Chicago's most chaotic kitchen is ready for service in "The Bear" season 4!
Did it sizzle or simmer? Find out now!
The fourth season of the American comedy-drama television series The Bear premiered with all 10 episodes on June 25, 2025, on FX and Hulu. The Bear continues to follow the troubled Italian Chicago native Chef Carmen Berzatto and his tumultuous and chaotic work and real life family dynamics.
Now that the small Berzatto family owned Italian beef sandwich shop known as “The Beef” has rebranded to a fine dining establishment known as “The Bear” and opened its doors….finances, staffing, consistency, and other personal issues have continued to plague the Berzatto family and their chef’s both inside and outside of the business.
This highly award winning series seemed to have lost a bit of it’s fire in season 3. Episodes seemed choppy, unfulfilling, and slow. The fast paced dialogue, cigarette smoking hot head antics of Chef Carmy, and the always stressful kitchen dynamics between emerging Chef Sydney, “Cousin” Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Chef Carmen were miniscule and not as jaw dropping, funny, and thrilling in season 3.
Now that season 4 has kicked off, it is safe to say that The Bear has gotten some of its spark back! There are several emotionally charged, funny, and out right hilarious scenes in the kitchen and out. The electric chemistry between actors Ayo Edebiri (Chef Sydney) and Jeremy Allen White (Chef Carmen) on screen seems to be settling back in place as their characters have more on screen time together, reminiscent of seasons 1-2.
This season, the writers have set out refire the fanbase, even having an extremely cultured, authentic, and tantalizing episode in season 4 being penned by The Bear actors Ayo Edebiri and Lionel Boyce (Patsry Chef Marcus).
However, as the season headed toward the final episodes, the lukewarm temperature began to emerge again on what was once a sizzling hot series. Main character Carmen seems to have had a little to no character progression, growth, or arc worth providing entertainment outside of his mulling about himself over his own actions. This underdevelopment in the main characters arc has caused the majority of the characters who are tied to him to become frustrated and confused by his current choices and decision making process. These fictional characters are not the only ones confused by this characters goofball and indecisive ways of operating, communicating with others, and running a business that have resulted in continual apologies without any new plot device to move his story forward.
The Bear needs to bring back that Chicago grit, crass charm, and fiery dynamic soon before the food runs cold.
We give season 4 of The Bear a 3.5/5 stars. Lot’s of characters have progressed, changed, and even become more vulnerable and impactful throughout the series. This has led to several award worthy, tear jerking, and absolutely remarkable acting performances in season 4 from the leads of the series as well as from some stellar and noteworthy guest stars. Another positive from this season was that amongst all of the heavy dialogue, tears, and moving moments, the comedy was ever present and hilarious.
Find out how many stars you’d give season 4 of The Bear. Check out season 1-4 of The Bear streaming right now on Hulu.