The Bear Season 4 is a return to form, showing that the show still has a lot of heart.

The Bear rapidly became a hit, with its dramatic kitchen mayhem, smart writing, and genuinely human people. Season 1 was a shock, season 2 was an emotional success, but I'll admit that I had a hard time with season 3, just like many others. It seemed a little lost and overly focused on big gestures instead of the grounded character work I had come to adore. But The Bear season 4 is a strong course correction that reminds me why I loved this program in the first place. It's a return to the series' emotional heart, with much of character growth and honesty.

One of the best things about the show is how well it shows the gritty reality of the restaurant business. Many people who have worked in the sector have told me that the stress, the fast pace, and the staff dynamics that are frequently hard to forecast touch very close to home. Some people find it hard to watch the show because it reminds them too much of the stress they've been under. This shows how real the show is. The show intelligently changes its focus this season, giving the characters opportunity to breathe and grow outside of the kitchen's immediate heat, while still keeping that strong energy.

The Bear Season 4 Gets Back to Its Emotional Core After a Messy Third Season

How Season 4 fixes problems from the past and finds its groove

The Bear's third season had some bold stylistic decisions and a big scope, but it sometimes felt like it lost sight of the smaller, more personal moments that made the previous two seasons so interesting. The guest stars were fun, but they sometimes took away from the main cast. The cliffhanger at the end of the season was needless. I liked how you tried to push the limits, but sometimes you simply want the comfort food you know and love. Season 4 feels like an apology in the greatest way possible. It's a deliberate effort to bring the spotlight back to the Berzatto family and their restaurant family.

The Chicago Tribune review that was coming up at the end of season 3 verified what many people thought: "They didn't like the vibes," as Carmy puts it. Season 4 is set against a tight backdrop of bad reviews and the restaurant's shaky finances. But instead of getting worse on the outside, the show leverages these stresses to have its characters look inside themselves. Instead than just being another source of stress, the ticking clock makes people think about their lives and make changes. It's not so much about the restaurant staying open as it is about the characters finding their place in it and in themselves.

The secret to the Bear's success is still the ensemble cast.

Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach all give amazing performances.

The Bear's cast is undeniably strong, and season 4 provides them plenty of chances to show off their skills. Jeremy Allen White as Carmy is still a mesmerizing presence, saying so much with so little words. You can really feel his ongoing tension and neurosis. A moment late in the season with his mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), is very sad. I think this is a cathartic moment that everyone will talk about, showing the deep-seated problems Carmy is still dealing with.

Sydney by Ayo Edebiri is the best show of the season so far, and it really shows how the whole staff is "The Bear." She had a lot of great moments, like a beautiful monologue that was very relatable. Her struggle with a possible offer to quit the restaurant is a major dilemma, and Edebiri does a great job of showing how heavy Sydney's choices are. Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richie continues to change in amazing ways, but I thought he was a little bit left out this season. His character path from season 1 to now is one of the most natural and enjoyable on TV. He is still a strong presence, even though he doesn't reach the heights of his "Forks" episode.

At first, Jamie Lee Curtis's Donna was a startling cameo, but she has grown into a complex and well-developed character. Her sequences, especially the one with Carmy, are deep and moving. This season, the program also sensibly restricts the number of A-list guest stars, which makes their presence feel more meaningful and less like stunt casting. Edwin Lee Gibson's Ebraheim gives him his best material yet, and Liza Colón-Zayas' Tina deals with a single, understandable problem. I thought Oliver Platt's Uncle Jimmy's story was a little too short, and some of the supporting characters didn't receive as much screen time as I would have wanted. But it's a "champagne problem" to have too much talent and not enough time to thoroughly explore every arc.

The show gets better when it moves beyond the kitchen chaos.

The Bear Season 4 Knows Its Real Story Is Not in the Heat

One of the best things about The Bear season 4 is that the tale is willing to go beyond the kitchen. The hectic intensity of a busy service is well-known, but pulling the story away from the activity lets us learn more about the characters' relationships and personal problems. This makes the pacing much better, giving stories room to come to their own endings without being rushed by the needs of a supper rush. It's a sensible choice that helps the show grow and shows that it's about more than just cooking.

The show's dedication to authenticity has always been a double-edged sword. For people who have worked in restaurants, the stress and bustle are almost too real. The show lets its characters, and by implication, the audience, deal with the huge amount of stress they're under by shifting some of the most significant talks and emotional beats outside the kitchen. It's a small but effective approach to keep the show real while making it more fun to watch. The show knows that the actual drama comes from the characters' inner lives, not merely the stress of the business.

Is this the end? The Bear Season 4 gives us a satisfying ending, even if it's not the last one.

Why The Bear Could End Here, But We Still Want More

I kept asking myself, "Is this the end?" as I watched season 4 of The Bear. The season, especially the last episode, is like a master lesson in acting and dealing with feelings. It skips the fancy cuts and loud music from prior seasons in favor of a long talk that brings up old issues. This could feel like a shortcut, like "tell without showing," for any other show. But after three seasons of showing us every raw, intense detail, it feels so good to finally see the dam break and everything come out into the open.

I wanted to know more after the season 4 finale. I wanted to see what happened next with these characters. But it also felt like the right time for the show to end. It's hard to tell when a story is over and when it's too long. The Bear has tied up its current storylines in a neat bow, even though some of them are still hanging. The emotional arcs of Carmy, Sydney, and Richie, in particular, feel full. They give a sense of hope and growth that was hard-earned. I think four seasons was the right choice. It let the show get back to what it did best and end on a good note.

You can now stream all of The Bear season 4 on Hulu in the U.S.