The second season of "The Bear" (The Bear), the mouth is still like a popping candy, beating violently, changing from sour to sweet. It continues the high-speed operation of the first season, simulating the crazy flow of consciousness in the brain. But its sweetness has risen, showing signs of cool drama. Although soothing, it is ultimately inferior to the blockbuster first season.
This season, the ultimate task is to reopen the "Bear's Restaurant" after renovation. The tense countdown in the style of "24 Hours" sent all the members to the accelerated rocket. There are always too many tasks and never enough time. The neurosis and unhappiness that permeated the first season has not disappeared, only because of being put on a bridle and unable to play wild. Mania, depression, lack of self-confidence and inability to love shrink into a bitter almond, hide in the corner, and watch chef Kami (Jeremy Allen White) and his partners work together to solve hell-level problems until the restaurant's soft opening That brilliant night.
"Bear's Restaurant" Season 2 Poster
Neurodramas like "Bear's Diner" and "Euphorbia" don't distract audiences, if not everything. The characters in the play speak extremely fast, and the language constitutes a dense hail of bullets; the quickness of the action is in sharp contrast to the sluggish and melancholy heart. This season's "The Bears", the red time numbers are like time bombs, reminding people that if there are not beautiful fireworks ahead, there will be terrible explosions.
The characters work in multiple lines, go to various places to learn new skills, try to get rid of the identity of marginal people and losers, and work hard for the goal of "opening business". When multiple story lines run in parallel, it is the most soothing rhythm. At the moment when the nerves were trembling and the stream of consciousness was soaring, the back kitchen of the restaurant seemed to explode. Everyone is multitasking, the camera wanders, and the lines intersect like red laser lines. The image simulates the activity of the brain, the superficial consciousness flows through like a movie screen, and the subconscious mind bypasses what is happening and runs on its own. People like the back kitchen, when their minds, hands and brains are all occupied by heavy tasks, there will still be past events popping up, dragging them to another time and space.
For example, a whole episode of Christmas Eve dinner. All the related characters of the "Bear" family appear, and the kitchen of the mother's house of the three Kami brothers and sisters becomes the center of the chaotic universe. People come and go in and out of the small space, talking with guns and sticks, quarreling and reconciling; the heat keeps rising towards the boiling point, and finally reaches the climax with the mother driving a car into the kitchen.
"Bear's Restaurant" Season 2 Stills
The mystery of last season was the suicide mystery of the elder brother Michael (Joe Bernthal). He suddenly took his own life, leaving a mess in his wake. Old mysteries remain unsolved, and new ones emerge. Why is the mother of this family so crazy? Mama Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) acts like a madwoman, putting on a show in her domain, the kitchen, on Christmas Eve. At one moment she is warm and reliable like all Christmas Eve mothers, at another moment she is poisonous and vulnerable, on the verge of collapse, her emotions are like a pendulum swinging on both ends, and no one knows what she wants. She said she wanted others to love her, cook a meal for her, and kicked all the guests out of the kitchen with teeth and claws. Donna's madness has no cause or reason, just like Michael's death.
The screenwriter deliberately concealed the answers to these two mysteries. They become shadows or metaphors, representing the unanswered and intractable pain in all life.
"Bear's Restaurant" Season 2 Stills
Under the shadow of death and mental problems, "Bear's Restaurant" completed the alternation of old and new forces this season. The eye-catching feature of the first season is the strong street atmosphere of this Chicago street fly restaurant. Michael and his friend Rich (Ebang Moss-Barrach), street slickers, have the ability to do everything without following the rules and regulations, and run this small dilapidated restaurant that is integrated with the road. They are chaotic and extremely free, as if living in an extralegal place in the United States in the 21st century. Most of the time, this pair of difficult brothers is amiable and lovely, and sometimes they are hateful. The famous joke that Michael told from the last season until now, every time he tells it, it gets sadder, and it gradually shows a broken look.
Doomed to short-lived street life, this season was subdued by the harsh life of West Point Military Academy. The street runners who still want to survive have to cheer up and adapt to the life that meets the requirements of modern society. The old staff of the restaurant were sent to different places for advanced training, mainly to be transformed spiritually. The rough and low-level people have entered the high-end and fine places one after another. Not only did they lose a layer of skin due to rigorous training, but they also drank a bowl of chicken soup that was very similar to the workmanship in Japanese hot-blooded anime.
Rich learned to be a waiter in a Michelin three-star hotel, and was infected by the extremely exaggerated service spirit in the field, as if he had been brainwashed and started a new life. Dessert chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce) was sent to a high-end restaurant in Denmark. While learning techniques from the pastry chef, he also accepted the idea that one mountain is still higher and that only with strong people can we make progress.
On the chariot of Xiong's restaurant, everyone except Kami temporarily finds their own mission. Under the urging of the countdown, they have no time to take care of their own feelings and life, and run to the goal repeatedly. The chaos and hopelessness of the first season was wiped out, and this show broke the psychological expectations of the first season by showing its true colors of healing.
In the tragic first season, the audience needs to be ready to accept tragedy at any time, to hit the ceiling of personal ability, and to be stumbled by the sweeping legs of dark emotions. Unexpectedly, in this season, these bad people assembled into the "Guardians of the Galaxy" and fought a beautiful turnaround. The tragedy almost turned into a cool drama.
While Rich's transformation is gratifying, it's also too abrupt. A person who has been ignorant for 45 years was reborn within a week and completed the reshaping of values, which shocked people's jaws and raised new questions: Since Rich is so easy to change, why does Michael, who is in the same spirit as him, have to behave like that? die? It seemed comical how quickly he "turned over to light" to take away the weight of Michael's death, to demystify the death that haunted everyone.
Cammy's love is also a question of deduction. He suddenly fell in love with the girl he had a crush on when he was a teenager, and then broke the girl's heart for the most clichéd reason in the world. "You are too perfect. I always destroy all the good things in my life. I am destined to walk alone..." Isn't this the favorite breakup plot used by screenwriters when they are short of words? Hearing Cammy's soliloquy in the last episode when she was locked in a freezer, the expectations for the next season dropped to a new level.
"Bear's Restaurant" Season 2 Stills
But after all, a skinny camel is still pretty big. The second season of "Bear's Restaurant" is still worth watching without fast-forwarding. It has some good moments, the calm in the eye of the storm amidst the noise, restlessness, panic and loathing. The experience of snowflakes falling in the crystal ball appeared in scenes related to food. Don't forget, this is a show about food. This restaurant has transformed from a sandwich shop to a creative mix-and-match restaurant, aiming to hit a Michelin star in one fell swoop.
All kinds of tasting and tasting dishes that appeared in this season are all gorgeous and super-energy dishes, which makes people worry that the chef will soon get the top three dishes. Food is invigorating. Food is the best crystallization of these people. Food slows down the very unhealthy rhythm of excitement, and pushes the heart that has shrunk due to injury, and pulls people who live their own lives and have grudges in their hearts to a place with warm lights. Have them sit down, talk softly, sample the food, and get ready for the next round of madness.
