial for the tousled protagonist as it is unfit in status.
But Carmy is happy with the local hustle and bustle. He drives the meat officer away from the pot of boiling bones, gives baking tips on the go, pacifies the obstinate cook and fights off criticism, which is coming from all directions. But no one listens to him, and words fly through the heads of local workers as fast as Carmy rushes between the giveaway and the stove.
Even turning a blind eye to misunderstandings between employees, the diner's business is hardly stable. If the dilapidated building doesn't collapse next week, a tax or sanitary epidemiological station closes it, broken pipes won't short the arcade machines, and the mafia doesn't kill all employees for debts, “Original Beef” is unlikely to withstand the onslaught of financial problems.
His previous owner, Michael Berzatto, relied on timeless values, such as a family atmosphere, friendly mutual assistance and drug dealing at the back door. After driving the restaurant into debt and himself addicted to pills, he committed suicide and thus handed the establishment, along with an army of obstinate chefs, to his closest friend and best young chef in the United States, and also to his brother Carmen.
“The Bear” series doesn't even try to find a genre identity. On the one hand, this is a psychological drama about a family that has lost a loved one because no one even tried to save him from drug addiction and a failed business. On the other hand, it's a simple-minded and adventurous sitcom with a chaotic, stressful, and tangy-tasting action.
The episodes of “The Bear” would look organic and within the usual time frame, as there are plenty of events per minute of screen time. However, in fact, the creators packed them into “sitcom” half an hour without sacrificing individual storylines and character development. Smooth editing, extra exposure and pauses, during which the viewer is supposed to digest the dish served, went under the knife.
Because of this, the series grumbles every second, burns you with new problems, fills the entire space with noise, screams and smells. There is not a moment of respite or reflection in the episodes, as the restaurant business does not tolerate delay. This endless race not only plays into the hand of dynamism, but also affects Carmy's mental state, unable to survive her brother's death and hides his feelings at work.
The main character is accompanied by a dozen secondary characters who have no place to turn around in a cramped eatery. Therefore, at first they seem roughly defined and clichéd. So, the belligerent Tina puts things in order in the kitchen, the late Michael's best friend holds on to the past and rejects any of Carmy's ideas, and the baker Marcus works here simply because she can't do anything else.
But along the way, the motley brethren develop from an unexpected angle. Tina, who, according to the laws of the genre, should be a caring aunt, keeps her temperament, but respects Carmyi and becomes his loyal adjutant. And the seemingly lazy Markus discovers his talent as a sensitive artist. Even in a crazy hurry, the characters find time to change.
The central conflict is the confrontation between Michael's “family” approach, as the bandit Richie, who stands at the box office, recalls, and the inevitable changes brought to the work by upstart and foie gras expert Carmy. Their relationship is tense and ready to burn anyone who carelessly walks by.
“The Bear” also plays on the already classic story of “The Godfather” in a non-trivial way. The hero, who has tasted the fast and varied life of the metropolis, returns to the family business, which is based on family ties and national culture, in order to become the new head of the clan against his will. However, this time, a big mafia showdown is reduced to small fights in a godforsaken kitchen.
Contrary to the general intensity, “The Bear” desperately avoids extremes. The story does not turn the characters into insoluble problems or make them hopeless, but it also prevents them from descending, always throwing up new challenges. By boiling down hour-long episodes to thirty minutes of concentrate, the creators of the series turned an ordinary eatery into a bustling and soulful place that fully illustrates the speed of life.
