The final season of "The Bear" is maddening — and that's exactly the point A farewell to one of the most influential shows in modern television

The last two years have served to bid farewell to many series that have carved a deep place in the entertainment landscape. Stranger Things dragged out its finale, splitting it into a first, second, and even third part with the final episodes arriving at the start of the year, as if stringing fans along until the very end. The popular comedy Hacks also said goodbye to its devoted fans after five seasons. Then there are those who, in order to go out in style, announce the making of a film to bid farewell to their audiences: such is the case with The Summer I Turned Pretty and Heartstopper Forever. But the truly significant finale we've witnessed this year is that of The Bear, which wraps up with its fifth season.

How is the finale of "The Bear"?

Making room for new beginnings: that is what Carmine Berzatto aspires to at the end of The Bear's five seasons. We had seen the character played by Jeremy Allen White want to step away from cooking toward the end of the previous season and decide to pursue other things. And so the time has come for Chicago's young culinary talent to leave his brigade — but not before saying goodbye to everyone and lending a final hand to keep afloat the already-listing ship of their new beautiful, vibrant, and utterly draining restaurant, opened alongside Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). 

Much like the restaurant itself, the fifth season must make one last effort before it can bid farewell to its viewers. A final push that demands a high degree of commitment — both from the protagonists as they struggle to stay afloat, and from the series' creator and director, Christopher Storer. The patterns Carmy is trying to escape are, in fact, mirrored in the writing, editing, and aesthetic of a show that has pushed its characters to the breaking point and, by extension, its viewers. A sense of exhaustion that The Bear 5 nonetheless manages to shake off before it becomes too oppressive, showing precisely the way in which the restaurant's brigade has learned to break free from its hardships. 

Viewers should therefore expect, once again, scenes and interactions of an almost unbearably intense emotional pitch that risk becoming too much to bear — yet which also serve as a reminder of the essence of past seasons. At least this time, the protagonists know how not to fall into the same old traps. It's a goal the series achieves by splitting the hearts of its most devoted fans in two: making them aware both that the time has come to close, for the good of the show itself, and that they can appreciate the consistency of the transformative arc of the restaurant and the people within it.

All in 24 Hours

Unlike the others, the fifth season unfolds over a single day. A final stage on which to show what has been learned, focusing on the microcosm the protagonists have built together. The worst day, under the worst conditions, at the worst possible time for The Bear's business. Rain lashes against the windows outside and clogs a Chicago that will seek refuge in the warm embrace of the upscale restaurant. Meanwhile, on the other side of those walls, its workers don't know if they'll make it through another day, prey to the insatiable and ruinous world of the restaurant industry. 

The rain, in effect, serves to establish the high level of stress that has been present in the series from the very beginning, compressed into the figure of Carmy. But the atmospheric element has also always been, dramaturgically speaking, the moment of the most daunting challenge — and also of purification, of washing away the wrongs done to oneself and to others. Cleansing everything in order to start over is the true undertaking and the metaphor with which the characters will be confronted. 

Making people feel good is the power that food holds, and the greatest lesson The Bear leaves behind is finding a balance that allows one to feel at peace. Caring for others is something that often happens in relation to cooking. After periods of chaos, it is the order — first absent, then rediscovered — that makes the characters great chefs and, in their private lives, better people. They will still have things to push back on, to argue about, to get angry over and fight about. But they will do so through a shared language — that of cooking — which in The Bear will always be synonymous with family.