"The Instigators" and "Wolfs"

Apple is cutting back on theatrical releases after some big titles underperformed.  However, they recently premiered two films that feel very much like they should have been getting wide releases, as they star some pretty big names - well, names that were big fifteen years ago.  It's probably a coincidence, but all the main players are alumni of the "Oceans 11" movies - Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in "The Instigators" and George Clooney and Brad Pitt in "Wolfs."

"The Instigators" is a Doug Liman action film where Damon and Affleck carry out a heist in Boston.  There are a lot of familiar faces in the cast - Hong Chau as Damon's therapist, Ron Perlman as a corrupt mayor, Michael Stuhlbarg and Alfred Molina as mobsters, Paul Walter Hauser as a hit man, and even Toby Jones as a government flunky with a good bit in the last act.  It's light, it's funny, the action is good, and this absolutely would have made a good chunk of change twenty years ago at the box office.  There's not much new or innovative, but the one distinguishing element is the endless Bostonian patter between Damon and Affleck.  The're set up as a sort-of criminal odd couple, but not with much conviction.  "The Instigators" is not one of the better things that anyone involved has ever done, but it's perfectly serviceable as an action film.  Affleck wrote it, and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck produced, which goes a long way toward explaining how it got made.  

"Wolfs" was more enjoyable for me, a smaller scale but more stylish action comedy about two unnamed fixers who are called in to the same job.  Written and directed by Jon Watts, who I only know from the latest live-action "Spider-man" films, it feels like a tribute to the brief run of Elmore Leonard adaptations that we got in the late '90s.  Clooney and Pitt are great onscreen together, and it's such a pleasure to listen to them argue and grumble about being forced to work together, and separately bristle every time someone points out how similar they are.  The plot is mostly beside the point, and there's a chase scene that goes on for way too long, but "Wolfs" delivers on the charm and the deadpan comedy.  Despite all the puffing and posturing, neither of these hardened professionals prove to be willing to do anything too mean, and it's genuinely nice to see them warm up to each other and join forces over the course of one wild night.  

I think of Damon, Clooney, and Pitt as being part of the last generation that we could really call movie stars, though Clooney was always getting dinged for making movies that never made much money.  In 2024, movie stars are almost totally extinct, despite repeated efforts to push up-and-comers like Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega to A-lister status.  Likewise, the films that depended on the participation of movie stars have been pretty scarce.  "Wolfs" is an excellent reminder of what a star-driven vehicle looks like, and the kind of filmmaking that is possible when you have actors with real onscreen charisma go to work.  Jon Watts also puts in some effort with the visuals - lots of nocturnal haunts and holiday lighting give the "Wolfs" a certain midwinter coziness.  "The Instigators" is much less accomplished, but I can tell what Doug Liman was going for and I'm grateful for the attempt.  

I'm also very aware that none of the leading men are young anymore, and my reactions to these films are definitely colored by nostalgia.  Apple was probably right not to give these films wider releases, because films like this don't play well in theaters anymore.  None of these actors have headlined a real box office hit in a long while.  Matt Damon in "The Martian" was all the way back in 2015, and I keep forgetting that Brad Pitt was in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."  I don't think any of them have lost a step when it comes to performances, but it's no longer their era.  And that's a little bittersweet.     

   

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"Dark Matter," Year One

Spoilers for the first two-ish episodes ahead.

Not more multiverse media, I hear you cry.  We've had enough!  How much more can we take?!  Well, maybe there's room for one more show.  

The Apple TV+ series "Dark Matter" (totally unrelated to the 2015 "Dark Matter") is one of the best pieces of science fiction I've seen this year.  Based on a novel by Blake Crouch, who also created the show and wrote most of the episodes, "Dark Matter" is about parallel universes.  A physics professor, Jason Dessen (Jason Edgerton) is a little bored and resentful of his mundane life with his wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and teenage son Charlie (Oakes Fegley), especially after an old friend, Ryan (Jimmi Simpson), wins a prestigious and lucrative scientific prize.  Then Jason is assaulted by a mysterious assailant and wakes up in a different version of his life.  He has no family but is the wealthy CEO of a tech company.  He also has a girlfriend, Amanda (Alice Braga) and a partner, Leighton (Dayo Okeniyi), who both think he's just returned from a strange mission.

