Reel Review: The Bear Season Four Explores The Cost Of Excellence And The Reward Of Dreaming
After a shaky season three, season four felt like a beautiful homecoming for The Bear, seasoned with a heartbreaking goodbye. While season three intentionally separated the staff, this season brought Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), Nat (Abby Elliot), Marcus (L-Boy), and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) back together to get the team back on solid ground as the clock ticks towards the restaurant’s potential closing.
This chapter juggled a ton of storylines at once, but it never felt messy. Within the kitchen, all the chef’s stories blended together beautifully. Tina’s story explored diligence. Ebraheim’s story explored ambition. Marcus’s story explored grief. Sydney’s story explored failure. Richie’s story explored change. Nat’s story explored compassion. However, Carmy’s story explored all these themes simultaneously. Carmy finally started to feel like a human being again. All at once, he confronted his mistakes within the restaurant, with his family, and his ex-girlfriend, and realized he had lost who he was along the way. It was nice to see light come back to Carmy’s eyes, almost like he was waking up from a grief-filled, Michelin Star-induced haze.
Speaking of millions of storylines, we need to mention the beauty of episode seven, titled “Bears”. The episode embraced family chaos in all its glory at Richie’s ex-wife’s wedding. Talk about guest stars galore! John Mulaney, Sarah Paulson, Gillian Jacobs, Josh Hartnett, Bob Odenkirk, Oliver Platt, Molly Gordon, and Jamie Lee Curtis all returned as the complex members of the Berzatto bunch, accompanied by some newcomers! Brie Larson guest starred as a member of the famous Fak family, Francie Fak, and she was fantastic. Too much alliteration? Sorry, I had to!
This episode did a terrific job of portraying the nuanced complexities of family dynamics, especially during high-stress events like weddings. From epic insults being exchanged between Nat and Francie to emotional reunions like Dede (Curtis) and Carmy, this episode explored the importance of family, whether it’s blood-related or not. The best moment was when Frank (Hartnett) and Richie worked together as co-parents to get their daughter out from under the table where she was hiding. What started as two dads trying to help their scared daughter turned into prominent members of the Berzatto family, including Sydney, crawling under the table to talk about their fears, seemingly going back to kindergarten’s famous “share time" method. This scene beautifully encapsulated all the ongoing storyline’s drama. It evened the playing field for many ongoing problems, especially Carmy and Claire’s (Gordon) strained relationship.
The core members of the show are Carmy, Syd, Nat, and Richie, with Carmy and Syd’s partnership at the helm. This chapter delved further into Sydney’s story than the past seasons, from her father’s declining health to her conflicts at the restaurant and her overwhelming fear of failure. Seeing Sydney’s story unfold as she struggles to decide if she’ll stay with her team is such a relatable story that most people can understand. The nightmare sequence, where Sydney hosts a home-cooking show in a Martha Stewart fashion, all while the world falls apart around her, beautifully portrays the pressure of perfection. I smell another well-deserved Emmy for Edebiri in the future.
Carmy has been through the wringer well before audiences met him in season one. From his crippling need to be the best, to his horrible family dynamics, he seemed to cope by becoming a robotic-like chef who only thought about excellence. This season, Carmy finally embraced listening to his heart more than his head, which I’d argue is thanks to working with Sydney. Watching him confront his mistakes and lead with humility and compassion felt like a significant win for the young chef. It’s clear Carmy is on the road to redemption and discovering who he is outside of the kitchen walls, which makes the end of this season incredibly bittersweet.
The final episode reveals Carmy has decided to retire from the restaurant, leaving it in Sydney, Nat, and Richie’s hands. I’ll be honest, the waterworks were flowing hard when Carmy told Sydney she’s the actual bear. This chapter of The Bear was all about accepting the past, embracing the future, and discovering who you are, both on a team and individually. Above all else, season four taught audiences that while every second counts, it’s the team you work with that truly makes all the difference.
Is Carmy really leaving? Will the restaurant survive? Only time will tell. All episodes of The Bear are now streaming on Hulu.
