Learn Another Trick, Pony
Why Artists Should Shun Definition Like It’s the Plague.
Because for us, it is. I’m about halfway through the third season of Hulu’s The Bear, and I’m not sure what to make of it. The first two seasons, I enjoyed tremendously, and while I was willing to write off the third season’s slow start, I’m starting to think it’s doomed.
The first episode, in particular, grated. The initial thrill of discovering it went past traditional length to a whopping 36 minutes rapidly floundered into animosity as the episode wore on. Where past seasons made splendid use of long, sorrowful silence, this latest offering from creator Christopher Storer comes across as pretentious and too artsy for its own good.
In a bid to reiterate the general theme of depression and loss, “Tomorrow” frantically rehashes everything that made Season 2 so brilliant. It particularly seems to draw on the sixth episode of the previous season, “Fishes”, which was (in my book, at least) one of the most brilliant, clear and well-made episodes on TV ever. Hands down.
“Tomorrow”, in a desperate attempt to reignite that spark, drags out all the impressive cameos (Olivia Colman, Bob Odenkirk, John Mulaney, etc.) of the previous season… with no real point. It just feels like they did it so people would say oh, Olivia Colman cameo’d…
