The Bear

It’s time for The Bear, and “The Bear,” to stick the landing. And, though this review comes without the benefit of seeing the season’s final episode, all signs point to success.

The Bear lets it rip one last time, earning all of the Michelin stars and then some. If this is truly the final service, it’s going out with a bang.

Here are the characters you’ve come to love in the situation in which you’ve come to love them. No monologues or bottle episodes or dialogue-free mood-board vignettes; no celebrity chefs popping up because they can… just a classic recipe done very, very well.

The show delivers one of the most compelling final seasons, while also being quiet, intentional, and deliberate in every beat.

By The Bear’s standards the air-punch moments veer into indulgence, but we've been through so much together that we've earned episode seven, the most tearful, joyful, human hour of television you'll see anywhere this year. It also contains three or four of The Bear's best ever gags and by far its most hilarious ever one-off character.

The zeitgeist may have slightly shifted its attention elsewhere, but this inimitable gem goes out on top.

Storer and his team have created a fitting sendoff to one of the most intimate series in modern television.

At its best, The Bear reminded us of the difference, and this season was the perfect final bite.

While the penultimate episode of The Bear is the fireworks show, finishing off a seemingly apocalyptic service, the gentle series finale wraps everything up perfectly. Stripping the show of all the nail-biting anxiety and pretentious trimmings that previously held it back, the episode is saccharine but earned. It's also hopeful and bright, with a conclusion in which everyone finally finds some sort of peace.

The show and the restaurant still have their cracks. The Faks still attack, we meet unnecessary new characters, and the series remains a savory drama with comedy sprinkles. .... But if the superb, affecting penultimate episode is any indication of what’s to come, The Bear‘s series finale should eat.

Forget your reservations about last season and step up for one final feast at Chicago’s finest, feistiest family restaurant. Two words—Yes chef!

Based on the first seven episodes, "The Bear" still has the opportunity to go down as one of the greatest or worst finales of all time. It all comes down to one final service.

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.

What’s bittersweet is watching it go out of business with the best season since it opened in 2022.

Season 5 is scrappy and stressful in a good way, as the characters struggle to succeed against difficult odds. Season 5 is the best since Season 2, thanks to a streamlined focus on the restaurant.

In its fifth and final season, 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.

The Bear’s kitchen is still chaotic, but it is also now a place of community and compassion. If there is a happy ending, the gang have earned it – and so have viewers who have stuck with a show whose refusal to water down its own peculiar flavour (mostly) paid off in the end.

The show continues to lean on its preferred crutches: catchphrases like Mikey’s old adage “let it rip,” clichés about the redemptive power of feeding others and a cloying sentimentality that started to grate once the spell wore off. But for those who’ve stuck with “The Bear” through its low point — and anecdotally, I know many one-time fans who have not — these final episodes may cement a memory of the show that’s more than its worst moments.