First Person
Sooner or Later
Dear friends,
I watched the new season of The Bear last week.
The show resonates for me because it’s about work, and family, and finding purpose and meaning and love and joy. It’s about making—the hard parts and the great parts of trying really hard to create a thing.
Today I’m sharing the opening sequence to Episode 2 of the new season of The Bear. (That’s it, up top.) I’ve watched it probably ten times now, absolutely haunted by it.
It gives me hope that we can all weather whatever is coming our way.
That’s Eddie Vedder covering “Save It for Later,” a song from 1982 by The English Beat. Oh, that was such a song for me in college.
Love,
Ann
It stands alone. Beautiful and hopeful. Generous and appreciative.
Thank you for posting this. I don’t pay close attention when watching TV.
Love that song! Pete Townshend performed it live at a concert in the 80s and I’ve always remembered it.
Wow! Makes my night. Thank you!
I found it on YouTube and agree it’s superb. What a song.
Pete Townshend and David Gilmour: twin gods!
I read somewhere (in my very recent deep dive on this song) that Pete Townshend couldn’t figure out the guitar tuning and called up the Beat guys to get it and they thought someone was pranking them…
Apologies for the boomer-ish use of ellipses…I can’t help it…I just trail off…
So in need of the hope this video embodies- thank you.
“Whatever is coming our way” is a noble sentiment when it’s about what can’t be prevented. The wrong outcome of the November election is within our control. In my view, it is not a choice of the lesser of two evils. As knitters we select a pattern and work diligently toward an end product that closely resembles that pattern. We don’t add a third sleeve or buttonholes on the back – no experimenting with extreme features hoping all will turn out okay. It won’t, despite any “likes” on Ravelry because some might see “a design feature”. Whatever is coming our way is dangerous, extreme, irrational, permanent, and absolutely avoidable. Please vote carefully – our children’s democracy depends on it.
Thank you for voicing that so calmly, factually. It so matters for us, for our children and it sounds so extreme. the world.
Select a pattern, work diligently.” A beautiful metaphor for how we can all do our part to protect democracy. Thank you!
Thank you, Carol. Well said. I know our daily MDK fix is a salve to this crazy situation we are in, but we are at the point, where the goal can not be let out of our sight.
Amen, Sister!
Preach!
I completely agree with you, thank you for speaking up. This is terrifying that it needs to be said everywhere. Who knows if democracy will survive? I hope so, for all the children.
AMEN!
In this moment I need a ray of hope, not a lecture. Thanks, Ann.
Proofing this post yesterday finally got me to watch this show so thanks for that too?!
Big Bear Hugs.
I loved the English Beat as well and sang along happily as I watched that episode. Such a great show
That time the opening credits made me sob into my morning coffee.
So many tears over here.
Wow, Ann, way to start our morning off with goose bumps! I love that song, and this montage about work and workers is just beautiful! It struck me how many of the people shown are likely immigrants or the children of immigrants. It’s a strong reminder that the work of our nation (US, but like many others) is performed by people who come here from all over the world to work – to pursue a dream or for purely economic or safety reasons. We are all children of immigrants to the US, the only difference is how long ago our family made the journey. Whew, goose bumps and deep thoughts – this is one of the many reasons I love MDK.
Soon as I hit enter, I said NO, we are not ALL children of immigrants. I’m so sorry, if I knew how to edit I would. Our Native American fellow citizens are not immigrants, they are the original Americans. I should have thought the comment through before posting, I’m sorry!
Thank you:)!
Haunting is exactly the right word for this. I haven’t been able to watch without tears, but I keep watching. So Chicago, so American.
The Bear is absolutely brilliant and this opening is a perfect tribute to the hardworking people of Chicago. We loved it when we watched it and I’m so glad you shared it. A definite glimmer!!
Thank you for this. We don’t have Hulu so have not yet watched this show.
Thank you for this poultice of beautiful music and sentiments.
Love this show. Partly because it feels like a love letter to my home city. I’m not currently living there and these credits made me so homesick.
The Bear is one of the most beautifully executed programs I have ever watched. The timing, the actors, the music makes it as close to perfect as TV gets in
my opinion. Always an “easy crier”, I sobbed through the end of Season 2.
I am saving Season 3 for cooler weather watching when I am not outside until darkness falls as I am now. This intro though had me “gulpy”. The depiction of so many people moving through life contributing to society on a daily basis is very moving. It seems to me that pulling together benefits us all.
Thanks Ann. I love this so much. Grateful for all the people who support us and make our lives possible every single day.
Love that sequence. This whole 3rd season was haunting. The visuals the acting the theme of being haunted! Saw the last episode last night, we concluded you think it’s about food but it’s about grief and who you are and what was and is. I don’t know what to watch now!
Olivia Colman! The whole thing! Just beautiful. I’m bereft too, waiting for the second part of the season.
Thank you, I loved it too. Everyday people .
I too could watch this over and over and probably will, while I am knitting.
A love letter to Chicago, and it’s people. Lovely. Thanks for sharing!
I LOVED that opening sequence!!! Hopeful, indeed. We need all the hope we can get.
Oh, I miss that show! I don’t have Hulu right now. Sigh….
I bought a TV last year after not being able to afford the service after becoming disabled. When my mother passed in 2022, she left me with enough money to cover my expenses and I purchased a new TV. It’s a brave new world and I love to knit and watch TV at night and now I have something NEW to watch and that song also brought back memories. THANKS !
