1000 Tiny Birds

The Bear S1

Prestige TV drama about a Michelin star chef ending up running a sandwich shop in Chicago? Obviously I’m there. To keep me happy in this area, you barely even need characters, let alone a plot or dialogue - just keep giving me beautifully framed and lit shots of delicious looking food in a montage for 28 minutes a week and I’m sold. On that note - how refreshing it is for a nominal drama to only be half hour episodes. That is another very solid point in The Bear’s favour. I should probably talk about the non-food-shot aspects. It is otherwise the kind of story that all TV prestige dramas are about - the importance yet conflict of family, the dark traumas lurking in genius peoples’ past, the contrast between youthful upstarts and bitter experience. At one point, towards the beginning of the final episode, the protagonist practically monologues to the camera, making subtext text. Some points get docked for that. But then, my favourite new prestige drama trope kicks in - the use of a Radiohead song over the closing montage - and I am easily pleased. I look forward to a second season, preferably served with a healthier trust in its audience to understand what’s going on under the grill. Now that’s how you end a piece with tortured metaphors.