Could The Bear Shut Down In Season 4? The Trailer Suggests A Closure Is Looming

By Joe Hoeffner
Jeremy Allen White as Carmy Berzatto in Hulu's "The Bear" Hulu

In a TV landscape where shows like "Stranger Things" take close to a decade to produce five seasons, there's something to be said for efficiency. Almost a year to the day after the third season of "The Bear" was released on Hulu, the Chicago-based comedy-drama (well, mostly a drama, but don't tell the Emmys) is set to return on June 25. Season 3 saw the pressure of running the titular restaurant grind down the show's various characters, including Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri), and Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) — but if the teaser for Season 4 is any indication, they might have bigger things to worry about.

The third season built up to a fateful review from the Chicago Tribune, one which could doom The Bear entirely. That review gets published in the final minutes of the Season 3 finale, and while we don't see more than a few words of it, Carmy's reaction (which, in typical "Bear" fashion, can't be printed here) is far from ebullient. The teaser for Season 4 suggests that The Bear is in some dire straits indeed: without some major changes, Uncle Cicero (Oliver Platt) warns, "This restaurant needs to officially cease operations." Keeping it open would be like "Beating a dead horse before you throw it off a cliff." With that said, though, the review couldn't have been that bad, or else The Bear wouldn't be given the chance to shape up at all — and, more to the point, there wouldn't be a show.

Season 4 continues the most prominent themes

Ayo Edebiri as Sydney Adamu in Hulu's "The Bear" Hulu

So is The Bear really about to shut down, or is it just a case of an ad trying to drum up drama before a hotly anticipated premiere? At this point, it's impossible to say. But whatever happens, the fourth season of "The Bear" is likely to continue exploring the same themes and milieu that made the show so beloved in the first place. It is, of course, a proudly Chicagoan show (The titular restaurant once sold Italian beef sandwiches, and there are multiple Wilco needle drops) and the ins and outs of running a kitchen are scrupulously documented. ("Behind!" "Hands!" "Yes, chef!") But what makes the show special is the way it depicts the excruciating paradox of pursuing a life in the kitchen — or, really, any kind of creative life.

"The Bear" isn't considered to be one of the most stressful shows on TV for nothing. Even when everything is running smoothly, the kitchen is a crucible, filled with expletive-spewing chefs trying to do everything at once. When things aren't running smoothly, as in Season 1's infamous "Review" episode, The Bear might as well be a war zone. And yet the prospect of the restaurant closing is existentially terrifying. Unlike Olivia Colman's Chef Terry, the most well-adjusted chef who hangs up her apron at the end of Season 3, the crew of The Bear aren't done yet.

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