‘The Bear’ Season 4, of all shows, tells us to slow down
“The Bear” and ‘slow’ do not belong in the same sentence.
Between anxiety-inducing shouting matches and moments of complete and utter chaos that’ll have anyone close to breaking down, the multi-award-winning show has made a killing of its portrayal of the (deeply fucked-up) human condition.
Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) repeatedly (inadvertently) gets in his own way because of traumas and anxieties stemming from both his personal and professional past. Richie’s (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) turning over a new leaf, though a positive change for the once directionless cousin, stems from a desire to fill a lonely existence. Meanwhile, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) constantly grapples with her potential to lead her own kitchen and her desire to make a toxic environment work with her partner and idol.
Yet, while “The Bear” has previously shown these traumas and anxieties at their worst and in control of the cast, the show’s latest season takes us out of the kitchen for the show’s slowest and arguably healthiest entry to date.
Carmy’s transformation from The Beef to The Bear is not without risk. While his culinary brilliance could potentially turn the neighborhood joint into a successful Michelin-star spot, a high-cost restaurant requires stellar reviews and a sizable influx of cash to warrant its continued funding by Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt). And with a negative Chicago Tribune review stating “The Bear” is “inconsistent,” “dissonant,” and “sloppy” at the end of Season 3, the fourth season immediately starts with the restaurant scrambling to plug the holes of a proverbial sinking ship. Yet, that problem immediately fades to the background as soon as it is introduced.
In the aftermath of the disappointing review, Uncle Jimmy has Nicholas ‘Computer’ Marshall (Brian Koppelman) install a clock reminding the team that they only have 1,440 hours to begin turning in a significant profit. But while the clock is shown to be counting down throughout the season, and with each member looking to contribute in their own way, the thought of the restaurant’s impending doom doesn’t seem to cross Carmy’s mind, of all people.
Instead, he is seen making amends with Claire (Molly Gordon) and potentially rekindling their relationship, and healing his relationship with his mother (Jamie Lee Curtis)—mind you, hours before their last day of service (according to the clock)—all while seemingly taking the back seat to a restaurant in dire need of saving. And it’s not just because he’s fallen out of love with restaurants and is looking to retire, as he says in the season’s last episode. But because it is in addressing and facing the traumas and anxieties he’s run away from for years, can he move forward and fix the problems of the present. Slowing down isn’t getting in the way of “The Bear.” It’s that very act that’s saving it.
It is a complete turnaround from his mindset in season 2, when he unknowingly told Claire that he believed that vulnerability and happiness were barriers to his greatness and success. After all, look where his self-destructive tendencies and his obsession with perfection got him: crumbling relationships and a restaurant on the brink of closing.
“The Bear” shows us that retreating into our work is a human response to a problem or reality we’re running away from. After all, burying ourselves in a profession we can excel in or a problem that needs solving is much easier than facing what we can’t control. Carmy, throughout the seasons, has learned that working for the wrong reasons has made him prone to inflicting the very same pain and trauma that’s shaped him into the person he is today. And while “The Bear” Season 4 ends with Carmy admitting that and setting himself on the path to healing, only time will tell whether the damage he’s caused to the restaurant and those around him is permanent or not.
