‘The Bear’ is branded ‘frustrating’ as third season receives mixed reviews

The reviews for the third season of “The Bear” are in and are mixed: some praise the restaurant drama, others call it “frustrating” and “aimless”.

The thrilling drama follows award-winning chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), who returns to his hometown of Chicago to save his late brother’s struggling sandwich shop, The Beef. He’s on a mission to transform the run-down establishment into something special, and viewers were captivated by the fast-paced kitchen antics when the show debuted in 2022.

The series was a huge success, with critics giving it one rave five-star review after another and hailing it as one of the best shows on television, so expectations for the third season were high.

Early reviews, however, suggest that some critics feel The Bear may have become a little too boring. Reviews for the cast – including White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach – were still positive. However, complaints ranged from a bit of repetition to a lack of suspense.

What do critics think about The Bear?

The Guardian gave it only three out of five possible stars, well below the perfect five out of five stars the magazine gave for the first season in 2022.

Rebecca Nicholson called the series “incredibly frustrating” in her headline, noting that the stakes felt “a little lower” this time around. Nicholson acknowledged that when The Bear is doing well, it’s great television, but said the third season was in a “tough spot” given Carmy’s position. When the second season ended, he was just wrapping up The Beef and preparing to run The Bear, a much more upscale restaurant.

“If Carmen gets what he wants, at least professionally, to a large extent, how can the story continue?” she asked. “It doesn’t find a real solution. There’s a little less at stake.”

Nicholson continued: “The season as a whole feels like a cycle that keeps coming back to the idea that Carmen might be doomed to repeat his mistakes. This leads to another problem: stubborn repetition is the enemy of a compelling narrative. There has to be movement.”

Writing in the Independent, Nick Hilton echoed Nicholson’s thoughts on the seemingly less risky stuff, saying: “The stakes seem lower now that the restaurant is open and Richie has found something more meaningful in service. If the first season was about going back to the roots, and the second was about turning those roots into a beautiful, savoury terrine, what drives this third instalment?”

Hilton said that while the cast is still “exceptional,” “something gets lost in this new series.” The critic gave the series three out of five stars and said it was starting to feel repetitive, saying “The Bear” felt like it was “trapped in a loop of its own making.”

Variety’s critic found the new series to be somewhat “aimless” and lacking the same “focus” as the first two. Critic Alison Herman said that “without a firm goal, the main plot itself can get bogged down in repetition and stunt casting before the season ends, leaving most storylines unresolved.”

Of the first episode, which follows Carmy’s memories of a series of life experiences, she wrote: “It also doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know and makes room for cameo appearances from a whole host of culinary legends, although that doesn’t move the story forward.”

Others insisted that The Bear had not let up. The Telegraph gave it four out of five stars and called it “haute cuisine for the small screen.” Citing the way the series uses “flickering quick cuts” to convey a sense of the pressures of opening a restaurant, as well as “superb camerawork” and “great performances,” the article said there was “no doubt that The Bear remains one of the very best shows on television.”

However, critic Benji Wilson acknowledged that this season “looks back a lot without really moving forward.” “The storylines – will they get that all-important good restaurant review? Will Sydney stay? Will Richie keep his cool? – are all familiar from seasons one and two,” Wilson added.

The Daily Beast critic was clearly convinced, saying that The Bear delivered “a small masterpiece in the first episode, avoiding the show’s typical frenzy and instead displaying calm, sensitive and unvarnished contemplation.”

“Picturing chaos and calm as two sides of the same creative coin, The Bear’s serene downtime is as compelling and moving as his delirious delirium,” wrote Nick Schager. “It echoes the mantra of Olivia Colman’s chef Terry, whose own restaurant figures into this season’s story, and makes every second count.”

Writing in the Evening Standard, Nick Clark noted that the first part of the new series struck a different tone, but said in his review titled “The Bear, Season 3, Episode 1: A thoughtful start that has all the right ingredients for the new series,” that the episode was the perfect introduction to the new series.

He was impressed by the first episode, which finds Carmy musing, saying the format and style were “kind of hypnotic.” “Beautifully filmed and increasingly haunting as more storylines are thrown into the mix, as hope fades in some aspects of his life and moments of clarity emerge elsewhere,” he wrote.

He continued: “Here is a man who has been built, broken and rebuilt by his experiences – he is holding it together, but for how long? And it begs the question: which way will he go now?”

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