The third season of "The Bear" ended at a crucial crossroads for the eponymous restaurant. Carmy and the team anxiously pondered the content of their first review, and unbeknownst to everyone else, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) was suffering a panic attack over the big decision before her: Stay at The Bear with the dysfunctional team she loves so much or accept a well-paying job offer at a new restaurant helmed by a more established chef?
At the end of the fourth season, these questions have been answered, but The Bear's future remains as uncertain as ever.
In episode 9, "Tonnato," Pete (Chris Witaske) calls Sydney to go over the updated terms of the partnership agreement she's been putting off signing all season. She ultimately turned down Adam's (Adam Shapiro) job offer and decided to stick with Carmy, so she feels more prepared to legally bind herself to The Bear. But Pete throws her a curveball, explaining that Carmy has backed out of the document. If she signs, she'll agree to become a co-owner with Jimmy (Oliver Platt) and Natalie (Abby Elliott). The call comes just before the restaurant's opening, the final day of Jimmy's countdown. When the clock runs out, he'll stop funneling money into the kitchen and force the staff to see if they can survive on just the revenue they generate each night. The stakes in his relationship with Carmy have never been higher, and now it looks like he has one foot out the door. (To Carmy's credit, he tried to tell Sydney himself earlier in the season, but they were interrupted, and he never did.)
Titled "Goodbye," the finale picks up after the restaurant closes that night. Carmy finds Sydney outside, behind the restaurant, and asks why she didn't talk to him at all during dinner. She confronts him about what she's discovered, accusing him of quitting. He says he's not quitting; instead, he's going to help The Bear pay off its debts and then leave because he believes it's "best for the restaurant." "This is all I've ever done. This is all I've ever known," he says. "I think I did this so I wouldn't have to do other things." He goes on to explain that he's immersed himself in his culinary career to avoid dealing with everything he and his family have been through, and that he now understands that his trauma is the reason he communicates and behaves so erratically. Sydney tries to remind him that she loves cooking and restaurants, and he says he doesn't anymore.
Sydney feels abandoned and furious, trying to smoke a cigarette throughout the conversation despite his constant coughing and Carmy's reminders that he doesn't smoke. As she lashes out, he tells her he knows she was considering an offer from Adam—he's not going to let her go. He and Adam have known each other for years, and Adam told her. She first says she doesn't want to talk about it, then apologizes for not telling him herself and says that keeping it a secret is a symptom of the restaurant's problems: "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you were being a fucking maniac." Eventually, they start yelling at each other, Sydney tells Carmy she's taking her trauma out on the restaurant, and Carmy tells her she's leaving to break that cycle. He tells her he understands why she was considering leaving, but that he's a better chef than Adam, and that she is too.
Firmly, Carmy tells Sydney all the qualities that make her perfect to run the restaurant alone: her emotional control, her leadership. "Any chance of anything good in this building began when you walked in, and any chance of it surviving lies with you," he says. Sydney asks how he can say that, and he says he believes in her more than he believes in himself. When she asks why, he replies, "Because you're the Bear."
They quickly resume shouting. Sydney thinks Carmy is wrong, and when he says she doesn't need him, she expresses that she knows he isn't, but that he's "supposed to be there," with tears in her voice as she insists he's her partner.
Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) hears the commotion and goes outside to check on them, and starts yelling when Sydney tells him Carmy is leaving. Richie tries to back out of the conversation until Carmy blurts out that she attended Mikey's (Jon Bernthal) funeral; before, everyone... She thought she'd completely skipped it. She confesses that she went in and couldn't handle it, so she left. They both bottled up emotions. Richie talks about how much he blamed himself for not being able to take better care of Mikey, saying he thought Carmy skipped the funeral out of anger at him, and Carmy says she did hold a grudge against Richie, but not because of that, but out of jealousy at how much closer Richie was to Mikey. The two talk amiably about all the tension they've had over the years while Sydney watches almost silently.
Richie seems to forgive Carmy, saying the restaurant will be fine after he moves out, and Sydney asks how he knows. "Because we still have you, right? Please tell me you're not going to quit," he says. She says it depends, turns to Carmy, and tells him she needs the contract updated: she wants Richie promoted to partner. Carmy agrees, and Richie is surprised at first, but eventually agrees as well. Now that things are settled between them, the three of them snicker about how difficult it will be to ensure the restaurant stays afloat long enough for the contract to even matter.
Natalie finds the group outside and asks what's going on. Flustered, Sydney tells her Carmy is leaving, and Richie says he went to Mikey's funeral. But Natalie shows no anger. She looks at her brother for confirmation, and when he nods, she runs to hug him, through tears. Earlier in the season, toward the end of her maternity leave, she told Carmy that it didn't matter if she didn't love her job anymore, "because the most special thing is that you were able to love it." At the time, he didn't respond much, but now it's clear he took her words to heart.
Hours later, at 1 a.m., after The Bear was locked up and everyone had gone home, Jimmy's countdown reaches zero and the season ends. It's still unknown if there will be more "The Bear," but if a fifth season does arrive, the restaurant's survival and the relationships between the staff will still be at stake.
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