The Bear Makes Its Last Seconds Count

This article contains spoilers through the series finale of The Bear.If an episode of The Bear were a dish being served at the show’s titular restaurant, the recipe would probably go something like this: In a saucepan, combine headache-inducing worry, financial pressure, and familial dysfunction. Stir vigorously until the mixture boils over and causes the staff to scream. When all seems lost, add a dash of illuminating wisdom and remember that, as the sign displayed over the kitchen says, every second counts.The fifth and final season, which premiered on Thursday, somehow upped the ante of the high-pressure stakes by depicting, in real time, one apocalyptically terrible day of service. A torrential downpour led to plumbing issues and a hole in the ceiling; a glitch in the reservation system meant frantically shuffling guests around the cramped kitchen space; the already-exhausted Sydney (played by Ayo Edebiri) took over head-chef responsibilities from Carmy, after he revealed that he’d quit, leaving the staff more uncertain than they’ve ever been.What a relief, then, that the hour-long series finale completely avoids stressful scenarios. The show’s creator and the episode’s director, Christopher Storer, provides no cooking montages, not even a familiar glimpse of a dish being impeccably plated as the clock runs out. No one shouts or agonizes over a ruined entrée. In fact, there are numerous happy endings: Syd’s culinary ingenuity helps the Bear earn two Michelin stars. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) gets tapped to go to Japan for a hospitality convention. Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) sells his idea to franchise The Bear’s sandwich-making arm, The Beef, and the Fak brothers (Matty Matheson and Ricky Staffieri) stop bickering long enough to allow the plumbing to be fixed. In perhaps the series’ most shocking development, Carmy dons a suit to interview for an intern position at an architectural firm downtown.Read: [What The Bear has always been driving toward]The Bear ends