Apple continues to make a lot of great science-fiction shows that seem to come out of nowhere.  Going with the parallel universe theme, I imagine that "Dark Matter" could have been made into a film with the same cast, but it wouldn't have been as good.  Nine episodes is probably a few too many for this miniseries, because the pacing drags at times, but it's so worth it to get to the last third, where all the setup pays off in such a satisfying way.  I continue to be happily flabbergasted at the resources Apple puts into these projects.  "Dark Matter" is set in and around  present day Chicago, and it's clear that a significant amount of the series was actually shot there!  There's a big chase sequence right on the University of Chicago campus!  After watching so many genre shows stuck in the Volume over the last few years, it's almost miraculous to find something so geeky set somewhere so tactile and recognizable.    

Like many science-fiction "what-if" stories, the story takes scientific concepts, in this case superposition and parallel universes, and extrapolates them into a totally fantastical scenario, where you can travel to other versions of your own reality and interact with them.  The fun of "Dark Matter" is that it sets up this impossible mechanism - in this case a Schrodinger's box that acts as a portal to other worlds - but then has it follow rules that create weirder and wilder possibilities, revealed to the audience a little at a time.  The show also takes the trouble to create a set of compelling characters, played by very talented actors, who are given the time to really grow on you.  We've all seen enough media about parallel universes to be familiar with the basic tropes by now - they're rife with alternate versions of characters and darkest timeline nightmare scenarios.  However, we've rarely had something like "Dark Matter" that has the thoughtfulness to really examine the psychological underpinnings of this kind of idea, and extrapolate some of the really brain-breaking stuff that would happen if it were possible.

So while there's a lot of twisty, plotty business about juggling universes keeping track of which version of which character you're watching, there's also a lot of good, solid character drama here.  Significant time is just spent with Jason examining himself, either trying to fit himself into different realities, or considering the choices that led him to particular situations.  I can understand why Edgerton and the rest were willing to take on this role, because so much depends on the performances.  It helps that the show keeps changing, the stakes and goals constantly evolving as the situation spins out of everyone's control.  We do end up with a big action finale, but it feels earned by the time we get there.  

The production overall is excellent, but it did include a pet peeve of mine, which is that there are certain key scenes where I couldn't tell what was going on because everything was so dark.  I understand the reasoning behind it, but still -  "Dark Matter" doesn't have to be a literal description.       

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My Most Anticipated Series of 2025

"Anansi Boys" and "Zero Day" were on last year's list, and I expect some of the titles below will be delayed to 2026.  Still, the idea with these posts was always to start off the year looking forward, and getting myself more informed about upcoming projects.  Below, find a motley assortment of series that have a reasonable chance of being released in 2025.  Of course, this is early in the year, so there's plenty more coming our way that we don't know about yet.  These are just the most prominent shows that I'm looking forward to right now. 

Black Rabbit (Netflix) - Jason Bateman and Jude Law will play brothers in this crime series from Zach Baylin.  From the descriptions I've read, Law will be playing the stable one, and Bateman will be playing the "chaotic" one, which sounds fun.  Bateman is also directing a few episodes, and so is his "Ozark" co-star Laura Linney, so I'm hoping that "Black Rabbit" is something in the same vein.    

Daredevil Born Again (Disney+) - After all the starts and stops, how could I not be curious?  What really sold me, however, was seeing a leaked clip from filming, and realizing how much I was still emotionally invested in seeing Charlie Cox, Elden Henson, and Debra Ann Woll together onscreen again.  I couldn't care less about the plot of this thing - though having Benson and Moorehead onboard should help. 

