'The Bear' season 2 review: This is TV at its blistering, brilliant best

Yes, chef! A chorus of yeses greeted the FX on Hulu debut of “The Bear” last year. The catch? It was too late to qualify for Emmys. Season 2 is also too late, but as the hottest TV event of summer 2023, it’ll be a jolting reminder that Emmy prizes, lots of them, are overdue.

Emmy voters would be nuts not to recognize that this raging, roaring bonfire of a series—the “Succession” of chef shows—deserves a shower of awards for taking us inside the pressure cooker of a Chicago restaurant running against the clock and the threat of financial ruin.

Speaking of nuts, “The Bear” is Emmy categorized as a comedy, which means it will be competing with the gentle humor of “Ted Lasso” and “Abbott Elementary.” No fair. The drama is as incendiary as the wit in this bingeable series that feeds on the nonstop anxiety of its characters to tie our stomachs in knots. Don’t worry, it only hurts when you laugh.

Spoiler Alert: For those who don’t want to know any plot details regarding the sensational Season 2, come back later after you’ve watched it—all 10 episodes are available as of June 22. What are you waiting for—this is TV as its blistering, brilliant best.

All praise to Jeremy Allen White, a lock for the Best Actor Emmy. He’s back as Chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (pronounce that bear-zatto), a walking, talking stress magnet. In Season 1, Carmy returned home to run the Original Beef of Chicagoland, the family sandwich shop left rudderless after the suicide of his addict brother, Mikey (Jon Bernthal seen in flashbacks).

Now Carmy is trying to convert the joint into a fine-dining establishment like the upscale places where he learned the ropes. It stays all in the family, some related by blood, like Carmy’s sister, Sugar Berzatto (the wonderful Abby Elliott) doing the books and their mob-connected Uncle Jimmy (the outstanding Oliver Platt) helping them bend the law when necessary.

Others in the kitchen are related only by friendship. They include the stellar Ebon Moss-Bachrach as volatile Richie, Liza Colón-Zayas as the change-resistant Tina, Lionel Boyce as Marcus, the sweet-tempered pastry chef, and co-producer and chef-in-real-life Matty Matheson as Fak, who’s handy at fixing faulty kitchen wiring and the broken hearts of his coworkers.

Ayo Edebiri gives White a run for acting honors as Sydney Adamu, Carmy’s sous chef and protégé whose skill for organization comes in handy when her boss falls to pieces. One of the best things about Season 2 is the way each character, not just Carmy and Sydney, gets a chance to develop, stretch and shine.

Midway through Season 2, there’s a standalone episode that runs twice the normal 30 minutes and flashes back to a Berzatto Christmas past in which the roots of Carmy’s family trauma are laid bare to ignite a display of emotional fireworks that rivals Greek tragedy for calamity.

There are guest cameos that I’ll leave a surprise, but I must cite the thunderous tour de force delivered by Jamie Lee Curtis as Carm’s mentally-challenged mother. If there’s any justice, Curtis will have an Emmy to bookend the Oscar she just won for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Other than an extraneous romance for Carm with a medical student (the lovely Molly Gordon), “The Bear Season 2” is as good as TV gets with blazing ensemble acting and a story carved out of the experiences of Chicago-raised creator and showrunner Christopher Storer who makes every detail, from day-to-day operations to flame-throwing anger, ring riveting and true.

Storer, who produced 2018’s luminous “Eighth Grade” and directed episodes of “Ramy” and “Dickinson,” has never done anything so hellbent on shattering our nerves. And oh boy does he let it rip, making the tumultuous opening of one restaurant a microcosm for surviving the slings and arrows of a post-Covid world. Intense? That’s just for starters. You might forget to breathe.