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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THE BEST ART SHOWS OF THE YEAR
IN NOVEMBER, Sotheby's made history when it sold for a million bucks a painting made by artificial intelligence. Ai-Da, \"the first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork auctioned by a major auction house,\" created a portrait of Alan Turing that resembles nothing more than a bad Francis Bacon rip-off. Still, the auction house described the sale as \"a new frontier in the global art market.\"
THE BIGGEST PODCAST MOMENTS OF THE YEAR
A STRANGE THING happened with podcasts in 2024: The industry was repeatedly thrust into the spotlight owing to a preponderance of head-turning events and a presidential-election cycle that radically foregrounded the medium's consequential nature. To reflect this, we've carved out a list of ten big moments from the year as refracted through podcasting.
THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - BEST BOOKS
THE BEST THEATER OF THE YEAR
IT'S BEEN a year of successful straight plays, even measured by a metric at which they usually do poorly: ticket sales. Partially that's owed to Hollywood stars: Jeremy Strong, Jim Parsons, Rachel Zegler, Rachel McAdams (to my mind, the most compelling).
THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
2024 WAS one big stress test that presented artists with a choice: Face uncomfortable realities or serve distractions to the audience. Pop music turned inward while hip-hop weathered court cases and incalculable losses. Country struggled to reconcile conservative interests with a much wider base of artists. But the year's best music offered a reprieve.
THE BEST TELEVISION OF THE YEAR
IT WAS SURPRISING how much 2024 felt like an uneventful wake for the Peak TV era. There was still great television, but there was much more mid or meh television and far fewer moments when a critical mass of viewers seemed equally excited about the same series.
THE BEST COMEDY SPECIALS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - COMEDY SPECIALS
THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
PEOPLE LOVED Megalopolis, hated it, puzzled over it, clipped it into memes, and tried to astroturf it into a camp classic, but, most important, they cared about it even though it featured none of the qualities you'd expect of a breakthrough work in these noisy times.
A Truly Great Time
This was the year our city's new restaurants loosened up.
The Art of the Well-Stuffed Stocking
THE CHRISTMAS ENTHUSIASTS on the Strategist team gathered to discuss the oversize socks they drape on their couches and what they put inside them.
