In the world of The Bear, a mixed review sent Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) spiraling, among other reasons — and the fourth season ended with him deciding to quit the restaurant. But the reviews are in for Season 5, and the results are far more satisfying.
With 25 reviews submitted for the FX series’ final season, the Rotten Tomatoes score stands at 100%, with a Metacritic “must watch” score of 81 — a return to form for the Emmy winner.
Season 5 covers the events of a single day, played out over eight episodes, with Syd (Ayo Edebiri) and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) coming to terms with the news of Carmy’s decision to quit. But of course nothing’s ever that simple. Uncle Jimmy’s (Oliver Platt) money has run out, along with his ticking clock, which means the chefs have to cut portions drastically; the reservation system has crashed; a catastrophic downpour has flooded the basement. And a desperate Sugar (Abby Elliott) has resorted to leaving her mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) in charge of baby-sitting. Yep, just one of those days.
So will this series finale earn a Michelin star? Here’s what the critics had to say about the show’s final meal (thought it’s worth noting they were only given seven of the eight episodes to review):
“The Bear scales back down to its fundamentals and delivers a satisfying farewell to one of the most electrifying television series of the past decade,” says Vulture’s Nicolas Quah, a sentiment echoed by the majority of reviewers. “Even the comedy lands better, allowed more room to breathe beneath all the yelling. This is The Bear at its most efficiently entertaining, its narrower focus and leaner run times distilling its strengths into a streamlined whole.”
Ben Travers at IndieWire praises the show’s pacing, giving it an overall grade of B-plus. Showrunner Chris Storer’s “team of writers, producers, and craftspeople take their time building to the show’s trademark anxiety hour, and their deliberateness pays dividends,” he writes. “Save for a minor mystery here and a pacing hiccup there, Season 5 arranges a steady, concentrated build toward the revelations we crave, packed with plenty of moving moments and without breaking from its day-in-the-life plot.”
For Alison Herman at Variety, this season serves as a redemption, with a return to its focus on what made the series great. “Like Carmy’s effort to make his final act at The Bear an example of the humility he otherwise lacked, The Bear seems aware that last impressions are what can lock in a legacy,” she writes. “The Bear can’t fully shake off two full seasons of subpar storytelling, but at least it can improve while it’s still around.”
Less convinced is Time critic Judy Berman. “A more persistent problem, throughout the show’s run, is a lack of narrative balance,” she writes in her review. “With its storytelling so weighted in favor of moments, tableaus, conversations, and the interiority of some characters more than others, the whole suffers….In its reluctance to drop the pretense that it is a comedy, The Bear keeps making the buffoonish Fak brothers (played by Matty Matheson and Ricky Staffieri) sillier and more dissonant with the rest of the show.”
The Bear Season 5 debuts with all eight episodes on FX and Hulu on June 25 at 8 p.m.
