The Bear, widely hyped as the one of the best TV shows of last year, is returning to screens for its much-anticipated second season.
Mixing drama, laughs, and sheer chaos, the FX-produced series follows accomplished but troubled young chef Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto (played by Jeremy Allen White) who returns home to Chicago to run his family restaurant after a traumatic death in the family.
Featuring a talented ensemble cast and economic yet emotionally impactful writing, while also authentically capturing the high-pressure stakes of a professional kitchen, The Bear can make for oppressively intense viewing but is also intensely satisfying.
Another beloved quality of The Bear is its soundtrack.
The first season cherry-picked from '90s alt-rock mainstays like Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Radiohead, Counting Crows as well as memorable cuts from LCD Soundsystem, Sufjan Stevens, Van Morrison, Genesis, Refused and many more.
There was also plenty of Chicago hometown heroes Wilco, including a live version of their Krautrock meltdown 'Spiders (Kidsmoke)' that scored season one's penultimate episode – an anxiety-inducing, single-take masterpiece of tension and plotting.
Picking up where The Bear ended in the first season – with the Berzatto family and the returning kitchen staff preparing to open a new restaurant against very stressful odds – season two (available to stream on Disney+ in Australia from 19 July) ups the ante in nearly every department. The soundtrack is no exception.
There's artists that return from the first season but also a greater range of needle drops, featuring rock classics (AC/DC, Smashing Pumpkins), throwback pop (Fine Young Cannibals, The Motels), and tracks from other esteemed musical icons (Mavis Staples, Neil Finn, David Byrne).
Each selection is dished up like the music nerd equivalent of Carmy's hotshot chef – plating up all the right sonic ingredients at the precise time to enhance a scene's impact and underscore its narrative significance.
Let's dig into some of season two's stand-out musical cues and just why they're so successful.
Spoiler Alert: We've tried to keep plot specifics to a bare minimum (no pun intended) but if you're the kind of person that likes to go into something blind, maybe consider bingeing The Bear before diving deeper. (Season one is a very manageable eight episodes. Just saying.)
What are some of the highlights?
Bruce Hornsby & The Range – 'The Show Goes On'
Playing over the opening sequence from the season two premiere is '80s dad rock royalty Bruce Hornsby, scoring sweeping aerial shots of the Chicago skyline before we join our protagonists debating whether their sandwich shop is undergoing a 'facelift or a gut' to become the upscale restaurant they desire.
The electric piano number re-establishes The Bear's tone — championing of the everyman through the kind of un-hip jukebox picks many of the in-world characters would probably enjoy, or at the very least hear blaring out of their communal workplace radio.
You can bet the choice of song title, 'The Show Goes On', isn't a mistake either, showing the nuanced level of detail the show's creators are operating at.
Even deeper, it's a song about moving on to something better beyond difficult, sometimes tragic circumstances, which plenty of characters in The Bear are in search of.
Refused – 'New Noise'
A key cut from Swedish band Refused's landmark (and prophetic) 1998 album The Shape of Punk To Come, 'New Noise' appeared at crucial moments in the first season of The Bear.
The track's ticking guitar riff sizzles like the wick of lit dynamite — you've got moments before shit is about to explode – and it usually surfaced whenever Carmen's blood pressure was about to pop.
'New Noise' makes a welcome return at the close of season two's first episode in a new context: the looming deadline of 12 weeks to open a fresh fine-dining eatery on time and on budget with precious little of both.
'Can I scream?' shrieks Refused frontman Dennis Lyxzén. It's never felt more appropriate.
Taylor Swift – 'Love Story (Taylor's Version)'
A pristine example of how this show can surprise and delight? Taking its most recognisable blockbuster pop moment and attaching it to its most unlikely source.
Richie (Ebon Moss-Bacharach) is The Bear's foul-mouthed, short-tempered, unsympathetic character you'll quickly fall in love with — the restaurant's manager and Carmen's "cousin", though not by blood.
We've all known a Richie in our lives. Somebody whose bonds run too deep for us to cut them off, despite their many faults and boneheaded professional and personal decisions giving us cause to.
