BONUS| The Bear Season 2
Show Notes:
The Bear Season 2 tore apart our hearts and souls and now we are talking about it!
Andleeb Dombrowski joins Julia Washington to break down this incredible show.
Links from the episode:
Transcript:
Julia: Hey, friends, this is pop culture makes me jealous where we analyze pop culture through the lens of race or gender and sometimes both. And on today's show, we're talking about the bear season two. And if you listened to boob tube reviews, episode two, you've heard some of my thoughts. But we finally found somebody who was like, Yes, please.
Julia: I'll talk about it with you. And that's where we are today.
Julia: The bear season two dropped on Hulu on June 23 2023. Three But before we get into it, let me introduce you to my guest. And Lieb Dombrowski is a serious businesswoman who likes to dabble in pop culture. And friends, she is my friend in real life. And we did a lot of texting about this season. So I'm very excited that she's here.
Julia: And like when I say my friend in real life, I mean like I've literally met her in real life. Not like a digital friend.
Andleeb: Well, we were digital friends and then it came.
Julia: That's yes, that's right. I guess I just felt like when we met in real life, it was like, Oh, we've always been friends. Yeah. Yeah. I'm so excited you're here.
Julia: And I can't I'm just like, have been fiendishly sending you all of the reels about how hot white is now.
Andleeb: Same because I was like, wait. Is that him? Striking. And then I actually reached out to the, the picture that I sent you, the, the gal, her Instagram handle, because it went to InStyle. And I was like, oh my god, you're on InStyle.
Andleeb: And she goes, I just saw this, that's so crazy.
Julia: So yeah. Love that. Because I don't remember him. Did you watch Shameless at all? No. Oh, nine seasons. It's a commitment because the episodes are an hour long. It was on Showtime originally. I don't remember him being this hot. On shameless, just putting that out there.
Andleeb: Shameless was what, like, 10, 15 years ago? 20 years ago?
Julia: No, it just ended, like, right before the pandemic. Okay,
Andleeb: so the pandemic added, like, 20 years to everybody's life. Yeah. Actually, I don't Or it's changed. Maybe he, like Buffed out during the pandemic because you know, there was nothing to do.
Julia: What else were you gonna do?
Andleeb: Yeah, you can learn how to become a bartender which is what I did or learn how to do your nails Which is also what I did.
Julia: Yeah Work out a lot. I stand corrected. It was from 2011 to 2021.
Andleeb: Okay, so it was three
Julia: years There's 11 seasons. I thought there was only nine. It is a commitment. Okay, so we're gonna give the Google summary, because everybody Googles, so that's why we pulled the Google summary, because Google is our greatest informant these days.
Julia: A young chef from the fine dining world comes home to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop after a heartbreaking death in his family. A world away from what he used to, what he's used to, Carmen must balance the soul crushing realities of small business ownership, his strong willed and recalcitrant Thank you.
Julia: I was like, I don't know if I've ever seen that spelled before. Oh my god.
Andleeb: Life's hard. I will tell you why I know that word so well after you finish the
Julia: intro. Thank you. His strong willed and recalcitrant kitchen staff and his strained familial relationships All while grappling with the impact of his brother's suicide.
Julia: As Karmie fights to transform both the shop and himself, he works alongside a rough around the edges kitchen crew that ultimately reveals itself as his chosen family. And it's not so often that Google is pretty accurate, but that's pretty accurate. Yep,
Andleeb: that was, yep, it was right on the nose. What happened?
Julia: Okay, tell me your story about Recalcitrant. So
Andleeb: I had an employee who worked for me up to three years ago, and he was in the military. So anytime he would describe the other employees, he would always say, Oh, they're just recalcitrant. And I was like, Oh my God, I need to go look that up. I'm an educated woman, but I don't know what this means.
Andleeb: And I'm looking it up and I was like, Oh, okay. But he would find ways to always include it in every conversation. Interesting. Okay, enough with the recalcitrants because we get it. We get it. You're better than them. Let's
Julia: move on. It's like I worked with a social worker once who always used copious. Like, it was like, that's the word.
