The Bear Season 5 Review

The Bear (2022-2026)

Season 5 - 8 episodes (2026 June 25) 
Watch The Bear Season 5 on Hulu
Created by: Christopher Storer
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Oliver Platt, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Oliver Platt, Abby Elliot
Rating: TV-MA
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Plot
A young chef from the fine dining world returns to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop.

In the final season with Carmy having quit, the team must survive a stressful and chaotic day where everything goes wrong with the restaurant on the verge of being sold.

Verdict
I appreciate altering the format so that most of this season is only one day at the restaurant. With the plot being the lead up and execution of one night, that provides the drive for the season. While I enjoyed it, this doesn't match the highs of the series. It didn't develop and build characters like previous seasons with such a brief amount of time. It still expertly captures the tension and frustration of working in a demanding industry. This show has been so good, it's difficult to maintain elite story telling. The fourth season feels like a better conclusion, with this being a coda that adds one more day.
Watch It.

Review
The Bear has been a show that's so much fun to watch. It crafts a drama about a restaurant where a lot happens between the lines.

With season four the crew of The Bear are chasing a Michelin star. Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) finally decides on a set menu after a critic citing the menu's dissonance. He was challenging himself to the detriment of the restaurant. Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) has to decide whether to open her own restaurant or partner with Carmy. Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) funded the new restaurant, and he sets an ultimatum. The make or break date for profitability is the countdown for the entire season. At the end of the season, Carmy walks away from the restaurant, giving Sydney and Natalie (Abby Elliot) half while Uncle Jimmy holds the other half of ownership. Sydney agrees only if Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is made a partner which eases the tensions between them.

E3: Ayo Edebiri, Jeremy Allen White play Sydney, Carmy

This season narrows the focus to one day. Not only is there a huge rain storm that will prompt cancellations when they desperately need to turn a profit, everything is going wrong and Carmy quit at the end of last season. He's still helping out while trying not to step on Sydney's toes. Uncle Jimmy is short on cash, and the restaurant is the best candidate for a sale.

The storm is causing issues with the plumbing which explodes. Natalie needs to cut costs yet again, and Sydney copes with being the new leader while the restaurant is literally falling apart around her. Richie is excited about his new position, already developing ideas to improve the restaurant. There's the question of who's in charge. Not many know Carmy quit, and Uncle Jimmy cancels an expensive order of meat but doesn't tell anyone. A bad bet has him in dire straits. Employees see the writing on the wall with several of them quitting and others searching for a way out through a new job.

E4: Jeremy Allen White, Abby Elliot, Ayo Edebiri,  Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Matty Matheson, Corey Hendrix play Carmy, Natalie, Sydney, Richie, Neil Fak, Sweeps

Carmy has trouble letting go while trying to defer to Sydney, and she inadvertently reveals he quit during a tense team meeting that only exacerbates the already numerous problems. Then they get a hole in the roof above the kitchen. With several servers having already quit, they still will only barely cover payroll. Despite the tension, they're making it work. Since the uniforms were ruined when the pipe burst, they're wearing "The Beef" tees. Sydney is meeting the pressure head on while Richie makes sure front of house is up to the challenge.

It's one thing after another. The storm is causing all reservations to be late and they're overbooked. By the end of episode five, guests start arriving and it's go time. While Sydney asked Richie to cancel some reservations, he just can't do that. He's committed to creating an experience for everyone. This season, he really is the all star. He manages to deal with overbooking without letting any guest feel like they're waiting. He's working magic by getting tables moving, even sending one couple into the kitchen and another to a different restaurant for desert. The kitchen is a machine, delivering orders on a tight timeline despite the frustrations. They are doing the impossible to serve too many people with barely enough supplies. It's a triumph.

E7: Liza Colón-Zayas, Abby Elliot, Sarah Ramos, Ayo Edibiri, Jeremy Allen White, Lionel Boyce, Will Poulter play Tina, Natalie, Jessica, Sydney, Carmy, Marcus, Luca

Then there's the Michelin inspector in attendance. They've been chasing a star since last season.

Ibrahim has been working on a pitch for The Beef expansion since last season. He finally works up the nerve to pitch to Carmy who already knows about the pitch from Uncle Jimmy and immediately agrees, shocking Ibrahim. It is a nice moment for Ibrahim, and he also finds his spoon thief in the final episode.

I don't know how Carmy would get an interview with an architecture firm with no skills in the field whatsoever. The true intent of the scene is to let him have his break through moment where he realizes what the restaurant means to him. This would fit better in a therapy session. The final episode is more of a victory lap or some kind of fan service. I would have liked this ending after episode seven, then again season four also provided a great conclusion. I'm glad to get one more season of this show, and it was a difficult task to try and match the heights of previous seasons. Narrowing the focus to just one day is a great cap to the show.

My ranking of the seasons would be: 2, 4, 1, 3, 5. It's not that 5 is bad, it's a great season. The issue that The Bear is just such a great show. It ends without a long, slow decline. It's been one of my favorite shows since it first released.