I think when critiquing S3, there’s something that needs to be kept in mind

Discussion

This season was a part 1 and S4 seems to be part 2. I’m also taking into consideration that they shot these seasons back to back, which isn’t a common thing to do. I’m assuming there was one large script and everything was shot all together, or something to that affect.

While I agree with some of the takes I’ve read here, I think it’s only fair to reserve judgment until we see what unfolds in S4. I have a feeling there’ll be payoffs to things we feel didn’t get enough attention.

The major theme of how past trauma can define who you are if you let it take over you came to a pretty great checkpoint, not a resolve, imo in one episode and especially in the finale.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The entire season we have been seeing Carm relive the most traumatic moments in his career in the midst of him remembering why he fell in love with it in the first place. We watched him refuse to acknowledge this but instead lash out and become more closed off. The first time he truly tries to address it directly is when he sees Chef Winger at the funeral dinner. This conversation was one of the best in the series imo. You can read Carm racing thru a million thoughts and struggle to find the right words to say, yet Chef Winger equal parts softly and bluntly reminds him of his goal, that he accomplished it, and that he should move on in a tone that Carm is not at all used to dealing with. It stuns Carm, and I think that’s an expression/feeling we haven’t truly seen from him yet (maybe besides Fishes but it still felt different). We are left with him reading the review, with no idea yet how he reacts in the aftermath. Is he frazzled still from Chef Winger? Did Chef Terry break thru to him? Does he react in a different way now that he’s faced the person in his career(!!) that caused him the most trauma? We don’t know until next season.

As the season moves along, we are seeing Syd start to realize this isn’t exactly the partnership she thought she signed onto. We are also seeing that she is becoming part of the trauma cycle Carm is in, no matter how direct or indirectly he’s playing a part in or how aware of it he is he’s passing the trauma down. We see her try nicotine gum (I don’t believe we’ve seen her smoke before this), she becomes avoidant when pressed about the partnership agreement, in general I thought she was wearing her stress way more than before. Then all of a sudden she’s found herself in a tough position: stick with your guns at The Bear and hope to make the most of it with Carm, or become the sole creative head for the kitchen in a new space that, while she has a theoretically a bigger say, is a complete wild card that could also blow up in her face. While we have seen her have moments of stress get to her, we have never seen here have a panic attack which is where we left her. I thought the timing of it was key to note: in a group of industry people that she looks up to having a fun time, but also isn’t sure if she belongs truly. I thought this was a great place to leave her character while we wait for the final part of this story arc, we truly don’t know which way she’s leaning. Is she acknowledging it? Will she? We won’t know until next season.

Finally, Sugar’s labor. She is literally faced with her biggest trauma source during her biggest physical traumatic experience (albeit beautiful, the pain is still there). She started this day yelling at her mom to please calm down, and ended her time being in her mother’s arms listening to her recall how each Berzatto came into the world. Frankly, I thought after Fishes and the S2 finale we wouldn’t see this side of Mom. My opinion of her changed as she told each story, and it seems Sugar gains more and more respect for her as the labor and stories continue. We leave Sugar texting her mom a picture of the baby, trying to reopen the door to a “normal” relationship. She faced her trauma head on in a turbulent and hectic time, and came away with a new perspective of her mom. Will this continue to flourish into a rekindled relationship? Can Sugar forgive the past? We won’t know until next season.

Obviously this is just my own opinion, but I think we should hold back a bit on going hard critiquing S3 less than a week after it released. There’s a ton of story to tell still.

in TheBearby sully9614

73%

clamshellshowdown

I think you’re right, but I don’t think releasing the first part of something and presenting it as a self-contained unit of storytelling is a good thing.

If I complain that there was little character development this season and you reply that the season isn’t actually complete, I’m like, yeah exactly, we’re saying the same thing in different ways.

sully9614

I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing tho. I do think there was character growth for each character, it just wasn’t as amplified as season’s past. I think the monumental character growth of people like Richie in the Forks episode really set the bar so high for what we expect the show to do, and tbh that’s not really feasible.

I don’t think they ever presented it as a self-contained thing either, nor do I think any season of any show should declare that unless it’s an anthology series or limited series. While there are story arcs within seasons, I don’t think they need to be wrapped up within a season if said show is continuing to make seasons. If the writers thought the story arcs of Carm, Syd, the fate of The Bear’s review all needed to be resolved in S3 they would do so.

teddy_vedder

hamachi with blood orange

They weren’t shot back to back. They didn’t have time. At most some S4 footage has been shot and that’s it.

And if you present something as a whole season, it should stand as one. Netflix makes it clear that Stranger Things was releasing in batches, and that Bridgerton S3 was a 3A and 3B. This season played like a 3A but was not presented as a half of a whole, it was a whole season. And a whole season of setup just didn’t feel right compared to two prior well-rounded and self-supporting seasons.

thisisaname21

While I agree with some of the takes I’ve read here, I think it’s only fair to reserve judgment until we see what unfolds in S4. I have a feeling there’ll be payoffs to things we feel didn’t get enough attention.

They released it as a stand alone season, S4 being good won't retroactively fix 5 hours of bad tv

Ok_Olive9438

Having done this with my own parent, I saw the photo as opening the door to a new relationship, instead of a “normal” one. A reset, and a fragile one. I hope they can make it work, because I think that’s a story that a lot of us need to show how it can be hard to build a new relationship with people who have hurt you, but that it’s possible if you both want it.

It was an incredible episode.

Digitooth

The Bear makes its own kind of music in Season 3. Episodes play like symphonies of images rather than conventional, plot-driven television.

The atlantic capturing my main complaint. SOOO many montages. And when you finally get some characters in the same room, they're just SCREAMING at each other. Not fun to watch at all.

Reminds me of season 3 of Hannibal. Took an awesome show/premise and just turned it into a bunch of beautiful tracking shots and weird hallucinations full of metaphors. It was annoying. Never finished it.

And I normally like art house movies/tv but I feel annoyed that the show suddenly turned into it? Idk.