Julia: That's the word that she thought if she used it, people would think she was smart. And I
Andleeb: think it was the same thing with this individual. Mm hmm. Grandfathered into my world. Mm. Mm hmm. Having learned his trade in the military, so it's just, you know, there was always other accounts of trade. So we would always use military terms, and I'm like, okay, what this means.
Andleeb: Okay, that's what that means. So I had to like figure out how to talk to him to... Well, to get along, right? So it's like, we need that language. And I'm like, okay, well, let me go pick up some terms that will make him feel at ease and talk to me
Julia: more. Yeah, totally. I totally get it. My dad's retired law enforcement, and sometimes we're like, Ed, speak English.
Julia: What did you just say?
Andleeb: Yeah. Bring it to like a third grade level. Yeah,
Julia: like we're civilians. The only thing sworn about me is how much I say fuck.
Julia: Yeah, same.
Julia: Okay, so the Financial Times called season two, quote, an extraordinary piece of tragic comedy. Once a hysterical farce and a raw soul draining domestic drama. You wish more TV could be this intense while feeling relieved that it isn't end quote. I don't know if we could handle it. If TV was this intense with a dose of comedy, like I think we would all crush like be soul crushed every
Andleeb: time.
Andleeb: But then, okay, so I have a question to Financial Times here, and you know, I'm wearing a suit because I wear suits now, so I can ask this question. If it's a tragic comedy, couldn't we just call it a tragic dramedy? Because I also feel like there's the drama component. So what was... What was the Financial Times trying to accomplish by just saying tragic comedy?
Julia: That's a really great question. It only let me read three paragraphs before it said pay us, bitch. And I was like, guess what, Financial Times, you got more money than I do. So no.
Julia: Well said. Well said. Yeah, it's like, well, I get to read. Um, but it is kind of an interesting, because when they were nominated for all the Emmys this time around, people were like, comedy, comedy, comedy. And I was like, wait, am I the only one who laughed out loud?
Andleeb: I did. But I think there's a lot of, and I think that's why it should have been over financial times to say that tragic dramedy, because there, I mean, and it was just a lot of the, like that, like the, the very dry.
Andleeb: British humor, but yeah, British, but it was just like, so dry where you're just like, Oh my God, that is hilarious. Or, you know, just because I was laughing out loud and I was like, Okay, this is good.
Julia: This is good. Yeah, it really, it really is one of those shows that you feel literally everything. And when you think that you're not going to care for a particular character.
Julia: Then they open a door to their world where you're just like, Oh, I understand you now. And, and it was so beautifully done. It was so beautifully done. Okay. So what we get in season two that we didn't get in season one is an expansion into other characters, personal lives. So the season opens with Marcus, which surprised me.
Julia: And he's in the hospital. He's sitting next to his mother. We meet Sid's dad. Finally, we meet Richie's ex wife and we get insight insight into Tina's world as well. We also get a lot more from the Berzotto family by meeting the matriarch. And there's just like, there's just so much there's like every episode was like, I binge watched it.
Julia: And then I was sad for a week. So
Andleeb: that was I couldn't binge watch it because it was so intense. And I think I picked that up from the first season where I mean, right, because it Okay. The first season was intense. The second season was intense, but at a completely different level. Yeah. The first season, there was just so much yelling and, you know, the yes chef where he's trying to like get everybody to fall in line, essentially.
Andleeb: And, you know, bringing Sid on board and her having her issues. So I felt like the first season was more about Carmi and Sid and just how they're aligning. Forces to make the restaurant what it should be. And then this season, like you said, it's just, we're getting to see everybody's world and it makes much more sense of why are they this way or why are they that way?
Andleeb: And, you know, just. It's very
Julia: deep. It is. It is. And it makes me think, so like with Daisy Jones and the Six, they like changed so much about the character, like one character in particular, Eddie. And it really bothered me because in the book, Eddie has a brother. And then I think the showrunner was quoted, I want to say either in Vanity Fair or Vogue, it might have been Vanity Fair.
