The Bear is finally open for business and gets 5 stars all around. I did not think it was possible, but I love Season 2 even more than season 1. While Carmy is still the main character, Season 2 spreads the love and fills us in on more of the backstories of the family. We also start to see how the Berzattos absolutely qualify for Al-Anon. By portraying real life issues on the small screen, The Bear helps smash the stigma surrounding addiction, mental illness and getting help. This honest, chaotic ride is packed with major recovery themes, volatile family dynamics and cliffhangers just begging for Season 3.
SPOILER ALERT- Stop Reading Now if You Are Not Ready for Details on Season 2
I’ll start with the juicy main course. Carmy and his cousins are all about family. The Berzatto family dynamics play out in an extreme way in what I consider one of the most powerful 45 minutes of television I can remember. S2 Episode 6 Fishes takes us back to the Christmas before Carmy’s older brother, Mikey killed himself. The celebration at the Berzatto home is complete chaos fueled by active addiction, codependency, and character defects. What you won’t find is the Instagram photo with everyone smiling and looking perfect for the camera. From the outside looking in, the curated images of family celebrations usually look happy and loving. Not this time. The real and gritty nature of these scenes depict the awful truth of what happens in alcoholic families. There is pain in this realty. But there is also beauty in the willingness to stay, be present and accept family as they are. As my grandmother always said, “You can’t pick your family so thank God for your friends.”
Surprising Stellar Celebrity Cameo Performances Makes The Bear Even Better
We meet Carmy’s alcoholic mother Donna, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. Her brilliant performance leaves us 100% certain that all the Berzatto siblings and cousins qualify for Al-Anon. Donna’s interactions with Natalie, Carmy’s sister give us insight into the codependent nature of their toxic relationship. Natalie is constantly seeking approval and desperately wants her mother to be ok. And she is not ok. Cary tries to maintain peace the best he can. This proves to be impossible. He tries to ignore her onslaught of passive aggressive criticism while helping with the dinner. But it becomes glaringly obvious why he left Chicago for New York.
The second but no less disturbing source of mass chaos is Carmy’s older brother Mikey. Still active in his addiction, he is behaving erratically. He starts a fork fight with his Uncle Lee (Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk) at the dinner table. The scene could not be more perfect in portraying the dysfunction caused by addiction. It captures the stress from wanting everything to be perfect and volatile, ever evolving, family dynamics. Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) unsuccessfully tries to be the voice of reason.
Comic Relief for Some Serious Situations
Comic relief comes from Cousin Michelle (Sarah Paulson) and her “outsider” husband, Stevie (Saturday Night Live’s, John Mulaney). Stevie is desperately trying to make sense of the situation and trying not say the wrong thing. But he does as do all “outsiders” at the Italian family dinners. One of the season’s best scenes is when Stevie somehow gets to say the blessing prayer before dinner. He awkwardly struggles to address his non-Italianness and the alcoholic elephant in the room. All while conveying what everyone is thinking without actually saying it. It is perfectly imperfect, just like the Berzattos.
The Countdown to Opening Night at The Bear Begins
Carmy leaves perfection behind when he quits his job at the Michelin Star restaurant in New York to take over his family’s restaurant. In Season 2, we get to see how he inspires the crew at The Beef to be better for opening of The Bear. The countdown to the grand opening starts in scene 1 of S2 Episode 1. We get to ride alongside the team as they trudge through the painstakingly frustrating process of permits, getting up to code, hiring and everything else that goes into opening a restaurant. Carmy demands the best out of his team and that is what he gets.
Glimpses of the main characters’ personal lives are revealed through some of their struggles. Marcus is caring for his dying mother but must make the difficult decision to pursue his passion. He leaves her to train in Copenhagen. Sydney, who lives with her father who is now sober, reveals that her mother passed away when she was four. She battles crippling anxiety which shows up at opening night for friends and family. Natalie is pregnant but is working nonstop to try to make something her mother will be proud of. Cousin Matty is still trying to fit in and eventually finds his place, this is a highly dysfunctional crew. But they are Carmy’s crew, and he does not give up on them.