Alien: Earth (FX/Hulu) - Will Noah Hawley finally give us the Xenomorph invasion of Earth that we've been waiting decades for?  Probably not, since this is supposed to be a prequel to the original "Alien" film.  We're definitely getting some anti-capitalist commentary with Weyland Yutani up to their old tricks.  Essie Davis, Adarsh Gourav, and Timothy Olyphant are in the cast, so I'm hoping for the best.    

Murderbot (Apple TV+) - Alexander Skarsgaard will play the title character, a security android who unexpectedly gains free will.  This is a science-fiction action series from the Weitz brothers, based on the Martha Wells novels, and it's probably going to require a lot of effects work.  So even though reports say that this started filming in the spring of '24, there's no guarantee that we're going to see it this year. 

Untitled Vince Gilligan Apple TV+ Show - What we know so far is that the show is science-fiction, stars Rhea Seehorn, and has something to do with Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Thanks to the SAG/WGA strikes there were significant delays, but Apple has ordered two seasons based on the strength of Gilligan's past work on "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul."  And I can't wait to see it.    

The Terror: Devil in Silver (AMC+) - The third installment of the historical horror series will be an adaptation of a Victor LaValle novel about a sane man wrongly committed to a psychiatric hospital in Queens.  Karyn Kusama is directing the first two episodes and Dan Stevens will play the lead.  And considering Dan Stevens' track record with horror projects lately, I expect good things.  

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (Paramount+) - After decades of speculation, I'm glad this premise is finally getting turned into a show, with Holly Hunter in the captain's chair no less.  With "Discovery" and "Lower Decks" wrapped up, and things not looking good for "Prodigy," Starfleet Academy"  and "Brave New Worlds" will be the two remaining "Star Trek" series carrying the torch for the long-running franchise 

The Night Manager (BBC/Amazon Prime) - It's coming back!  Tom Hiddleston is returning for two more seasons of the John le Carre spy series.  Olivia Colman and much of the original cast  will also be back, but otherwise the details have been pretty scarce.  In the US, the show is moving from AMC to Amazon Prime, and if you can't wait, I hear that the Hindi version that came out last year is pretty good. 

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO) - "House of the Dragon" won't be back this year, but we'll be getting more Westeros regardless.  "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" will adapt George R.R. Martin's "Tales of Dunk and Egg" novellas.  This will be a much smaller scale project focusing on one knight and his squire, at least at first.  You never know with franchise media these days.  

 

Spider-Noir (MGM+/Amazon Prime) - Finally, Nicholas Cage will be playing Spider-Man Noir again, this time in a series following his adventures in a 1930s film noir version of New York.  For the longest time I thought that this was an animated show, but it's not.  I'm not sure how much of Cage we're actually going to see onscreen, but superhero film noir pastiche is right up my alley.  

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My Least Anticipated Films of 2025

It's the beginning of the year and things are looking up.  The strikes are far enough in the past that the shortfall in new media is pretty much resolved, and there are a lot more big titles on the way to keep the theater owners happy.  However, as with every year, glancing over the slate reveals certain titles I will be happily avoiding.  

Please keep in mind that  I sincerely hope that I'm wrong about all of the movies mentioned in this post.  I want them to all turn out to be decent cinema. But if past years are any indication, it's likely this will be the last time you see discussion of any of these titles on this blog.

Let's start with the obvious ones.  "A Minecraft Movie" is coming from the director of "Napoleon Dynamite," with Jack Black and Jason Momoa.  It looks garish and loud and aimed strictly at Gen Z and younger viewers.  I will probably end up watching it multiple times because I have small children who love "Minecraft," just like "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" wormed its way into the regular rotation.  Such is life.  Also, Chris Miller is rebooting "The Smurfs" again for Paramount with Rihanna as Smurfette.  This is supposed to be in a hybrid 2D/3D style that will look more like Peyo's work, but even if it does turn out well, my interest in the Smurfs ended when I was eight.

