Can ‘The Bear’ excel for one last shift?
Can ‘The Bear’ excel for one last shift?
The show’s fifth and final season is coming to Hulu this week, and it’s the title I’m most excited for by far.
The kitchen is closing on “The Bear.” The FX on Hulu dramatic comedy series is preparing to release its fifth season on Thursday, June 25. Season 5 of the show will be the last, concluding the story of young Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto and his quest to create the world’s next great fine dining restaurant in his hometown of Chicago after the death of his brother.
“The Bear” Season 4 ended with a fairly jaw-dropping conclusion: Carmy opted to leave the restaurant he had done so much to build, turning it over to his partner Sydney and his brother’s best friend Richie. Ever since, I’ve been dying to know if the show will be able to wrap up each character’s story satisfactorily, and Season 5 is the title I’m most excited to stream this week.
Things don’t appear to be going well for the employees of The Bear restaurant as Season 5 begins. It’s running out of money, and the threat of a sale looms large. Add to all that the fact that a huge storm is on the way, and there isn’t much time for the new partners to come together to achieve their goal of winning a Michelin star.
Watch the trailer for ‘The Bear’ Season 5
The biggest narrative beats of the season are still a mystery, as they should be. But we do know that the crew at The Bear is still trying to achieve the heights of culinary greatness, despite the essentially imminent threat that the restaurant will be forced to close its doors. The show’s honest depiction of how difficult it is to truly break through to win a Michelin star, and how toxic many kitchen environments become in that pursuit.
It’s a key throughline of every season of “The Bear,” and I’ve loved following how each character responds to the pressure. Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) thrives under such conditions when given a chance to shine, while Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) has found that she needs a little extra practice as she tries to step up her game. Old line cook Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) can’t hack it in the fine dining life, but still manages to carve out a niche for himself. It’s one of my favorite metaphors for life communicated by “The Bear”: everyone has valid skills, even if they don’t translate to all situations.
Another aspect I’ve always enjoyed about “The Bear” is how frankly the show depicts issues surrounding mental illness. That term itself can conjure images of Hannibal Lecter or other such cartoonish villains from media history, but the truth of mental illness is that it’s rarely so ostentatious. It’s a quiet, unending struggle that many viewers know all too personally, and “The Bear” depicts characters with mental illness for what they really are: flawed, capable human beings who are usually trying their best, even if they don’t always succeed. It’s a credit not only to the writing, but to the acting of performers like Jamie Lee Curtis (Donna Berzatto) and Jon Bernthal (Michael “Mikey” Berzatto).
On that note, I’m so fascinated to see how the season handles Carmy’s decision to step away from the world of cooking to heal from his traumas. Will he succeed and make a new path for himself, or will he be sucked back into the toxicity of the food industry that he found so hard to escape the first time? Ultimately, I trust “The Bear” to handle either outcome (or a different one) with authenticity.
I’ll miss “The Bear” when it’s gone, but I have to give the show credit for knowing when to end a story. Five seasons seem like a proper time to conclude the arc of the characters in “The Bear,” and I’m counting on showrunner Christopher Storer and company to bring it across the finish line. Season 5 will premiere its first two episodes on FX at 9 p.m. ET on June 25, and will then drop one episode every Thursday until the 10-episode season concludes on Aug. 6. All 10 episodes will drop on Hulu on June 25.
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