How do you know if your TV show is a success? Millions of watchers? Check. An automatic second season? Check. Your leading actor appearing in Calvin Klein underwear on giant billboards in Times Square? Check. The Bear is that unexpected breakout show. But is it really unexpected?
Jeremy Allen White is a brilliant young actor who shone in the US remake of Shameless, where he played the oldest of the brothers Lip Gallagher. William H. Macy gave a series of tour de force performances as dysfunctional father Frank, who steals money from his seven kids and lives in a ramshackle house in South Chicago.
Allen White got his first acting role just out of high school and has truly made hay while the sun shone on that excellent series.
Much like his Shameless character, Allen White inherits a family mess that he has to solve. But unlike his previous character – a callow but smart teenager just struggling to get through high school – in The Bear, Allen White’s character has been working as the right-hand man of one of the world’s best chefs.
He plays Carmen Berzatto, or Carmy, who thinks he has escaped his South Chicago roots. Returning to run the family sandwich joint in Chicago is not only just a career stumble but a humiliation too.
With no cash flow, Carmy has to sell his prized vintage jeans collection (I don’t get it either). Carmy prizes something rare and valuable and collects it for himself but is forced to sell it just to buy enough meat to make sandwiches for tomorrow’s lunch.
It’s a quirky touch that gives you a sense of the character Allen White portrays with such a sympathetic and assured performance, and why this young actor has been heaped with praise and awards. The Bear cleaned up in 2023 and 2024 at the Primetime Emmy Awards, Critics Choice Awards, and Golden Globes.
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Allen White is one of a crop of hot young new actors. He’s currently busying himself with the Bruce Springsteen biopic “Deliver Me From Nowhere” – set to release sometime in 2025 – and received a visit from the Boss himself on set in New Jersey in November, sparking headlines and helpful publicity in time for the latest season of The Bear.
The series’ other characters, of course, complement Carmy’s turmoil with their own personal battles and demons. The Italian beef sandwich shop is entirely dysfunctional, run by Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and seems to be in a constant state of chaos. The toilet fight scene is hilarious and optimises the many other obstacles to making the family business succeed. Liza Colón-Zayas plays a headstrong cook convincingly and her snarkiness is delightful.
These are the everyday struggles of real people at work, which happens to be taking place in a kitchen. These are people who just want to hold down their jobs or others who aspire to be a sous chef in a Michelin-star restaurant. There’s even the big butch oke (Lionel Boyce) who likes making delicate pastry. The Office has clearly changed venues.
It is noticeable that the show has so few big-name stars (at least that was the case back in 2022), apart from Allen White and Oliver Platt, who plays Uncle Jimmy but shines nonetheless.
Part of the reason, perhaps, that The Bear is so watchable – and successful – is because it taps into the current zeitgeist of zero-to-hero stories. For a long time, the only way out of poverty and obscurity for millions of people was to become a successful athlete, very often a boxer.
But in the age of Master Chef, Instagramable nouveau cuisine, and the surge – thankfully – of food trucks and entrepreneurial chefs is today’s path to celebrity, following your cooking passion and becoming a social media-famous chef is what many youngsters aspire to. TikTok and Instagram are awash with chefs – both famous and unknown – showing off their culinary skills. The writers of The Bear have tapped very nicely into that.
It doesn’t hurt that Calvin Klein is helping with marketing, does it?
