After a muddled third season—at least in the eyes of some—The Bear returned this past Wednesday with a fresh serving of 10 episodes. So, what to make of Season 4? Has the show reclaimed the dynamism that made its first two seasons such a hit? What were the season’s best (and worst) moments? And could this actually be the end of The Bear altogether? Our staff’s thoughts below …
1. What is your tweet-length review of The Bear Season 4?
Justin Charity: Somehow I’ve lived long enough to accuse a season of The Bear of being a little too chill.
Katie Baker: [extremely Carmy mumble-voice] So, uh … you good?
Andrew Gruttadaro: Chef Carmy might need chaos—but I don’t. This season of The Bear is all about things clicking into place: The kitchen starts to hum, the communication starts to get better, and the yelling starts to die down. And to me, The Bear is a far better TV show when it’s in this mode than when it’s in the chaos mode of Seasons 1-3.
Miles Surrey: Undercooked, underwhelming, overhyped. The Peter Luger of television.
Helena Hunt: Everyone on The Bear is really realizing stuff this season, huh?
2. What was the best moment of the season?
Baker: Tie between Syd’s hairdresser cousin announcing “fit check!” on her way out the door—Danielle Deadwyler was by far my favorite guest star yet—and Pete busting out that sweet, sweet Nectar’s tee!!! (Apparently actor Chris Witaske is a noted Phan.) Now I want to know everything about Pete’s (and Sugar’s???) Phish journey. He’s gotta be a Page-side-rage-side guy, right?
Hunt: If “best moment” can be “best episode,” it’s “Worms.” Syd’s visit to her hairdresser/cousin’s house features an all-time classic Bear cameo in Danielle Deadwyler’s Chantel, who gives us some relief from the personal crises everyone else is having. The episode, which feels like an earnest response to Atlanta’s “Barbershop,” lets Chantel have a grand adventure off-screen while Syd spruces up some Hamburger Helper and gets counsel from wise 11-year-old TJ. “Worms” is a good reminder that sometimes you’ve gotta get out of your own head (and away from your godforsaken job) and go back to the people who made you.
Gruttadaro: That moment of “Oh fuck, they’re starting to do it” in the third episode, “Scallop.” From Carmy slicing up the beef sandwich to the restaurant guests playing in the fake snow Richie and the crew rigged up for them, it genuinely made me teary-eyed. My little babies are all growns up!
Surrey: The wedding episode made excellent use of the show’s murderers’ row of guest stars, including Brie Larson, who gave her best performance since [checks notes] Room? Man, it’s been a rough decade for our girl.
Charity: Carm and Claire screaming at each other was, at least for me, a gratifying burst of tension in a season that could’ve used much more salt and heat. (Sugar clashing with Francie, while fun, is a little too silly to count.)
3. What was your least favorite part?
Surrey: That this is basically true:
Charity: Syd’s extremely on-the-nose sleepover metaphor going off the rails several times over in her conversation with TJ.
Baker: When I realized that everyone was indeed gonna crawl under that magical table, whether I could stomach the corniness or not.
Hunt: The big wedding episode, “Bears,” captured everything about The Bear that’s gone bad. Basically every scene is shot in extreme, sometimes frantic close-ups, and every convo has to feature some profound realization or decades-overdue reconciliation. Of course, weddings are the place to fight it out with your old bestie or talk to your coworker’s mom about her life problems. But The Bear figured it could cash in its schmaltziest chips at its most sentimental moment, and instead of the conflict and chaos typical of both weddings and The Bear, we get some fairly pat, very saccharine détentes between Richie and Frank, Francie and Sugar, Carmy and Lee, and everyone who ended up under that goddamn table. When Season 2 aired, pretty much everyone on the internet complained that Claire was just a manic pixie dream girl from Carmy’s fantasies. “Bears” takes the confounding, captivating Berzatto family (and their plus-ones) and turns them all into manic pixie dream girls, sanded down to their quirkiest traits and most endearing fears.
Gruttadaro: In general, I’d say I’m more willing to suspend my disbelief than most. That said, how TF is the Bear, a restaurant on the brink of closing, not only hiring three high-level managers from Ever, the quote, unquote, best restaurant in the world, but also bringing in pastry chef Luca to stage? Are all of these people working pro bono or something?
4. Who (or what) is the sneaky MVP of Season 4?
Gruttadaro: These jabronis:
I do not know their names, but they are deeply important to the overall vibe of this show.
Surrey: For all the great work that Ayo Edebiri has done on-screen, I’m most impressed by what she’s been doing behind the camera. Last season, she directed the standout episode “Napkins,” and this time around, she cowrote “Worms” with costar Lionel Boyce. Give Ayo the world—and a free Letterboxd patron subscription for life.
Hunt: Like the back alley at Sur, the grim smoking spot behind the Bear is the site of this season’s most meaningful (and harrowing) moments. It’s where Richie and his merry band make magic snow, Tina finally breaks through to Carmy about his menu-based delusions, and Carm, Syd, and Richie have their big, season-ending (and restaurant-ending?) fight. Just like on Vanderpump Rules, it really is the prime spot to catch some drama as it spills out of the kitchen.
Baker: The MVP is Richie, because Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s performance is the most beautifully devastating one on the whole show—but there’s nothing sneaky about that. So I’ll go with Jess, that expediter extraordinaire whose love language is Post-it notes and who actually managed, more than most, to affect meaningful change at the restaurant.
Charity: Hamburger Helper, because it really is one of those foods that lets you feel like a master chef if you just put a little extra pizzazz into it.
5. What’s the one dish from The Bear you want to try most?
Surrey: Syd’s scallops dish. Those little guys are so hard to cook just right, but I know in my soul that she knocked it out of the park.
