The Bear: Tomorrow

June 27, 2024 4:46 AM - Season 3, Episode 1

The next day and the days that led to it.
posted by 1970s Antihero (27 comments total)

This was really reminiscent of Marcus's episode set in Copenhagen. I was totally blown away. Loved it. And to find out that Syd ate at one of Carmy's restaurants!!

Absolutely loved recognizing the real restaurants (and the chefs!!) Carmy staged/worked in.

Restaurants and chefs we see in this episode:

noma, Copenhagen (and its chef, René Redzepi)
Daniel, NYC (and its chef, Daniel Boloud)
The French Laundry, Yountville, CA
posted by cooker girl at 7:29 AM on June 27 [3 favorites]

And to find out that Syd ate at one of Carmy's restaurants

Didn't she already mention that to Carmy in season 1 ?
posted by Pendragon at 11:04 AM on June 27

I was wrong, she did not mention it to Carmy. I just checked, in the final episode of season 1, she talks to Marcus about visiting New York and spending all her money eating at all the fancy restaurants. She says that in one of those places she had the best meal she ever had. Marcus asks what was the best one and Sydney says it was where Carmy worked.
posted by Pendragon at 11:35 AM on June 27 [5 favorites]

This episode was pretty ballsy. Probably the most anticipated episode of the show, really at its pop culture peak, and instead of trying to pick up all the threads that were hanging loose at the end of season 2, it does a clips/vibes episode and totally lands it. Instead of moving the plot forward, it summarizes everything going on inside Carm's head.

The showrunners provide the thesis of the episode (and maybe the season?) through perhaps the only constructive word Joel McHale's spectre has ever offered:

SUBTRACT
posted by dry white toast at 1:42 PM on June 27 [6 favorites]

This episode makes a great case for piracy. I've never been so infuriated by ad breaks.
posted by cosmic owl at 5:21 PM on June 27

That was the best anything I've ever watched.
And the music.
Fuck.
posted by signal at 7:27 PM on June 27 [1 favorite]

It seemed like so much of this episode was in the editing, it made me wonder how you write an episode like this. With a film you could just spend a couple of weeks capturing all kinds of stuff and montage it, but TV has to be a lot leaner!
posted by rikschell at 7:49 PM on June 27

I’m a sucker for high concept episodes, where the show throws basically all the rules of tv out of the window and runs with it - this was more or less all music and tense facial expressions and flashbacks, and I loved it.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:22 AM on June 28 [4 favorites]

Marcus asks what was the best one and Sydney says it was where Carmy worked.

I love that this was one of the moments they decided to show us.

This episode was pretty ballsy.

And artsy. Artsy ballsy. One of the most artsy ballsy episodes of TV I've seen. Love the way they jumbled time; it was so beautifully done.

And the music.

That part got kind of same-y to me after a while, and I was thinking they should mix it up more, but maybe I'll feel differently on a rewatch.
posted by mediareport at 7:08 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]

I love that Syd got the "rebellion" plate Carmy sent out with his original vision with blood orange, rather than the dish that NYC Chef turned it into -- which pays off in reverse when she has her own little rebellion and gives her dish to the reviewer in S1. Carmy changed her life; she changed his.

(As said above, we already knew that Syd said the best meal she ever ate on her big food trip to NYC was Carmy's, so when he sent that out I was like "No... is this gonna be... OMG IT IS")

I also liked that this premiere was so much softer than previous episodes in a "So we heard maybe you were a little exhausted by all the anxiety and screaming and stress" way. A friend called it "35 minutes of lo-fi beats and soothing food footage and creeping dread."

(and for those who tune in for the anxiety and screaming, not to worry -- it will come as a surprise to no one that there is more anxiety and screaming and stress in store in the rest of the season).

