Chef! is wonderful . . . at least the first season. And the second season, as several others have also said, is fine though the supporting cast changes (and lose charm as they become more central to the stories) and the stories are less fun. The last season, with its love triangles, harsh, brassy lighting, and general feeling of angst is a real disappointment. But the first season is a joy. It is such catharsis when Gareth chews people out - we can only dream to attain to such heights of belittlement. And, like Oedipus who discovers his errors too late, Gareth pays for his rashness. Unlike another great bbc series' main character Gordon Brittas (bbc's Brittas Empire) who never susses to his foibles, Gareth knows his sins, just as we do. When the moment comes that he reaps his bitter harvest, we're there with him because we've said and done things that we've lived to regret. It makes it cool.
There's so much that's cool about the first season - the quirky cooks who say nearly nothing but have lots of personality, Janice, Gareth's wife, who you'd kind of like not to like but who's strong, shares Gareth's dream, and is a foody, the rich feeling of high culture when the shenanigans of the kitchen are left behind, and so much more. The first season's last episode, finishing on Christmas, makes me all melancholy.
And there is a racial element that gives Chef! additional depth. Like Dave Lister in the bbc Red Dwarf series, Gareth is the minority who makes it to the top (though in Dave's case it's by default since he's the last living human in the universe).
It's a shame that the series couldn't have lasted longer – but going in the direction it was, it's best it died quick.
There's so much that's cool about the first season - the quirky cooks who say nearly nothing but have lots of personality, Janice, Gareth's wife, who you'd kind of like not to like but who's strong, shares Gareth's dream, and is a foody, the rich feeling of high culture when the shenanigans of the kitchen are left behind, and so much more. The first season's last episode, finishing on Christmas, makes me all melancholy.
And there is a racial element that gives Chef! additional depth. Like Dave Lister in the bbc Red Dwarf series, Gareth is the minority who makes it to the top (though in Dave's case it's by default since he's the last living human in the universe).
It's a shame that the series couldn't have lasted longer – but going in the direction it was, it's best it died quick.