However, late in season two, Richie undergoes a transformation. And Taylor Swift's early-career signature hit plays a symbolic part.
Without going into too much detail, just know that this divorced dad is belting out his daughter's favourite artist while speeding in his beat-up sedan through the pre-dawn streets of Chicago in a moment of triumph following a crushing low involving his ex-wife.
We've all been there, driving and singing aloud at the top of our lungs and gesturing wildly to the lyrics, in our own personal bubble of musical bliss.
R.E.M. – 'Strange Currencies'
Not R.E.M.'s biggest song by any stretch but the cult favourite from their 1994 album Monster is a neat fit for The Bear.
'Strange Currencies' becomes a recurring motif attached to Carmen's love interest – his teenage crush, Claire (Molly Gordon) – expressing his conflicted desires but also Claire's conviction that 'you will be mine'.
Three different versions of the song are used across the season at turning points in their developing relationship – the 1993 album version, a 2019 remix, and a previously unreleased demo exclusive to the show.
Showrunners secured that latter rendition due to the band being big fans of the show.
"The Bear is hands down my favourite show of last year," gushed frontman Michael Stipe.
"Having incorporated R.E.M. songs into their universe makes it even sweeter… The best people at any party are always in the kitchen!"
The mutual admiration extended to a new music video for 'Strange Currencies', some rare activity from a prestigious group who have been very selective since they disbanded back in 2011.
Mulatu Astatke – 'Tezeta'
From the pioneering father of Ethiopian jazz, Mulatu Astatke, this dreamy instrumental would give anything it soundtracks a peaceful quality. So, it works especially well when it accompanies a horizon-expanding trip to Copenhagen.
In episode four, kitchen staffer Marcus (Lionel Boyce) travels to Denmark's capital city to refine his dessert and pastry-making skills. The fluttering saxophone of 'Tezeta', an easy-going waltz whose title translates to 'Nostalgia', is heard over a montage of Marcus' pleasant fish-out-of-water experience.
Wandering through finely manicured gardens, markets, and greenhouses inspires the blossoming cook to bring the same level of attention to his own sweet creations.
'Tezeta' also reflects how season two of The Bear is able to extend itself, not just its music, in artful ways.
Expanding the scope beyond the central location of the kitchen defined by season one could've been a risk, but intimate moments like this Ethio-jazz montage shows how much confidence The Bear has in reaching new spaces and showing us more of the characters' lives outside the hustle of the workplace.
Pearl Jam – 'Animal'
This roaring grunge belter, from Pearl Jam's second and arguably heaviest album Vs., drops in at a pivotal moment in the season two finale.
First, we hear the strains of Wilco's 'Spiders (Kidsmoke)' rise in the mix – an obvious callback to season one's most unbearably tense moment — before Pearl Jam kicks in, at the precise moment sous-chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) tells Richie to "drive".
As Eddie Vedder roars over the surging riffs, there's still that sense of palpable tension as a buzzing kitchen races to prove themselves on opening night, but also a blood-pumping sense of conquest. It's make-or-break time as the staff go into proverbial battle, and they're running on animal instincts and adrenaline to emerge victorious.
The irony? We see and hear them doing their damnedest to save the day while their leader, Carmen, is indisposed and thinks he's doomed them to another gastronomic meltdown.
Freddy Fender – 'Before The Next Teardrop Falls'
Like so many of The Bear's use of songs, this pick from self-described 'Tex-Mex' artist Freddy Fender is small but oh-so-significant.
It arrives when Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) takes up an invitation from younger colleagues at her culinary school for drinks at a local karaoke bar. In a sink-or-swim moment, Tina positively floats as she delivers a gorgeous rendition of 'Before The Next Teardrop Falls' alone at the podium.
Just like the bar's onlookers, you don't need to know the song to appreciate how much it means to the woman singing it. We don't need explicit background details, her performance – tears welling up from whatever memories the song is evoking, as well as the realisation she's winning the crowd over – tells us so much about her character.
It's the kind of deeply personal pick that gives her dimension, suggesting a real life with real issues outside the confines of a half-hour television episode, that makes you care so much more about Tina.