"Jurassic World Rebirth" has recruited Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali to star, but the franchise has been on a downward trajectory for years, and I'm not holding my breath that Gareth Edwards will help this one reverse course.  I have very mixed feelings toward "Snow White," which is directly adapting the 1937 Disney movie, so it gets to use all the familiar music and Disney-specific characters like Grumpy and Dopey.  On the one hand, these live action Disney remakes are dependably terrible, and all the previews have looked bizarre.  On the other hand, there are so many people involved here who I generally enjoy, I can't bring myself to root too hard against it - Rachel Zegler in particular deserves so much better.       

Horror dependably delivers its share of stinkers.  "Saw XI" is on its way in October, while "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" is taking its chances in December.   Do we need Tommy Wirkola to make a shark movie?  Well, we're getting one.  Good luck to Phoebe Dynevor and Djimon Honsou in "Beneath the Storm."  And I have no idea how this ended up on the slate, but a horror version of "Steamboat Willie" called "Screamboat" is due in February.  The guy who plays Art the Clown in "Terrifier" is a credited screenwriter.  With any luck it'll do more with the IP than Disney's doing with "Snow White," but I have no intention of confirming this myself.  Twisted "Bambi" and "Peter Pan" movies are also on the way.

Faith-based projects continue to underwhelm.  I generally try not to pick on media clearly not meant for me, but Zachary Levi headlining "The Unbreakable Boy" as the father of a kid with autism and brittle bone disease does not bode well.  His career has not been great post- "Shazam," and this shift toward starring in Christian content may be permanent.  Meanwhile, animated Christian features seem to be in vogue, with "David" and the Jesus-themed "Light of the World" on their way soon.      

Netflix has emerged as a reliable source of shlock.  Of course there are plenty of good movies on the platform, including a passel of prestige titles every fall.  However, 2025 will also see the release of "Madea's Destination Wedding," "The Electric State" from the Russo brothers, and Adam Sandler in "Happy Gilmore 2."  There's also somehow another "Witcher" movie on the way.  I really feel for the poor fans of that franchise.

Finally, it's kinda nice to find that Paul W.S. Anderson and Mila Jovovich are still at it.  Their latest action epic, "In the Lost Lands," will feature Dave Bautista in a big role and is based on a George R.R. Martin short story.  I can't say I'm looking forward to this, but I wish them the best of luck.   

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The Best Classic Films I Watched in 2024

In an effort to highlight older films, here are the best films I watched this year that were not released in 2024 or 2023.  I've also disqualified films from the 1930s, because those have been covered in my various Top Ten lists.  Entries are unranked and listed below by release date.

Small Time Crooks (2000) - I can't write off Woody Allen's films, because too much great work from his collaborators exists in them.  Take "Small Time Crooks," which has one of the best performances I've ever seen from Tracey Ullman.  I also really enjoy the way this goes from a heist comedy to a class comedy back to a heist comedy, with one of the best second act plot twists I didn't see coming.  

 

Pump Up the Volume (1990) - Captures a very specific time and place when radio was the medium of choice for the young and anarchic.  The teenage angst is all too familiar, but Christian Slater manages to express it in a way that resonates unusually well in the present day.  It's a nice reminder that angry young men don't have to be destructive or hateful in expressing their disconnection with the world.    

Matewan (1987) - A coal miners' strike in West Virginia brings a union organizer to a poor mining community that's about to turn into a powder keg.  John Sayles does a fantastic job of establishing the time and place, capturing the conflict from multiple POVs, and creating some really hateable villains to root against.  The inevitable shootout is impressive, but may be the least interesting part of the film.

