After five seasons and one epic final service, The Bear has come to an end. The show will go down as one of the biggest and best breakout hits of the decade, and one that turned several of its cast members into stars. The final season takes a back-to-basics approach that hones in on the most important characters and storylines, ensuring that, for one last time, it makes every second count.
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It’s a tactic that pays off, because The Bear‘s ending is a satisfying one. The restaurant lives to fight another day, The Beef’s expansion plans are in motion, and everyone comes together and is happy. The finale is like a perfect dessert after a large meal, but it doesn’t wrap everything up neatly (and that’s not a bad thing). There are some lingering questions, which, barring a shock return, we’ll never get answers to, but always be wondering about.
4) Does Carmy End Up With Claire?
Carmy’s relationship with Claire was a major part of Seasons 2 and 3 of The Bear, and had a significant influence on Season 4 as well, where they ended up back on good terms. However, the structure of Season 5 means there is not much room to explore things any further, with Molly Gordon absent from seven of the eight episodes. She doesn’t actually appear until right at the very end of the series finale, but it’s enough to spark questions about her and Carm (though, in truth, they’d be asked anyway).
It’s clear from those scenes that they’re still on friendly terms, as they smile and joke together. But do they actually get back together? It’s very purposefully left open-ended, but with Carm finally starting to figure things out for himself, it does seem pretty possible they’ll have a romantic reunion. At the very least, they seem likely to be in each other’s lives for a long time, so it cannot be ruled out, though there is a fair argument that they’re better off just being friends.
Speaking of being better off as friends, the same can also be said for Carmy and Sydney. There had long been hopes and theories they’d get together, something The Bear Season 5 directly calls out, with Donna asking whether they’re a couple and Marcus saying he doesn’t think so. The final season does a great job of showing the strong bond and love between them, but it does very much seem platonic, and that was the right call.
3) Does The Beef Franchise Plan Work?
Although Ebrahim didn’t get a lot of screen time for much of The Bear Season 5, he ends up being the restaurant’s potential savior: the franchise plan he came up with, with the help of Albert (the late Rob Reiner, who gets a touching tribute here), gets an immediate go-ahead from Carmy. The idea isn’t to open more consumer-facing locations, but instead to have ghost kitchens, or virtual restaurants, in multiple parts of Chicago for online and phone orders.
Given everyone approves of it, and that The Beef portion of the restaurant had remained very popular, it does seem rather likely that it’s going to succeed. The closing moments saw the crew heading out to scout locations, and though nothing is ever certain, it does seem like they’re onto a real winner. That would definitely be rather fitting, giving a sense of things coming full circle after Carmy came in to save The Beef at the beginning, and now it’s the thing that helps to save The Bear.
2) Does The Bear Survive (& What About Those Air Rights)?
The Beef’s future looks good, but things are a little more mixed for The Bear. On the plus side, the restaurant has just secured not one but two Michelin stars, which should lead to a significant increase in business. It’s a huge, positive step that will make the place stand out and be even more of a dining destination in Chicago. With Sydney, Richie, Tina, Marcus, et al all sticking around, then it does at least have a reasonable chance of success.
At the same time, that’s all it is: a chance. The Bear represents a (somewhat) real-world in which restaurants are closing all the time and businesses are struggling with rising costs. They did an incredibly packed service in Episode 7 that they only just pulled off, and didn’t make a profit. And as Sugar tells Syd, they basically just have to keep repeating that. There’s very little margin for error, though it might be helped if Uncle Jimmy ever does get his hands on those air rights (also: who is Raymond??), which can help both his own money issues and that of The Bear, while The Beef’s expansion should also mean it does live a lot longer yet.
1) Does Carmy Really Quit The Restaurant?
Although most of The Bear’s staff is staying on at the restaurant, a question hangs over Carmy’s future. From the end of the fourth season, and then all through Season 5, his plan is to quit, stepping away from the food industry entirely. Indeed, his new idea is to become an architect, paying off his love of drawing, creating, and his visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s house, with him going for an interview – though it’s more like a therapy session – with Sue, and that initially seems to be what he’s set on.
The finale does make us question it, though. He’s still in his chef uniform at the very end, and looks a lot more at peace than we’ve seen him in a long time, even texting Mikey to tell him, “All good.” That comes when he’s surrounded by pictures of food from the restaurant, and his interview for the architecture internship was him realizing how happy he had been during that final service. For me, I think the realization is that he loves cooking and working closely with those people, just not being the one to lead them, and that’s what he’ll continue to do, but it could go either way, and the ambiguity makes it even better.
All five seasons of The Bear are streaming on FX on Hulu.
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