The Bear Season 3 Review

Review by Rob Hinkal

The Bear season 3 is tightly crafted, yet meandering and ultimately disappointing.

Whereas season 2 saw Carmy and the kitchen crew operating at breakneck speeds and tensions rising to an all-time high, season 3 takes a much slower approach and instead spends more time focusing on single conversations and events. The now-famous quick cuts and intense cooking sequences are still here, but sparingly. Instead, tension arises from dialogue within conversations and events transpiring outside of the kitchen. The entire cast, again, brings their A-game this time around and understands the assignment, but it is hard not to wish that they were given more to do with their characters. Throughout seasons 1 & 2, we watched as the members of the team progressed and grew together into the fully rounded personalities the audience has come to love. Here, things feel stagnant. There is no noticeable growth amongst anyone aside from one standout episode in the second half of the season. By the finale, it is difficult to think of how any of the characters have grown emotionally from where they left things off in the season 2 finale. All in all, it feels like wasted potential when you know just how good the show can be when it is firing on all cylinders. 

By the time you get to the finale, it feels as though the show is going for more of a “vibe” than a cohesive story, with a great deal of dialogue feeling loose and unscripted, serving no great purpose in the overall arc of the show. If you dig the vibe, you’ll likely want to stay in it for as long as possible. If you don’t dig it, it can be a chore to wait for anything else to happen amongst loosely tangential stories. 

Production-wise, the show looks and sounds just as great as ever. The several needle drops throughout each episode enrich the story and blend seamlessly into the scenarios the gang finds themselves in and the cinematography is as clear and precise as ever. There is no shortage of production value this season, which is evidenced by some impressive guest appearances throughout. Objectively, this is one of the most well-crafted programs on the air. Subjectively, this is some of the weakest writing in the show yet. 

If you love The Bear, you will find things to like about season 3. There are a few interesting twists and turns, but they are few and far between as the tempo of the program seems to drop from the crescendo of season 2, down to a slow beat. It is hard to tell what exactly is in store in season 4, but, hopefully, it is more developed and engaging than what we saw this season.