Threads (1984) - Far darker and more nihilistic than I was expecting.  This made-for-television film about a fictional nuclear attack on the UK famously traumatized a generation of viewers during the Cold War.  However, it's not the attack that's so horrific, but the detailed documentation of the effects this has on the survivors and the environment, both in the immediate aftermath and far into the future.  

…And Justice For All - (1979) - A Norman Jewison directed dark comedy about the failings of the American legal system.  It's best known for the bit where Al Pacino gets to deliver one of his most famous, blistering monologues.  However, it's the image of Jeffrey Tambor as an attorney in the middle of a nervous breakdown that really stuck with me.  I miss this era of courtroom dramas.

Going in Style (1979) - We've seen so many sentimental "one last heist" movies, it's a shock to discover that this one, from the great Martin Brest, is so cynical as to border on bleak.  It's wish fulfillment, but at the same time a pointed critique on how society treats the elderly.  George Burns always seemed to be playing a caricature of himself in later years, but here he's dead serious, and a real heartbreaker. 

The Demon (1978) - This horrific Japanese melodrama about child abuse is one of the most upsetting things I've ever seen put on film, and it's no longer remotely socially acceptable to make anything like it.  The direct violence is fairly minimal, but the psychological oppressiveness is unyielding and deeply painful to witness.  This is on a short list of films I know I will never watch again.    

Spirits of the Dead (1968) - Roger Vadim, Louis Malle, and Federico Fellini made three of the sexiest, campiest adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's work ever filmed for this anthology, with the most attractive cast you could have in the 60s.  There's Jane Fonda pining for her own brother, Alain Delon being very nasty to Brigitte Bardot, and Terence Stamp all tortured and disheveled.  How does this exist?     

Come Drink With Me (1966) - We lost the great Chang Pei-Pei this year, a female action star who rose to prominence along with director King Hu thanks to this film.  The fight sequences are highly stylized, but expertly staged, with Hu bringing his own influences from Chinese opera and dance to the filmmaking.  The inn sequence is still incredibly influential - quoted in the premiere of "The Acolyte," even.  

By the Law (1926) - I'm ashamed that I didn't know that film theorist Lev Kuleshov, who the Kuleshov effect was named after, was also a director!  "By the Law" is an absolutely fantastic piece of work, about gold miners in the frozen north who have to decide how to deal with a captured crazed murderer.  The storm sequences are incredible, and the performances genuinely still chilling to watch.  

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My Top Ten Episodes of 2017-2018

Since I've hit my goals for my Top Ten movie lists for the years before I began my blog, I thought I'd take a break and focus on television for a bit.  Specifically, I want to dig back in time a little ways and put together Top Ten episode lists for past seasons of TV.  I only started writing the TV lists for this blog for the 2018-2019 season.  Since I've watched runs of several older shows lately and filled in some gaps in my pop culture knowledge, I figured it was time to put everything in context.

Some caveats before we get started.  Television is a much more difficult medium than film.  There's so much of it that there's no way to be remotely comprehensive.  What shows up on these lists will reflect my own viewing preferences.  I tend to like prestige shows and genre shows, but I have some massive blind spots, especially with comedies.  I don't think I've watched any of the popular ones in ages.  My memory is also very fallible and I will leave things out.  The further back in time I go, the more the lists will reflect my access to various platforms, which wasn't always great.  

Entries below are limited to one episode per show, and are in no particular order.  And minor spoilers ahead.

The Good Place, "Dance Dance Resolution" - I really got onboard with "The Good Place" in its second season when they showed that they were willing to give us major twists and plot developments week after week that other sitcoms would have stretched out over years.  I was worried that the first season finale "reboot" meant we were going to be rehashing a lot of the story.  I didn't expect the show to use that as a jumping off point to blow up the entire "Good Place" premise three episodes later.  And Ted Danson losing his cool is so much fun to watch.  

