The Bear Season 3 Ending Explained

Warning! Contains major spoilers for The Bear season 3.The Bear season 3’s ending sets the stage for many bigger challenges for Carmy, Sydney, and everyone else involved with the titular fine-dining restaurant. After walking through Carmy’s mental battles, Sydney’s professional dilemmas, Tina’s backstory, Richie’s struggles with accepting his wife’s second marriage, and Sugar’s efforts to improve her relationship with her mother, The Bear season 3’s story presents a cathartic finale, setting the stage for season 4. The episode begins with Carmy, Sydney, Richie, and several renowned chefs gathering at Chef Terry’s Ever restaurant to honor its legacy before its closure.

For Richie, the gathering becomes a reminder of some of his most transformative days as he reunites with the people who helped him understand his true purpose. Sydney meets Adam, who prompts her to give him an affirmative response to his business proposal. Meanwhile, Carmy’s past demons resurface when he sees his former boss, Adam, at the gathering, reminding him of all the traumas he endured to become who he is today. In The Bear season 3’s ending, Carmy also finally receives the Chicago Tribune review, which could make or break his restaurant in the future of The Bear

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What Did The Chicago Tribune Review Say About The Bear Restaurant?

The Review Includes Negative & Positive Words

The Bear season 3’s ending maintains an air of ambiguity surrounding whether the Chicago Tribune review is positive or negative. However, it briefly features flashes of several keywords from the review, allowing the viewer to guess its content. Some of the keywords that appear momentarily in the closing scene are as follows:

• “Confusing”
• “Excellent”
• “True culinary gem”
• “Dissonance”
• “Innovative”
• “Brilliant”
• “Sloppy”
• “Inconsistent”
• “Delicious”
• “Simple”
• “Disappointed”
• “Berzatto”
• “Stale”
• “Overdone”

The fact that the review has both positive and negative keywords suggests The Bear received a mixed reception from the publication. While the final result of the review remains unknown, Carmy’s reaction and the fact that he has several missed calls from Uncle Jimmy are concerning. As the keywords suggest, the food critic behind the review was likely blown away by some aspects of The Bear’s dishes but was equally disapproving of others. If this is true, The Bear’s fate could be in limbo, where it will come down to Jimmy to decide whether the venture is worth continuing.

Is Sydney Going To Leave The Bear After Season 3’s Ending?

Syd Seems Sure She Wants To Leave

In The Bear season 3’s final arc, Sydney initially enjoys Ever’s retirement after-party. However, she suddenly breaks down when she remembers that she must decide whether to stay in The Bear or team up with Ever’s former CDC Adam on his new restaurant business venture. Throughout The Bear season 3’s runtime, Sydney struggles to convince herself that she should stay and continue working with Sydney. This is one of the biggest reasons why she delays signing the contract that would make Syd the joint partner of The Bear.

After receiving Adam’s offer, she seems almost certain that she should leave The Bear and take her career in the culinary world in a new direction. However, she finds it hard to talk to Carmy about her desire to leave. Even during her final interaction with Adam at Ever’s retirement event, Syd assures Adam that she is interested in the opportunity. This suggests she wants to leave The Bear but is too attached to the people of the restaurant to walk away from them.

Owing to this, it is evident that she does not panic in the closing scene because she is unsure about what she should do next. She already knows she must leave The Bear to be able to make new progress in her culinary journey and garner more recognition for her work. Syd panics because she cannot gather the strength to say goodbye to the people she has grown so attached to. If The Bear got a negative review from the Chicago Tribune, Syd would have another solid reason to walk away. However, if the review praised her dishes, her plans to depart could take a complicated turn.

Will Uncle Jimmy Stop Funding The Bear After Season 3’s Ending?

The Bear’s Future Does Not Look Too Bright After That Ending

When The Bear restaurant struggles to break even in the show’s season 3, Uncle Jimmy gets his financial advisor involved to help Carmy and Sydney cut operational costs. Unfortunately, despite Jimmy’s best efforts to help his family keep their restaurant afloat, he eventually realizes he cannot keep funding it. As a result, he visits Carmy and tells him that he will have to pull the plug on them if they do not land a good review from the Chicago Tribune. Moments later, when he returns to his car, his financial advisor tells him he is not in the position to fund them anymore because of losing several figures from his overall net worth.

While the review’s outcome might eventually determine whether Jimmy will continue investing in The Bear, his declining financial situation could spell trouble for the restaurant. Even if The Bear received a favorable review from the publication, Uncle Jimmy will not be able to fund it for long because he is running out of money and is not as well-off as he used to be. The fact that Carmy does not seem happy after reading the review is worrying because it hints that the review is negative, and Jimmy may have no reason to keep investing in the restaurant in season 4.

Chef Terry’s Advice To Carmy & Why Olivia Colman’s Character Closes Her Restaurant

Terry’s Advice Is Both Empowering And Cautionary

After having a nerve-racking encounter with his former boss, David, Carmy goes outside to get some fresh air. Chef Terry follows him and the two walk down memory lane before Carmy asks her an intriguing question: “What would you tell yourself…when you were where I am?” After giving it some thought, Terry tells him that having no idea what he is doing makes him invincible. Her advice highlights that since owning and running a restaurant is still a new experience for Carmy, his lack of awareness of the conventional limitations and variables in the business is an advantage.

