7 Reasons Why 'The Bear' Season 5 Is The Best

The Bear has finally come to an end with Season 5, and there’s barely any chatter about it on social media, which tells you everything that needs to be said about how Season 3 and 4 kneecapped this amazing show. But since it’s my job to watch the series, I tuned into it with subterranean expectations. I mean, I had endured the last 2 seasons, so I had the mindset that if it ended up being worse than them, I wouldn’t be surprised; if it ended up being better, I would have a good time. I had nothing to lose. By the time the fifth season wrapped up, I realized that I didn’t just have “a good time” watching it, I was emotionally moved enough to recommend it to people while also exploring my relationship with my job, just like I did after watching the first 2 seasons. If you don’t agree with that sentiment because you are still bummed out by the last 2 seasons, that’s fine; I can’t do anything about that. If you are on the same wavelength as I am, well, read up on the 7 reasons why I think Season 5 was the best season of the show (since Seasons 1 and 2).

Spoiler Alert

‘The Pitt’ Approach

As soon as I realized that The Bear Season 5 was taking The Pitt approach of storytelling, I got up and punched the air, because that’s how excited I was. For those of you who haven’t watched The Pitt (Season 1 is great and Season 2 is meh), each season of the show takes place over the course of one shift or one day in the lives of the characters, with each hour-long (almost) episode representing one hour of the shift. So, you are basically spending a day in the place where they work and assessing what the characters are like as people in that limited space. Seasons 1 and 2 of The Bear kinda dedicated each episode to one day or one shift of The Beef or the titular restaurant. But then the showrunners kinda went haywire with all these bottle episodes and flashback episodes, thereby ruining everything that made the show special in the first place. The decision to not only go back to basics, but also concentrate on just one shift is worthy of the loudest applause. By the end of Season 4, the restaurant had already gone broke and it was great to see Season 5 be all about taking one last swing at survival. Also, it finally justified the binge model, because it felt like we were with these characters throughout their day-long shift. I know I’ve complained a lot about people releasing the episodes at once but The Pitt approach makes the binge model work; and that’s awesome.

The Food Is The Story, The Story Is The Food

Since Season 5 was all about one shift, every single piece of food mattered; and I’m not just talking about the importance of nailing the quality of the dish or giving an emotional payoff to each dish. The fact that the restaurant had run out of resources gave the plot a sense of urgency that that goddamn clock couldn’t. The lack of raw material meant that they had to use everything they had in that freezer in the most efficient way possible, because if anything went to waste, it’d ruin them. And that’s why, when Carmy dropped the dish, I felt my heart drop too. I understood what Carmy was feeling in that moment as clearly as possible, and I understood the amount of empathy everyone in that kitchen was mustering to keep Carmy calm. I mean, you can’t get more immersive than that. In addition to that, you get the payoffs for Tina’s Brussels sprouts, Marcus’ banana split (Carmy’s brioche trick was legendary), and of course, Syd’s Coca-Cola ribs. Those dishes, and every other dish that was cooked in this season, said so much about the characters behind them. The hurdles that they faced while cooking, and how they crossed them, gave us more insight into their psyches than entire bottle or flashback episodes could. Much like the limited resources of the restaurant, this showed that more is not always better; sometimes you do your best work when you are backed into a corner.

The Subplot Matters

Due to the aforementioned narrative limitation, there’s one major subplot in the entire season, and that’s it! And the best part is that it’s not divorced from the main narrative. I know that that’s how subplots should function, but if you look at the last 2 seasons of the show, you’ll see that the showrunners forgot that. They just willy-nilly went in directions that didn’t impact the main story in any perceivable way. Sure, we learnt more about these characters, but what are we supposed to do with all that information? Sometimes it’s fine to not know a lot about the characters beyond the scope of the narrative. Figuring out what they’re doing once the credits roll is much more fun than dedicating subplots to each and every character and getting details that make the larger picture messy. So, yeah, watching Jimmy, Cheese, Computer, and Pete try to secure the air rights, which led to the brilliant cameo performance from Deirdre O’Connell, and then going back to Ebra’s idea of ghost kitchens was excellent. I mean, I laughed out loud when Jimmy kept losing it over the word “franchise” and the (in)efficiency with which the government official worked. It’s because of my investment in that subplot that Jimmy’s conversation (and the joke about dating Donna) with Carmy was so impactful.

Less Cameos Equals Better Visual Storytelling

I know that everyone and their mums loves the cameos in The Bear. All of them are very unexpected, and the premise allows these renowned actors to give performances that they haven’t given in their entire career. But the thing about cameos, especially in a show with any kind of popularity, is that they cost a lot of money. And the thing about producers is that they’ll always look to cut costs. Now, when the decision to cast recognizable names for cameos clashes with the act of budget management, it’s a guarantee that the technical departments are gonna face the brunt of it. The worst part is, when the show looks bad, all the criticism will be targeted at these technical departments because, of course, they don’t think about the consequences of those cameos. Season 5 barely had any cameos (and possibly had a reduced budget as well, as evident from the use of the singular location), and you could immediately see the marked improvement in the cinematography, the editing, the production design, the sound design, and just the overall feel of the show. The use of rain was fantastic! I think the show’s social media account is boasting about the equipment they’ve used to pull off some of the complex camera movements. So, yeah, the moral of the story is not to make expensive cameos your show’s USP.

