For a show known for its high energy intensity, the third season of The Bear is a languid affair. The frantic episodes are gotten out of the way early on and the season sits with its characters as they reckon with decisions they’ve made and decide what to do next. Isolated and unable to connect, most characters feel haunted by something, and in the case of the Fak family kinda literally haunted. I admire the storytelling choice but the lack of forward momentum, the standing still, however intentional, isn’t the most engaging. In fact, the highlight of the season was the episode looking backwards. This was the first season I felt glad all the episodes were released at once. The Bear once felt so unconventional in how it unfolded its narrative but in its third year those conventions began to become clear. But really, who ever came to The Bear for the plot?
Despite the slower pace of the season as a whole, there is still a classic midseason slump of an even lower energy. The seventh episode, titled Legacy, is on first glance a strange collection of scenes, seemingly contributing little to the show. For what it’s worth (absolutely nothing) it’s the lowest-rated episode of the entire series on IMDB and can be viewed as The Bear’s nadir. But I think it’s actually a thematically interesting and tight little episode. In fact, it might be the thesis statement of the whole show and reveal where this is all heading.
In one key scene Marcus asks Carmy about legacy and he responds: “Something would start somewhere and people would take that thing and take it somewhere else so all these parts of an original restaurant, they would end up in a new restaurant.” I think this is The Bear setting the foundation of its endgame. In that moment the line is explicitly about Syd, who walks in during the scene and is debating whether to stay at The Bear or take on a new role elsewhere, but the implication is much bigger than one character.
The restaurant is a furnace. A place to work through problems and find catharsis on the other side. Characters enter and the pressure changes them. It gives them life skills, lets them grow, achieve self-actualisation. And then they leave to spread what they have learnt, whether the meaning of life or the recipe for a damn good peach cobbler. The fate of The Bear isn’t to be saved but to be left. Can the restaurant survive under the current financial pressures in Chicago? Honestly, no. I think the series ends with The Bear ‘failing’ as an establishment. It will close but it will fulfil its purpose, everyone leaving to continue the legacy of The Bear in other places. Carmy came to The Bear, or The Beef, to understand his brother, understand himself and face his personal problems, and once that’s done so is The Bear, both the restaurant and the show.
It’s interesting that Legacy immediately follows the episode Napkins, which showed why The Bear is so important to Tina and why she was so resistant to see it change in the first season. That makes the place eventually closing much more complicated and personal because we now know how much it means to her. The same is also true for Sweeps, an underserved character who gets a great scene discussing how his baseball career fell apart but he found direction at The Bear. People have come to rely on this crazy place but its not sustainable. It’s given them purpose but now it’s about transferrable skills. Just look at how far Richie has come. He carries the legacy of Ever with him just as he will The Bear, a place he’s close to outgrowing.
From what we can piece together, it seems like a significant chunk of the fourth season was filmed back-to-back with the third, with the rest scheduled for production in early 2025. I am just about expecting the series to continue for one more season after that but honestly, it would not surprise me if the fourth season is the end. Just how sustainable is The Bear as a show without it becoming repetitive? After all, there are only so many new Fak family members that can show up.
The Bear strives for realism and the realistic end of this story is that the restaurant cannot survive. I see no ending where The Bear doesn’t close its doors for good, ready to be turned into gentrified condos. It’s sad but it feels like the truth. But first the people that call The Bear home will need to work out their personal beefs (come on, Carmy, get your work-life balance in order, mate) before it closes with a final bittersweet funeral meal.
