The following story contains minor, like spoilers for The Bear season 3, episode 5, “Children.”
LET’S GET ONE thing straight: John Cena is fantastic. The wrestler-turned-actor is one of the best to ever do it, proving his talent over the years as someone who can handle drama, is even better with action, but particular thrives with comedy; I’ve written before about just how adept a comedic performer he is, and how his role in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (and, later, Peacemaker) made the ideal use of his unique combination of humor and action star bonafides.
John Cena, broadly, is fantastic. But The Bear—a fast-paced, grounded, dramedy about the ins and outs of a rising Chicago restaurant—is not the right place for John Cena. And while Cena did what he was asked and did it well, his appearance as Sammy, the newest member of the seemingly ever-growing Fak family (which also includes Matty Matheson’s Neil and Ricky Staffieri’s Theodore) felt out of tune with the rest of the show.
Cena’s appearance as Sammy is a symptom of what’s ultimately a larger illness within The Bear‘s hit-and-miss third season—there’s just too much Fak. Matheson was a highlight as a recurring character in the show’s debut season, and when his brother was introduced in season 2, the two made for a brilliant comedic duo, a much needed reprieve from the intensity the show is getting elsewhere. But season 3, in turn, feels like the praise was taken too literally, and as a result went way to far the other way.
One of the best Fak moments came in season 2’s acclaimed “Fishes” episode, where the brothers pitched John Mulaney’s Stevie on some kind of baseball card money-making scheme they were trying to cook up. The moments like that in season 3—where one or both of them are supporting another character, teeing up interesting conversations and moments—still work to perfection. But there are far too many other scenes that simply consist of the two brothers, alone, bouncing off each other and doing pure shtick, that it stops everything else going on clean in its tracks.
That reaches a peak in the season’s fifth episode, “Children,” where Sammy, the third Fak brother played by Cena, enters. In theory, in a vacuum, this could be fine. All three Faks are solid comedic performers, and their bits around the concept of “haunting” and Cena’s unquestioned brute strength, feel distinctly out of a more traditional 2010s-style sitcom (they almot have an Always Sunny in Chicago show-within-the-show vibe). If it was a sitcom called Fak!, this would probably be great. But it’s not—it’s The Bear, and we’re spending far too much time and energy on a bunch of bits that feel tangential from our other story threads.
Cena’s presence also takes the viewer out of things a bit. For as star-studded as season 2 was, each of the cameos felt of the world. Jamie Lee Curtis is an icon, but her hair is styled differently from what viewers are accustomed to, and the character was so emotionally intense and draining, that things didn’t get stuck in the celebrity stunt casting of it all. Mulaney and Bob Odenkirk, too, while very famous, were made up just different enough to feel at home and not distract from anything.
For as talented and wonderful a presence John Cena is, it’s hard to look at him and not think ‘Oh, there’s John Cena.’ When he bursts through the restaurant door in “Children,” it doesn’t feel natural and of the world of The Bear; it feels like John Cena walking onto the set of The Bear. It feels like John Cena was hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live, and they decided to do a sketch spoofing The Bear.
I don’t want it to feel like I’m coming down too hard on the show, or Cena’s appearance within it. For as much heat as the new season has taken, it’s still a wonderfully made show with a lot of great moments—Tina’s flashback episode, and conversation with Jon Bernthal’s Michael, is among the high moments for the show overall—and it’s all coming from a good place. The intention, especially with Cena’s appearance, is to make a show that’s fun, and that’s something that should be commended.
But, unfortunately, just like some of the risks taken and dishes tried in The Bear’s kitchen, not everything is going to work every time.
