CARMY BERZATTO, the protagonist of The Bear and head chef of the titular new Chicago restaurant, is miserable. For much of the series' first two seasons, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) has been unhappy, but in season three, his attempts at excellence only make him feel worse. He cannot stop changing the menu: First the duck goes with apricot, then cherry, then maybe back to apricot, except now everything has to get in thrown out and be reconceived from the jump. He's so anxious at the idea of not innovating and refining that he just keeps fiddling, and The Bear does not stop to signal whether the dish is getting better or worse while Carmy ignores his business partner, Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri); the restaurant's budget; the fully booked tables; and his friends and family. He's so terrified of losing this thing he has built that it's hard to tell how many of his decisions are honest attempts at creativity and how many amount to self-sabotage.
The Bear was always going to find itself in this tricky place. The show's initial breakout success was followed by an even more beloved and acclaimed second season. Continuing the trend of extending and elevating what came before was a tall order. Seasons one and two were driven by desperation and forward momentum.
While the Original Beef of Chicagoland fell down around Carmy and the gang in season one, every slightly functional adjustment became an enormous victory. Season two centered the drama of building something from the ground up, an are with enough inherent buoyancy and promise to counteract the show's heavier emotional themes. In season three, the drama is about how hard it is to hold on to something-not to build it up or tear it down but just to keep something stable.
And more often than not, especially in narrative storytelling, stability looks a lot like being stuck.
Denne historien er fra July 15-28, 2024-utgaven av New York magazine.
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Denne historien er fra July 15-28, 2024-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Art Fall Preview - World in Motion - An Alvin Ailey retrospective sets the tone for an array of eclectic offerings from the art world this fall.
An Alvin Ailey retrospective sets the tone for an array of eclectic offerings from the art world this fall. A gust of fresh air is blowing through the art world. A brand-new outfit called Ruby/Dakota has opened on the supercool strip of East 2nd Street. A whole new scene has formed around 56 Henry's two gallery spaces in Chinatown, and solo shows there by Laurie Simmons and Richard Tinkler promise to scintillate. Just north of the Whitney, Fort Gansevoort Gallery regularly showcases undiscovered artists, including, in September, 84-year-old quilt-maker extraordinaire Yvonne Wells. A gaggle of established artists are also exhibiting-Kara Walker, Simone Leigh, Nick Cave, and the still under-known Denzil Forrester among them. And the museums will have their fair share of thrilling exhibitions, too: The Whitney will feature American national treasure Alvin Ailey, MoMA will peer deep into its own brilliant bellybutton in a show about the woman who helped make the museum, and the Brooklyn Museum will give us an enormous show of artists based in its borough.
Kamala's Party - Producing Chicago The DNC covered nearly impossible ground to raise up Harris as the new hero.
Producing Chicago The DNC covered nearly impossible ground to raise up Harris as the new hero. At a political convention, power is rendered as geography. The rank and file are stuck in the rafters of the arena; the delegates jostle on the floor. Donors and VIPs are positioned up in a ring of luxury suites, their status-conferring badges and passes flapping from their many lanyards. The staffers toil down in the bowels, harried and molelike, their eyes on their phones. But at last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, maybe the most important piece of real estate was a narrow space up metal gangway stairs at the back of the United Center, where Ricky Kirshner worked in front of a bank of a half-dozen flat-screens. The Democrats in the hall were extras in a televised event, and Kirshner was producing the show.
THE REHEARSAL
Ten performers days before their big fall shows.
Garth Greenwell's Grand Romance
The author explores the tender side of long-term partnership amid a health crisis in his best novel yet.
Josh Rivera Takes the Lead
The actor plays the tortured football player Aaron Hernandez in a Ryan Murphy-produced series.
Kaytranada Owns His Influence
Once modern dance music's best-kept secret, the Canadian DJ-producer is ready to go bigger.
The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower
Actor Adam Pearson has his biggest role to date in a dark comedy inspired by his upbeat personality.
Nicole Scherzinger Never Stopped Dreaming
The former Pussycat Doll stages a comeback.
Having a Ball Living in a Former Ballroom
Jack Shainman and Carlos Vega's apartment had to have space for \"big art.\"
THE ASTEROID-IN-SPRING HYPOTHESIS
It took ten days for two young paleontologists to turn on each other, each claiming to have found new evidence of the worst day in the history of life on Earth.
