7 out of 7 Fishes: The Bear S2 review

I felt like the minority after watching The Bear Season 1. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the show. But I only “enjoyed” it if that makes sense. I liked the dialogue and the camera work. But I never got too invested in the characters or the story. A good show, but in no way was I holding my breath for season 2.

But wow! I was so wrong. Season 2 is different. Season 2 is special. It is a stop-whatever-your'e-doing and watch kind of TV show.

Season 2 opens with Carmy, Sydney and Crew in the gutted building that was The Original Beef. And it takes you along the ride of transforming it into, The Bear, a Michelin worthy establishment.

The chemistry of the characters on set is somehow even better than the first season's. Meaning the, once again, spectacular dialogue hits even harder and faster and funnier. Anxiety is still out of the roof, but even more intense with and the highs and lows of businesses. But this time it's mixed with hopefulness and wonder of doing starting something big.

And what makes the show great is the way all these emotions pour straight out of the characters into you. You feel it all. All the joy, the stress, the growing, the excitement.

The show also has some of the better one-off segments i've ever seen. Each character of the crew gets an episode or a couple segments where we get to know them. It's way more the run of the mill, day in the life too. The asides are specific, unique, and provide the emotional tethering missing from Season 1. All are great but Marcus’ with Will Poulter was one my favorite parts of the whole show.

Okay almost done, I want to give a round of applause to Sugar (Abby Elliot). She plays a much larger role in this time and is up there for my favorite character. Another shoutout to my currently celebrity crush Molly Gordon. While I wasn't too invested in the romantic plot line, Molly is great in general and as Claire.

Last but not least. I can't leave without talking about Seven Fishes. Wow! So much was happening. Non stop action from start to finish. No, action is too light of a word, it was chaos. Pure chaos in a wonderful way. It is a great episode, The speed and play-like structure made it so fun and contrast to the heaviness of the plot. It wasn't my favorite after immediate watch, but as time goes on I'm liking it more and more.

I hate spoilers so I never talk too much about actual content, but The Bear Season 2 was awesome. An Immediate watch and squarely in my top 5 of this year.

p.s. I did see an article on the internet, well I read a headline, that said The Bear season 2 should’ve been released episodically. And I fully agree with that. While I like binge for most shows, I think The Bear season 2 was special enough that every episode would be better savored.

Currently Watching: Platonic, Unicorn Warriors Eternal, Secret Invasion, City on Fire, Love & Death, Kizazi Moto

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Feel free to suggest stuff on my twitter @maurice_3_