Since its premiere in 2022, Christopher Storer’s Emmy-winning comedy-drama “The Bear” has been a summer staple, arriving every June with more stories about the talented, emotionally unstable chef Carmen Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and his extended family’s efforts to keep their Chicago restaurant afloat. That annual tradition comes to an end on Thursday night with the arrival of Season 5, which FX has confirmed is its last.
Much remains unresolved. After his brother Mikey’s suicide, Carmy took over his family’s failing Italian beef sandwich shop and, with the help of the young chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and their loyal staff, remade it into a fine-dining restaurant called the Bear. The eatery has Michelin-sized ambitions but has struggled. Now its time — and money — appear to have run out.
But one of show’s main themes is that sometimes the pursuit of greatness matters more than its attainment, and working at the Bear has been transformative for many, including Mikey’s childhood friend Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), the hard-working line cook Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) and the rising pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce). Their fates are tied up with the restaurant’s, and now all their futures hang in the balance.
Season 5 arrives all at once on Hulu. (Episodes air on Thursday nights on FX.) Before the final “yes, chef” resounds, here’s a quick refresher on where “The Bear” left off.
A ticking clock
From the beginning, “The Bear” has had an expressionistic quality, relying on visual and audio motifs to help convey what is going through the characters’ minds. In Season 4, the dominant recurring image was a digital countdown clock in the Bear’s kitchen. It is a constant reminder of how much time remains before the restaurant runs out of money according to their main investor, Carmy’s shady “uncle” Jimmy (Oliver Platt), and Jimmy’s ruthless financial adviser, best known as the Computer (Brian Koppelman).
Carmy spent much of Season 3 burning through Unc’s investment, chasing a Michelin star and driving himself and his co-workers batty. In Season 4, Carmy and his colleagues started trying to fix the sour vibes by simplifying the menu, improving communication and focusing on the overall diner experience. They logged a lot of wins, including a coveted Best New Chef spot in Food & Wine magazine for Marcus.
But that cursed clock kept ticking, and in the Season 4 finale, it hit zero. As Season 5 begins, Carmy, Syd and company have dwindling supplies, a stack of unpaid bills and very little money to help lift them out of the hole.
Making nice
Carmy’s mission to save his own sanity sets the tone for Season 4, which at times plays like a rousing comeback story after a third season that leaned hard on its characters’ anxieties. Carmy reconnected with Claire (Molly Gordon), the childhood sweetheart he previously ditched to focus on the Bear. He had a heart-to-heart with his mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), who had been trying to make amends for being a drunken mess for so long. Carmy even finally bonded with Richie over Mikey’s death.
The peak of Season 4’s can-do spirit came in Episode 7, “Bears,” set at the wedding of Richie’s ex-wife, Tiff (Gillian Jacobs). A mirror image of the second season’s harrowing Christmas flashback episode, “Fishes,” “Bears” has the Berzattos and their many literal and symbolic “cousins” enjoying a day of fellowship. Richie wished Tiff and her likable new husband, Frank (Josh Hartnett), well. Carmy’s sister, Natalie (Abby Elliott), a new mother, buried the hatchet with her longtime frenemy Francie Fak (Brie Larson). All, for once, was well.
“Bears” is a divisive episode among the show’s devotees, with some finding the relentless sunniness off-model. But the episode is emblematic of the direction “The Bear” headed in last year: less shouting, more hugs.
Team players
Richie’s story arc was the most representative of the overall shift toward optimism in Season 4. He chased away his feelings of inferiority through self-help affirmations and team building. He was helped immeasurably when Natalie, who took over as the Bear’s business manager, agreed to hire his friend Jess (Sarah Ramos), the top-tier restaurant host who in Season 2 mentored him on how to run the front of the house. Marcus too got some help in Season 4 from a mentor, Luca (Will Poulter), who moved from Copenhagen to Chicago for a while.
Feeling less gung-ho? Syd, who in Season 4 began to question why she remained loyal to a restaurant and a boss constantly on the brink of collapse. Syd even briefly entertained an offer to be the head chef at a new bistro built around her vision. But when the Bear’s staff rallied around her after her father had a heart attack, Syd realized that a big part of what drives her is a desire to thrive within the Berzattos’ crazy circus, where she feels genuinely needed.
She also remembered how much Carmy’s food had inspired her own love of cooking and creating — which made what happened in the Season 4 finale all the more upsetting.
A shocking goodbye
Throughout Season 4, Carmy urged Syd to read and sign a revised partner agreement — something she hesitated to do as she considered leaving. Once she made the decision to stay, Syd talked over the contract with Natalie’s lawyer husband, Pete (Chris Witaske), who points out the most important detail: Carmy has removed himself as a partner, leaving the Bear for Syd and Natalie to run.
The Season 4 finale took place in close to real time as Syd and Carmy hashed all this out with Richie and Natalie. Carmy explained his feeling that the main obstacle to the Bear’s growth was his own inability to control his anger, sadness and obsessiveness. He said that for his own mental and emotional health, he needed to find out who he was outside a kitchen.
The season ended with Syd grudgingly accepting this new reality under the condition that Richie be made a partner. But none of the newfound warmth and understanding among these people changed the reality: The Bear is out of money and time to build off its recent success.
A possible Hail Mary
Is there any hope? Perhaps! It turns out that the restaurant’s lunchtime sandwich window — a nod to its roots — has a steady customer base, a small crew and low overhead. The Computer thinks Unc could maybe get some money back on his investment by franchising the sandwiches.
He didn’t come to this conclusion by himself. When Carmy launched his fine-dining restaurant, he handed over control of the sandwich window to his longtime employee Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson), who was struggling to contribute to the gourmet side of the operation. Ebraheim sought to repay his boss’s faith by getting advice on efficiency and growth from a small business consultant, Albert Schnurr (Rob Reiner). It is Albert who spotted the franchising opportunity.
The dream of a Michelin star survives as well. Richie has gotten advice from friends in the industry on how to spot an undercover Michelin inspector — last-minute reservation changes, bookings under Chicago street names — and he has been keeping an eye out. (Of course, it is possible that Richie has already missed his mark. One Season 4 episode lingered on a diner named “Clark” who seemed uncommonly focused on the excellent food and service he received.)
At the end of Season 4, Unc was still insisting there is no money left for a new project. He plans to sell the crumbling property as soon as possible. And Syd, Natalie and Richie plan to keep the Bear open for as long as they can until they have no choice but to close.
“The Bear” has swung wildly between despair and triumph, so it would be foolish to guess how Storer will wrap up this story. But the possibility of some kind of happy ending remains.
