This review contains spoilers for the entirety of season four of the Hulu series The Bear. If you haven’t finished watching the season, read on at your own risk. You have been warned.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Bear’s third season. Aside from my continued belief that the series is a drama with occasional comedic moments (which we’ll get to later – the Faks were once again the most annoying part of this season), the third season was essentially a meandering mess that didn’t push the story or the characters forward in any discernable ways. And its only highlights were two standalone episodes that provided laser focus on two of the show’s supporting characters – to great impact, but still, when your leading characters are twisting in the wind, well, perhaps not the best use of your limited time. So, I went into season four hoping the show would be able course correct in a clear and decisive way and once again find balance in storytelling. And, on the whole, season four was a much stronger outing than season three. But it still left a lot to be desired.
Once again, the season’s best episode was a standalone, this time bringing the focus solely on Sydney (Ayo Edibri, who, along with co-star Lionel Boyce, wrote the episode). Struggling with a decision (that isn’t really suspenseful, as we all know which choice she’s going to end up making), Syd heads to her cousin’s house to get her hair done. During this exploration of Syd’s background – something we’ve seen precious little of outside of her father – we get to see who she really is outside of the kitchen (and outside of her own anxiety). Her interactions with TJ were incredible, taking the time to listen to the girl’s problems, use them as a launch pad to start to understand how much the family of The Bear really means to her, and then teach TJ that standing up for herself and what she wants – and taking the time to talk about it – can solve a heck of a lot of issues. Whether it’s getting left out of a friend group (middle school is hell) or figuring out that staying stagnant doesn’t necessarily mean losing one’s drive, this was such a breath of fresh air from a lot of the noise of the season as a whole.*
I also want to shout out the story arc with Ebraheim (a great Edwin Lee Gibson). It often felt just outside of the main storylines for the season, but as we saw at the end, his decision to try to branch out is likely what is going to end up saving The Bear from certain death. I would honestly watch a show just about Ebraheim on his journey to become a restaurant owner.
Is there a more frustrating character on TV now than Carmy (Jeremy Allen White is giving a heck of a performance as this very broken man)? Because good lord. We’ve spent four seasons now watching him do everything and anything other than willingly take a step back and get himself into some kind of therapy. Perhaps the ending of the season could be seen as Carmy starting to take steps in that direction. After all, we got to see him apologize to pretty much every character on the series for how awful he has been, how he ran rather than engaged, and how he was so focused on pushing forward that he didn’t think about how that movement was really just a way of ignoring the deep scars of his past. And you could argue that this was some truly exceptional character development – he started acknowledging his mistakes and taking ownership of them! He might leave The Bear! (Ha ha ha, no he won’t.) He sees Syd as the focal point of the restaurant and recognizes her genius! He brought in Luca to help Marcus become a rising star!
And yes. He did all that. But I don’t quite buy this turn from closed and in pain to an introspective man. The math, which we know Carmy is atrocious at, doesn’t quite math for me narratively. What was the catalyst for this choice? Because that wasn’t totally clear to me. I don’t think it was the two-month deadline hanging over him. I don’t think it was seeing how utterly shredded every relationship within his life became. Maybe it was the wedding and realizing he didn’t know everyone in his close circle anymore? That even his mother seemed to be taking steps forward and maybe he could too? I’m hoping it wasn’t Claire – but I fear that’s likely the answer. Much like with Syd and her job offer*, I was so happy when Claire got the hell away from Carmy last season. And to see her back in his orbit – albeit seemingly platonically this time around – was disheartening. Carmy is trouble. He’s Don Draper-level of trouble when it comes to the people in his personal life. An apology tour is a great first step. But this is a man who needs to get away from this environment for a while and really understand it’s not the best place to be in. It’s his last connection to Mikey and super tempting to stay. But it’s not good for him or anyone else around him – as he said in the very tense, but very good season finale.
