In an early moment of the TV drama series The Bear, the perpetually stressed lead character, Carmy, is seen making a rushed deal in a parking lot. He is trying to swap vintage denim with someone who has a case of beef. Carmy needs the meat for his family’s barely surviving sandwich shop. It may not seem like a great offer but he pleads: “This is original Big E redline selvedge, all right? Nineteen fourty-four. You can get $1,250 for that on eBay tonight.” Throw in a “1955 blanket-lined Type 3” Levi’s denim jacket too – “pleated”? The deal goes down (it’s mirrored in a later episode when another character sells coke to keep the struggling restaurant afloat. Whatever works.)
Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, played by Jeremy Allen White, is a nationally recognised award-winning chef, who has returned home to run The Original Beef of Chicagoland after the death of his brother (played in flashback by Jon Bernthal), who had been in chaotic charge. The show is a hectic, closeup look at life in the kitchen. It encompasses grief and trauma, camaraderie and the dignity of work, the strains of gentrification and the fraying ties of family and friends, all at a relentless pace, with rat-a-tat wisecracking and a rage that is always at the point of boiling over. It has been the unexpected hit of US summer television – due on Disney+ in the UK this week – turning its star, complete with tattoos and great hair, into a gritty but damaged heartthrob and meme.
