Jeremy Allen White (Carmy) and Ayo Edebiri (Syd) in The Bear.Credit:Disney+
How’s your stress level? So high you’ve accidentally locked yourself in a walk-in cooler at your new,high-end restaurant? This is where season two of the critically acclaimed TV series,The Bear,left its hero,Carmy (Jeremy Allen White),in the final episode,with Syd (Ayo Edebiri) holding the fort. It was nail-biting stuff,but was it comedy? I only ask because as the award-wreathed show enters its third season,it will once again compete at the Emmys in the best comedy category. Sure,it’s funny in parts – Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Richie and Matty Matheson’s Fak are the double-act du jour – butThe Bear is other things,too:a story about trying to overcome the pain in your past and finding a new way forward as well as being a vehicle for some of the best food porn on TV outside ofStanley Tucci:Searching For Italy. It might not make me laugh like a real comedy should,but what it does – like any good restaurant – is leave me wanting more. And lucky for us,as season three gets under way,we learn that season four has reportedly already been shot.Yes,chef! From June 27 on Disney+.Louise Rugendyke
LISTEN/ He said,she said
Mining new depths of dysfunction:the 10-part true-crime podcast Beyond All Repair.
You thinkyou have a dysfunctional family?Beyond All Repair will make you feel better. The podcast from Boston journalist Amory Sivertson – former producer ofModern Love andDear Sugars – tells the jaw-dropping story of Sophia Johnson,who was convicted of the brutal murder of her mother-in-law two decades ago and sentenced to 43 years in jail. And the witness who sent her down? Her brother,Sean Correia. The more Sivertson digs,the more she discovers that no one in the family is telling the whole truth and everyone is hiding something – even Sophia. Did she do it? Did Sean do it? Or did someone else do it? Each episode will leave you suspecting someone different,while you risk whiplash taking in all the twists and turns.
Barry Divola
All Fours is Miranda July’s first novel in close to a decade.
READ/ Act Two
Prepare to laugh – and then blow up your entire life. Writer,artist and director Miranda July is at the peak of her powers inAll Fours (Allen and Unwin;$33),which has been dubbed the “first great perimenopause novel”. An unnamed,semi-famous,45-year-old artist from Los Angeles reckons with her mortality and marriage in this provocative story that pushes readers to consider the lives they’re not living. July has honed what made her debut,The First Bad Man,a hit and created a funny,erotic and raw book that is truly original. If it’s any sign of the word-of-mouth traction this novel is getting,the list of friends asking to borrow my copy just keeps growing.
Melanie Kembrey
WEAR/ Bag it up