THE BEAR and Time: Season 2
How every episode of THE BEAR S2 shows the passage of time
Over the last several weeks we’ve reviewed how Season 2 of The Bear uses different time-markers to explore the importance of how we spend our days.
Now we present a 12-course rundown of clocks in each episode, with an apéritif from Season 1 and a digestif of EXIT signs.
Bon appétit.
The Bear 1.01 “System”
The pilot episode ends with three central things: time ticking away (on a clock which will appear throughout both seasons), Carmy cooking, and fun camera work which also - especially in retrospect - signifies how important those tomato tins might really be.
The Bear 2.01 “Beef”
"Beef" eases us into the clock motif, with its first and last ‘timekeepers’ not marking hours and minutes at all.
"Beef" opens with a 90-second wide (intercut with one brief CU of Marcus's hands ministering to his mother's) in a hospital room. Though there's no explicit clock, the neon reds and greens of the hospital machine are clearly keeping time, gauging vitals.
The second timekeeper is a neon sign in Richie's basement, one of those convenience store types which rotates between telling you the temperature, the date, and the time.
Third is a classic round black-n-white analog in the background of the old The Beef kitchen; never in focus, but we'll see it throughout the demolition.
Our first RED DIGITAL READOUT CLOCK of the season is in Carmy's apartment; we'll also see a LOT of this / similar clocks.
Finally we have the The Bear Season 2’s thesis: EVERY SECOND COUNTS written on the calendar along with the countdown to open.
The Bear 2.02 “Pasta”
Ep 2.02 "Pasta" concentrates mostly on clocks in the kitchen where Ebraheim and Tina upskill. Tina thrives, but Ebraheim struggles, and the clock is always behind him, haunting even when he's not looking and we can't see the specific time.
We also get another shot of Carmy's lil countertop clock, as a treat.
Note too the cool blue colour ‘wash’ versus the warm yellow; the season plays with these contrasts a lot.
The Bear 2.03 “Sundae”
"Sundae" starts on Carmy, red digital clock prominent in the frame. If we expect something like S1's monologue, we don't get it.
Later, we see Claire, framed with a similar clock, but alone, and her numbers, lighting, clothing, all in blues.
We also get Marcus and Fak struggling with a stove under the analog clock (which will be mirrored in 2.05), a famous Chicago clock, and Tina waiting for Ebrahim under two impassive clocks at their training kitchen.
The Bear 2.04 “Honeydew”
Marcus's journey in "Honeydew" ties together four of the season's prominent 'passage of time' symbols: a red digital clock, a timer, the EVERY SECOND COUNTS sign, and a big-arse whiteboard listing how many things have to happen immediately.
We stay entirely with Marcus, but when he calls Sydney or his mum’s nurse or his friend back at The Bear, we cut back to them; as in this humorous interlude where Richie and Fak argue while he’s on speakerphone, with a clock hanging over their heads as a reminder they NEED to sort this gas line issue pronto.
The Bear 2.05 “Pop”
"Pop" uses most of its clocks in relation to Carmy, from the starting stopwatch as he works to get the layout of the kitchen exactly right, to the near-end beautifully framed shot where he sees Claire looking at him right above a clock not-so-subtly telling him to take his chances before the moment is gone.
We also have Tina framed with same clock we saw Ebraheim struggling under in “Pasta”
while Sugar is framed with a clock twice; once in conversation with Sydney, and again with her uncle and an EXIT sign.
(see our digestif for more on the season’s use of EXIT signs and symbolism)
The Bear 2.06 “Fishes”
"Fishes" change of time and location is signalled simply, while Tiff's shirt sets us within a fairly specific year AND foreshadows that beautiful TSwift needle drop in a coming episode.
The change means different timers, most spattered with sauces of some sort.
We also get a mantlepiece analog clock, an URGENT NOTICE! on the fridge a clock which sits like a halo over Donna, and several digital clocks: a microwave usually run down to 0:00, a stove clock, and a digital radio (which I first mistook for an electric can opener before remembering this was a few years ago, not 1995).
Scenes WITHOUT timekeepers are as powerful for the distinct absence of clicks: an intimate moment between Richie and then-wife Tiffany; Carmy giving Mike a drawing of The Bear; everything outside the kitchen including the centrepiece dinner scene.
When Donna has her explosive meltdown (feels like a contradiction in terms, yet feels exactly right), there's not one but three digital clocks in frame; the first time we see them all together, one blinking red like a devil near her right shoulder.
The Bear 2.07 “Forks”
"Forks" is essentially a sports-training-sequence set in a kitchen. It repeats motifs within itself, but also brings back signs and clocks which weren't in "Fishes" because of the time/location jump.
As Richie learns his lessons, his alarm goes off ever-so-slightly earlier and earlier.
The change from kitchen-blue to warm yellow when Richie clicks the light is gorgeous, one of the first [literally] warm moments in a slooooow thaw of an episode.
The episode is a microcosm of the season: constantly reminding us of the passage of time in context of hard work and improvement. Becoming better person, athlete, or chef doesn't happen overnight, it's days on days on weeks on years.
The final clock, off Richie's look which cuts to the focus of his look, is as classic "QB checking the time" as it gets.
The Bear 2.08 "Bolognese"
"Bolognese" is very much 'assemble the team' in the leadup to opening, so lots of characters shown with time.
In order: Sugar; Tina taking a delivery; Richie & Syd; Sugar looking at the calendar wall,; Sugar in her office before speaking to Richie; Fak; Syd/Sugar/Carmy looking at the calendar while gloriously backlit; Richie.
Then we have a strong contrast in clocks: the analog clock which featured heavily in S1; red digital clock which has been everywhere in S2.
My favourite is the final clock: Syd's dive into Coach K's book leads her to watching the historic "Miracle Minute" game; we see Duke eight points down with 48 seconds left.
They came back to win.
The Bear 2.09 "Omelette"
"Bolognese" assembled the team and reminded us constantly how little time was left.
2.09 "Omelette" focuses much more on one-on-one interactions, with clocks much less prolific and insistent.
The most subtle is the clock in the background of Emmanuel (Syd’s father) as he questions whether she really wants to spend her life in this profession.
The Bear 2.10 “The Bear”
The season finale features all clocks we've seen before.
The first few red digital clocks are in 'real time' with the oner, then later tell us hours have passed.
The red digital clock even manages to appear in shots of Carmy in the fridge, with a wonderful 'split screen' so we can see him inside,
and Richie outside with the clock behind him.
The final shot of a clock in the kitchen is the analog clock which has been there since S1, accompanied by the blue counterpoint EVERY SECOND COUNTS sign we saw most prominently in "Honeydew" and "Forks".
Last is the clock on Marcus's phone, along with many missed messages; this bookends the opening shot of the season where we saw him keeping watch by his mother's bed.
It’s not in context of work or the kitchen clock or a timer going off: it’s in context of a personal story, of literal life and death.
Every second counts, in every aspect of our days.
The Bear: EXIT signs
As the characters ponder what they’re doing with their life, they all have a chance to run, as the EXIT signs loom to remind them.
In order:
2.01 Sugar, Syd, Carmy
2.02 Syd, Carmy
2.05 Uncle Jimmy, Sugar (bonus! clock *and* calendar in shot)
2.05 Carmy and Sugar (x2)
2.05 Carmy
2.07 Richie at the start of "Forks", when he is still considering running out
No exit signs feature in "The Bear" finale, because at that point there is no turning back.
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THE BEAR (2022): Full Cast & Crew