"The Bear," Year Four

Spoilers for the first two-ish seasons ahead.

Well, "The Bear" is back.  I binged it across two days, took copious notes, and sometimes paused to Google characters I'd forgotten or restaurant terms that nobody bothers to explain (and the word is "stages," not "stawges" or "stodges.")  I have no regrets, because the show is as good as it's ever been.

I'm not going to advocate skipping the third season of "The Bear," because there were some great episodes, especially "Napkins" and "Ice Chips."  However, everyone who was disappointed with the third season can be reassured that the fourth is back on track.  The momentum has returned in a big way, with Cicero and The Computer literally installing a countdown clock in the restaurant to show how long Carmy and his crew have to turn The Bear around before the money runs out.  Rest assured that the two big cliffhanger items from last season, the restaurant review and Sydney's partnership agreement, are both resolved this year.

However, what's most important is that it feels like everyone is moving forward, and Carmy in particular is finally confronting a lot of his emotional baggage.  Where the third season was very internal, with everyone often stuck inside their own heads, the fourth season is all about the characters finally talking to each other and trying to bridge the gaps.  This takes longer for some of them than others.  One pivotal episode is essentially a single long conversation between Carmy and Sydney that eventually involves Richie and Sugar.  Other episodes cover a Berzatto family wedding where we finally meet the Faks' notorious sister Francine, Sydney babysitting for a cousin while considering a new job offer, and Carmy having a visit with his mother that he's put off for too long.  This means a lot of big confrontations finally happen, many tears are shed, and emotional catharsis is abundant.  Occasionally, we also get a few laughs.

There are a few new faces in the cast, and some very big names dropping in for an episode or two, but most of these are returning ones.  The wedding features a lot of cameos, and is a great semi-sequel to the flashback Christmas episode from season two.  Meanwhile, Jessica (Sarah Ramos) and some of the crew from "Forks" are hired on at the Bear to help fix service bumps, while Sugar starts slashing the budget, and Ebraheim retains the services of a consultant, Albert Schnur (Rob Reiner), to help raise the profitability of the sandwich side of the business.  The world keeps expanding, this time focusing less on the restaurant world and more on the lives of the core cast.  We meet a few more members of everybody's families.  A lot of minor characters keep popping up with life updates, from Marcus's roommate Chester (Carmen Christopher) becoming a real estate agent, to Ted Fak (Ricky Staffieri) getting a girlfriend.

I like the way that the show is still experimenting, subverting expectations, and keeping it real.  I love how this season has so many scenes that are just people talking to each other.  There's a great interaction where Carmy is trying to visit Claire, but has to get through a few well-meaning gatekeepers first.  The finale is incredibly intense, but doesn't rely on any of the familiar tricks - no pulse-pounding guitar music on the soundtrack, and not a montage in sight.  It's clear why so many big guest stars say yes to the show, because the acting is phenomenal and the actors get to do so much of it.  They get to argue and make up and cry and demand and become elated or devastated or furious.  They get to drop one liners, miss connections, give meaningful looks, and be kind to each other when you don't expect it.

One thing that the fourth season doesn't give us is a clean and tidy endpoint, which some of the previous ones have.  Big decisions are made and there are clear indications that ongoing problems can be solved, but we don't see events play out.  I don't know if there will be a fifth season of "The Bear" at the time of writing.  There's certainly the material for one, but all the leads have gotten so much busier over the years with other projects that I don't know if the scheduling is feasible for the foreseeable future.  It would be a shame if this were the last we ever saw of Carmy and Sydney and Richie and all the rest, but I don't think it's a bad way to go out either.        

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