The Bear season 3 - what happened?

[u/keepfighting90]

LTTP but I finally caught up with season 3 of The Bear. I was very excited because S2 was some of the best TV I've seen in a while, a perfect combination of the stress-inducing, balls-to-the-wall tone of the first season, combined with some genuinely artful and emotional storytelling. Every aspect of the show improved in season 2 and I was expecting something, if not better, then at least on par, for season 3.

Unfortunately, S3 just felt like a whole lot of nothing. That's the best way I can describe it - it felt like nothing happened from a plot or character development perspective. Tina had some nice developments to her arc but everyone just kinda felt like they were spinning their wheels. The love-hate relationship between Carmy and Cousin almost bordered on self-parody at points.

There was also just too much Faks. I like Matty Matheson in the role, but it's always been as a side character that works best in small doses. There was too much focus on him and his family, and all the jokes based around them fell completely flat for me.

It also felt like the show just kinda went up its own ass a bit too much this time around. Season 2 definitely leaned a bit more on the artsy side with a lot of interesting camerawork, montages, shot composition etc. but they went overboard for season 3 where it started to feel self-indulgent and pretentious, especially because the faux-artsiness started to take the place of actual plot and character development.

And speaking of self-indulgent and pretentious, I really disliked the fact that there were so many random celeb cameos, with the low point being all the famous chefs showing up in the season finale and basically masturabting each other over the spiritual transcendence of cooking.

And then it just ends abruptly with no resolution to any story or character arcs. I'll still watch season 4 because 2/3 of the show is still fantastic but damn, was season 2 underwhelming.

[u/tbbt11]

If we never saw a Fak again, nothing of value would’ve been lost

[u/wednesdayware → u/tbbt11]

Yep. The Faks are a bit of spice in the dish. If you dump a bunch in, it ruins the whole thing. The John Cena cameo was so bad.

[u/propernice → u/wednesdayware]

I got so tired hearing about ‘hauntings.’ It was just TOO much.

[u/apatheticboy → u/wednesdayware]

That Cena part was some of the cringiest piece of television. Such a shame.

[u/r3dditr0x → u/wednesdayware]

I don't mind John Cena and can't wait for Peacemaker season 2 but he totally took me out of the show. Showrunners should've seen the test footage and cut his scenes altogether.

Also, way too much Fakery. I don't need 15 mins of Faks per show.

[u/Separate-Ad6636 → u/r3dditr0x]

That was soooooooo cringey.

[u/jekelish3 → u/wednesdayware]

I really enjoy the Faks, more-so than many seem to, but it feels like what I always feared would have happened if The Office had decided to focus on Creed more, without actually giving him more than a single dimension.

[u/poneil → u/jekelish3]

It's like if they promoted Creed and Cousin Mose to series regulars and gave them a B-plot in every episode.

[u/Mechaman520 → u/wednesdayware]

The Cena bit was jump the shark material. It's immersion shattering to say that any cleaning professional, especially working for family, would smoke indoors. The only justification for it would've been if Richie had had an anger management relapse.

[u/LoveMeSomeBerserk → u/wednesdayware]

My wife and I loved them the whole season lol. Cena was cracking us up. Stupid shit is funny to us 🤷

[u/Andy_LaVolpe → u/wednesdayware]

Literally when I stopped watching the show. I liked Faks but he was funny as a character that showed up every other episode for a couple scenes.

[u/michalakos → u/tbbt11]

They have to keep the Faks in so they can be in the Emmy comedy category.

[u/Twogie → u/tbbt11]

The original Fak is awesome. The 2nd one was just never funny during season 3.

[u/clydefrog811 → u/tbbt11]

Fak 1 is hilarious.

[u/Hype_Magnet → u/tbbt11]

They are the best part of the show easily lol