My excitement for the new season of the Bear comes mostly from a curiosity about the characters; they were developed well enough to make me invested. It is honestly quite a feat to make me feel for someone with so much male bravado (Richie), and to make the general public privy to the frenetic magic of working in a kitchen.
I think Anthony Bordain described being a chef well by saying it’s kind of like being the captain of a pirate ship. First off, there’s danger- knives and fire (someone literally got accidentally stabbed, and the kitchen could have burned down last season). Second off, sometimes the crew can be misfits, for lack of a better word/in the best sense of the word- people who are different, who are wired differently, in a way that makes them suited for the high production, technical skill, and artistry of a kitchen. Kitchens also give people an opportunity to work and move up through the ranks who might not have been given one in other environments (e.g. undocumented immigrants, those with records, those battling addictions). This is just scratching the surface of my thoughts on the characters, but it is a start.
Why does it matter? Well, this show feels like a piece of Bourdain’s legacy. It feels like we, as a society, are looking closer at and valuing the people behind restaurants more. COVID rocked us to our foundations, personally and as a society. Many restaurants shut down. I think we, as a society, have to answer: Do we value restaurants? Do we want them to continue existing? What does it take, from us, to make that happen? Can the system be rebuilt better, with more equitable wages for everyone working at a restaurant? Can we start being more respectful to restaurant workers (especially female ones, most notably)? Destruction also presents the opportunity to rebuild better. In a way, I think that the next season will be about them building a better version of what a restaurant can be, and I for one, am excited to see that.
