‘The Bear’ Season 5 Opens Nearly Perfect and One Last Brutal Day in the Kitchen
Few television dramas have managed to build the kind of cult devotion that ‘The Bear’ has earned since its debut. The FX and Hulu series, which follows a group of Chicago restaurant workers navigating the chaos and beauty of professional cooking, became one of the most talked-about shows of the past several years, earning Emmy recognition and a fiercely loyal audience who fell hard for its kinetic energy and deeply human performances.
The fifth and final season brings back Jeremy Allen White as Carmy Berzatto, the talented chef who returned to Chicago to take over his late brother’s struggling sandwich shop, alongside Ayo Edebiri as Sydney, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richie, Lionel Boyce as Marcus, Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina, Abby Elliott as Natalie, Matty Matheson as Neil Fak, and Edwin Lee Gibson as Ebraheim. The eight episodes play out over the course of a single day, tracing the build-up to and duration of one fateful dinner service, reduced slightly from the previously standard ten-episode count.
As reported by @FilmUpdates, the final season has opened with a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics are making clear this send-off was worth the wait. With 25 reviews submitted, the Rotten Tomatoes score stood at 100%, with a Metacritic score of 81, described as a return to form for the Emmy winner. This marks the second time in the show’s history that a season has earned a perfect score on the platform, the last being Season 1, with no season ever falling below 84%.
The season picks up the day after the fourth season ended, with Sydney and Richie coming to terms with Carmy’s decision to quit, while Uncle Jimmy’s money runs out, the reservation system crashes, and a downpour floods the basement. Carmy remains present throughout the season but exists as something of a ghost in his own kitchen, unsure of what to do with himself as he attempts to pass the baton to those around him.
The critical response has been warm and, in many cases, genuinely moved. Liz Shannon Miller at Consequence writes that the season feels like the show ‘The Bear’ has always wanted to be, the final form it was always hoping to achieve, while Ben Travers at IndieWire calls it a season that trusts its cast of breakout stars to turn a relatively simple meal into an indelible final course. The Daily Beast was among the most enthusiastic, praising the performances across the ensemble and framing the final run as a return to the show’s core strengths, including cinematic direction, emotional pressure, and the way the staff’s personal crises play out in real time.
For Alison Herman at Variety, the season serves as something of a redemption, writing that the show seems aware that last impressions are what can lock in a legacy, and that even if it cannot fully shake off two seasons of subpar storytelling, it can at least improve while it still has the chance. IndieWire noted that the final season addresses recent criticisms by streamlining the story around one last all-or-nothing dinner service, with five of the first seven episodes clocking in under 30 minutes and none crossing the hour mark.
All eight episodes of ‘The Bear’ Season 5 are now available to stream on FX on Hulu. Whether this final chapter earns its place alongside the show’s best work, or whether audiences feel the kitchen closed a season too late, is a conversation that is only just beginning, so if you have already started watching, what do you think: does ‘The Bear’ stick the landing with Carmy’s farewell?