*I get that Shapiro was a bit annoying in season three – and I’m not sure that version of the character would have meshed with the very chill and reserved Syd – but this version of the character was so incredibly annoying it stacked the deck in favor of Syd staying at The Bear so high that it sucked all the suspense out of the decision. A version of the show that had Syd and Carmy competing for a star or a great review could have been a fun way for things to turn in season five. But alas, we’re going to get more of the same.
Lest you think my diatribe about the path Carmy took this season was just me getting angry about the character, there’s a larger point, I promise. While Carmy’s journey was the most prominent of the season, it was also emblematic of the other arcs as well. Everyone did some work, made some moves, but didn’t really do what needed to be done to get the character from Point A to Point B. Let’s take Ritchie’s arc as an example. Ritchie is still stuck, not knowing where he fits in if he isn’t the face at the front of house. I loved seeing him realize that Frank isn’t a danger to his relationship with Eva – and that he’s just as unsure of what it means to be a dad as Ritchie can be at times. But again, one conversation – and even a great one at that – can’t really tie up a season arc that felt like it was missing some of what The Bear would normally give us with Ritchie, arguably its most complex and layered character (because, you know, the writers don’t want to really flesh out Carmy or Syd to the level they need to lest it be made clear that neither of them really should be working at The Bear). Ebon Moss-Bachrach is an exceptional actor, but even he couldn’t do a ton with Ritchie’s continued existential crisis of his place at the restaurant, his relationship with Carmy, and his relationship with his ex and daughter. And he didn’t end the season much different from where he began it. And that’s true for Syd, for Carmy, for Tina, and for part of Marcus’ arc (the one with his dad – another big theme this season, fathers and their role in our lives, that only got dealt with in fits and starts).
Again, what drives a story is moving characters forward through adversity where they learn more about themselves and their world along the way. This, on the whole, was absent this season save for small pockets of revelation that quickly got dropped for flashier storytelling. Such as the addition of Francine Fak (played by Oscar winner Brie Larson in what was such a strange choice of casting), which really drove home how uneven the series can be. I’m not a fan of the Faks – no offense to the various actors representing that family – but every time they pop up, they suddenly turn the scene into a screwball comedy. Which, okay, it’s a choice, but why? Is it because this is a “comedy,” and they are the evidence? It’s not to lighten the mood because they make me roll my eyes hard and reach for the remote to fast forward. This show doesn’t need the addition of clowns to the circus in order to make people laugh (the sequence where Carmy cannot understand math when Jimmy and Computer are talking to them is evidence that this can be a funny show). So, why suck all the air out of the show by bringing in overgrown children constantly (the whole “I want a hot chocolate” sequence was just awful)? Local color, helping us understand the vibe Carmy grew up in, sure. We get it. Can these jokers start to grow up as well? Because that’s some character development I really want to see.
The Bear came out of the gate back in season one as a series that could balance the complexities of a workplace drama with some of the lighter and more fun moments that help drain the tension a tad. And yes, in the last four years, the characters have had some interesting twists and turns on their way to creating The Bear. But the last two seasons have felt like the series is hovering in a state of arrested development. It can’t let Carmy really start to grow because that takes away some of the show’s key conflicts (the intersection of art and commerce, the cyclical nature of abuse). It can’t let Syd truly come into her own because that pushes out Carmy. Ritchie needs to stay a bit neurotic and unsure of himself because that’s what makes the character tick. And the supporting cast can’t grow too much, in their lives or their talent, because that might push out Carmy or Syd. It’s not an easy needle to thread. But that’s the challenge of a series that told us it wanted to be a complex story with comedic elements that told the tale of chefs and their community. And when it’s hitting, it’s some of the best work on TV. But it can be much more than it’s been of late – we’ve seen it be amazing. But to do that, the show needs to take its characters – all of them – seriously and start to do the work. Because this is too good of a cast, concept, and story to let it fall apart out of a lack of balance in flavors.
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