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Angie Han: So this is how Bear Ends: Not with much fanfare, but with the fun trivia chat of partygoers deciding who gets a piece of birthday cake.
Yet the penultimate episode, as you noted in your review, delivers exactly what you want or expect from a finale; actual The ending is mostly a world-extending victory lap created by Christopher Storer. It ties up some loose ends, like the identity of the spoon thief, but otherwise it’s more about giving each of the bears one last long hug before sending them on their merry way. (Bringing in a bunch of big names, of course, because that is bear road.)
Was that absolutely necessary? I won’t say that. I didn’t needs Further confirmation that Richie and Jess are a thing, or that Marcos and Luca are parting on good terms, or even that Carmi agrees to Ibra’s franchise offer; I’ve already assumed all of these things.
But you didn’t order that last batch from Sauternes because… needs he – she; You order it because it’s nice to still have something sweet at the end of a satisfying meal. The ending felt like this kind of extra. Especially after a season so focused on one shift at work, it was fun to see Syd relaxing with her dad on her day off, or Tina and her husband giddily discussing her promotion, or even Carmi making an actual joke (!) by pretending to be stuck in the refrigerator again.
I had a moment of anxiety when it looked like Karmi might be about to make a TV show about a talented but troubled young chef, only to be called something like, Oh, I don’t know I’m just spitting here; Bear. But it wasn’t like that! He was emotionally dumping a complete stranger during an internship interview. If I were that manager, I wouldn’t hire that guy. But maybe you feel differently. Dan, can you hire this more enlightened version of Karmi?
Danielle Feinberg: I was pretty sure Carmi was going to meet with a TV network about doing a show called Bearand my only question was whether or not John Landgraf would play him, so I guess I’ll also give some level of credit at the end for not doing the obvious thing.
Otherwise, I think we’d probably be saying the same thing in reverse, because I thought the ending was completely unnecessary and, in its excess, extremely annoying. It was one thing after another directed at viewers who should have been able to make assumptions or imagine. I gained absolutely nothing by being told that Jess and Richie would gently touch each other and then hold hands. I gained absolutely nothing from another scene where Luka and Marcus were genuinely appreciative and loving, if they didn’t want to kiss, and even then, I didn’t necessarily need to. I gained absolutely nothing from the fact that Bob Odenkirk and Molly Gordon were available to appear in the background of crowd scenes at Eva’s birthday, a party at which she got a mediocre-looking cake but not what she wanted more than anything else in the world: a table even larger than the one at her mother’s wedding.
I actually gained negative stuff when I learned that Carmi’s long-avoided call was from a Michelin-starred distributor, revealing that the bear didn’t get one star…he got two stars, which gave Carmi and Sydney an excuse to hug, even if the lesson of the first four seasons was that investing in trivial things like stars and reviews was a path toward madness and away from art.
In fact, if you take anything away from the first four seasons, it’s that The Bear was special because what started out as a family restaurant for the Berzatto family evolved into a restaurant where everyone was family. With the exception of Don Draper’s bizarre cameo in geriatric comedy makeup promoting Uncle Jimmy on the tag line “When you’re here…you’re family,” the point could not have been made more broadly and clearly.
Did the finale give you anything you asked for after episode seven? Was Ibra’s ‘as you wish’ message to Albert over the phone sufficient acknowledgment of Rob Reiner’s departure? Do you think Richie deserves the closing part of dividing the pie in the end? Was this Richie story relevant to you?
Han: Personally, I was less puzzled by Richie’s anxiety about traveling to Japan than I was by why he decided that what his daughter wanted for her birthday was a party at his job, attended by all of his co-workers. Just because the Bears are “family” in the Olive Garden sense doesn’t mean they are Hazar A child has to tiptoe around expensive, breakable dishes when she could be burning off a sugar high at a park or skating rink instead.
I think it would have made more sense to shut down Sid, like Bear It was in large part a story of Karmi passing the torch to her — especially because this was a stellar season for Ayo Edebiri, whose expressive face allows us to feel every blow the character endures over the course of the transformation from hell. But a persistent flaw of the show was that it never seemed quite as interested in Sid’s inner journey as it is in Carmi and Richie’s struggle to dig out from under the weight of Mickey-related trauma and self-loathing.
This part, I won’t miss. I’m happy for Carmi because he and the rest of the Berzattos and Berzatto neighbors seem to be in a healthier place than they were in season one. But his well of worry ran dry some time ago, and I’m glad I’m done exploiting him. Actually, when I think about it, I don’t think there’s much I want to get out of it Bear In general. I have no interest in delving deeper into Nat’s complicated relationship with Donna, Richie’s relationship with Mickey, or anything involving anyone with the last name “Vac.”
I’ll miss spending time with characters like Sid, Marcus, Tina, and Luca, and I don’t miss that they’re the least connected to the increasingly tiresome Berzatos. But even there, it doesn’t take me long to figure out what the restaurant will look like under Sid’s supervision, or whether Marcus will repair his relationship with his father. Is this an indication that the show has given me everything I need, or is it no longer welcome? And while I’m thinking about it, what are you going to miss or not miss? Bear?