Killing Eve,  "God I'm Tired" - Eve and Villanelle finally meet face to face after a season of playing cat and mouse, and it was worth the wait.  All the teasing and insinuations finally pay off with confirmation that these two are in a relationship that goes far beyond cops and robbers, and it's terribly bittersweet in retrospect, knowing what I know about how future seasons of the show play out.  However, the first season is "Killing Eve" at its peak, an irresistible spy fantasy that pushes every boundary that it can, and gives its leading ladies a chance to be fantastic.   

Mindhunter, "Episode 2" - There are several serial killers portrayed in "Mindhunter," but the standout performance is Cameron Britton as Ed Kemper, the Co-ed Killer.  The incredibly articulate, intelligent, and deeply troubled Kemper is the first major "sequence killer" that the protagonists interview, and he sets the tone for every subsequent encounter.  It's in this episode that "Mindhunter" fully establishes that it's going to be about the psychology of these criminals rather than their crimes.  And it's no wonder that Kemper became the show's most memorable character.

Westworld, "Kiksuya" - A standout episode of an up-and-down-season of "Westworld" gives the spotlight over to a background character, one Akechta of the Ghost Nation, played by guest star Zahn McClarnon.  We see the history of the park from his point of view as he grapples with emerging sentience from a completely different perspective than we've seen so far with the other hosts.  The dream-like tone and fantastic score help to distinguish Akecheta as existing in a completely separate, but parallel existence to everyone else we've seen in "Westworld" so far. 

 

The Crown, "Paterfamilias" - The very different experiences of a young Prince Philip and a young Prince Charles at Gordonstoun, intercut together and contrasted against one another, make for one of the most memorable early episodes of "The Crown."  Fatherhood, masculinity, and the horrors of UK boarding schools are all explored here through the Philip and Charles relationship.  It's an emotionally turbulent episode, to say the least, and not an easy watch, but endlessly compelling.  This may be the best performance I've ever seen from Matt Smith.  

Atlanta, "Teddy Perkins" - I haven't had the best luck with "Atlanta," but Teddy Perkins is undeniable.  There is so much commentary packed in about exploited child stars, the demands of the music industry, and screwed up fame-seeking families, with a title character who is a nightmarishly warped version of Michael Jackson crossed with Baby Jane.  Or you could just watch it as a mini-horror movie with Lakeith Stanfield's Darius stuck in a creepy house with a homicidal maniac.  And did we ever figure out who was playing Teddy Perkins at the Emmys?

Halt and Catch Fire, "Goodwill" - I knew ahead of time about how a certain storyline would end as the show wrapped up its last year, but I wasn't ready for this episode, where our main cast deals with the aftermath - packing things up and trying to move ahead while they grieve and bond.  All of these characters have behaved badly at some point or another over the course of four seasons, and it's so cathartic to watch them be there for each other, and reaffirm their connections in a healthy way.  Boz showing up at the end is just perfect.  

Black Mirror, "USS Callister" - As a long time "Star Trek" fan, I love the homages to multiple eras of the franchise, the villain being a tyrannical fanboy, and the subversion of the family-friendly space age idealism.  However, this is really a "Twilight Zone" style existential nightmare, as written by Charlie Brooker at his most sick and twisted, which I love.  You also have a fantastic cast, including Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, and Michaela Coel.  A sequel is expected soon with the next batch of "Black Mirror" episodes, and I'm so ready for it.  

The Americans, "START" - We were all anticipating the confrontation with Stan, and were summarily sideswiped by the train scene and the best use of a U2 song in a piece of media ever.  The show had us rooting for the Russians, even as the bodies piled up, only to reveal at the end that the price of doing their job and getting out alive was everything they'd fought for.  The poignant ending questions if Philip and Elizabeth even still have each other after years of navigating their complicated marriage.  It hits so much harder than any violent death ever could.