Like so many of the characters on this show, she's not living the easiest of lives but damn it, Tina is trying. In tough times, even a small win like a tear-jerking karaoke night is worth savouring.
Ramones – 'Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)'
'Fishes' is destined to be the most talked about episode of season two. It'll have Twitter buzzing, critics fawning, and net The Bear even more trophies come awards season.
It's a Christmas flashback episode featuring a star-studded ensemble cast portraying the extended circle of Barzetto family and friends.
The soundtrack toys with classic holiday fare – from crooners Dean Lewis, Darlene Love and Andy Lewis – with a mix of nostalgic '80s hits – George Harrison's 'Got My Mind Set On You', Crowded House's 'Something So Strong', Lindsey Buckingham's 'Holiday Road'.
However, music plays more of a backseat to the unfolding drama, depicting Christmas-enhanced family dysfunction to an uncomfortably accurate degree.
Charting a bumpy course around edgy family dynamics and (likely undiagnosed) mental health issues, the episode builds to a total car crash of a climax that feels inevitable but no less impactful.
Before all that though, we're introduced to the family's chain-smoking matriarch Donna, played with scene-stealing aplomb by recent Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis.
Her habitat is – you guessed it – a chaotic kitchen. You can practically feel the heat and stress from the bubbling pots, blaring oven, empty bottles of 'liquid courage', zero bench space – the whole deal.
In a crafty bit of foreshadowing, Ramones' yuletide punk song rings in sync with a sauce-splattered cooking timer that rings incessantly trough the episode.
'Merry Christmas, I don't want to fight with you' Joey Ramone sings prophetically. Unfortunately, fighting is very much on the menu.
Why does The Bear's soundtrack work so well?
Simply put? Because two of the show's key creators are deeply involved with assembling it.
Christopher Storer is The Bear's creator, regular writer and director. He and co-executive producer Josh Senior are also the show's music supervisors, taking on the gig to cut production costs. They're also passionate music fans.
"It's the most fun thing we get to do on the show, in my opinion. It's a blast," Senior told Variety in a recent interview. "It's an integral part of the process."
Senior and Storer begin the process with a playlist, sharing ideas with other producers and even the cast (Ayo Edebiri is "super helpful" they note), and ultimately that playlist ends up becoming the soundtrack for the season.
The pair also draw a lot from their own fandom for the bands they grew up with: Wilco, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, The Replacements. And if it seems kind of daggy, that's the point.
It's exactly the kind of music the middle-aged, working-class characters of The Bear would be fond of and hear coming from their local radio. It isn't about what's in fashion or taste-making, it's about realism.
"We try very hard to not pick cool music. We don't want anybody to ever say that we're picking stuff because it's cool," Senior says. "We want to pick stuff that we love that feels right for the show. It's about being authentic."
The Bear doesn't subscribe to the conventions of most other prestige TV. It'll have multiple songs from the same artist across a season, and they're unafraid to let a song compete in the audio mix with the already turbulent sounds and atmosphere of the kitchen.
Storer and Senior are also particularly fond of using live versions – a rarity among film and TV soundtracks.
"There's something really alive about it," Storer recently told Uproxx. "There's something about live tracks, where you know the song, but it feels different than the song that you know."
Storer and Senior are also the ones that personally seek permission from artists to use their music. And if the names who've given their sign-off didn't already tip you off - it's a winning approach.
"The truth is we try and be personal," Senior said in an interview with Salon.
"We try and be really clear. We try and collaborate. And we understand that anybody who's willing to let us use their music in the show is doing us a favour, no matter how much money we're paying them.
"That mentality and that gratitude just helps us break through a lot of the process, which can be one that seems to have a lot of red tape."
Largely, the success of The Bear's soundtrack is because of these unique choices, which bring a level of personality and charm sometimes lacking in large-scale screen productions.
Being key creatives and the team behind the music means Storer and Senior ensure their selections act as a further prospect for world-building rather than some marketing opportunity or taste-makers' showcase.
"If the music, at least in our opinion, isn't furthering your appreciation, or understanding, or depth of engagement with the actual story of the show and the characters, we try not to do it," Senior put it to Salon.
"We're trying to tell the story the best way possible."