“The Bear” debuted in 2022, the first season had eight episodes about half an hour long about a young but burning out chef returning to Chicago to run the sandwich shop left behind by his recently deceased older brother.
That sandwich shop came along with a cast of colorful characters, all trying to keep their heads above water doing something they actually love with people they’ve come to care about — even if they won’t admit it.
Over the last four seasons, the audience has come to know the Berzatto family, their lifelong family friends, and the people who work for them.
The show’s fifth season will be its last. I’m a little sad to see it go. However, I love and respect a show that knows when and how to end. “The Bear” does just that.
While the seasons have been different in tone, for the most part, this has been necessary for us to appreciate exactly where all the characters are now. I love the evolution of Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) who goes from manager to handling front of house, of Chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) who takes over from Carmy, and of Carmy (Jeremy Allan White) who realizes this path is no longer the one for him.
The season kicks off with something people living in Metro Manila can relate to — a storm and all the things that come along with it, heavy rain, traffic, and extra chaos. It’s the last thing they need for their opening which already has them dealing with ingredient and staff shortages, bursting pipes, money woes, and a spoon thief.
In episode 4 with the crew facing so many headwinds while things fall apart, I couldn’t help but (rightly or wrongly) compare Head Chef Sydney to Team Captain Jalen Brunson and Head Coach Mike Brown getting the New York Knicks to come back from a 29-point deficit to win game 4 of the playoffs.
The team at “The Bear” uses hand signals, there’s a clock they keep cutting to, the kitchen version of a “ball” gets passed, there’s stress, there’s pressure, and there’s an audience — in this case, diners.
Despite all the stress, there’s undoubtedly “competence porn” here. I picked that word up when reading about another show, HBO’s “The Pitt.” And just like “The Pitt,” there are Filipinos who are valuable members of the team, there’s Garret (Andrew Lopez who is also part Korean) and Rene (Rene Gube), both are indispensable to Richie.
Well curated music from artists like Nine Inch Nails, Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam, Paul Simon, St. Vincent, The Decemberists, Counting Crows, Van Morrison, R.E.M., The Ronettes and Taylor Swift has been a signature of each episode but, Season 5 almost entirely relies on the superb synth soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg.
Season 2’s landmark episode “Fishes,” allowed us to see “The Bear” as a story about family. Family inevitably comes with complicated histories, imperfections, expectations, hurts, and mistakes. But as we saw in season 4, when there’s a deep connection, when there are common goals, and common loves, there’s room for grace, forgiveness, humor and healing. Yes, even Mama Bear, Donna Berzatto (Jamie Lee Curtis) has an evolution in her grandmother era.
This final season is a beautiful ode to family (found and otherwise), teams, and community. So much of life is about connection and we should be so lucky to have our circles.
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All episodes of the final season of “The Bear” are on Disney+.