Solid Characterwork Backed By Great Acting

There’s no doubt about the fact that the main and supporting cast of The Bear are excellent. They are truly the best of the best. I mean, look at the work that the actors have done while doing this show. That’ll tell you everything you need to know about the genius of Jeanie and Maggie Bacharach. But even the best actors struggle to elevate bad material, and that’s what happened in Seasons 3 and 4. I know that people were saying that even though the writing and direction were bad, the performances were great. I couldn’t disagree more with that sentiment because, firstly, I truly wasn’t vibing with the acting, and secondly, how is it possible for a performance to be good if the writing and the direction are bad? Whenever somebody says that, they are saying it as a fan of that actor, not a fan of the artform. Anyway, Season 5’s material matches the talent of the actors and you get to see them outperform each other every other second. The big “acting-acting” moments for sure. but the little scenes too. Tina’s face lighting up when she’s asked to fire up the brussels, Carmy asking Stevie to wait for him, Ebra practicing his monologue, and every micro-reaction that appears on Syd’s ever-expressive face are so satisfying to witness. Since everyone has fallen out of love with this show, I doubt it’ll get any award nominations this time around. I hope they consider this article to be their award for all the amazing work they’ve done.

Just Enough Faks And Donna

Much like all the dishes that you see in the show, the tone needs to be balanced. And with each passing season, we were getting way too much Faks and Donna. The writers wanted us to learn all about the Berzatto brand of trauma, and that upped Donna’s screentime. Meanwhile, the Faks got so many scenes probably because clips of them went so viral. And I know that reserving an entire segment of this article to bash them might seem unfair, but they were really ruining the show. I understand why the showrunners wanted to include Donna in so many scenes, but she really overstayed her welcome and took the spotlight away from the main cast. Given how much unnecessary space Donna took up, I would have been happy if she just showed up for that one scene where she refused to enter The Bear despite Pete’s repeated pleas. Yeah, I would have sacrificed the Fishes episode if it meant less Donna and less Faks. Look, I love the Faks. The characters love the Faks. I am a subscriber of Matty Matheson’s channel. But there’s only so much screaming-comedic-chaos I can handle. The Faks went through so much in Season 5, but it never brought the momentum of the plot to a screeching halt, because their activities were part of the plot. They weren’t allowed to go off on weird tangents. They got the right amount of insults and moments of redemption. It was perfect; there, I said it.

Sticking The Landing

After Seasons 3 and 4, I can only imagine how daunting it must have been for the cast and crew to try and stick the landing. It must have been as hard as any of the missions in the Mission: Impossible movies. But they clearly made the impossible possible, or else I would have been writing a very different article right now. Given how each plot thread was so linear and focused, it was all resolved very neatly. I was brought to tears quite a few times; something that Seasons 3 and 4 failed to do and Seasons 1 and 2 succeeded at. If the show would have followed the format of the last 2 seasons, I think The Bear getting 2 Michelin stars and then the series ending with Eva’s birthday party would have felt unearned and way too saccharine. But after seeing them go through all those obstacles in the span of, what, 12 hours? Yeah, it all seemed worth it. I think many might find Carmy’s monologue to be a bit too much. However, I found it to be a great encapsulation of the show as well as the character; and the credit for that definitely goes to the writers and Jeremy. The needle drops were great; though I wish they had used “New Noise” by Refused one last time. I don’t know what else to say, man; it all worked out. And, as they say, all’s well that ends well.

Final Thoughts

I feel kinda bittersweet about The Bear ending on such a high note. On one hand, I am glad that the cast and crew got to sign off on their own terms, and on the other hand, I am sad that this premise wasn’t exploited for 10-15 more seasons. I mean, post Season 5, every installment could have focused on a singular shift at the restaurant, with bottle episodes being dedicated to The Beef franchise. But the fact that I wish that that’s something that could have happened means that the showrunners have done a good job of bringing this story to a close. It’s not the end of the road for this cast and crew, I hope. I am sure they’ll go on to make more amazing pieces of art like this in the future. To be honest, I wish this cast and crew would make shows about all the professions that we don’t know a lot about but are integral to society. Yeah, I am saying that the cast remains the same; they play different characters in different professions. I mean, the makers of The Pitt are looking to use its format to explore the world of law enforcement. So, why can’t the makers of The Bear tackle professions like agriculture, architecture, advertising, education, sports, etc.? I am just spitballing here, because I want more stories from these people since I enjoyed Season 5 so much. It’s so good that I am gonna go ahead and recommend everyone to skip all the other seasons of the show and only watch this final season. If that motivates you to watch the previous seasons, that’s great. If it doesn’t, well, no harm done. However, those are just my thoughts on the series. If you have any opinions on the same that you’d like to share with us, the comments section is open for you.

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