As The Bear’s motley crew love to ask each other: “You good?”.
Actually, no, we’re not good. We didn’t sit through a whole blood-pressure-busting season of Carm and co. waiting to find out the answers to three incredibly laboured plot points, only to be hit with a “to be continued…” at the end of the last episode.
Akin to dropping £150 on some very mid small plates from a restaurant on Eater’s ‘best 38’ lists, we’ve been left hungry. And while the whole of series three has, like The Bear restaurant itself, suffered from very mixed reviews, let’s dig into what was plated up for that finale.
What happened and what questions need answering, urgently, for season four?
FX
The Bear season 3 ending: explained
To add to Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) stress, in the previous episode, Cicero (Oliver Platt) informed him that if the Chicago Tribune review turned out to be bad, he’d be pulling out of funding therestaurant. The consequence? Well, The Bear would almost certainly have to pull down the shutters for good. So everyone’s on tenterhooks waiting for this review. Hopefully we’ll find out by the end of this episode, right?
But this episode is focused almost entirely on another restaurant: the end of Chef Andrea Terry’s (Olivia Colman) 'Ever', and a “funeral service” to mourn its demise. Surely “the last supper” would have been more fitting?
Repping The Bear, Carm, obviously, is invited, as Chef Terry seems to have been one of the only mentors in his life with a positive influence; someone who tried to instil the idea of quiet, calm and love into him and his work in the kitchen. Perhaps he could have done with taking her non-negotiables a bit more to heart as we’ve seen just how badly it’s worked out for him, imitating his other mentor, the sociopathic Chef David (Joel McHale). But we shall return to that…
Carm invites Syd (Ayo Edebiri), which she has to accept, knowing that one of Ever’s bosses has asked her to jump ship and be CDC (AKA Chef de Cuisine, AKA head chef, for those not in with the resto lingo) of their next venture. She’s not told Carm yet, though has tried. Also along for the ride with the industry VIPs is Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who despite only working five days in Ever, made such an impression that he’s invited back to hang with the other front-of-house lot. The – possibly? – blossoming romance between him and his former colleague is one of the few moments of joy in this episode, even the series, because he really deserves it. He’s one of the few characters who has clearly done the work and has progressed as a person for the better over the course of the three seasons, especially when communicating with his ex and his daughter.
FX
The last supper
Anyway, pull up your chair, because it’s dinner time. Despite Ever being a very much fictional restaurant, the show managed to neatly pull in some big name IRL chefs: we peeped Grant Achatz (Alinea), Christina Tosi (Milk Bar) and Anna Posey (Elske), ex-Noma’s Rosio Sanchez, Wylie Dufresne and Kevin Boehm.
While it’s all perfectly nice to hear them josh around, regaling each other with their own Kitchen Confidential stories, there are plot points to tick off here, people! Carm engages in a staring competition with Chef David, who’s also loitering in the restaurant, and he eventually confronts him on the way to the toilet. It’s excruciating. Other than a “fuck you” and “I think about you too much”, it’s all that a highly emotional Carm can manage to get out when faced again with someone who he was essentially in an abusive relationship with. It’s soul-destroying to watch – who hasn’t role-played taking down a tormentor in the most scorching of fashions in their head, only to blow the chance in real life? – especially as Chef David doubles down on it.
Emotionally speaking, he takes Carm right back into his kitchen again, telling him sarcastically: “You’re welcome! You were an OK chef when you started with me, and you left an excellent chef”. When Carm breaks and tells him he gave him “panic attacks, and ulcers, and nightmares”, Chef David replies: “Dude, you need to unclutch your pearls… your life needed to stop”.
There’s some nice little scenes between Syd and Luca (another welcome return from Will Poulter) in the kitchen talking about being a sibling vs. an only child – hammering home to Syd the importance of family to share the good times and the bad times with (twisting the knife for Syd about ditching Carm). Carm has a little heart to heart with Chef Terry – who finally asks him to call her Andrea rather than chef the next time he sees her, implying that she plans to be in his life, even when she’s left the industry. She says that if she could tell her younger self one thing, it would be: “You have no idea what you’re doing, and therefore, you’re invincible”. Or: make your own way in the world, unburdened by what others around you expect.
The afterparty
Then, it’s all back to Syd’s for the afterparty: kegs of beer, frozen waffles and the karaoke joys of James’ Laid finish of the night. Unfortunately for Syd, she legs it out the door – who else thought she was going to find the Ever chef to give him his answer on the job? – and suffers panic attack. She’s in exactly the same position as Carm was under Chef David: the toxic cycle is repeating itself. Get out while you still can!
Then we see Carm checking his phone: amid several missed calls from Cicero and Computer, the review has finally dropped! But we’re just given a highly edited tasting-menu, words like “brilliant”, “confusing”, “sloppy”, “tired”, “excellent” and “stale” all pop up. So which is it? Carm lets out a “motherfucker!”, which to our ears kind of sounds more furious than jubilant, but who can really say? And, with a “to be continued…” that’s it until season 4.
Questions we still need answered:
- Obviously, what did the review say?
- What happened between Carm and Claire (Molly Gordon)? After trailing this for the entire series, are you seriously telling us that short of the Faks going to the hospital to tell her that he still loved her, there was no resolution? What a waste of time.
- What is Syd’s decision? Clearly, she has to leave – her own mental health depends on it now – but will a sense of misplaced guilt and loyalty make her stay?
Laura Martin is a freelance journalist specializing in pop culture.
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