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Posted

Was the woman doing Syd's hair her cousin? Or just an old friend? I thought she was pretty good.

The thing I found most tedious was when Syd was explaining in lengthy detail the idea of the two houses, comparing The Bear to Shapiro's new place, and how she should pick one over the other. I thought it was very lazy and dragged on far too long. I maybe might not have minded some of these scenes or storylines if they were spliced into other episodes. Felt almost like the out-of-place Xmas episode from Ted Lasso S2.

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Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Was the woman doing Syd's hair her cousin? Or just an old friend? I thought she was pretty good.

The thing I found most tedious was when Syd was explaining in lengthy detail the idea of the two houses, comparing The Bear to Shapiro's new place, and how she should pick one over the other. I thought it was very lazy and dragged on far too long. I maybe might not have minded some of these scenes or storylines if they were spliced into other episodes. Felt almost like the out-of-place Xmas episode from Ted Lasso S2.

She was her cousin.  But in a very anti-Bear fashion, she didn't refer to her as "cousin."

Edited by dcbc
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Posted

I heard Ayo on Conan's podcast and it was pretty good. I didn't realize her background was in comedy writing and she even tried standup for a little bit. The show is still not a comedy and should not be classified as such.

Posted
11 hours ago, Brian Fantana said:

The wedding episode was a fantastic sequel to Fishes. 

It really was.  Fishes was about the conflict and dysfunction, and was the setup for Carmy's decision to bolt.  The wedding episode was about reconciliation, for a lot of the characters.  Even when Uncle Lee made his appearance in the kitchen with Carmy, I was expecting him to be a huge prick, but it turned out he had made amends with Mikey and was a pretty good guy for the family.  

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Posted
2 minutes ago, South Austin said:

It really was.  Fishes was about the conflict and dysfunction, and was the setup for Carmy's decision to bolt.  The wedding episode was about reconciliation, for a lot of the characters.  Even when Uncle Lee made his appearance in the kitchen with Carmy, I was expecting him to be a huge prick, but it turned out he had made amends with Mikey and was a pretty good guy for the family.  

Also how good were Abby Elliot and Brie Larson in that episode?? Absolute acting clinic.

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Posted

I think Sydney is the best acted main character though it is tough because all of them are phenomenal.

Jamie Lee Curtis still blows me away, the older she gets the better she gets at acting and Donna Berzatto might just be her best performance even though she is just a guest star in this show.

As far as my favorite, I probably have to give the nod to Neil Fak, just because I've been a fan of Matty Matheson for ages and I love seeing his goofy ass on screen playing a role that is perfect for him. Not to mention I don't think the show would be as good as it is without him lending his real experience as a fine dining chef as executive producer.

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Posted

I agree it was the weakest season. The doomsday clock felt very contrived, even more so than The Food Critic device of S3.

Tina was completely sidelined by the "cook-a da pasta fasta" arc which is kind of an insulting thing to do to an Emmy winner, and it didn't even make any narrative sense. She was too slow until she wasn't. That's it? They don't show us how she got faster or why. Just, she talked to some foreign dude (working for no pay by the way) and it magically helped her get faster. Wow, what a story.

Syd's arc about choosing where to go was not interesting at all, and if it hadn't been for the mini-arc surrounding her Dad's brush with death, I would even say her character was an overall liability to the show's quality. Just a complete waste of Ayo's talents. Every other minor character was either Flanderized or window dressing, a tell tale sign of a writer's room that has no idea what it wants to do anymore or how to do it.

Carmy's relationship with his mom and revealing that he'd gone to the funeral, that was better storytelling and could not have been acted better but at the same time I don't feel like it had the impact on me that it was supposed to have. I think part of the reason why is that this was a ten episode season that really could have been done in six. Lots of filler scenes, lots of characters just sort of staring at each other, lots of lectures. So all that sizzle ended up diluting the steak, so to speak. It felt like they overdid those callbacks, fan services, and vamping tactics to the point where the tactics themselves stopped working as effectively and their overuse detracted from the parts of S4 that didn't need to be covered up with extra seasoning.

In spite of all those criticisms, The Bear remains a very good show and I don't regret watching Season 4. I didn't hate the Syd episode as much as some other posters seemed to have hated it, but I agree that the Wedding episode was by far and away the best one, although getting JLC, Brie Larson, and Odenkirk on loan is a bit of a cheat code in an episode that already has Oliver Platt, Josh Hartnett (very underrated in this show), and John Mulaney. Also loved Rob Reiner and the franchising arc. Holds a lot of promise for S5.

