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Even though the fourth season of FX/Hulu’s culinary comedy-drama thing The Bear wrapped up with a cliffhanger — Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) announcing his intention to quit and leave The Bear to Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Natalie (Abby Elliott), all while Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) was planning to close the place down — it never felt like a fifth and final season would require many answers to big questions or resolutions to narrative mysteries.
It’s surprising, then, that the seventh episode of the fifth season, directed by creator Christopher Storer and written by Storer and Nicole Kohut, feels like such a satisfying and conclusive series finale for the Emmy-winning show. It’s a 52-minute episode that’s still breathlessly taut, mixing ticking-clock tension, grace-note moments for most members of the Bear ensemble, and beautifully shot food porn. And yes, several parts that made me laugh out loud, which I know isn’t the sort of thing I’m supposed to admit about a show whose awards classification as a “comedy” is one of the most contentious issues in our horribly fractured culture.
The Bear
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