In The Bear Season 4’s ending, Carmy made it official that he was leaving the titular restaurant after dividing its ownership between Uncle Jimmy, Richie, Natalie, and Sydney. This led to an explosion of emotions between Carmy, Richie, and Sydney because, well, it seemed like he was running away from the issues that he had created and leaving everyone else to deal with them. Carmy assured them that he’d depart only after everyone was sure that The Bear was making a profit and would continue to do so for the foreseeable future. But there’s a chasm between planning to do something and actually doing it, and it seems like, for the past 2 seasons, the showrunners have been avoiding getting into the “how” of making the restaurant a success. Hopefully, that’ll be the focus of the yet-to-be-announced (at least at the time of writing this article) but inevitable fifth season of The Bear, along with several other plot elements. Therefore, allow me to speculate about what’s going to happen next and also lay out my expectations from the show going forward.
Spoiler Alert
Carmy Isn’t Leaving So Soon
I am pretty sure that Carmy will leave at the end of Season 5; not at the beginning, not in the middle, but at the end. The restaurant was losing money, and now its status has kind of plateaued. As per Carmy, the team they have is “starting to gel.” Now, they have to fine-tune their system some more in order to get to a sizable profit margin. And Carmy has promised that he’ll quit and see where life takes him next once he has made sure that he has given everything he has left to the restaurant. He’s right that he’s kind of a liability when he is in charge of things, which is why he hasn’t been recognized as one of the best cooks in Chicago; Marcus has. So, I guess what he has to do is point out where his colleagues have to improve and gently nudge them in the right direction (without shouting), like how he told Sydney to use the spoon to turn the meat in the pan. That said, I guess the bigger question is, once he has stepped away from this role of a consultant chef, what is he going to do next? Well, based on his painting skills, I guess he is going to become a professional painter and use that artform to rediscover himself. However, at the cost of sounding repetitive, that’s not happening until Season 6.
The Bear vs. The Beef
I think Albert’s idea of turning The Beef into a franchise that’ll be spread across Chicago is likely to set up a rivalry between the team that Ebraheim is leading versus the one that Carmy looks over. I mean, Albert’s plan is apparently so good that even Computer was instantly on board with the idea. And if The Beef becomes bigger than The Bear, it’s because one caters to the common folk (of which there are a whole lot), while the other caters to the rich folk (of which there aren’t quite as many). Yes, there are rich people in Chicago, but population-wise, the working class massively outnumbers the upper class. And in Carmy’s pursuit to be a fine-dining joint, he has kind of forgotten about his roots. So, I think The Beef’s success under Ebraheim’s mentorship will give him the push that he needs to feel something about cooking again. Who knows? Maybe that’ll cause Carmy to walk back on his decision to leave the restaurant business entirely and make him realize that he has a lot to learn and a lot to give to people through his culinary skills. Also, a young blood versus old blood battle is always nice to see. If that Beef “franchise-ification” subplot doesn’t go anywhere after all that build-up, as Natalie put it so succinctly, I’m going to hurl myself through a window right now.
Chester-Luca Romance
Yeah, it’s kind of weird that for a show named The Bear, it has taken this long for us to finally see a gay romance, or the first steps of a potential gay romance. I don’t know where it’s going to go. It’s pretty obvious that Chester is into Luca, but does Luca swing in that direction? I don’t know. Do I want to know? Yes, sure. I think the show has featured its fair share of straight romantic couples, and it’ll be good to see a queer couple steam up the screen for a change. Is it going to affect the overarching plot? No, I don’t think so. Does it need to? No, it doesn’t. I hope that Chester manages to woo Luca and they go on to marry each other and whatnot. There are some people on the internet who think that there’s some chemistry between Luca and Marcus. If the show wants to turn this whole thing into a love triangle of sorts, I’m up for that as well.
Richie-Jessica Romance
I didn’t expect Richie and Jessica to fall in love. I mean, Season 4 had hints that the 2 of them are kind of attracted to each other. Until Tiff’s wedding with Frank, I think Richie didn’t have the bandwidth to think about love. He was super-focused on being present for Eva, which he’ll be till the end of time. But there was a part of him that was unsure if his girls, Eva and Tiff, were in safe hands until he had that long overdue conversation with Frank at the wedding ceremony. After that, he’s clearly ready to move on. To be honest, I was expecting him and Neil to get together. I mean, they clearly have more chemistry than whatever Jessica is bringing to the table. Don’t get me wrong; Jessica is great. However, it’s just a tad too cliché, in my humble opinion. With all that said, if Jessica helps Richie become a better person and further his healing process, I’m okay with that.
Marcus’ Daddy Issues
I reckon Marcus’ strained relationship with his dad will be further explored in Season 5. I mean, given how his dad wasn’t around over the course of 4 seasons, it’s pretty obvious that the issue between them is pretty serious. Marcus wants to share his life updates, but he doesn’t want to sit down with him to have a face-to-face conversation. It’s odd, but such is the nature of familial relationships. Additionally, I think the show is gearing up for a big cameo via Marcus’ dad. My money is on Denzel Washington. I mean, he is a legend. And a dialogue-heavy scene between him and Lionel Boyce will be golden. If not him, because of budgetary and schedule-related reasons, here are some other suggestions: Don Cheadle, Spike Lee, Ving Rhames, Jeffrey Wright, Mahershala Ali, or (especially because he has been in a bunch of Hulu and FX productions) Sterling K. Brown.
Donna’s Family Reentry
Donna has been kept on the sidelines of the family and the family business for valid reasons. But since she has given up drinking and she is working on herself a lot, she thinks she is stable enough to be a part of Carmy’s life and maybe even contribute to the family business. To be fair, the Berzattos’ culinary skills stem from her. And she did handle the restaurant for a while. So, it’ll be rather fitting to have her back on the floor. Whether or not she’ll be productive enough to make The Beef or The Bear better is something that remains to be seen. In addition to that, I guess we’ll get some more info about Carmy’s dad and Mikey through her conversations with the people at the restaurant. I mean, it’s not like getting more details about them will resolve anything. However, the show keeps bringing them up. If it doesn’t want us to wonder about the reasoning behind their respective fates, why’d they constantly mention them? Right? And yeah, a Donna-focused flashback will give the show yet another opportunity for some great cameos.
Better Writing
The Bear has been suffering from bad writing for 2 seasons now. The first 2 seasons were perfect. These last 2 seasons have been garbage. I know that sounds too harsh because there are these brief moments of brilliance, but that won’t cut it. And I feel like the writers think that they are being very smart by blurring the line between their own creative bankruptcy and the cyclical patterns that the characters are stuck in, but they are not. This is not turning out to be some great meta commentary on how nothing great lasts forever, and you need to move on to greener pastures before your will to live is exhausted (or something like that). You can defend the show by saying that Carmy’s inability to divorce himself from the system is similar to Christopher Storer’s situation, but what does that achieve exactly? At the end of the day, it’s bad television. I can recollect every moment from the first 2 seasons without a recap. As for the other 2 seasons, I don’t remember anything, and I have just finished watching Season 4. So, Storer and his team better bring the heat in Season 5. If they think they can’t—and you can say I’m being cruel—they shouldn’t bother returning at all. With all that said, these are just my thoughts on what I want to see in Season 5 of The Bear. If you have any opinions on the same, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
