The Bear Season 4 Wrap-Up: If Carmy is a Menace, Sign Me Up for Also Being a Menace (Spoilers)
by Ted Kluck
Overall, I think it’s fair to call Season 4 of “The Bear” uneven at best. Some episodes were memorable (1, 7, and the Syd short-film episode), some masterful (7, 9), and some I’ve forgotten completely.
Episode 9 was the true and better Episode 10, and had everything you want out of a season finale inasmuch as Marcus was recognized by “Food and Wine” as an emerging talent (a great Sugar moment as well), Computer was finally positive about something, Cicero might go into business with Rob Reiner on the sandwich project, and Carmy had a sweet scene of reconciliation with his estranged mother in which both actors (Jeremy Allen White and Jamie Lee Curtis) got to really cook and in which Carmy got to actually cook for her. It was everything you want out of a show that, when at its best, offers humor, realness, and heart. As such, I had high hopes for the season finale.
Instead, the episode started with about 12 minutes of non-stop arguing between Syd and Carmy – which arguing revealed some interesting things about how the show sees itself and its characters.
1. It seems that the show is still riding on the premise that “Carmy is a menace and fixing Carmy is the key to fixing The Bear.” Syd’s character hammers this point as often as possible. But as I was watching I realized that if being a menace means giving someone a job, constantly praising their work, then giving them the opportunity to chef at a fine-dining restaurant, funding that restaurant, helping a whole bunch of characters reach their potential (Tina, Fak, Sweeps, Ebra and Marcus), and then empowering that person to lead and co-own the restaurant – I hope to be a “menace” in exactly the same way at some point in my life. Also, I should be so lucky as to have a similar menace in my life.
2. If the show doesn’t give Syd something to do besides whine and be introspective about her situation and her circumstances, it will be very close to dying a natural death (which might be fine).
3. The show is hanging its proverbial hat on Syd’s character, which is the culturally-relevant thing to do in the short term, but unless it addresses the above point, will result in the death of the show, as there are other actors with compelling horsepower whose characters will suffer from a lack of “reps” (Sugar, Cicero, Marcus, Carmy’s mother, and Ritchie).
4. It’s worth noting that Season 4 used the Faks perfectly after over-using them in Season 3.
5. Every ensemble project – especially this deep in – has to take stock of who its high-horsepower performers are, and give as many reps to those performers as possible. With Jeremy Allen White stepping away to become a movie star (which I think he has the machinery for), we’ll see him much less onscreen and “The Bear” will need to find a new anchor character/storyline and build affection for that character. With one caveat…
6. If the show is trying to turn Sydney into early-career Carmy (self-obsessed, driven, occasionally insufferable), it is actually succeeding in doing that, which is an interesting psychological turn for a show that seems committed to keeping its characters on the metaphorical therapy couch as often as it keeps them in the also metaphorical film-school editing room what with its commitment to unconventionality.
I cried twice in Season 4 – when Carmy’s mother apologized, which for my Christian readers was in fact a perfect example of repentance in its specificity and genuineness – and when Marcus got his award from “Food and Wine.” These were GREAT moments in a show that I really wanted to be great, but which might actually just be pretty good.