The Bear is officially back for season 4! All 10 episodes of the new season are available to stream on Hulu right now. We just don't know what the names of each episode are yet because Hulu didn't list them. Hopefully, that gets worked out soon!
At the end of The Bear season 3, there were a few big questions left up in the air. Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) was panicking, literally, over her decision to leave Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and the gang at The Bear. Meanwhile, Carm just received an awful review of the new restaurant. He left Cicero (Oliver Platt) hanging, too, after he called a bunch of times.
Well, The Bear season 4 opens with Carm pitching an idea for a restaurant to Michael (Jon Bernthal). At first, Mike isn't interested, but Carm gives a good pitch. He also brings up their father and his favorite restaurant, one of the only good memories Carm has about their dad. That kickstarts a conversation about their father. Eventually, the conversation turns back to the restaurant. Finally, Carmy convinces him to make a place where they can take care of people, even on the bad days.
In real time, Carm hops on a train and sends a text to Mikey. He says that he's thinking about him. Like the many other texts, they obviously don't go through.
At The Bear, Carm and Sydney have a very frank conversation about the review. Sydney tells him to be less miserable and chaotic. Instead, he needs to focus on the things that make him calm. That's the key takeaway from the conversation with Mikey, too. Carm has strayed too far from the sidewalk, clearly. He even goes to Marcus and asks for help, but Marcus (Lionel Boyce) tells him that working at The Bear is what helped him. That's not working out for Carmy and the rest of the team, though.
The rest of the gang isn't taking the review well. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is on edge. Sugar (Abby Elliott) makes Pete (Chris Witaske) throw the review away. Tina is taking the review very personally because it claimed that the pasta was late during each of the visits. Oh, and as for Syd, she's still talking to Shapiro about the new job opportunity.
Cicero promises to close down The Bear in two months
Cicero drops a bomb on Carm, Sugar, and Sydney. Computer (Brian Koppleman) plugs a clock into the wall with a two-month countdown. When it hits zero, The Bear closes unless they start making some money. Computer wants to close the restaurant now, but Cicero wants to give them a chance.
Richie arrives and brings up the review. He actually agrees with a lot of the main points, and he apologizes for messing up as the front of house. And, finally, we get the argument we've been waiting for as Carmen, Richie, and Sydney.
Needless to say, things are not looking good. Personally, I never understood the vision from the jump. Knowing anything about the restaurant business, it takes a long time to recoup a sizable investment like Cicero's, so this feels largely inevitable. I don't really know what everyone is shocked, but hey, maybe this is the thing that Carm needs to turn this all around!
He makes a deal with his uncle to get a Michelin Star in this two-month window to turn it around.
Richie hires a new team
After Ever closed during the season 3 finale, there are a few major players in the restaurant scene who need new jobs. Richie has a fix for that, and it's going to help The Bear, too. Officially, Chef Jessica (Sarah Ramos) and her team join the team at The Bear to get the restaurant running smoothly, eliminating all of the major critiques from the review.
Then, the team gets down to business. It's a major overhaul, and it gets out of control quite quickly, including the flower budget. Sugar cusses Richie out about the flowers, which is a little more familiar feeling for this show. There's too much good happening at this restaurant right now, and not enough screaming and chaos, and I don't even know what I'm watching! It's like an actual, fully functioning restaurant.
It sure seems like The Bear is well on its way to being profitable, at the very least, and earning that Michelin Star, at the very worst.
Overall, I don't know how much I loved the season 4 premiere. It was a solid episode. There were a lot of things that needed to happen to shift this story and move Carmen's quest to be great back in the right direction after the major steps back in season 3. There's still a lot of drama to be had, though. I can feel it!
On to The Bear season 4 episode 2!
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