Posted
20 hours ago, Mittens said:

That describes 75% of this season.

I was going to mention this too. Singling out Syd for slow and unnecessarily extended dialogue doesn’t make sense, it’s the same from all the characters. My biggest criticisms are that treating Fak like a baby is super annoying, the Francie-Natalie dialogue and make up was over the top cheesy and contrived, and Richie is too intense to the bounds of feeling super fake (although I appreciate Enron’s acting abilities). 

Posted
43 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

It was the weakest season.

I think there’s a broad consensus that season 3 was the weakest, and it’s not that close.  

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, nolongerU2horn said:

Literally nobody else is saying S4 was the weakest season

Was curios about broader public opinion and this came up on Google AI, so take it for what it's worth:

Season 4 currently holds the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score for the series, indicating a dip in critical reception compared to seasons 1 and 2.

Which is sorta true, sorta false. 

Screenshot_20250715_122133_Chrome.thumb.jpg.d9bdbd7483b8961f32c71d687d899994.jpgScreenshot_20250715_121918_Chrome.thumb.jpg.963047994483dc3d9c49df8e27dcea3e.jpgScreenshot_20250715_121945_Chrome.thumb.jpg.aba4093e93c31fb6deef1f7dd3862686.jpgScreenshot_20250715_122012_Chrome.thumb.jpg.89412330540c848f546933d9a0b5a7cb.jpg

It was the lowest for the critics, so true. It saw a pretty decent uptick from season 3 for viewers, but I think it important to point out the number on reviews. There is some evidence and conjecture supporting viewership decreased for season 4 leaving a more loyal fan following thus potentially accounting for the uptick in that area. It definitely dropped off substantially from season 1 and 2, and that downward trend continues. I fairly strong indicator that viewership is decreasing some in broad strokes while maintaining a lot of more loyal followers. 

For the record here is a Forbes Article talking about the The Bear and bad reception early on. 

So your statement that nobody was saying it wasn't the weakest season is inaccurate.

Edited by BurntEyes
Posted

I don't pretend to be the all-knowing critic, but that's surprising to me.  Not that S4 is that much lower than S1 and S2.  But that it's 4 percentage points lower than S3.  I thought S3 was appreciably inferior to S4.  I guess what the fuck do I know.

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Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, South Austin said:

I don't pretend to be the all-knowing critic, but that's surprising to me.  Not that S4 is that much lower than S1 and S2.  But that it's 4 percentage points lower than S3.  I thought S3 was appreciably inferior to S4.  I guess what the fuck do I know.

Well, while pulling that together and getting the AI summations, in addition to reading several reviews individually, 3 main things surfaced. 

1) Tired of same plot

- They've been hanging the "were gonna lose the shop" trope over the head of viewers for nearly 4 seasons. I'm of the opinion that they should have pulled in the Beef Sammich expansion idea earlier and progressed it further. It's an old trope and it wears the critics and viewers out after a season or two. 

2) Too much focus on the main 3 characters.

- I and others in this thread have noted we'd like to have seen more of some other characters. Beyond that, there is fairly good number of folks here that suffer from Syd fatigue. It may be the case that critics also suffer from that fatigue. However, for any public critic to focus on Syd's character or Ayo's performance and not provide the same level of dislike for the 2 white male main characters is career suicide for a mainstream critic. 

3) The Ending spoilers just in case

Spoiler

Now here I am in full agreement. First, just as light has appeared at the end of the tunnel regarding the Damocles (tricky spelling) Sword Carmen, who we've been in ride or die mode with throws in his towel. Just as he is starting show real growth, maybe repair a relationship and face his demons, he's lost his passion for cooking??

It's hollow and frustrating. Even if it's a fake cliff hanger, hell maybe even moreso, it sucks. 

We, as viewers, never got the chance to see Carmen in success, after 4 seasons of being there for his struggle. It's like funding the life cost for a significant other and paying for their education only to have them dump you when they graduate and get a good job. Or... supporting someone through a horrible time in their world and life. Being there for them in time of pain.. then as soon as they're better pull a Kramer and are "Out Jerry". Noping the fuck out just when times are starting to seem good.

Also... it might leave us with full blown Syd OD abuse syndrome next season. 

 

Edited by BurntEyes
Posted
10 hours ago, Frank The Tank said:

I think Pete might be my favorite character of the whole show. 

He's a very lovable character. Tiff and Stevie get a strong nod for me, but I love those actors a lot too. 

I just pulled a full stupid on myself. I never realized Robert Townsend was Syd's dad. Damn. 

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