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The final season isn’t without high points — Episode 7, “Caramel,” easily ranks among the series’ best — but it is a somewhat treacly sendoff that finally succumbs to its own sentimentality at the end. Bye, chef!
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It’s a show that has thrived on taking risks, and the first six episodes here, leading up to the series finale that isn’t a series finale, are very safe. But is “safe” the same as “playing to its strengths”? I’m less sure.
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Storer and co-showrunner Joanna Calo seem focused on completing each character’s emotional arc. By this measure and others, the season is uneven, better than its most recent predecessors but rarely as sublime as the second half of Season 1 and Season 2. But it’s at its best when training its observant gaze on Sydney.
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I’d like to have seen more of Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) and less of the Faks, who are intended (I presume) to bring light relief but are, I’m afraid, as irritating as ever. What The Bear always does well is depict the minutiae of service and make astute observations about social chemistry when a group of humans work together closely in stressful conditions — and these qualities continue to the end.
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The seven episodes I've seen are fast-paced and watchable, but there's a sameness here that keeps Season 5 from feeling like a real finale.
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We can report the show gets good around Episode 6 and even approaches the quality of vintage 2022 and 2023 “Bear” in Episode 7. This upward trend suggests the onetime Emmy magnet and cultural phenomenon will wrap up on a satisfying note. Early Season 5 episodes, however, are haunted by the same narrative indecisiveness that has long followed “The Bear” like a county health inspector with an itchy thermometer finger.