‘The Bear’ Season 2 Deserved the Long-Lasting Hype of a Weekly Release

When Season 2 of FX’s beloved series The Bear premiered on Hulu on June 22, critics and fans alike inhaled all 10 episodes like hot dogs at Nathan’s annual Fourth of July hot dog eating competition. With compelling characters, palpable tension, intense emotions, and storylines that suck you in, Christopher Storer’s culinary creation makes a perfect, albeit stressful, binge. But a month after the superb sophomore season dropped, I still wish we could have savored and digested it in weekly installments, like a multi-course Michelin-worthy meal.

Whenever a season drops in full, viewers obviously have the option to watch episodes at their own pace. But with a highly-anticipated hit like The Bear, there’s an undeniable pressure to speed-watch, partake in initial discussion, and — crucially — avoid spoilers. The series thrives in moments of chaos, and that chaos is heightened by an uninterrupted viewing experience. So consuming Season 2 of The Bear in a single sitting was admittedly thrilling. That said, I don’t think a single soul expected the episodes to go that hard; include a mind-blowing string of celebrity cameos; or feature an overwhelming number of standout performances, episodes, songs, and scenes worth obsessing over.

After the binge comes the hype. But because viewers raced to break down, praise, and review every episode simultaneously, The Bear’s Season 2 hype died down much sooner than it should have. The series deserved more than the two weeks of intense online discussion it received as a result of its same-day drop. The launch of Season 2, reportedly 70% higher than Season 1, became FX’s most-watched Hulu premiere. So those ratings may have dipped had the season spread out over time, and a weekly release schedule may not have neatly bottled up 10 episodes of tension or packed as hard of an emotional punch. But each episode was so carefully crafted it deserved a full week of thoughtful, unhurried, expansive coverage and discussion that other popular series like Succession, The White Lotus, or Barry have received.

If a straight weekly release was off the table, why not mirror another popular model (which Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty recently implemented) and premiere the first three episodes, followed by one a week for the remainder of the season? Could you imagine the unbridled joy of sitting down after a week-long hiatus of The Bear to watch Marcus (Lionel Boyce) and Chef Luca (Will Poulter) take Copenhagen in Episode 4? Though I’m not sure the emotional whiplash of watching “Fishes” and “Forks” back-to-back would have hit the same with a week-long gap, the terrifically tense, star-studded Episode 6 deserved seven uninterrupted days of love, as did Richie’s heartwarming Episode 7. And The Bear’s Season 2 finale could have been a cultural event.

A weekly release model would have given viewers ample time to thirst over tattooed Luca, sort through our feelings about Claire, sob over that “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” needle drop and surprise Olivia Colman appearance, unpack the brilliance of Jamie Lee Curtis’ performance, cackle over Pete (Chris Witaske) showing up to the Feast of Seven Fishes with an eighth fish, analyze Season 2’s Community references, and fully weigh in on the Carmy/Syd/Marcus ship debate.

The binge gave an incomparable rush, but I’d go back and give it up if it meant we got to keep gushing over the series for several months.

The Bear is now streaming on Hulu.