The third season "Bear" was released

If you find fault: there are a lot of self-dealers, and indeed somehow without a light. If you do not find fault: how great, the best series of recent years!

On June 27, the third season “Bear” was published on Hulu-a series about the Chicago restaurant and its nervous chef. The first two seasons were struck by his ingenuity and intonation, the creator of the show Christopher Storer repeats these tricks here. The film critic of Medusa Anton Dolin is trying to explain why this time self -regenerators can disappoint the viewer - and how despite this the series overtakes all its competitors.

If you have already watched the first two seasons of the “bear” and fell in love with the series of Christopher Storer about the Chicago restaurant, the third season rushed to watch without additional recommendations. Judging by the third part, Storer himself is obsessed with reviews and considers them the most important indicator of success: throughout the season, his heroes are waiting for a review of their restaurant in Chicago Tribune.

As for film critics, they are still praised by the “bear”, but without the same ardor. The consensus is such that “part is third” (official name) is inferior to the first first in splendor. At the same time, not even the most successful season of the show still surpasses most competitors in originality and ingenuity. The storar has to compete primarily with himself.

The cause of a comparative failure may be the haste of Showranner, inherited from his neurasthenic hero-perfectionist-chief Carmen Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White). The director came up and shot not only the third, but at the same time immediately the fourth season. It is not for nothing that the through theme of these ten episodes appears - the vital need to stay at the same height, not to drop the bar taken. It is this feverish competition that forces both the author and his hero to concentrate on one thing: in the case of Karmi-the creation of the perfect restaurant, in the case of a store-shooting an impeccable series. And forget about everything and all, having lost ordinary human joy and sacrificing love.

In the first season, Karmi returned to his native Chicago after the suicide of his brother Michael in order to save from ruin and closure of the family diner with Italian sandwiches. In the second, he gathered and coached the team, transforming the eatery into the restaurant "Bear" and at the same time trying to establish personal life. The third season is about the first weeks of the institution. In other words, Karmi does not have a dramatic and impossible super -task this time. All his outstanding nervous energy goes to attempts to become even better, forcing the others to strive, who have enough trouble.

Because of this, Karmi himself will fade into the background, losing to the rest. Familiar and beloved public characters will have to answer the challenges of fate - more or less serious.

Warning. There are spoilers in the next paragraph. If this is unacceptable for you, miss it.

The right hand of Chief Berzatto - a reasonable and fearless Sid (Ayo Edebiri) - will try to move away from an overly caring father and will immediately receive an alluring proposal to change work. Neurasthenic manager of the "Bear" Richie (Ebon Moss-Bakrak) will with all the great difficulty pulling a smile on his face, preparing for the wedding of his ex-wife. The cook Tina (Lisa Colon-Zayas) will try to meet the requirements of the “high kitchen”, which is still unusual for her. The senior comrade Berzatto and the owner of the restaurant, Uncle Cicero (Oliver Platt), will ask the question of whether he invested enough effort and money in a restaurant. Confectioner Marcus (Lionel Boyce) will survive the death and funeral of the mother. Finally, an indifferent to the Medved and sister Karmi-Natalie, nicknamed Sugar (Abby Elliott), will have to finally give birth to a child by the finals of the season.

In principle, the whole third season can be compared with pregnancy: endless expectation, often happy, but more often anxious, and growing, sometimes from scratch. A true storeer avoids sentimental manipulations, devoting more time and attention to the preparation, background and context of the event than its show. This applies not only to the birth of the child of Natalie, but also, for example, photography "Bear" for publishing in an influential newspaper. Or the very review of the restaurant critic, the output of which is declared as the culmination of intrigue, but unforgivable in the last series of the season.

The conceptual revision of the narrative structure delights. Storer seemed to undertake to prove to the world that the series could exist and be successful and without the plot itself. Only he does not always succeed.

The audience does not have enough reasons for experiences, the humor begins to leave little by little, on which the previous two seasons have been held (now only the Life -eared brothers FEK - friends of childhood Berzatto and the master of all hands are responsible for it). At the same time, the third “bear” is visual perfection, it literally wants to look at, admire it, and from rapid editing and creative sound design is breathtaking. A banal comparison with a high kitchen restaurant begs. The dishes are incredibly beautiful, but their taste seems strange.

In the first two episodes, Karmi draws up and present the team with its list of immutable commandments of his restaurant. The greatest protest causes the demand to change the menu every day. Soon, fears are confirmed: it is expensive and technically difficult - the chef himself hardly recalls that he cooked a few days ago. The season itself is arranged similarly. Each series is stylistically and intonationally different from the rest literally in everything. Just for an example: for the first original music , Trent Rezor and Atticus Ross wrote in the second, rock hits are habitually sounded, the third is built on a ordered classic, from Beethoven to Saint-Sansa and so on. The ambitious formalism is confusing and does not always achieve the planned effect, and at times only explicitly exposes flaws. The same first episode of the season - perfectly beautiful and full of elegant melancholy - is only a retelling of the previous seasons.

The desire to avoid self-reproaches is understandable and excusable, but still the public interest here rests on the already achieved: expressive characters, outstanding actors, vivid operator and installation decisions, sincere and at times an unexpected soundtrack, exactly conveyed the spirit of Chicago, sudden emergence of eminent actors (here it is here John Sina as another brother Fack, Josh Hartnett as a new boyfriend and Tiff groom, as well as several famous chefs in the roles of themselves - Thomas Keller, Daniel Bulya and Rene Rezepy).

At the same time, inside the third “bear” there are genuine diamonds, small masterpieces of serial art. It is necessary to call at least the sixth series of “napkins”, the directorial debut of actress Ayo Edebiria: the background of Tina is a bitter and ultimately optimistic mini-drama about unemployment and human dignity. No less impressive is the eighth series of “Ice” in the production of the store - Natalie’s birth begins in her, no one responds to her calls, and from despair she turns to her mother with alcoholism, from which she vowed to stay away. The minimalist plot is witnessed witty, and played simply amazingly (nevertheless Jamie Lee Curtis, who appeared in the second season, is an actress of a special class). And in general, the "bear" still convinces the doubtful viewer that its advantages are superior to disadvantages.

At the beginning of one of the episodes, Marcus, with his characteristic close attention, watches a video that seemed to be not related to his profession - cutting fragments from old cinema, from Meles to Hitchcock, dedicated to tricks, special effects and other man -made screen miracles. The hero is looking for inspiration when working on the next, especially for him, an important dessert dedicated to the memory of his mother.

The bearer speaks, and it is unlikely by accident: “Bear” is not about the kitchen and food, but about the essence of art. It seems that at this stage, an inspired non-nophite confectioner understands in it more than a star chef with its dysfunctional management. The question is which of the Showranner of his characters will be closer next season.

Anton Dolin