Most series run for longer than 28 episodes before they’re deemed worthy of a Top 10 list, but “The Bear” is in a class of its own. The FX dramedy became one of today’s most important TV projects almost immediately after its debut in 2022, and has catapulted its cast — specifically Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach — from intra-industry faves to global celebrities. And a lot of “The Bear’s” runaway success comes from the big swings it took early on, jumping in and out of different filmmaking styles while remaining cohesive as a whole. Just ask the voters of the Emmys, Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, where “The Bear” consistently sweeps.
Missing from this list is “Tomorrow,” the Season 3 premiere of “The Bear” that strings together flashbacks from the early stages of Carmy’s career and connects them to his meltdown in the Season 2 finale (our No. 9 episode). One of the authors of this list thinks “Tomorrow” is a gorgeously edited glimpse into Carmy’s mind, a dreamlike meditation entrenched in the series’ carefully considered backstory, while the other finds it overindulgent, a repetition of lore that the show established two years ago. But it’s undeniable that “Tomorrow” is ambitious in structure and that the image of a younger, greener Carmy is compelling. For that, it gets an honorable mention.
So, from the pilot that started it all to the one-off character studies that keep the show fresh, read on for Variety‘s ranking of the 10 best episodes of “The Bear.”