The Bear - Season 4

Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) is still staring gravely into the void like a well-trained Golden Retriever with PTSD. Fair enough, that is part of his character — a man who feels everything and shows almost nothing. But after four seasons, his endless existential emptiness starts to wear thin and, lacking a better word, now feels like an artistic gimmick. 

And that is really symptomatic of season 4’s biggest problem: the characters are standing still. I recognize their conflicts and understand their pain, but we are starting to get a little bored. What’s missing is progression — the sense that these people are actually moving somewhere. With the exception of Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who is allowed to develop from a loud-mouthed maniac into a man with a purpose in life. His arc feels genuine — a man wrestling with his past while trying to find a new identity in an environment that is constantly on the verge of collapsing under the weight of its own ambitions.

The dialogue, which has previously been one of the series’ greatest strengths — intense, heartbreaking, and real — unfortunately begins to lose its direction. Several scenes are stretched out like a jazz improvisation, until you no longer have any idea what the number started as. It is artistic, but also frustrating. Especially when these long passages lead nowhere significant in the overall plot.

And then there is the finale... or rather, the lack of one. Instead of delivering a climax, we get yet another cliffhanger. It feels calculated. As if the series has become so in love with its own mystery that it forgets to give the audience the payoff we have, by now, earned. “Wait and see,” the series says — but after four seasons, patience becomes a luxury. It brings to mind Lost in its later years — everyone is staring into a jungle of symbolism and trauma, but few have any idea what is going on, and the series hopes the atmosphere will carry it home.

Where did the humor go? Season 1’s charm lay in the balance between the chaotic and the comic. The off-kilter dialogue, the absurd situations, the humanity in the middle of the madness. In season 4, the humor only appears in flashes — most often when Matty Matheson and co. (the delightfully titled “Faks”) are given room to breathe. They are still wonderfully absurd and unpredictable, but you really miss the lightness the series once managed to find in the middle of its characters’ misery.

But let’s not throw the whole thing out with the stock. The Bear is still better than 70% of what is being served on the streaming buffet. The series still has a pulse, an aesthetic, and an authenticity you do not find many other places. Its ability to blend warmth, stress, and sensitivity is still compelling — and some of the visual set pieces and the sound design are still top-class, even if the indie playlist is getting a bit overused by now. 

But where, for example, Succession managed to end at its peak, here you are left with the feeling that The Bear has started simmering away on a stock that has already been reduced one time too many. I miss answers to storylines that season 4 itself starts, but never closes.

We are still in the kitchen — but the question is whether we are still hungry? I think they owe us a season 5 that can tie up the loose ends, but the question is whether the series has been cooking for too long now..

Conclusion:
The Bear season 4 tries to build on the series’ intense nerve, but mostly ends up repeating itself. It still has qualities and charm, but Carmy’s inner darkness, unresolved character arcs, and a half-finished finale drag it down. We are still sticking around — but hoping season 5 shows up and dares to serve something new and conclusive.