Drama
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Captain Pike finally gets his time in the Star Trek spotlight, but his story is one filled with tragedy and foreboding.
When Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto got out of Chicago, his plan was to make it big in the world of fine dining and never return.
Well, he accomplished one of those two things.
After his brother, Mikey, committed suicide, Carmy came back to Chicago to take over the family’s failing sandwich shop—The Original Beef of Chicagoland—per Mikey’s last request. Carmy’s goal is to make it a place where people will want to come and eat: A respectable, renowned restaurant with excellent food.
That’s much easier said than done.
Turns out Mikey was in crazy debt, the kitchen staff is sloppy and Richie—Carmy’s arrogant, hot-headed cousin—thinks he runs the show. And honestly, much of what’s on the menu needs to come off. Immediately.
However, Carmy’s biggest battle is getting the staff to respect and trust him. It doesn’t seem to matter that Carmy has worked at famous restaurants from Denmark to New York, or that he’s won the James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef. The only thing they really care about is that he doesn’t barge in and alter anything.
But things are starting to change. After hiring a new sous chef—a spunky, talented young woman named Sydney—Carmy makes over the humble sandwich shop into a fine dining experience called “The Bear.” It was actually his and Mikey’s original dream for a restaurant. And it even still operates The Original Beef out of a window for fans of the original shop.
Things will get better, that’s for certain. But now, Carmy and his staff are on a timeline. They’ve got 1,400 hours (roughly two months) to take the Bear from a dysfunctional but delicious dining experience into a calm and delicious Michelin-Star dining experience. After that, there just won’t be enough money to keep the restaurant’s doors open.
Can Carmy keep it together long enough to see his dream finally come true? Or will he be crushed under the weight of this newfound burden?
There are so many shows about police officers, firefighters, teachers and doctors. So why not create a show about chefs? Sure, we’ve seen reality shows focus on cooking. But rarely do we see a fictional exploration of what it’s like to work behind the scenes, in a restaurant that isn’t top of the line.
FX is here to change that with The Bear. This TV-MA rated show is an attempt to bring humanity to the people who make the food that you eat. It’s raw, real and full of the sort of gruffness you might expect from a tight-knit group of individuals who work in Chicago.
They’re all a sort of family—a tradition instilled by Carmy’s Italian brother. But they’re the sort of family that swears like sailors, shouts when heated, tells crude jokes and wrestles with dysfunction.
As such, we get a fair amount of gritty content that might ironically turn families away. The f-word seems to be a favorite among The Bear’s characters. And occasionally, characters get steamy and might even hop in the sheets.
But character development also seems to be a strong focus in The Bear’s writing. Although we don’t know much about the lives of these people when the series first opens, good acting and the intense dynamic that’s created at The Bear lets us know a lot about their personalities with few words. And as the series unfolds, viewers share in their misfortunes and successes, watching as this restaurant crew learns from past mistakes and tries to do better, to be better, moving forward.
Main character Carmy—as much as he longs to change his restaurant, his staff and himself—might have the most self-improvement to do. But there’s no telling if that’s something that will happen, or if it’s just a far-fetched fantasy.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Carmy and the staff at The Bear are given a two-month deadline to earn a Michelin Star or close their doors forever.
A flashback shows Carmy talking to Mikey about his idea for a restaurant: a calm, enjoyable place where people can come to celebrate or commiserate. In the present, he shares this hope with his staff, hoping to reinvigorate them after a mixed review from The Chicago Tribune.
Carmy apologizes to Sydney for the chaos that he has created at The Bear. Sydney tells Carmy that he doesn’t need dysfunction to be talented, and that he should trust himself more. The staff at The Bear does its best to improve operations after being given an ultimatum.
A man gets into a heated discussion with his ex-wife over how she and her new husband are raising their daughter. He hangs up before saying anything too harsh, but he throws his phone in anger.
There are more than 30 uses of the f-word and about a dozen of the s-word. Jesus’ name is also abused three times. And we hear uses of “a–hole,” “h—” and “p-ss.”
Famous chef Carmy moves back to Chicago to attempt to revive his recently deceased brother’s sandwich shop, but runs into obstacles along the way.
A few people, primarily Carmy’s cousin Richie, make crude sexual jokes. Richie calls someone a “fag” and is constantly disrespectful to Carmy. Men and women alike smoke cigarettes and consume hard liquor.
God’s name is misused twice, once paired with “d–n.” The f-word is used more than 30 times while the s-word is heard over 10 times. Other profanities (a few in Spanish) include multiple utterances each of “c-cksucker,” “d–khead,” “d–k, “a–hole,” ”c-cks” and “b–ch.”
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
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