This weekend I have … a few hours, and I love shouting.
‘The Bear’
When to watch: Now, on Hulu.
Easily among TV’s most cacophonous shows, FX’s “The Bear” is a textured, tender tale of passion, conflict and determination. Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy, a celebrated chef, needy and greasy, who takes over his family’s Italian beef sandwich shop in Chicago after his brother’s death. Everything is a mess: The kitchen is filthy, debts are mounting, and the staff’s default mode of communication is rage-fueled yelling.
But that just means there’s room to grow. Ayo Edebiri gives one of the year’s best performances, as a green but brilliant young chef, and even when the show hits traditional beats, it’s never quite how one might expect. The music supervision is suffocatingly literal, and some of the accent work rankles, but I devoured all eight episodes in a sitting.
… four hours, and I want something elegant.
‘Queen’
When to watch: Now, on Netflix.
This four-part Polish series (in Polish and French, with subtitles, or dubbed) would be worth watching for the costumes and production design alone, but luckily, it’s also a lovely story, straightforward but refined, like luscious wrapping paper from a luxury store. Andrzej Seweryn stars as Sylwester, a Parisian tailor by day and a drag queen by night. When he receives a letter from the granddaughter he didn’t know he had about the ailing daughter he abandoned, he heads back to Poland to make things right.
“Queen” has a vibrant visual style, with lush suiting and vivid primary colors, but it still feels like real life, as if the cobalt-blue bathroom were a choice the characters would truly make. If you want something poignant but happy, watch this.
… six hours, and breaking up is hard to do.
‘The Split’
When to watch: Now, on Sundance Now.
The third and final season of “The Split” picks up several months after Season 2 left off; Hannah and Nathan (Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan) are preparing to sign divorce papers, but given that they and most of the characters on the show are divorce lawyers, crossing the Ts is no simple feat. Many dramas, especially British ones, find their friction from characters’ inability to say what they want. This season of “The Split” is much more about indecision than inarticulateness — the characters often relish the opportunity to air harsh truths, if only they knew what they were.
If you miss “The Good Wife,” or if you want a rich-people drama that leans soapy but still has emotional integrity, watch this.
