I was under the mistaken impression that the fourth season was the final season of "The Bear." So imagine my surprise when eight new episodes were dropped a few weeks ago, plus an extra episode titled "Gary" that is about Richie and Michael taking a fateful day trip to Gary, Indiana. It was probably meant to be a flashback at some point in this season, but it doesn't really fit into the flow of this batch of episodes anywhere, so I'm glad that they released it separately.
Anyway, the fifth and final season of "The Bear" is required viewing if you enjoyed any of the previous parts of this show. If you lost interest during the increasingly meandering and indulgent (but still very good) third and fourth seasons, it's time to get back in the kitchen. Season five wraps up the whole series and pays off all the various character arcs, resolves some longstanding problems, and answers most of the big questions too. The pacing issues are largely gone, with the show's creators taking a page from "The Pitt," and having seven of the eight episodes take place during one tense, nail-biting, stormy night at the The Bear where everything goes wrong, but the staff still has to pull off a miracle and keep the restaurant running through a full meal service. The last episode serves as a coda that surveys the aftermath and lets everyone say goodbye.
What's great about this last season is that it shows us the characters at their best and working as a team at last. After so many seasons of everyone being at odds, fighting their own personal demons, and only making progress in fits and starts, this final run of episodes lets them all succeed together. There are still plenty of clashes and setbacks, and the writers engineer crisis upon crisis in the final push, but the characters get to rise to the occasion, showing all the ways that they've grown. For those viewers who like "The Bear" because it lets them watch professionals work at the top of their game, this will be catnip. I especially like the way that all these different, interlocking subplots develop involving the crew in the kitchen, the staff in the front of the house, and even Oliver Platt's Uncle Cicero, who gets to trudge around Chicago with a misfit crew on his own mission.
I love that everything in this season feels like it's been taken back to basics. There are still an array of impressive guest stars, but the show doesn't draw much attention to them. The only major new character is the Computer's niece Cheese (Elsie Fisher), who tags along with Cicero's crew for the evening. Some episodes run significantly longer than others, but not in a way that feels excessive or indulgent. One of the longest episodes, "Caramel," is also the most tense and nerve-wracking, where we go through the process of creating every single course of the final dinner service, almost in real time. The running time is close to a full hour, but it's an hour that flies by. The humor worked for me throughout - even the Faks, who are deployed exactly as much as they need to be. Also, the show backing off from being so singularly focused on Carmy helps it immensely. You could absolutely make another season or two of "The Bear" with Sydney or Richie taking over at this point. I don't really want that though - I feel like the show is already pushing its luck, and it would be a shame to undercut the finale.
Frankly, I'm a sucker for a happy ending, and that's exactly what "The Bear" gives us here. Nearly every major character gets a win, even if it's coming to the decision that they need to throw in the towel. Best of all, the wins feel earned, never coming too easy and never feeling too telegraphed. Sure, some loose ends don't get tied up, and I know there will be complaints about the resolution of Carmy's character arc, but I came away from "The Bear" thoroughly satisfied with the last course and inclined to leave a big tip.
Check please.
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