Tranformation is Contagious
My favorite transformation is in Cousin Richie. We see flashback scenes from his seemingly happy marriage which we know ends in divorce and becomes the catalyst for his subsequent depression. With Carmy’s help, he starts to live again. He finds respect for himself and others, apologizes for his past bad behavior and starts to love life again. He even inspires Cousin Matty to be better and do better. Richie’s new attitude suits him well. It made me happy to see the light come back on. It is like what so many of us go through on the road to recovery. We find hope in seemingly hopeless situations, make amends, help others and trust God, find joy and start to have fun again.
Putting the fun in this dysfunction is the overarching theme of Season 2. Motivated by Carmey’s example, The Bear crew is rising to the occasion and finding joy in life and the pursuit of excellence. In the opening scene of S2 Episode 3, Carmy is at an Al Anon meeting. I did let out a little sigh of relief in knowing he is still attending meetings. Carmy admits to his group that he has to remind himself to breathe. And he is always waiting for the other shoe to drop. In his past experience his family always seemed to inadvertently screw up anything good in his life. He is trying to be positive, but he is not having fun opening the restaurant. However, he thinks that if he finds more fun for himself, he could more easily provide this for others. This fun comes in the form of a love interest. I love this for Carmy. But ultimately, he can’t shake “the other shoe”. He blames her for the distraction that leaves him in an extremely unfortunate situation on opening night of his restaurant. The fallout from this self-sabotage is extreme.
This is Why You Should Watch The Bear
Along with the pursuit of excellence and the discovery of joy in unexpected ways, Season 2 is filled with recovery themes worthy of an entire 12- step study. Letting go of control, denial, boundaries, getting help, acceptance, trust, doing the work, finding hope, doing the next right thing, making amends. From a recovery perspective this is pure gold. But it is also fantastic, raw, and binge worthy television. I also think it is important to dig into the real issues caused by addiction. This is a brave series covering the not so fun, often tragic things that happen in real life. Suicide and addiction rates are higher than ever. According to Pew, 46% in the US have a friend or family member addicted to drugs. And this is only the ones who report. And this was in a 2017 study! We know it is so many more. Portraying the reality of these issues surrounding addiction helps smash the stigma. Seeing Carmy at Al-Anon starts to normalize getting help and getting help saves lives.
I hope Donna gets into recovery, Richie stays on the path of self-improvement, Sydney tackles the root causes of her anxiety, Natalie accepts her mother for who she is and starts going to Al-Anon with Carmy and Carmy stops self-sabotaging and gives himself permission to have fun in the dysfunction. But we will only know if Hulu and FX give us a Season 3. So PLEASE make it so!
Bonus – Spectacular Soundtrack
Here’s the cherry on top. After Shazaming several songs while I was watching The Bear, I decided to look for the soundtrack. And this one is almost perfect. There are a few misses. Like the heavy metal screaming in track 3, New Noise. However, classics like Pretty in Pink, Got My Mind Set on You and Goodbye Girl more than make up for this. It also includes tunes from Taylor Swift, R.E.M., Mavis Staples, Dean Martin, Wilco, and The Smashing Pumpkins. It is absolutely worth listening.
For more recovery related entertainment recommendations, check out The Sober Curator’s Play it Again, The Mindful Binge, Movie Night and Recovery Podcastland.
A Disco Ball is Hundreds of Pieces of Broken Glass, Put Together to Make a Magical Ball of Light. You are NOT Broken, Friend. You are a DISCO BALL!
Resources Are Available
If you or someone you know is experiencing difficulties surrounding alcoholism, addiction, or mental illness, please reach out and ask for help. People everywhere can and want to help; you just have to know where to look. And continue to look until you find what works for you. Click here for a list of regional and national resources.
