Sweetbitter

With short a short synopsis, I delayed watching this show until very recently. After reading 'Kitchen Confessions', by the late great Anthony Bourdain (Parts Unknown on CNN), I asked myself, how come there's such a huge void for series offering a raw authentic view behind the scenes in the kitchen life? Other than the movie Burnt starring Bradley Cooper and the first season and done AMC series starring Ross from friends, I don't recall great content filling this void.

First, this series isn't exactly dedicated to the culture of a chef's life or how intense the world of serving is working world wide renoun star rated restaurants, well, kinda.

This show is on the caliber of series like Flesh and Bone, The Girlfriend Experience, and Mozart in the jungle. Though these shows are entirely different, they share the same kind of unniverse and platform; STARZ, except for Primes Mozart.

Sweet bitter is very engaging and each episode ends too quickly as you want it to continue much longer since each grows as the minutes go by with intrigue, same with the seasons. The lead is very seductive and likable as shes so amiable and graceful. We know nothing about her history for half the first season, as it remains intriguing to learn who she was before moving to NY and what kind of life she led. I was very surprised to read the negative reviews and felt like I watched a different show. Our first impression of her is she's moved to a city, NYC, that seems like it's the last place for her.

She works in NYC best notable restaurant owned by the great actor from House of Cards (the author Francis employed to write the book), and his onscreen presence captures the restuarants tone so well. The behind the scenes look is always compelling and portrays how difficult it is to be a server in upscale places.

But

This show is less about plot, and more about characters. I personally dont give a damnas like as the writing is great! And thus it is. It's a series that naturally grows letting the characters aet the pace in their actions and decisions first. This series is massively underrated and a 7 on here is just comical!

I have a high standard when it comes to investing my time in a series and these days not many shows Wow me or making me binge like a few years ago. This is very addicting and the reason I added the names kd the above shows, is because if you liked any of them, you will surely like this one.

Dismiss the low rating and negative comments. But then not people appreciate these kind of unique and very different shows.

Just finished season 2 on the starz app and loved it! Give us a season 3 with more episodes!

A familiar story of a young girl heading to the big city to find herself and grow a personality. Ella Purnell is the sweet girl who has not yet revealed the bitter but shows hints of a steel core. She is taken on to train at Howard's (Paul Sparks - last seen in Waco) posh restaurant and her future family (one guesses) is there in the kitchen and front of house. Speaking as a former restaurant manager, she is given a surprising amount of freedom as a probationer (scoffing oysters in the cold store while quaffing champagne?) but I guess that can be called poetic licence. All told I will be giving it a chance to grow on me.

After watching Belgravia, I was intrigued by Ella Purnell. I thought her performance was the best part of the very British drama Belgravia, and I was curious to see what else she had done.

Ella's British accent was gone as she entered the big city alone and determined to experience everything.

I did enjoy Ella Purnell's performance, but the show struggled in season 2 in particular. It seemed like the show knew it was going to be cancelled and tried to wrap up storylines too quickly at the end of the season.

The Good: I enjoyed hanging out with the staff and getting to know each character. I feel like Simone, Sasha, Ari, and Heather are all part of my life now. Ella had great chemistry with Caitlin FitzGerald who played Simone. I found their relationship the most intriguing, and I would have liked to have seen them explore this on a physical level as well.

The Bad: I had a love with the restaurant in season 1 along with Tess. The restaurant itself loses the feeling that Tess talks about during her job interview in season 1. Perhaps it's intentional to show that Tess is seeing the reality of the restaurant the longer she works there. Howard is getting creepier, the flowers that Tess loved so much in season 1 are gone, shocking horrid scenes in episode 1 season 2 replace the beautiful atmosphere of the restaurant that we grew to love in season 1.

There's only so many nights as a viewer I can hang out at "Home Bar".

The showrunner's never fully explore Tess' family life before she gets to NYC. They do bring up issues in season 2 that allow Tess to reveal more about her past. But it really only touched the surface. Tess at the beginning of the series seemed extremely secretive about her past. We do learn a few things about her, but there were more possibilities to explore.

This was actually a bit of a period piece. The showrunner's intentionally placed the show in the 1990's before cell phones took over. There was a behind the scenes video after one of the episodes explaining how it was different to experience things on your own without posting it to the entire world on social media. The series focus was on walking with Tess as she filled her life with as many new experiences as possible. Tess was extremely open to experience everything she could and take it all in. The episode where she runs out to experience the first snow encapsulated this ongoing theme. Perhaps the showrunners are disillusioned with our current times where people experience so much of their life through their phones.

Conclusion: I'm happy I got to see Ella Purnell before Belgravia. I thought she had excellent performances throughout the series. I enjoyed getting to know the characters at the restaurant. I was disappointed they didn't fully develop the relationship between Tess and Simone. My favorite episode was when Tess spent the day with Simone eating grilled cheese and taking a nap in her tub. The showrunners decided to spend more time with Tess and Jake instead. I found that decision regrettable and less interesting. I do think the series ran its course after 2 seasons. I'm not surprised it wasn't picked up for a third. But I thoroughly enjoyed my time in NYC with Tess, Sasha, Ari, Simone, Heather and Will.

This is a great show that simmers slowly and takes its time building the plot and characters over two gorgeously filmed seasons situated primarily in a restaurant modeled after Union Square Cafe in NYC in the early 2000s. It reminds me a bit of the series Felicity with Keri Russell from the late 90s: a shy, beautiful young woman moves to the big city looking to explore all the possibilities life may offer while she slowly discovers who she is and who she really wants to be. It's moody and thoughtful and gives us an accurate look into the life of young servers, bar and kitchen staff working in a high-end, high pressure restaurant. The episodes are only 30 minutes long, so things never get too deep and I think I appreciate this aspect. I can immerse myself a little, get the feeling and the vibe of the time and place and romance of it all; good escapism with a talented cast that serves up courses of relationship drama, intimacy and sex while bringing in well researched and even informational aspects of food and wine. If you enjoy coming of age stories and love food, you'll enjoy all the sweet and bitter this show has to offer.