‘The Bear’ Season 5 and Series Finale Review: A Refocused Kitchen, But Short of Absolute Redemption
According to the CinemaDrame News Agency, Alice Bennett wrote in an exclusive review for CinemaDrame’s international section:
“You did it.” This is the line Donna Berzatto (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) delivers to her daughter Natalie (Abby Elliott) in the midst of an extraordinarily high-stress service day. She is referring to the restaurant that bears their family name: The Bear. It is a pivotal moment in their historically turbulent mother-daughter dynamic—a sign that Donna has finally learned to take pride in her children’s triumphs. Natalie accepts the praise but gently shifts the credit: “We all did it.”
This acknowledgment, while overdue, arrives just in the nick of time. For two full seasons, FX’s The Bear had practically abandoned its rich ensemble cast to drown in the psychological trauma and self-sabotage of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White)—the brilliant, obsessively ambitious chef who took over his family’s gritty sandwich shop following his older brother Mikey’s suicide and transformed it into a fine-dining establishment. This flawed creative cycle, which even resulted in the show being completely shut out at the Emmy Awards last year, stemmed from an over-indexing on Carmy’s narcissism at the expense of compelling figures like Sydney (Ayo Edebiri).
At the conclusion of Season 4, Carmy made the choice to step away from managing the restaurant, leaving it as a three-way partnership among Natalie, Sydney, and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach)—a decision that coincided with the official announcement that Season 5 would serve as the series finale.
To keep Carmy anchored to the narrative, series creator Christopher Storer effectively freezes time. Season 5 picks up exactly where the fourth season left off, with all eight episodes unfolding over the course of a single day during one fateful dinner service. Carmy now roams his own kitchen like a ghost, struggling to pass the baton while entirely unsure of his own next steps. Meanwhile, the restaurant faces existential financial threats from Uncle Jimmy alongside a severe Chicago storm that wreaks havoc on the plumbing and reservations.
While the structural pacing of Season 5 isn’t flawless—with certain peripheral subplots clouding the focus—the return to the rhythmic mechanics of the kitchen and the core cast recalls the series at its Season 1 peak. There are no flashy celebrity cameos or diversions into Carmy’s romantic life here; the focus remains strictly on the restaurant itself. We watch as Sydney strives to implement a calmer, more constructive leadership style than her former boss, while Tina and Marcus fight to stretch limited ingredients into a high-end culinary experience.
This cohesion is amplified by a driving, electronic score from Hans Zimmer, replacing the show’s traditional ’90s alt-rock needle drops to perfectly capture the high-wire anxiety of the kitchen environment.
Season 5 might not entirely restore The Bear to its early, universally acclaimed heights, and the show remains tethered to its familiar refrains and heightened sentimentality. However, for those who have stuck with the series through thick and thin, these final episodes leave behind a far sweeter aftertaste than its lowest points. The Bear may not completely undo the narrative missteps of its prior two seasons, but in its final steps, it undeniably elevates its craft.
