Forever – As the finale of The Bear begins, Carmen “Carmy’ Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) works at the restaurant and tries to avoid becoming frustrated. The chef comes in and learns it’s his first day. Chef Thomas (Thomas Keller) helps Carmy and shows him a few things to get him started. The chef explains he’s been there for 23 years now. Thomas tells him how he’ll have a legacy at the restaurant and how he’ll try to improve a little each day. He explains to Carmy that it’s all about nurturing. Then, Carmy looks at pictures of famous chefs. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) walks around and looks at the decorations. Chef Luca (Will Poulter) arrives and hugs Carmy. Richie learns his old friends are still working on spoons and they joke they retired his jersey.

Richie asks Jessica (Sarah Ramos) and the others if he can hang out with them during the service. He doesn’t want to sit out there. Luca speaks to another chef while Carmy talks to two others. Richie agrees to let Jessica take the lead since he’s retired. Before long, Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) arrives. Carmy introduces her to Luca, Will, and the others. Sydney thinks about the partnership agreement. Luca talks about the first time he yelled “hands”. At one point, Carmy sees Chef David (Joel McHale) nearby. He keeps remembering what David said and Michael as well. Carmy looks at David multiple times as the conversation nearby continues. Luca talks about the time he sliced his hand open and how cool everyone was about it. He explains how he felt like he earned his place.

Sydney remembers something similar. Genie Kwon admits she doesn’t like cooking as much as others. Growing up, her parents were never in a good place. She always knew she could make them something that would bring them joy. Genie believes she seeks approval from people every day. Carmy continues thinking about everything. Chef Terry (Olivia Colman) speaks to the crowd and thanks them for being there. She talks about her career and watching families grow. Over the years, she’s learned that people don’t remember the food. Instead, they remember the people. Richie asks Jessica if there’s a secret to staying pumped or inspired. Jessica says she surrounds herself with people who are better than her. Sydney speaks to Luca about the dish that he and Carmy worked on. They ask Carmy about staring.

They find out that he’s staring at David Fields from Empire. Carmy says David made him mentally ill. Carmy gets up and walks away when David gets up. Luca doesn’t think this is going to end well. Carmy approaches David and admits he always wondered what he’d say to him if he got to see him again. Carmy tells him f%ck you and he doesn’t have anything after that. He goes on to say he thinks about him too much. David doesn’t think about Carmy at all. Carmy asks why he’s such an a-hole. David says he’s welcome. He explains that Carmy was just an okay chef when he started. When he left, he was an excellent chef. Carmy claims David gave him ulcers and panic attacks. David believes he gave him confidence and leadership. He tells him to unclutch his pearls. David says it works because Carmy is there.

He goes to the bathroom and leaves Carmy crying alone. Luca tells Sydney he’s going to be there for a few months. They talk about her not having any siblings and getting all of the attention. Luca reveals it was nice to look over at someone who is going through the exact same situation. They were best friends although they kind of lost touch. Adam Shapiro interrupts to borrow Sydney for a second. In private, Sydney admits she hasn’t got the chance to speak to Carmy yet. He knows it’s a big change for her. Sydney hasn’t found the right time, but she insists she is still interested. Terry approaches Carmy outside and speaks to him. She tells him how she used to come out and watch the building nearby being built. Carmy doesn’t think he told her how much he learned at this place.

Terry tells him all of the things she wants to do and how she wants to live. That’s why she’s closing the restaurant. She heard Carmy’s restaurant is wonderful. Carmy asks what she’d tell herself if she was where he is. Terry doubts there’s anything that would make a difference. She would tell herself that she doesn’t know what she’s doing so she’s invincible. She asks Carmen to call her Andrea when they see each other again. When she goes back inside, Adam takes down the “every second counts” sign and gives it to her. Once they leave, everyone gets together to party. Sydney shows Andrea her freezer. Sydney looks at the review for The Beef on her refrigerator door. She steps outside and begins having a panic attack.

Carmen gets an alert about the Chicago Tribune Review. He finds out that the review is good.

 

The Bear Review

The finale of The Bear’s third season had some strong moments scattered throughout an otherwise uneventful episode. The episode did very little to close any doors that were opened during the season. The review was really the only aspect of the story that was covered in the finale. The review was obviously going to be good because it had to be for the sake of the show.

Twenty-five minutes or so were wasted away on real-life chefs just chatting at Terry’s restaurant. Surprisingly, some of their performances were stronger than some of the core cast. Then, it shifted focus briefly to Carmy confronting David. Finally, it turned into an Andrea Terry episode before the last-minute reveal.

A lot of time was wasted throughout the season leading to a lackluster finale. The wedding, Claire, the birth, Sydney’s decision, and so on were never touched on in the finale leaving these stories just waiting for a fourth season. The basics here are good, but the writing leaves a lot to be desired. Truthfully, season three was pretty much a nothing burger.

There is so much that could be done with The Bear, especially the characters that receive very little screen time. The finale is a perfect example of this because it focused more on the side characters and pretty much none of the core characters, including Sweeps, Marcus, Tina, Ebraheim, and even Richie.

Too much emphasis is placed on getting these big guest roles although they rarely add anything. That money would be better spent getting some decent writers who can form a coherent, emotional story that can start at A and end at B. The camera could also be zoomed out a little so we can actually see the restaurant. Better yet, how about the guests?

Chef Terry is going on and on about the guests, yet the writers themselves seem to have forgotten about those people. The 15 minutes per episode wasted on spotlighting Carmy or Sydney sprinkling ingredients on dishes could be used to develop interesting stories and unique patrons. At the end of the day, The Bear is all visual with a very shallow story.

The finale did nothing memorable and scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of The Bear can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. See what others are saying at the Reel Mockery Forum.