As a worker in the service industry myself (customer service at a grocery store, and a daughter who works at Starbucks), this definitely seems like something I would watch if I had a streaming service. (We don’t since we rarely made use of it.) Saving this for future reference.
Sustenance for the day…thanks for serving up tasty, healthy, filling breakfast, lunch and dinner. I can’t believe how late I was getting to this. I’m usually here with the early birds. I do know, however, to never skip a day. Like vitamins, but so much better. Competing with yogurt waffles. I hope’s a good day at MDK!
That was cool but for that song nothing compares to the original. RIP Ranking Roger.
Ann (and Kay and all the other elves that make this click along), thanks for the multi-faceted gift!
Inspiring and uplifting – just the tonic I needed to get me through the week. Thank you Ann
I started watching the first season and honestly, found it really stressful. I know it is highly acclaimed and I trust your judgment, Ann, so I will give it another go.
I was with you Deepa, wanting to avoid the stress, but Ann’s praise for it finally wore me down. I’m onto the Hulu free trial and starting season 2 and absolutely loving it. It’s different than I thought it would be, from the jump!
Hi Deepa!
It is definitely stressful–sort of like running a knitting website lol only with better food …
I agree totally that the first season has a lot of shouting. It doesn’t really stop in later seasons, and their use of the f word is operatic and comprehensive. That said, I sort of hold my breath through the rough scenes and hold out for the nuanced ones. The acting is just so good, the look of it, the all of it.
Yes, exactly! I am so glad I stuck with it. It’s rare that a show these days is so unpredictable, yet all comes together somehow. Thank you for sharing this clip.
Beautiful, haunting, hopeful. Reminds me that everyone has a story, especially the people we tend to ignore or who are hidden behind doors. Needed this today, thank you, Ann.
I can’t knit these days. I have resorted to needlepoint although, Lord knows, my sofas have sufficient pillows. Stabbing that blunt needle precisely through 18-to-the-inch holes is a necessary, productive aggression. Meditative? Probably not. But it soothes.
From my corner of the Blue Ridge I recommend a short reading list to counter an inauthentic memoir that will probably slither back up the best-seller lists:
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghost, by Crystal Wilkinson, Clarkson Potter.
Appalachian Reckoning, edited by Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll, West Virginia University Press.
Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Collins.
Thanks for the book recommendations!! ❤️
Thank you for these recommendations, Barbara!
Yes, that was really cool. Thank you.
You are so correct as always.
Have you watched the docuseries, “Lolla, the Story of Lollapalooza”? It was good. Both Eddie and Dave Grohl are in it a little, from the early years of Lolla. They look like elementary schoolers!
Preach!
Damato’s, Lou Mitchell’s. This sequence makes me so nostalgic for Chicago.
Love the Bear, and this song, and your sensibility. And also the beautiful, apt comment someone made below, calling this a poultice.
Thank you so much for sharing the Casting by card. As a Casting Director, I can’t begin to tell you how many times our contributions to show are ignored. Much appreciated.
I am not a fan of “gritty” TV shows. I prefer my “marshmallow world” of predictable Hallmark romances sprinkled with the occasional British “dramedy”. Nevertheless, being aware of the hype surrounding “The Bear” as ever late to the party a few weeks back I started Episode 1 of Season 1. I lasted five minutes. As we are encouraged to do in our daily dollop from MDK, however, “Read on”. Yesterday morning as I was enjoying my cereal, in saunters Ann Shayne who plops herself down at my kitchen table, figuratively, of course. She lures me with a beautiful mosaic of the workforce of Chicago masterfully “narrated” by Eddie Vetter – I’m a sucker for his voice! I decided that any show that puts that much effort into a “one-off” opening sequence deserves a second chance. After having watched the video a gazillion times during the day when I needed a break from work, when I returned home yesterday evening I settled in with my current project – my grandson’s blanket (cheers, Kay) – and at the end of the night found myself starting episode 5. Much like the video, it is an artistic panoply of characters not unlike those that Ann and Kay assemble for us on a daily basis. “The Bear” does not resemble my reality nor does Kay’s delightful recommendation of “Derry Girls” – neither does the Hallmark Channel, if I’m being honest – but I find it exhilarating upon occasion to give in to the appreciation of things outside of my comfort zone. So, Ann and Kay, here is an open invitation to plop down at my kitchen table any time. Thank you, ladies!
What a beautiful tribute to the working class.
My beautiful city of Chicago, how I love it here, with all its mess and chaos there is always a glimmer of beauty somewhere.
Lovely. We are the people!
Thank you
Like so many others, I was teary-eyed. We should all remember those hard working people behind the scenes…every single day. And PLEASE be sure to say thank you to the baristas, waitstaff, bank teller, trash collector and all of the other people who make our lives easier and enhanced by their labor. ❤️❤️❤️
I can’t get the song out of my head and I have some vague memories of it but in 1982 I was a new bride who had just lost my precious father in law who was only 61. He was the American architect who designed The Denver Art Museum and he was SO FULL of LIFE. This song is remarkable in so many ways
I am so proud of my adopted hometown of Chicago (now in Evanston and guilty of still claiming Chicago as mine) and its role in this most amazing TV series. Sharing for all of you a great article from our local Evanston paper with details of the filming that took place in Evanston (blocks from my home) with some fun pictures: https://evanstonroundtable.com/2024/07/16/the-bear-necessities-exploring-evanstons-role-in-the-hit-show/ Chicago is one of the best cities in the world and this opening shows it off: incredible lakefront, architecture, and food–but most of all the people who keep it running.