Julia: Saying something to the effect of like, well, you know, Pete was a throwaway character and if we casted somebody, you know, to play that role and then he didn't. And it was a small bit like the actor would be mad. And to me, that felt like a cop out because here we have the bear and you have the character.
Julia: Abraham. So like with, so in, in the bear season two with Abraham, we don't get a lot of Abraham on screen, but what we do get is very impactful. So it was almost like, okay, so this guy over here is saying one thing. And then the bears showing us that it actually can be done. Yeah. But I want to dive into your overall impressions of season two, because I mean, we've talked a little bit already about it, but let's like really get into it.
Andleeb: I felt that season two was deepest, so just, I mean, you know, kinda, so again, like I told you, I printed off all of the episodes so I could, and I would make my notes and, um, but just every single thing about, like, when Marcus goes to, was it Norway?
Julia: Yeah,
Andleeb: right? You know, and, and we'll get to how hot that other guy is, who never
Julia: went before, like,
Andleeb: you know, but just even like, how did that connection happen?
Andleeb: And maybe I missed it that it was Norway where he ended up to learn histories. Was it that, you know, Karmie knew that other fella?
Julia: Yeah, because Karmie had been there, or at least that's what my understanding was, is that Karmie had gone and done training there too. So he was like, he knew it'd be good. And it really shows, too, just how tightly connected the high end, um, restaurant business really is.
Julia: Yes, chef.
Andleeb: They are. They are. But then also, like, even, um, was it before fishes? Like, a pop, when the wall fell, and then they just had, like, a plastic cloth up that said, the wall fell. Yeah. It was just like, so it's like... I felt like, so if anybody walked in and asked a question, they'd just be like, well, the wall fell.
Andleeb: Stop asking those questions. It just fell. Yeah. I just like how every, every episode being intense as it was, each episode had a purpose and a story to tell. Right. So even learning about sugar and, you know, how she was pregnant, but didn't want anybody to know. And then the whole omelet episode. And I was trying to figure out like, what does the omelet have to do with anybody?
Andleeb: But at the end, it's her and Sid connecting.
Julia: Omelet. I literally just got chills. I know.
Andleeb: It was just same thing for me because I'm like, that is, I think all my notes. I put SSID plus Sugar Heart .
Julia: Yes. That was such a beautiful episode. And you're right. They do a really good job of being, making the audience feel like, okay, what is the point of this episode?
Julia: And then tying it up it so beautifully by the time the epi, the episode wraps.
Andleeb: Yeah. So I did, I did like how we did get to go into everybody's life. Tina
Julia: can sing. Tina's fucking amazing. Yeah, and
Andleeb: it's just like, and just like coming out of, you know, I guess coming out of the kitchen with everybody else going to chef school and, um, or culinary school, sorry, going to culinary school and getting to be her own person, right?
Andleeb: And then, you know, and just getting like, Oh, these are my knives. Oh, this is the, you know, like, you remember in season one, she was one of the people that absolutely refused. To wear, you know, what was it? The white, the white jacket, like all of it. She was like, I'm not doing that. That's, you know, whatever.
Julia: Yeah. Refused to say yes, chef. Yeah. Called him Jeff.
Andleeb: She was like, so anti. Yeah. And then like, and then just seeing her going to culinary school, making friends, fitting, right. Cause that's the other thing is like, am I going to fit in or could you the older, right. You're basically kind of starting again. But even just having that, that sense of victory for her when she's lining up candidates to bring on.
Andleeb: And, you know, and she's just like, don't screw it up because we'll get you out or, you know, it was like she was in charge. Yeah. Amazing to see that growth and development for her and for everybody.
Julia: But yeah, yeah, it was amazing. So go ahead. I was gonna say my I think my favorite part about Tina's story too is that it kind of she's older.
Julia: So like in season one, she it kind of because a lot of people like to discredit those who work in the restaurant industry, like, Oh, what's happened in your life that you're waiting tables, but there really is like careers that people focus on. Um, and with her, it went from being like, feeling like, Well, yeah, this was probably the best that she was going to do in her life to revitalizing it.
