One thing is certain about The Bear‘s fourth season: this FX series’ needle drops will remain unparalleled. Also, we can remain fairly certain that Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) will retain his insufferable traits while only Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) can balance him out, if she still has the patience to do so. And in the background, Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) will alternately lose his sh*t and self-actualize. In other words, chaos.
Also, The Bear made no secret of the restaurant being on the brink during the most recent season finale, so let’s balance the books better than Carmy does on what to expect for the fourth season.
Trailer
We might as well start here before the plot section up next.
Plot
After the third season ended with the strong suggestion that Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) either wouldn’t be able or wouldn’t be willing to keep funding the restaurant, that question remains an issue. Part of this dilemma revolves around whether or not the Chicago Tribune review turned out well, and Carmy’s closing “motherf*cker” remark upon seeing the review did not provide any clues about whether that expletive was landing in a pleased or disappointed way. The above trailer keeps the review’s ambiguity intact while continuing to hint that this could be the final season.
Surely, this teasing (and Carmy’s ridiculous expensive-butter habit) cannot last much longer before resolution. Also unknown: whether Sydney will stick around regardless of the review’s contents. She’s the glue of The Bear, and the most recent season finale saw her wrestle with the opportunity to accept Chef Adam’s (Adam Shapiro) offer to run another restaurant. The trailer does show her having an apparent “come to Jesus” moment with Carmy after she declined to sign that partnership agreement. And again, if the fourth season does not settle these issues, then the show will also find it difficult to keep an audience hooked for more.
Want yet another complication? White, Edebiri, and Moss-Bachrach’s careers have hit strides that will soon make coordinating schedules more difficult.
Could the show’s future (and that of the restaurant) stay intact? Well, what usually bodes well for The Bear is when the show takes time away from the kitchen to focus on specific characters, so more bottle episodes could save the mood, which would require more focus on tried-and-true audience faves like Marcus (Lionel Boyce), Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), Natalie (Abby Elliott), and (yes) Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis). Also, fingers are crossed for a sparing use of Fak (Matty Matheson, who is fab, but a little Fak goes a long way).
FX has provided this fourth season synopsis:
Season four of FX’s The Bear finds Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri) and Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) pushing forward, determined not only to survive, but also to take The Bear to the next level. With new challenges around every corner, the team must adapt, adjust and overcome. This season, the pursuit of excellence isn’t just about getting better – it’s about deciding what’s worth holding on to.
Further, FX chief John Landgraf revealed (during a Puck interview) that the fourth season will alleviate the “stuckness” that currently exists, and that viewers are “going to be really well rewarded. Because after stuckness comes unstuckness.” Clear as mud?
Cast
The main trio of Jeremy Allen White (as Carmy Berzatto), Ayo Edebiri (as Sydney Adamu), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (as Cousin Richie) will be in form with supporting turns by Lionel Boyce, Abby Elliott, Liza Colón-Zayas, Oliver Platt, Molly Gordon, and Matty Matheson.
Will “Chef Winger” Diehards (actually Chef David Fields) see their dude again? Please, and Joel McHale has been making sh*t up about a spin off, which is precisely the type of thing that Joel McHale is known to do (good for him).
Release Date
July 25. The fourth season will keep the binge-style release format by releasing all ten episodes at once. Hell yeah.