'The Bear' Season 4 Ending, Explained: What Does Carmy's News Mean for the Restaurant's Future?
Warning: season 4 spoilers ahead!
Time appears to have run out on Carmy 's time with The Bear.
Thus far, The Bear has centered around world-class chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) trying to turn his late brother's sandwich shop (formerly The Beef) into a fine-dining restaurant while still grieving him. The emotionally damaged, yet highly talented Carmy is helped by a colorful cast of characters, including the ambitious and skilled chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and his volatile, yet passionate 'cousin' Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).
Still, The Bear season 4 finale, which premiered on June 25, hints that food might not be at the center of Carmy's life for much longer. In a twist, he announces that he's going to retire from the restaurant business for good, breaking the news during a no-holds-barred conversation with Sydney and Richie.
With 21 Emmy Award wins — the most of any show this decade — The Bear's fourth season was highly anticipated after season 3's cliffhanger involving Sydney's decision whether to helm her own restaurant or stay at The Bear. The show's fourth season not only resolves this issue but also provides a resolution to Carmy and Richie's longstanding feud.
Here's everything to know about The Bear season 4's finale, including how it ties up loose ends and the future of the series.
The Bear concludes with its prodigy chef, Carmy, quitting his restaurant, The Bear, and announcing his retirement from the industry.
In season four's penultimate episode, Sydney receives a call from Sugar's (Abby Elliott) husband Pete (Chris Witaske) who informs her that Carmy has left himself out of the new ownership agreement. When Sydney confronts him on this, Carmy reveals his decision to leave.
During their argument, Carmy tells Sydney that he knew she had an offer to leave The Bear and helm her own restaurant before ultimately turning it down. Carmy also expresses his admiration for Sydney and wants her to run the restaurant.
'Any chance of any kind of good in this building, it started when you walked in, and any possibility of it surviving, it's with you,' Carmy says. 'I believe in you more than I've ever believed in myself ... because you're The Bear.'
Richie walks into their heated discussion, and after first expressing contempt, he and Carmy have a brutally honest hashing out of their differences, sharing secrets along the way. After an initially tumultuous relationship, Sydney advocates for Richie to become a partner of the restaurant with her and Sugar.
As the season ends, Jimmy (Oliver Platt) — the restaurant's investor — and The Computer's (Brian Koppelman) bring up a timer that they implemented at the beginning of the season. The clock indicates that the restaurant would need to cease operations if it didn't turn a profit or receive a Michelin star when it reaches zero, but it wasn't fully clear what the status of these stipulations was.
At the end of The Bear's second season, Carmy and Richie get into an explosive fight while Carmy is locked in the refrigerator room. The tension between them later boils over in the next two seasons.
While the former friends have appeared civil at times, Carmy finally apologizes to Richie for his chaotic conduct at the restaurant during season 4's finale and tells him his big secret: Carmy secretly attended Mikey's (Jon Bernthal) funeral for a moment before walking out.
Richie gets emotional and confronts Carmy both physically and emotionally at first before the two address the issues from their season 2 fight. Carmy admits he didn't realize that Richie went through a huge loss of his best friend when Mikey died by suicide.
Richie then admits that he felt like Carmy resented him, and Carmy acknowledges that he did resent him because of how close Richie and Mikey were compared to Carmy and Mikey.
'You were inside my family, like you really knew my family. You got to spend time with him and you really ... knew him,' Carmy said. 'It's not the same. I didn't really know him. I didn't know him like you did.'
Richie further reveals that he tried to get Mikey to talk to someone about his mental health issues and that he worked at The Beef to keep an eye on Mikey, but feels like he failed. Carmy tells Richie he didn't fail him, as Richie shared that he thought Carmy didn't go to the funeral because he was upset with Richie for not being there enough for Mikey.
Richie reveals he resented Carmy because he always felt like an outsider before telling Carmy that he missed him while he was in New York, as the two seemingly make up.
In the second episode of The Bear's fourth season, Sugar tells Carmy that she saw a spark and love in him when he left Chicago to be a chef in New York, but she no longer sees that. It turns out Sugar was right, as Carmy admits to Sydney that he no longer loves the restaurant business and working in the food industry, recognizing that he used it as an escape.
'I think I put a lot of things in the way of dealing with very real things,' Carmy tells Sydney regarding his decision to quit. 'I think I was trying to put hurdles in the way.'
Additionally, Carmy reveals to Claire (Molly Gordon) that he still loves her and apologizes for being scared. Jimmy had previously told Carmy that being involved with Claire wouldn't work if he wanted to be all in on the restaurant business, which led to Carmy accidentally confessing that to Claire while stuck in the refrigerator room in season 2.
Carmy also tells Sydney and Richie that he doesn't know what he's like as a person outside of the kitchen and needs to leave to figure that out and get rid of his chaotic ways because he doesn't like who he is right now. This was also partially inspired by Carmy reconciling with his mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) for the first time in years as she apologized for being a bad mother and admitted to going on her own journey of self-discovery.
In the end, Carmy feels comfortable leaving the restaurant in Sydney's hands, telling her she is a natural leader and teacher. As Sugar hears their conversation, she learns of Carmy's decision and begins crying while hugging him with a slight smile, harkening back to their earlier discussion.
With Carmy quitting the restaurant and Jimmy's clock from the beginning of the season, the restaurant's future has never been murkier, but it may not be over yet. First of all, Carmy plans to stay on briefly to get the restaurant out of debt, while Jimmy has openly acknowledged how much better the restaurant is doing.
Additionally, a single man was visiting the restaurant and seemingly taking note of all the ways the restaurant went out of its way to provide exceptional service to a visiting family. This included making a fine dining version of The Beef sandwich and creating artificial snow, which greatly impressed the man, who could be the one to give them a Michelin star.
Potential future consigliere and lawyer Albert Schner (Rob Reiner) has been meeting with Ebra (Edwin Lee Gibson) all season about how profitable The Beef sandwich window attached to The Bear has been. He further elaborates on an idea to franchise The Beef, which was the original name of The Bear, as The Computer seems excited upon hearing of this idea as well, although Jimmy's reaction is unclear.
Carmy may be quitting, but Sydney advocated for Richie to be added to the partnership agreement with Sugar leaving three passionate individuals in charge. With Tina (Liza Colòn-Zayas) getting her prep time in check and Marcus (Lionel Boyce) having been named one of Food and Wine's best new chefs, The Bear may not only be staying open, but could be on the upswing.
The Bear was not yet renewed for season 5 at the time of season 4's release, but FX head John Landgraf said that he would love to have more of The Bear if series creator Christopher Storer was up for it.
'We really don't know. These decisions are really creative decisions,' Landgraf told Variety in July 2024. 'So it's really Chris [Storer's] decision on The Bear. It's about, how much more story does he have to tell? I mean, obviously, I'm hoping he has more than one more season of story to tell.'
It appears The Bear may return for a final course after all.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.
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