Posted in: FX, Hulu, Music, Opinion, Pop Culture, TV, TV | Tagged: Eddie Vedder, fx on hulu, opinion, pearl jam, the bear

The Bear: How Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder Sold Me on FX on Hulu Series

Here's how Eddie Vedder's "Save It For Later" cover sold me on Christopher Storer's Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri-starring The Bear.

It's important to start a piece like this with some brutal honesty. Christopher Storer's award-winning FX on Hulu series The Bear was destined to be one of those shows that I would eventually end up binging some time down the road – and then end up kicking myself for having waited so long to finally embrace it. Just to be clear? This has absolutely nothing to do with Storer's series – far from it. Everything that I've seen and read about it – from trailers and teasers to behind-the-scenes features and interviews with cast and creators – convinced me that it's the kind of quality work that makes me proud to cover television. The main cast is made up of acting powerhouses who could easily lead their own respective series in a hot second – Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Abby Elliott, and Matty Matheson – and the recurring and guest star lineups are a "who's who" of Hollywood excellence. Television critics and those close to me whose television opinions I trust have done nothing but sing the show's praises – and I've gotten way too many DMs from friends shocked that I haven't watched it.

Why haven't I watched it beyond the Storer-penned and directed series opener "System"? I'm still not sure – but if I had to fathom a guess, I would say that it felt like The Bear was going to be a "heavy" show. Having to cover (and watch) a lot of "heavy" shows – both personally and professionally – I wasn't sure I had enough emotional capital left to invest in another show. So I resigned myself to putting a pin in The Bear as a reminder to check it out… someday? Then I heard Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder's cover of The Beat's (The English Beat's over here) 1982 song "Save It For Later" in the promos for the third season.

As someone of a "particular age," I was a huge fan of that song when it came out – and the cover from The Who's Pete Townshend is a uniquely different and heartwrenching take on the song. In fact, I first thought that it was a remix of Townshend's cover that was used in the promos and that would eventually end up in the Season 3 episode "Next." But thanks to Reddit, the truth was revealed – Vedder had recorded a cover of the song for the then-upcoming season. It's rare that I consider a cover to be equal to or that it surpasses the original – and I won't be saying that here, either. That's because Vedder took the song and made it his own. In a previous interview, The Beat guitarist Dave Wakeling noted that the song was "about turning from a teenager to someone in their 20s" (as well as a naughtier double-meaning). While that theme is still there in Vedder's cover, the difference is night and day – literally.

The Beat's original song evokes a frantic energy about life and its possibilities. It vibes like the start of a day when anything and everything is possible – "The Day." But with Vedder, we get a song that's definitely meant for the end of the day – "The Night." Having spent the day trying to work our hopes and dreams into a reality, the night is when we get a chance to be honest – even if it's only with ourselves. It's that time when we look back on what worked and what didn't… where we failed and where we may have scored just enough victories to keep going. It's that time when we ask ourselves if we're doing right by those around us – those who have faith and are committed to a vision. It's that time we need to remind ourselves that what we're doing is worth doing – even for just another day. Vedder's cover became the soundtrack for those times – so seeing that serving as the soundtrack to Carmy (White), Sydney (Edebiri), Richie (Moss-Bachrach), and the gang's efforts to make this dream happen made me better understand the show and what it was trying to say.

Of course, I could be wrong – but I doubt it. I will be binge-watching the first season this weekend and sharing my thoughts on it after I knock out all three seasons. But if The Bear is a fine enough establishment for Vedder, then why not make a reservation?

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