“Here’s a way to look at it: It’s really fun.”
So says a best-left-named guest star in a best-to-the-round episode of “The Bear” season 4by describing time spent with the Berzatto family. And really our mystery speakers are right. For all the grief given to Christopher Stores and Joanna Calo’s Fx Restaurant drama after its down year – a brief and indisputable description that would still lead to at least two separate social media (one To call it a “drama,” Of course, and the other to say that it is an FX series even if it is only available at Hulu – have fun hashing it, TV nerds) – The Third season Be still just A little disappointing, not a direct disaster. The second season is still a triumph, and the first season, yes, without it, would we not be here, now we would?
To a few sick out there – the quoted speaker included a lot – all this, all from fighting over How many prizes “Bear” will win to celebrate heights and lowness for each seasoncould be seen as “funny.” The show itself, although not at first “The“Also is often fun. In its core,”Bear“Is an underdog story about a ragag group restaurant workers who all want to be better at their jobs so that they can also be better at their lives. They follow their passions. They plan slowly but consciously. They share their victories and their defeat. They are a team, or a family, it is easy to root for.
And they are also, quite often, a very high mess. The unspoken implication of our named character above – OK, is enough: It’s Stevie, Alias John Mulanay – is that while hanging with Berzattos can be fun, it can also be intense and outrageous. As can be seen from the panicked, frenzed, the lighting-dina-clad-on-fire nature in season 1, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) And his family has many problems to exercise, some of which are rooted in personal loss and mental illness, some of which are rooted in cooking culture and capitalism, and some of which come out of the powerful combination of all the above.
Looking back, Season 2 may have been the highlight of the series partly because it marked the exact time in the story when the beef became the bear; When Berzattos (et al.) Struggled down his injured past to try to build something new and untouched; When their established chaos brand must first be reintroduced, not only for their own individual reason but to improve their collaboration. The conflict between old and new, between their inherited madness and their driving force for newcomers, stirred up strong drama and balanced a dark and stormy kitchen with an outbreak of blessed light.
Now, into the rear half of a 20 episode arc divided into two seasons (😬), “The Bear” is not as serious as it used to be, but it is not so proprietary either. Season 4 too often embodies the main character because it does not know what to do when it is not enclosed in Mayhem. Now, Carmy can recognize the chaos in his kitchen is bad – a symptom of compulsive, oppressive chief chefs (and his own explosive family life) that he now cannot help but add his team – but chaos is also a necessary when he runs a restaurant. Thus, our lonely boy chef is left in limbo: with very Out of help from Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) maybe he can find harmony in the kitchen, but can he ever find it at the bear? Or any kitchen?
It is a fair question, but one series is just approaching in passes and starts. Season 4 thrives in almost all expected places: The role remains exceptional, with showcase scenes for Edebiri, Jamie Lee Curtis (like Carmy’s volatile mom, Donna) and Molly Gordon (plays Carmy’s dream girl, Claire). Oliver flat and Bob Odenkirk is silent triumphant, provides Gravitas to sneaky serious conversations that feel the more potent for being treated as a regular event, and the surprisingly A-listy guests are wisely limited to some (pleasing) new stars. (The Fax See also their presence limited, after going a little overboard with Season 3’s comic relief, while Edwin Lee Gibson’s Ebraheim so far gets its richest material – and makes the best of it.)

Some smart decisions pay off without reaching their full potential. Exciting additions in the premiere go underdeveloped. Returning favorites provide sudden sparks without standing to reason. Some crying monologues tie up loose ends, even though they are a little too loose with their language to hit as hard as they should. As often happens to someone, supporting characters do not get enough to do, and this year Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) gets a particularly stile arch, while Marcus’ clear progression is associated with a bland structure.
Still, these forgiveness are when they surrounded by so much that is easy to enjoy, and the “bear” is often easy to enjoy. (Because we don’t forget, that’s the rare Half an hour’s dramaAlthough sections are regularly run five minutes long.) Where season 4 noticeably wobbles is, strangely enough, where previous seasons are happy. Later in the season there is a reverse vision of the acclaimed episode all-hands “Fishes,” Which is beautiful, but the second attempt at a departure episode falls uncharacteristically flat. “Sydney’s Day Off” sounds like an appealing enough premise (and leaving her to explore Chicago in “Sundae” worked well), but Season 4’s version spends too long on a single choice – the same choice that Sydney struggles with for most of the season, and a choice with a response that is too obviously long.
Carmy again suffers a similar fate. While Season 1 asked if he could keep his dead brother’s oily spoon fluent and season 2 questioned whether he could turn it into a fine-food destination, Season’s 3 and 4 are built around whether the bear is actually a sustainable business and lifestyle. The latter weighs more strongly on Carmy, given his latest attractive experiment in pleasing hike (mainly with Claire, mainly by not working), and Season 4 sees him crawling against a predictable decision that is still saved for the final (and treated as a twist).
His intermittent dy-dally does not always feel unregible. There are great emotional conversations that must be found, and there is a literal ticking watch on his restaurant’s solvency, which adds dramatic heft and a line of the old urgency, to Carmy’s 10 episode the deliberation. But even though they make a definitive choice, the Season 4 still feels like kicking can on the road. There is no “to continue” after section 10, as if there were last season, but for many stories intended to be resolved, dangling is left, and the finals themselves are too contracted by its design to convey what small closure it offers. The end loses so much speed, it makes you wonder if this was once meant to be the series finale, despite the remaining occurrence of the unanswered questions.
Seen in a way, “The Bear” season 4 is still quite fun; An emotionally rich restaurant drama with good food, some laughs and a lot of heart. But seen in a different way, and it is our second straight disappointment; A long -lasting story is supported by its talented role and drawn out for reasons that remain unclear. Visiting the “bear” will probably always be nourished. But it drives further away from a hung at Michelin level.
Rating: B-
“The Bear” Season 4 premieres Thursday 26 June at Hulu. All ten episodes will be released at once.