The Bear Season 3 is brilliant for one easy to miss reason

❘ Published: 2024-07-03T12:09:34

FX/Hulu

The story in The Bear Season 3 isn’t as interesting as earlier seasons, but there’s one thing it nails better than previous chapters – and it’s what makes the series so damn special.

If there’s one word to describe The Bear’s latest chapter, it’d be divisive. While Season 3 has been celebrated by critics, the fans aren’t so sure. The main bugbear (pun fully intended) is that, over the course of ten episodes, the story only shuffled forward, leaving people with the impression this was all set up for Season 4.

Don’t get me wrong – I understand the criticisms, especially when it came to that baffling “to be continued” ending (whatever happened to “every second counts”?). In this respect, it would have also made sense if Chris Storer and co. pulled a Netflix and released the latest batch of kitchen drama as Season 3 Part 1.

Still, The Bear has never been a plot-heavy show. Instead, its strengths are its characters and, in my eyes, its nuanced approach to grief, trauma, and addiction. Though the first two chapters explored these themes, Season 3 broke new ground with its subtle and thoughtful storytelling. Not only does the new season tell us where Carmy and co.’s journeys are headed, but it also teaches us a thing or two about how to live our lives.

The Bear is more about the journey than the destination

Something I have always enjoyed about The Bear is the authenticity of how issues such as trauma and addiction are portrayed. As someone who has lost a parent to suicide and is also in recovery, it’s been incredibly gratifying to see this group of characters dealing with similar issues, making mistakes along the way, and trying to survive with the tools they have.

Whether it’s Carmy escaping through work and his obsession with being the best, Richie’s growth in the face of jealousy and anger, or Donna passing the trauma she experienced onto her children and continuing the cycle, nothing they do is perfect – and that’s incredibly real.

The road to recovery – whether that be from loss, heartbreak, or addiction – is never straightforward, and The Bear doesn’t patronize us by making us believe it is.

In Season 1, Carmy finally agrees to do “the thing” Sugar keeps asking him to do by going to Al-Anon. (For the uninitiated, Al-Anon practices the same 12-step program as AA or NA, but the intention is to help the families of addicts.)

When Carmy starts to open up in the meetings, his relationships with those around him begin to improve. He is able to forgive himself and start to heal from his brother Mikey’s suicide, accepting his parting words, “I love you, dude. Let it rip.” Through this transformative action, he finds the solution to make The Bear a reality, making amends to Syd by inviting her to join in “Family style.”

In Season 2, arguably the strongest of the bunch, we learn more about how trauma runs through the Berzatto family through Episode 6, ‘Fishes’. It’s a brief yet eye-opening insight into how Donna’s alcoholism, a result of her own trauma, contributes to their fractured dynamic.

Anyone who’s experienced dysfunction at home will undoubtedly find this episode painfully familiar (and more unsettling than the latest horror movie). It’s a difficult yet essential component to the narrative, explaining how the cycle of trauma continues from generation to generation.

Just as Donna doesn’t have the tools to cope with life’s struggles, Carmy returns to his old ways, avoiding his emotions through his obsessive quest to open the best fine-dining restaurant Chicago has to offer. This suppression manifests in his relationships, including his romantic one with Claire.

The Bear owes much of this authenticity to Chris Storer’s own experience with addiction in his family and attending Al-Anon meetings, as he previously told Esquire. Initially, Carmy tries his best to avoid creating a toxic kitchen environment like some of those he’s worked in before. But he’s motivated for “all of the wrong reasons,” causing the toxicity to spread throughout the fabric of The Bear.

The 12 Steps, as told by The Bear Season 3

This brings us to Season 3, which is a masterful allegory for the 12 Steps, demonstrating how they can be used to improve the lives of not just addicts but anyone who’s struggling in life. And though there’s much to be said about the lack of plot progression, what Carmy and the rest of the gang are going through is essential in the build-up to true healing.

What I savor the most is seeing this handled in such a meaningful way. As someone who didn’t put my program into practice when I lost a parent to suicide, I suffered, but even more so did those around me. Just like my loved ones, Syd, Sugar, Claire, and Richie are all grappling with Carmy’s – and their own – unchecked emotions.