“You have no idea what you’re doing, and, therefore, you’re invincible.”-Chef Terry, The Bear Season 3

Although Carmy has to deal with his own uncertainties and insecurities, he has not fully grasped the obstacles, risks, and unforeseeable issues that could come his way. He is free from doubts and fears that would hinder experienced chefs like Terry. Because of this lack of awareness, he can still chase his culinary dreams with the boldness that Terry cannot. This makes him invincible. In many ways, Chef Terry’s advice can also be seen as a warning that young chefs like Carmy are ambitious because of their naivety and unencumbered optimism.

They must tread carefully because their ignorance may convince them to leap but may not guarantee a safety net when they fall. As Ever’s shutdown established, Olivia Colman’s Chef Terry has seen her share of lows while running her business. After Ever’s closure, she understands that the elite restaurant business is not usually sustainable, especially because of their intense work cultures and the economic rupture after the pandemic. Therefore, she encourages Carmy to keep doing what he is doing while advising him to brace himself for the uncertainties ahead.

Will Carmy & Claire Get Back Together In The Bear Season 4?

Carmy’s Relationship With Claire Makes Little To No Progress In Season 3

The Bear season 3’s opening episodes highlight that Carmy realizes where he went wrong with Claire. However, despite acknowledging his mistakes, he struggles to apologize to her. Throughout The Bear season 3’s runtime, he finds himself going back and forth between two behavioral patterns. While a part of him convinces him he must take it easy on himself and focus more on nurturing his relationships with his loved ones, his past demons remind him he must double down on his efforts to master his craft and numb himself to everything else.

The latter prevents him from reaching out to Claire and asking for forgiveness. Since he does not apologize even when the Faks encourage him to, it seems likely he is not doing it anytime soon. As long as Carmy keeps believing his culinary success will come at the cost of his relationships, he will remain trapped in a cycle of self-imposed isolation and may even lose Sydney.

How Meeting Joel McHale’s David Changes Carmy In The Bear Season 3’s Ending

Meeting David Helps Carmy Realize He Is Becoming Exactly Like Him

At Ever’s retirement gathering, Carmy encounters his former boss, David. As Carmy’s flashbacks reveal, David repeatedly mistreated and insulted him in the kitchen, which caused him significant emotional and psychological distress. The sight of him infuriates Carmy, and he confronts him by reminding him how he treated him. However, instead of being apologetic about his behavior, David proudly tells him that if it was not for him, Carmy would not have been a great chef. This makes Carmy realize that David’s toxic mentorship contributed to his mindless drive for perfection, and he is gradually becoming a spitting image of him.

Although The Bear season 3 ends soon after this encounter, it seems likely that the realization of how he is becoming more like the chef he hates will force Carmy to change himself. It will remind him that he must ground himself and stop being so harsh towards his co-workers because he might leave the same mark on them as David did on him. However, given how Syd is already on the verge of leaving The Bear, it might be too late for Carmy to rectify his mistakes.

How The Bear Season 3’s Ending Sets Up Season 4

The Bear Season 3 Paves The Way For A Dramatic Follow-Up

The Bear season 3 is relatively less intense with its drama than season 2. However, its ending moments suggest The Bear season 4 will ramp up the stakes significantly. With the possibility of Uncle Jimmy pulling the plug and Sydney leaving The Bear, The Bear season 4 will walk through some of the biggest challenges Carmy has faced to date. Meanwhile, Syd will struggle to decide whether to let her emotional attachments drive her decisions or think more rationally about her future.

These major plot points in The Bear season 4 will revolve around the ambiguous restaurant review. After Ever’s shutdown, Richie will also not have a lot of career options left if Uncle Jimmy decides to close The Bear prematurely. From a professional standpoint, Tina will take the hardest hit in The Bear season 4 if the central restaurant gets shut down or Sydney decides to leave.

What The Cast & Crew Have Said About The Bear Season 3’s Ending

As Well As The Bear’s Future

One of the biggest moments in The Bear season 3 finale is the confrontation between Carmy and his former boss, David. David actor Joel McHale has discussed The Bear season 3’s ending, with him talking about the backhanded nature of their conversation due to the luck that Carmy’s success required. Here are McHale’s thoughts:

The fact that David’s like, “Hey, man, what are you so worried about? Unclutch your pearls. You shouldn’t be so upset about all this stuff. You did it. You got there” is deeply unfair on David’s part. He approves of him because it worked out. But there are probably so many chefs that didn’t achieve the same thing. Obviously, Jeremy’s character is extremely skilled, and has worked his ass off, but he’s just like everybody in every profession—he had to have some luck. So the piles of other sous chefs and line cooks that worked for David who didn’t make it? You forget about those people. So I think it’s unfair, because he didn’t have to be a dick, but he was, and that’s how he is, and that’s what worked for him.

Tina actress Liza Colón-Zayas also spoke on the future of The Bear season 4 after season 3’s ending, with her saying the following:

The future is very fragile. You know, we’re white-knuckling it, but that’s also very real, right? Especially now, the state of everything, but especially the restaurant industry. It’s not a walk in the park. I’m nervous too. I would love to see the show potentially continue for at least another five years! But only if that’s… there’s that line that Richie had in the beginning, like, “It is a delicate ecosystem.” And I think that as long as that is inspired and nurtured then we’ll have the magic that we have. So that’s more important. Five more seasons, please!

More thoughts on The Bear season 3’s ending will undoubtedly come out as we get closer to the release of The Bear season 4, which will follow up on the many cliffhangers that the previous batch of episodes left open.