Feinberg: The bear will look the same as it did under Karmi’s watch, just with less screaming and smaller parts. I was confused by the conversation with Nat and Sydney, where the basic idea was: “Let’s keep the portions smaller, but we’re certainly not going to lower prices for diners.” That’s the one thing I never felt like the show did with any authority – make it seem like The Bear is the place I’d ever want to go. It was a strange middle ground that Christopher Storer liked to preserve, where the heroes were Ibra and the original anti-beef people, and yet none of the dishwashers and employee characters ever became real characters. There was a weird scene earlier in the season where the three dishwashers — Angel, Manny, and someone else — were fascinated and confused that Sydney thought to inquire about their health, but then were never heard from or seen again. The series paid attention to employees who could be classified as upwardly mobile, but abandoned other supporting characters entirely.
The truth is that while seasons three and four suffered from backlash, I loved those seasons. I liked the standalone episodes. I liked when Storer got a little ambitious and poetic. And all of that has been completely abandoned to charge that “when you’re here, you’re family, except if you’re washing the dishes, in which case you won’t be invited to Eva’s birthday party.” (Eva had a group of friends at the party, too. But they didn’t get close-ups. Claire barely got close-ups. Gordon and Odenkirk seemed so disconnected from the rest of the cast in this scene that I wondered if AI was involved.)
The truth is, I’m going to miss the band. Jeremy Allen White was the immediate focus and had the biggest bump of his career, but his follow-up projects made clear his limitations or questionable choices. Edbury and Ebon Moss-Bachrach were smarter and more eclectic, and I’m not just saying that because I’m in the middle of a Broadway tour focused on… Unexpected shape on Bear Support players. Edebiri is great at guidewhich got a bad rap from critics who wanted the show to dazzle them like the original production did rather than explore new themes brought to the surface by a mainly black cast. It worked for me much more Afternoon dog daywhich was blasted by Al Pacino karaoke that Jon Bernthal considered bad but found Mose Bachrach to be engaging and engaging.
I can write this trip off my taxes now, right?
Han: This is between you and your computer. Or your cheese. Either way, I’m not trying to get arrested for possible tax fraud.
Speaking of money, I wanted to ask you for a certain final revelation, since you’re someone who seems to enjoy fine dining from time to time. Did the $190 dinner price at The Bear strike you as high, low, or just right? I thought it seemed a bit low in a world where Vespertine charges up to $500 per person (true, I don’t think a bear is supposed to look exactly Which Luxurious), but high for a restaurant that keeps cutting back on portions.
I bring this up especially because it’s as beautiful as the dishes look this season BearAt some point I realized that too little of it was making my mouth water. The first season really earned its reputation as food porn (I really wanted to try that damned Italian beef) and even later seasons continued to focus on food as a source of pleasure and connection — think Syd eating her way through Chicago in season two, or Mickey gifting Tina a sandwich in a season three flashback.
But the series increasingly seems to portray food as a display of artistry, something worth admiring for its beauty like a jewelery box rather than being raided by a hungry diner; Even Marcus’s caramel sauce seems more impressive due to its difficult presentation than any depth of flavor he managed to put into it. Do you think? BearThe reputation of a food porn show still stands? Did you like this season’s craft menu?
Feinberg: When I think of Syd eating in Chicago, I think of that Bear Filming actually takes place in Chicago. The finale had little on-the-ground production, but most of the season could have been filmed on a soundstage anywhere. There wasn’t an ounce of visual originality for the majority of the season, which is something I’ll never get. I could justify this by saying something along the lines of “Soundstages are better for claustrophobia than actual locations, and the first seven episodes are designed to be claustrophobic.” Then, the ending serves as a general release valve, for viewers and characters alike, with Sydney mentioning that this is her first day off in who knows when. I can explain it, but I don’t have to like it.
I thought there was some effective food porn in the penultimate episode, but the candle/caramel trick was disappointing and certainly should have impressed us the way it impressed the weatherman. The show went back and forth between “Picky eaters suck!” and “Difficult food is worth $190 per diner with two Michelin stars,” and the decision is “why not both?” Or something. Maybe the point is that picky eaters are bad eaters if the restaurant doesn’t feel like a family, and family food is good but mostly for the franchise?
There’s little I regret about how negative I sound in this conversation. I sang the praises of seasons three and four when a lot of people were rolling their eyes, and if episode seven had actually been the series finale, my entire tone would have been much more positive. I may need to give the entire series a little breathing room before I can talk about it in its entirety, which has never been the way FX/Hulu has presented the show. This has often been a great show. That’s not how I deal with it today.
Han: I think it’s normal to need some time to process and decompress after an intense, often stressful, sometimes exhilarating trip. Bear It’s actually quite clear in this part. Maybe what we really need to do is regroup here in a few months, after you’ve had time to vent all your feelings about it to the poor unsuspecting hiring manager who thought she was just going to hear about your passion for architecture.
