There is a moment in Season 4 of FX's "The Bear," which has taken over every summer on TV since it premiered in 2022, when you acutely remember why you got so sucked into this show in the first place. Especially after last year's third season made us forget.
Much has been written and said about the acclaimed series - which launched its cast into superstardom and took home a treasure chest full of Emmy awards - and its ability to engross and bewitch its viewers. There's the frenetic energy of its setting in a restaurant kitchen. There's the aptitude of its talented actors, who spit profanities as sharp as their chef's knives as they chop and stir and season and argue. There's the sense of place in a perpetually overcast Chicago and the triumphs and tragedies that populate every episode. There are the Oscar-winning guest stars and family gatherings that make the Roman Colosseum look tame.
But the heart and soul of "The Bear" and its return-to-form fourth season (now streaming on Hulu, ★★★½ out of four) - the meat and potatoes, if you will - are the people. The characters keep you coming back for more. Chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) with his raw anxiety and trauma; "cousin" Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) with his anger that can be tamped down by joy; and chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), a voice of sense, reason and professionalism but also vulnerability and imposter syndrome. And "The Bear" Season 4 gets them right, to its end.
Without them, the frenzy that is this show's signature mode is just noise, not story. And that's the thread that got lost in last year's lackluster third season, where vibes and an overly artsy structure got in the way of just seeing this trio in a room together, preferably a kitchen.
In Season 4, "The Bear" is serving what we might call humble pie: a reset from the sins of Season 3. It's, if not peaceful - because there is no peace in the pandemonium that is nightly service at a restaurant - then it has a rhythm to the mad music in 10 new episodes. Creator Christopher Storer and the cast deliver more of what we love about "The Bear," sometimes sweetly and quietly and sometimes with deafening fury. But this year, the chaos is focused and controlled. Every second counts.
The new episodes pick up right after the Season 3 finale, in which Carmy and Sydney's restaurant received a rough review from the Chicago Tribune. Coupled with Carmy's mismanagement of its budget and the general ill use of the staff and resources, The Bear is just weeks away from going under. That point is underlined by a large countdown clock that investor/patron Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) has placed in the kitchen. Everyone has to get better, calmer and faster. Carmy has to make sacrifices. And Sydney has to decide if she's staying or jumping ship to a job with another buzzy chef.
Whereas in Season 3 episodes would often slip and slide around a plot and a point and blur into each other lazily, the new installments are sharp and addictive, begging you to just let the next episode play on. There is the trademark radical realism and awkwardness to the dialogue, particularly in an episode set during a wedding that sees many returns from fan-favorite guest stars, and raw emotion on every sleeve. Parenting remains the show's prevailing theme, whether it's of an older generation, a new one or even caretaking a business. Everybody could use a little therapy, particularly Carmy. But it's tantalizing to watch them work out their issues instead in front of us.
If there's one major flaw in the new season (which at times feels like it might be the final one, too), it's that the laser focus on Carmy means some members of the great ensemble are left behind. The wild-haired protagonist finally confronts the trauma of losing his brother Mikey to suicide (Jon Bernthal, back for a cameo early on), and the emotional abuse and alcoholism of his mother (Jamie Lee Curtis, also back). It is cathartic and electrifying, but his lengthy screen time means there's less for the show's other standouts, like Marcus (Lionel Boyce) and Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas).
But "The Bear" happily leaves time for some. You'll find yourself heavily invested in half a dozen subplots that seem to perfectly illustrate the old aphorism that there are no small roles, only small actors. There is so much more heart to the new season, and if you were disillusioned last year, you might be won back just as easily as I was.
As the Season 4 plot unfolds, the path forward for the series becomes uncertain. The writers could easily swing open a door to a fifth season, or perhaps close up "The Bear" for good, like so many restaurants and TV shows before it. It's a mark of the craftsmanship that you'll find yourself satisfied with either answer. This could be the end, or it could just be a beginning.