The Bear: a tribute to story
storytelling via TV at its best + burliest
an essay I wrote back in November after I watched this show. a tribute to good television. bon appetit!
The Bear, created by Christopher Storer, is a triumph of television. I don't mean in the cerebral, critically-cliche way. I mean it in the "this the best thing I've seen, a movie or television, in my life" kind of way. I mean it in the way that, when you watch this, To watch The Bear is to be moved. Storer helps us see a world like Chicago in a beautiful light, an honest light. It is a testament to the director's character-building, possibly the greatest work he has done so far in his career. The masterful videography, the lyricism of scripting, down to the soundtrack – the attention to detail is so carefully placed, it's as if Storer is serving us a Michelin-star dish of his own. The care he conveys lets the viewer know: this is a craft, this is a city I want to share, this is delicious, and this is, maybe, groundbreaking. The Bear is not pretentious. It's about a few people, in a few settings. It's messy but precise – the glory of what a kitchen is.
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