Hunt: I’m a vegetarian, so the Wagyu steak and scallops don’t do much for me. But Marcus’s desserts are the real highlight of The Bear, and the ode to his mom that he perfects throughout the season really is a work of magic. When I lived in Chicago, I got to try Marcus’s decadent chocolate cake; some restaurant out there needs to add his violet confection to the menu, stat.
Gruttadaro: Honestly? The beef sandwich—if they, in the words of Sydney’s cousin, PUT SOME CHEESE ON THAT.
Baker: Honestly, I think it’s Syd’s enhanced hamburger—and don’t skimp on that cheese, please! I’m sure Alpana and Sweeps can help me find the ideal wine pairing for a complete meal. What “grows together” best with boxed, processed comfort slop?
Charity: None featured in this season, which perhaps speaks to my disappointment with this season, but I’m still on the record as loving Syd’s omelet from Season 2.
6. What is Season 4’s best needle drop?
Charity: I’m a sucker for a tasteful Van Morrison drop, such as in Episode 3, but ultimately I’m giving the honor to M.O.P. for Chef Shapiro’s ironically grating cue of the otherwise awesome “Ante Up” in Episode 4.
Baker: I liked hearing “Susanne” by Weezer because it reminds me of the Mallrats closing credits. Every other needle drop in this show just kinda strikes me as an inferior version of the GOAT Jerry Maguire radio edit of “Secret Garden.” So sorry!
Gruttadaro: I’ve got big love for The Bear suddenly leaning into the Ronettes, but “The Show Goes On” by Bruce Hornsby & the Range (as heard in the penultimate episode, “Tonnato”) was basically made to score a scene of The Bear. Dads across America wept.
Surrey: Normally I would protest using a Tangerine Dream track outside of a Michael Mann film, but The Bear was cooking with it.
Hunt: The needle drops and each season’s theme songs used to be my favorite part of The Bear, but now they might be doing too much heavy, emotional lifting. I will, however, always appreciate the show’s callbacks to Richie and his daughter’s Swiftie bona fides; in Season 3, we got deep cut “Long Live” in the background of a conversation between Richie and Frank, and this time around, “Style” plays at Tiff’s wedding. The Taylor Swift needle drops just feel more like a music cue taken right out of the characters’ lives than a big, flashing sign saying, “This is what Carmy is feeling right now!” and “Bet you haven’t heard this one before!!”
7. Is this the end of The Bear?
Baker: I don’t think so, but I could see it being the end of the show being centered around Carmy. I’d love to see them do a time jump and revamp the menu a little bit, so to speak.
Gruttadaro: Going into this season, I felt somewhat confident that this would be the show’s final season: Between Christopher Storer’s original plans and every actor in the cast becoming mega famous and therefore extremely busy, it seemed that the window was closing. But FX definitely didn’t advertise Season 4 as the final season, and even though the finale is literally called “Goodbye” and could easily serve as a series finale, with every passing day of no confirmation, it seems more likely that the show will go on. Probably for one more season, and probably a couple of years from now—whenever Ebon Moss-Bachrach finds a hole in his schedule as a part of the Fantastic Four.
Surrey: I didn’t think it would be when I wrote about the fourth season, but then FX (belatedly, for some reason) released the episode titles last Thursday, and the finale is called “Goodbye.” So, uh … ?!
Hunt: I’m hoping The Bear won’t artificially extend its life like its spiritual cousin Ted Lasso seems to be doing. By the end of Season 4, we know that the restaurant can survive on its own, and the writers have resolved pretty much every dilemma they’ve thrown the characters’ ways: Syd decided to stay at the Bear, Richie accepted that he’s the sand in a Zen garden, Carm found peace and (at long last!) a consistent menu, and even DD Berzatto apologized to anyone who’d still talk to her. I’d love to see The Bear rip it up and start again, but the show should at the very least leave behind the fights and hang-ups it’s spent seasons overcooking.
Charity: Let’s be real. It’s 2025. When’s the last time a TV network or a movie studio let a good thing die?
8. If it is, what is the show’s legacy? Where does it fit in the prestige TV pantheon?
Gruttadaro: I can probably count on one hand the number of shows that look and feel as good as The Bear. And while this isn’t me saying it’s the greatest show of the past decade, I can also probably count on one hand the number of shows that elicit this kind of passionate reaction, positive or negative. The Bear is undoubtedly imperfect, but in an overcrowded landscape, it means (meant?) something.
Hunt: The Bear really did feel groundbreaking when it premiered back in 2022. It was an immersive, cathartic dive into kitchen life and all its resident weirdos, and it had style for days; those lung-busting songs and the shots of Carmy wandering through the Chicago winter felt set apart from everything else on TV. But as it went on, The Bear seemed to be imitating itself instead of finding new forms and stories every season, like the great prestige TV shows usually do. I’ll still go back and watch those first two seasons of The Bear, and I’ll think of Carmy and Co. whenever a restaurant really surprises me or I overhear a fight break out behind kitchen doors. But unlike the shows in the prestige pantheon, it just stopped offering new depth and delights as the clock ticked down.
Surrey: I can’t deny that the craft and performances are impressive, but it’s not for me. The Bear is a three-star meal that thinks it’s giving you a Michelin-grade dining experience. I won’t lose sleep if it has closed up shop.
Charity: It’s the exceedingly reliable prestige TV drama that didn’t jerk us around by going on hiatus in three-to-five-year increments. The Drake of prestige TV—a season of The Bear for every summer!
Baker: It’ll go down as the second-best Chicago-based series that has Jeremy Allen White in its cast. Lipheads of the world, unite!!
