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This review is as much about season 3 as a whole, but the points were all crystalized in these last 2 episodes, when I was finally pushed to fast forward through all of the pretty, pointless montages and celebrity chefs speechifying. There was maybe 15 minutes of actual show in that 43 minute runtime of the finale. The season finale was thrown away telling the story of another restaurant rather than being about The Bear.

The finale, really the last 2 episodes of the season, show more than ever that Christopher Storer has no interest in his own story. So little of this show is actually about The Bear (the restaurant or the guy). The cinematography is masterful, but the incessant food porn montages are so overdone and just come across as what they are at this point, time fillers. And Carmy was tortured by his family and the kitchens he worked in. We get it. We never need another montage of Carmy's past. The show is so obsessed with looking back that it never moves forward.

Storer avoids telling what we're led to believe is the story at every turn. The bottle episodes about individual characters are well done, but pointless. The acting may be great, but they're navel gazing. They don't tell us anything about the characters. And it's hard to invest in an entire episode about a supporting character when the show has done nothing to make us interested in them up until that point.

Speaking of the acting, some of the performances are unbelievable. Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Abby Elliot,and Lionel Boyce all turn in a masterclass in acting, but it serves nothing because the show doesn't go anywhere. And I don't get all the praise for Jeremy Allen White. Yes, he's intense, and that makes him compelling to watch...sometimes. We don't need any more shots of him miserably glowering. However, he's playing still playing Lip from Shameless, just in a different setting. There is no daylight between those characters.

The most frustrating thing about The Bear is that it can be compelling when it wants to be. A lot of talent and artistry are being thrown away on an airless souffle. Christopher Storer needs another voice in the room to tell him he's turned this show into a self-indulgent mess, and maybe they can turn it around in season 4.

I can't say this episode wasn't good. The acting and writing and cinematography were all excellent as always. However it was intense and aggressive in a way that made it difficult to get through. I'm not looking for an episode of television that is difficult to watch. Special props for Jamie Lee Curtis for disappearing into her role, and John Mullaney for his nuanced turn. Jon Berenthal was awesome, but I'm starting to think he only has one gear. He's great at the one thing he does as an actor, but I wonder if he can play anything else. Also, how is this show nominated in the comedy category? Seriously?

A lot of great actors, and the film is well-shot, but ultimately the whole affair is just too cartoonish to enjoy on anything but a superficial level. Every character (with the possible exception of Janelle Monae's) is so broadly drawn and overacted that you can't invest in them or care what happens to them. Particularly Daniel Craig's lead. He felt like an eccentric, but brilliant, detective in Knives Out, but here he just comes off as silly. His complete inaction toward the end seems to exist only to set up the ridiculous, over-the-top ending. Also, Kathryn Hahn and Leslie Odom. Jr. Are so wasted that I don't know why they even signed on for this. Glass Onion was an okay distraction for a Netflix movie, but I would have been annoyed if I'd paid to see this in a theater.