If only he could deal with his resentments and make amends, then perhaps Syd wouldn’t be considering jumping ship to join the Ever CDC’s new restaurant. There’s a saying in recovery that you can’t control people, places, or things – you can only control your reaction to them. But getting to that point of understanding and surrender takes time.

Just as no one could have worked the program for me, and I had to reach rock bottom to rebuild, the exact same can be said for Carmy. In my eyes, Season 3 is an integral part of The Bear’s overarching narrative, showing the mistakes that need to be made in order for Season 4 and beyond to provide any level of resolution.

Storer also uses his experiences to inject moments of recovery in action. For example, in Episode 8, ‘Ice Chips’, when Sugar goes into labor, she’s unable to reach anyone. In recovery, this may be called a “higher power moment,” as it paves the way for her to reconnect with Donna.

In between contractions, the mother and daughter don’t solve all of their problems straight away (Donna really doesn’t help matters by grabbing Sugar’s ass). But it’s a true illustration of Step 9 in action: “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”

Rather than just apologizing, Donna acknowledges her faults and demonstrates her willingness to try her best to do better. By revealing the trauma passed onto her by her mother, Donna unknowingly gifts Sugar the power of forgiveness.

Their inadvertent practice of these steps provides a blueprint for how old wounds can be healed, with the end of Episode 9 showing Sugar sending Donna a photo of her newborn. By making amends and practicing forgiveness, they are ready to rebuild their relationship, and Sugar is able to trust her mother –maybe even for the first time ever.

The Fak brothers are cooking

Carmy isn’t there yet, even if the answers are screaming at him in the face. One of the best, overlooked elements of The Bear Season 3 are Neil and Theodore Fak’s “haunting” asides. Though it would be easy to brush this off as humorous filler, their conversations appear to have a much deeper meaning.

We first learn about “hauntings” in Episode 5 through the third Fak brother Sammy (played by John Cena), who reveals their family tradition of annoying one another as punishment for not righting their wrongs.

They elaborate further in Episode 9, when faced with a never-ending pile of boxes to break down. “What if this is a haunt?” they ask Carmy before Theodore asks, “Who’s pissed at us right now?”

Not only can this be taken as an allegory for Steps 8 and 9, involving making amends, but it also paves the way for teachings of Steps 4 to 6. These involve making a “fearless moral inventory” of yourself, writing down every resentment you’ve ever had, identifying your character defects, and working towards letting them go.

It’s something Carmy really struggles with in The Bear Season 3. He’s living in his resentments, trying his best to exert control over everything surrounding him (including his obsessive “non-negotiables”), which only causes more issues in his life.

Up until now, he’s been haunted by his resentment towards the abusive chef David. In the finale, he attends the funeral service of Ever, where he spots his former abuser and confronts him after all this time.

“You gave me ulcers and panic attacks and nightmares,” Carmy tells him. “I think about you too much,” he adds, to which David replies, “I don’t think about you.” This confrontation is the perfect example of the damage we cause ourselves by holding onto resentments – and how freeing forgiving another person and yourself can be.

Going through the work requires humility and self-awareness, qualities Carmy has yet to embrace fully. This lack of self-awareness blinds him to Syd’s struggles, exacerbating the toxic environment he’s inadvertently created.

Throughout Season 3, we see Carmy struggling to take responsibility. He clearly wants to, hovering over the ‘call’ button to fix his broken relationship with Claire, but he’s not ready.

The Faks even try to step in and do it for him. However, Claire rejects their attempt, stating that Carmy must come to her. This underscores a fundamental truth: you can’t work the program for someone else; they need to arrive at that point on their own.

And that’s okay. It took me a long time to reach this point, and I’m learning every day (and making plenty of mistakes along the way). I believe Carmy will get there in the end, but he needs to experience those burns in order to learn and grow from them. In this sense, Season 3 is worthy of a seat at the table, and it is essential if The Bear is to achieve a satisfying ending.

For more on The Bear, check out the Bradley Cooper cameo you may have missed and our roundup of the best TV shows of 2024 so far. You can also find more fresh content to watch with our guide to the new TV shows heading to streaming this month.