Julia: Yeah. Coming into, like you said, coming into her own. And I love that she's not like 22 years old doing it. You know, we can assume she's got grown children. She's probably already had a previous life and now she's in like a new, um, a new chapter. And for me, that was just like a really beautiful reminder of being like, you don't have to be 20 and figure out your shit.
Julia: You can figure it out at 45. You can figure it out at 50.
Andleeb: I, it's so funny. Um, again, being one of those naughty little. Teenager, uh, teenagers that I was. So when I went into imaging at 19, I was the youngest person in my class. So, I think the oldest person in our class at that time, she was so old at 45, like, so.
Andleeb: And, you know, and I remember, like, we didn't really get along, so she would always be, like, snotty little, like, comments, you know, snide comments, like, oh, because I was planning my wedding, and she was like, oh, we're getting married. Yeah. Beautiful, you know, destination, but destination in Midland, Texas, let's just like highlight that I remember telling her, like, if, if imaging didn't work out for me, she showed me that I could come back and do something else.
Andleeb: Yeah. And it was, and I think at that point we did our, our friendship, peership change, because I was like, and I didn't mean it in that. I think it came out snotty but then after I vocalize it I was like, well, yeah, like if this doesn't work out. Yeah. You're actually showing me... That as an older mature woman with grown children, I didn't come back and have a second career with whatever it is.
Andleeb: So even now when I hire people, I do ask them, I'm like, Oh, is this your first or second career? And so just again, to have that better conversation of like, okay, well. You know, previous experience in your old career kind of applies here. This, this is how, and then, you know, when you've got your newbies, it's like, okay, lemme yeah, lemme explain how the world works.
Julia: Yeah. Not
Andleeb: like it was in school, so, right. Yeah. But again, like looking at what Tina was doing and like, see Tina and ssid, right? Mm-hmm. , you know, fresh,
Julia: new. She's trying to make a name for
Andleeb: herself. Yeah, and then you have Tina, who's been there. Not necessarily as advanced or elevated as Sid would like to be or has been.
Andleeb: But she's, again, she's, she's finding her lane and she's enjoying it. Yeah, like even I think it's like slowly as we transition towards the end of season one, I like keeping your work area clean like that's when she started she was like, Okay, let's keep it clean. Let's do this. So you would not necessarily buying into it but seeing the benefits of what he was bringing.
Andleeb: So I just, I mean, I don't know. I didn't realize I was so into Tina. Yeah. And how much I remember about Tina. But I like
Julia: Tina. She's such a great character. She's such a great character. And she's got this really great, like, maternal instinct that isn't a stereotype. You know? She's just like, like, you can trust her.
Julia: Like, you can tell her things. And she's gonna be like, here's the fucking reality, dude. And it's not gonna come across hurtful. No, that's it. Like, I feel like we all need a Tina. Yes,
Andleeb: definitely. Definitely need a
Julia: Tina. Friends, this has been, um, the Bear Season 2 teaser. And if you want the full episode, head on over to Patreon, patreon.
Julia: com slash Julia Washington. So you get every little bit. Out of this conversation between me and my guest. I want to thank Adam Lieb again for being on the show. We texted back and forth so much about this season. It made perfect sense for her to be here. We are still on our summer hiatus, but I wanted to share a few things with you before we close out.
Julia: If you heard the entirety of this episode, that means that you are listening on our Patreon and I appreciate you so much for your continued support. And I want to do a big shout out to all of our Patreon pals. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our happy hour social hour this month is going to be August 24th.
Julia: You will be able to find those details in Patreon. It's going to be great. If you're a Patreon club member, of course. Also, our book club pick for this month is A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. We are meeting on August 20th. Um, this film was adapted in 2009, directed by Tom Ford. Yes, that Tom Ford.
Julia: And stars Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, and Matthew Goode. Uh, you don't need to read the book to join. You don't need to see the movie to join. You can read... and watch both or nothing or one or the other. It really doesn't matter. You can just come for the hang. To get access to either of these live events, you have to join us on Patreon for just 15 a month.
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Julia: It means the world to me. I just oh, okay. I'm done gushing. Anyway, thanks for tuning in y'all until next time.
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