Twin Peaks: The Return, "Part 8" - I'll be honest.  I don't really understand why everyone lost their minds over this particular episode of "The Return."  It certainly looks and sounds amazing, and the apocalyptic vibes are off the charts. However, it feels less like "Twin Peaks" than its own separate piece of David Lynch surrealism.  I prefer to think of it that way, as this fairy tale about the birth of evil, with the atomic bomb as America's original sin.  I don't know what it's all about, and the summaries read like gibberish, but I'm so very glad Lynch got to make this.     

Honorable Mention: The Terror

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"The Bear," Year Three

Spoilers ahead.

I managed to not binge "The Bear" this year.  I watched season three's ten episodes over four days, which is a perfectly sane, reasonable timeframe, managed to avoid spoilers, and  altogether couldn't have asked for a better viewing experience.  The short review is that "The Bear" is still excellent television, but the third season feels like it's treading water, setting up a lot of storylines that won't pay off until the fourth season, with some episodes feeling more like filler.

This is most noticeable with the first episode, a stream-of-consciousness look inside Carmy's head, which functions like a recap of his story up until this point, and also more plainly lays out all the connections between various figures from his life who we've met in previous episodes.  This also pointedly underlines Carmy's self-destructive perfectionism that comes to the fore this season, as he sets an excruciatingly high standard for the new restaurant that his employees struggle to meet.  The episode is beautifully done, with great editing, sound design, and use of music.  However, the season would have been perfectly fine without it.

There are some other excellent episodes in this year's batch.  "Napkins," directed by Ayo Edibiri, gives Tina (Liza Colon-Zayas) a long overdue spotlight episode that includes the beginning of her relationship with Richie.  "Ice Chips" sees Sugar finally give birth, but most of the running time is spent reconciling with her troubled mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) while they're waiting in the hospital.  I don't mind the slow pace or the slice-of-life vibes of the other episodes.  It's nice to just spend time with these characters, checking up on Marcus after the death of his mother, or Richie fretting over his ex getting married again, or Sugar trying to keep ahead of the out-of-control bills.  Sydney and Carmy haven't made much progress - they're both still failing to communicate and the kitchen remains an intense pressure cooker.     

However, this doesn't excuse dragging out parts of the story to uncomfortable lengths.  Sydney spends most of the season debating whether to sign a partnership contract that would give her part ownership of the restaurant.  The fate of The Bear hinges on an important restaurant review, and at the end of the last episode, despite multiple fake-outs, we still don't know if it was positive or negative.  It doesn't help that the last episode mostly takes place at a party where a collection of real life chefs spend a lot of time waxing poetic about cooking and running restaurants.  Thomas Keller, a major inspiration for some of the characters, gets an extended cameo.  Carmy does have a big character moment here - he confronts the abusive chef, David Fields (Joe McHale), who seeded a lot of his neuroses, but if this was a turning point for him, we don't see the consequences yet.  And while Sydney seems to have made a decision about her future, it's anything but definite.

These frustrations aside, "The Bear" remains one of the most addictive  shows currently airing because it's so good about creating these nuanced, interesting characters who feel like real people.  I love the Faks trying to talk to Claire on Carmy's behalf.  I love Sydney rolling her eyes at her dad.  I love Cicero sticking his nose in the business, and bringing along a guy called the Computer (Brian Koppelman) to help.  I love all the guest stars who gamely show up to do a scene or two, including John Mulaney essentially just showing up to complain that Carmy smells and throw blankets over him in one of the flashbacks.  After ten episodes, I'm a little annoyed that not much was resolved and everyone is kicking their problems further down the road, but on the other hand it feels true to life.  Sometimes we're all just trying to see how long we can ignore something before the other shoe drops.

It helps that I know we're getting another season of "The Bear" soon.  The show has a very fast production, and as everyone's careers are taking off, season four is probably going to be the last one for a while.  Considering the long breaks that other prestige shows are working with these days, getting the resolution to the cliffhanger in twelve months feels positively reasonable.  And "The Bear" has been so consistently good, we all know it's worth waiting for.