Suburban Dad Pop

Personal growth is hard, positive transformation is never easy, and sometimes improvement means ripping a person down to their foundation. Or in the case of The FX smash hit The Bear, tearing a building down to it studs.

Picking up where season two left off, we find our ragtag group of Chicago culinary warriors building a new restaurant, named The Bear, on the grounds of the former Mr. Beef. Led by classically trained and emotionally unavailable chef Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), the transformation from Beef to Bear isn’t an easy, but by the end, most of the crew is better for their effort.

MOST of the crew.

Perhaps no member of the crew grows as much both personally and professionally than gruff and outspoken cashier turned maitre’d Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Once a cocaine dealing loud mouth who ran the front of the house at Mr. Beef, Richie becomes, through a crash course in front-of-the-house management, a refined version of himself. In fact, this refinement takes him to places unimaginable in season one; putting in enough effort to score Taylor Swift tickets for his daughter and not self-destructing when he his ex-wife informs him that she is soon to be remarried.

Other members of the crew also find themselves transformed by the end of season two. Via a trip to Copenhagen, pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce) finally finds his ‘sweet spot’ and becomes the pastry chef he has always dreamed of being. Veteran line cook Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas) realizes her potential, attends culinary school, becomes the sous chef, and saves The Bear during its soft open.

The Bear also seems to save the relationship between Chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and her father as her father finally, based on seeing The Bear brought to life, comes to grips with his daughter’s craft and obsessive dedication.

And that seems to be the thing about this particular (and probably most) restaurants; they require a level of obsession from owners and chefs and can become all consuming. In the case of the Berzatto family, the pressure of running Mr. Beef significantly contributed to the declining mental health of Carmy’s older brother Mikey (Jon Berenthal) and exacerbated the alcoholism of mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis).

All of which is explained in one of the finest singular episodes of television in recent memory. ‘Fishes’ flashes back five years previous to the opening of The Bear and finds the Berzatto family celebrating Christmas as an increasingly drunken Donna prepares a family feast of The Seven Fishes.

As the meal gets closer to being served, Donna becomes more inebriated and verbally abusive to family members, particularly to daughter Natalie (Abby Elliot) and a physical fight between the extended Berzatto family breaks out, the culminates of which peaks with Donna purposefully driving her car into the house.

The personal growth I referenced at the beginning of this article can be deterred by having an abusive parent with such deeply rooted personal issues. Donna’s mental health issues seem to have been passed down to Richie; a victim of suicide. Daughter Abby, seems to have adjusted well, mostly leaving her codependency with her mother behind, marrying someone outside of the food industry, and in an apt metaphor for her impending motherhood, becomes project manager for The Bear rebuild.

Which leaves Carmy, who has good intentions but whose coping mechanism is obsession, somewhere in the middle. During season 2, the audience is teased by a Carmy a breakthrough with love interest Claire (Molly Gordon), but due to his obsessiveness, loses Claire at the height of dinner rush during The Bear’s soft open. Sure, the moment is kind of cheesy, but if Carmy would had the awareness to check a voicemail from Claire earlier in the day, he wouldn’t be in this predicament.

But Carmy’s obsessiveness/coping mechanism didn’t allow, especially on the soft opening date, for anything else except the being completely and utterly focused on the task at hand.

As almost all other characters grew during the season, the soft open would have been a great moment for Carmen to let go of his obsessiveness and trust the newly developed skills of the team that loves and supports him. But he can’t, and the curse of Mr. Beef, and abusive parents, continues.

SEVEN FISHES

                                                                          

• Will Poulter, John Mulaney, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, and Olivia Frickin’ Colman. No one does cameos better the The Bear.
• I REALLY, REALLY can’t wait for Richie and Chef Jess to spend more time together in Season 3.
• Forks, both polishing and throwing, have a special place in Season 2. I think it is a kind of yin yang metaphor. Either you are polishing forks or throwing them.
• I have undying love for Oliver Platt. There, I said it.

OPPENHEIMER

‘In the fields, the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds’

War Pigs, Black Sabbath – 1970

In modern day America, there are three unstoppable forces:

1. Death
2. Taxes
3. The Military Industrial Complex – which just happens to be a combination of the first two forces

In the recently released biopic Oppenheimer, writer and director Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight) shines an nuclear powered light on the life of Atom Bomb creator Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the aftermath of the activation of the bomb, and the subsequent Cold War and arms race that followed

Firstly, the direction is superb. Biopics are hard and telling arguably the most important story of a millennia, in which everyone on the planet is aware of the ending, is even harder and Nolan should be praised for his pacing, camera work, and ability to add tension to this narrative.

Secondly, the film is expertly cast, the actors are superb, and I can’t remember a modern role in which the protagonist has been better than Murphy. Florence Hugh displays her chops as Oppenheimer’s mistress Jean Tatlock and Emily Blunt turns in the performance of her career as Oppenheimer’s alcoholic wife Kitty.

Perhaps the most interesting and important \relationship is the relationship between Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) – the American soldier tasked with overseeing the Manhattan Project. Murphy plays Oppenheimer’s intellectual and academic narcissism perfectly against Damon’s gruff, by-the-book, tough guy persona and the chemistry between the two actors is dare I say, atomic.

(You can’t have a Dad Pop blog without a Dad Joke.)

As for the non-billed actors, there are too many cameos to list. At every turn Nolan enlists an A-List actor to play presidents, politicians, scientists or other persons of historical significance. I mean, who doesn’t want to see Garry Oldman as Harry Truman?

However, as the story progresses and the United States wins in both the European and Pacific theatres, Nolan’s screenplay becomes less steady as the B-Plot of the movie, which sees Naval Officer Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr) double cross former ally Oppenheimer in hopes to be appointed as United States Secretary of Commerce; a position Strauss believes he has earned a as a reward for his years of nuclear weapon development.

You know, that pesky War Machine and all of the accolades that come with it.

It is not that this plot in uninteresting or unimportant, but that the plot is revealed during weak and revealing dialogue between Strauss and an unnamed Senate aid (Alden Ehrenreich). This misstep is a complete shame because Downey Jr. turns is a subtle and nuanced performance that is his best work since his bombastic (dad joke alert) turn as Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Adding to the misfortune of this script fumble is that many people, myself included, are probably unfamiliar with Oppenheimer’s incredibly interesting life post bomb drop. It was fascinating to see Oppenheimer betrayed by his peers and falsely portrayed to be a communist as he battles personal demons, loses public trust, and ultimately has his security clearance revoked. This portion of the story should have been told with more nuance as it is War Machine, dirty politics at its best.

Or worst.

Rest assured, Oppenheimer is a film worth your time, money, and energy. I was lucky enough to see it in IMAX (my first post Covid trip to the theatre) and was wowed by most elements of this film. You won’t regret watching this film but like the cogs of the war machine, what your are left with will never be enough.