I watched the whole season lsat night, and without any spoilers I can say that this is some of the greatest television I've ever watched, and that it had to be television. You could not tell this particular story in any other medium and the way they are using it is stunning. I can't imagine what the storyboard looked like for this episode. The whole thing -- it's fucking brilliant.
posted by tzikeh at 7:32 AM on June 28 [7 favorites]

cosmic owl: This episode makes a great case for piracy. I've never been so infuriated by ad breaks.

I'm 100% a pirate, but what service are you watching this on? I had no ad breaks.
posted by tzikeh at 7:34 AM on June 28 [1 favorite]

Hulu and Disney+ both have tiers with and without ads.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 7:35 AM on June 28

and for those who tune in for the anxiety and screaming, not to worry

Please don't do this, even slightly. We've seen it be a slippery slope to spoilers in the past.
posted by mediareport at 9:41 AM on June 28 [6 favorites]

Let's fucking go
posted by windbox at 2:54 PM on June 28 [7 favorites]

Holy. Shit.

This was one of the most exquisite episodes of media I've ever seen. I was primed to be in my feels before I watched it, and I've got triggering levels of personal drama tied up in Chicago and the clash between the highest and lowest emotional beats in my life. So my take is within a deeply personal and unique context that I wouldn't begin to describe as universal. Nonetheless, this was revelatory. I was brought to tears multiple times and completely lost to any measured sense of passing time.
posted by Babblesort at 5:33 PM on June 28 [5 favorites]

(As said above, we already knew that Syd said the best meal she ever ate on her big food trip to NYC was Carmy's, so when he sent that out I was like "No... is this gonna be... OMG IT IS")

YES YES YES this is what I meant!
posted by cooker girl at 8:12 AM on June 29

I'm afraid I got a little lost in the restaurants: which one was The French Laundry?
posted by suelac at 12:10 PM on June 30

I guess I'm the only one here who felt pretty disappointed by the episode. I found myself a bit bored by it - as my partner put it, it was "mostly just vibes." I don't mind episodes where not much happens, but this just felt lazy - I sorta wonder how many writers were lost to the strike?
posted by coffeecat at 3:04 PM on June 30 [6 favorites]

I think I would have enjoyed this episode more if I hadn't done a rewatch of Season 2 right before. A lot of these little scenes would have felt more significant if they were triggering memories, and it would have been more fun.
posted by BibiRose at 3:35 AM on July 1

Mod note: One removed. Unless a post is for the whole season, please limit comments to the episode posted; thanks!
posted by taz (staff) at 3:42 AM on July 1 [2 favorites]

suelac, it was the one where Carmy was wearing a blue apron, he was standing in the garden with buildings and a road behind him. Also, there's a brief cut of a handprint in cement; the initials are TK, which is Thomas Keller, who is the executive chef of the French Laundry. There are a couple more scenes in the kitchen where Carmy and the other chefs are wearing chef coats with French Laundry embroidered on them.
posted by cooker girl at 7:55 AM on July 1 [1 favorite]

I also liked that this premiere was so much softer than previous episodes in a "So we heard maybe you were a little exhausted by all the anxiety and screaming and stress" way. A friend called it "35 minutes of lo-fi beats and soothing food footage and creeping dread."

This episode felt like a palate cleanser before the next course.
posted by Uncle Ira at 8:27 AM on July 1 [6 favorites]

If it helps anyone, Sepinwall put this together: ‘The Bear’ Season 3 Premiere, Explained

posted by General Malaise at 9:21 AM on July 1 [2 favorites]

Mod note: One comment removed, let's avoid spoilers.
posted by loup (staff) at 10:25 AM on July 1

This NIN ambient vibes episode was the best. The show goes right back to ppl yelling fuck you at each other over and over after this and it’s really tiresome
posted by tovarisch at 3:52 PM on July 13

Is the face of “the bear” - the stylised one used for the restaurant’s (and the series) logo - based on Carmy’s face? Seems like it to me - and a great bit of graphic design if so.
posted by rongorongo at 2:35 PM on July 17

Disappointing to learn that chef Terry is not above belittling/patronizing her employees
posted by DowBits at 10:43 PM on July 21