For four seasons, The Bear has ebbed and flowed and soared and spiraled, always riveting, often funny, but occasionally unrestrained and indulgent. Like its characters, though, it never loses sight of its potential and pushes through its failing and foibles, ever refining itself. The end result leads to a near-perfect finale season.
In the direct wake of the decision of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) to leave the food industry and turn over The Bear to Syd (Ayo Edebiri) and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), the restaurant is in dire straits. Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) has pulled the financial plug and is about to sell the building, a massive rainstorm is pummeling Chicago, the restaurant is nearly out of food and supplies, and the building is literally falling apart. The reduced staff is determined to open for business as usual, but as the day progresses, the challenges continue to mount, leaving the future of the enterprise very much in doubt.
Taking place largely over the course of a single day, The Bear’s fifth season delivers an asset it hasn’t always excelled at executing: restraint. Tightening the focus, reducing the scope, and focusing its wind-down season on the characters and their unforgettable dynamics, it centers the show’s key appeal and reins in its occasional rambling excess. This isn’t to say it lacks urgency or the crisis-mode dramatics of previous seasons; there are plenty of suspense-generating developments and game-changing disasters. But the narrative pulse is tempered by quiet moments, allowing the characters time to breathe, and giving the viewer time to savor their goodbyes.
It also pulls off a deft thematic trick, deploying the show’s running themes as usual— the pursuit of achievement and excellence, grief for better times or lost dreams, the need for community and cooperation in the face of trying circumstances — but this time combining them with a broader commentary of how they relate to the American experience. The Bear is the country: proud, industrious, resilient, but beset by tumultuous external conditions, internal divisions, and a relentlessly eroding infrastructure. The diverse, hard-working staff, meanwhile, are its citizens, trying to get through the day, keep the lights on, and find meaning in their work, even when it seems hopeless, under constant existential threat*. Poorly done, that layer might have bludgeoned the viewer, but here it is folded in delicately — noticeable in the moment, but not distracting or didactic. The season knows precisely what it wants to be doing, and does it. And while the final episode does introduce “happy ending” elements that felt extraneous to the season’s mission, by golly the show — and its many memorable, relatable people — had earned some relief. Ultimately, The Bear exits an uncommonly powerful time capsule of its era, and who could begrudge its inclination to send its wonderful characters off with hope.
- *The existential despair underlying much of The Bear, incidentally, is tackled quite powerfully in a one-off prequel episode called “Gary,” which explores the turbulent friendship of Jon Bernthal’s Mikey Berzatto and Richie during a road trip to Indiana. “Gary” isn’t required viewing for season five, but it’s a worthy piece of series canon that informs Richie’s journey and provides interesting context (not to mention a welcome guest turn from the superb Marin Ireland.)
