Last night I finished up watching The Bear, and I absolutely loved it. What a great show. The ending was exactly what I hoped for, and it was a coherent story arc over the five (short-ish) seasons.
I've come to realize that one of the things that can make these ensemble shows great is that there are no bad guys. The conflict arises mostly out of circumstances, and when that happens, it's easier to get invested in all of the characters. This was a show where you were legitimately hoping that every person got their happy ending.
And if that weren't enough, there were a number of episodes that went in experimental directions that were surprising and well done. For example, there's one episode that has almost no dialogue at all, with a Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross soundtrack. You don't even realize it's happening until it's over. There are fantastic sidebars, like the origin story for one of the cooks. Another takes place under a table for half of the time. Everything is so well shot, and they're not afraid of close-ups.
Oh, and the cameos are on-point. So many great actors dropping in, like Brie Larson, John Mulaney and Sarah Paulsen. Jamie Lee Curtis is more of a regular character, but gives an extraordinary performance that's so unlike anything I've seen her do. You can see why the show has won so many awards, even if its categorization as a "comedy series" is completely wrong. Then again, at least that means they don't have to compete with The Pitt.
I admit that this might be a re-watch, eventually. This, along with Hacks and The Pitt, join a club of shows that is not very large in my watching history. And these came all at the same time. I really do think we're in a new golden era for TV, driven partly because the streamers committed to making almost too much (and the reason they're cutting back now).
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