Christopher Storer and FX are keeping their final serving of The Bear close to the apron. While critics and journalists did receive early screener access for the first seven episodes of the show’s final season, we did not get its grand finale, episode 508. So when season five premieres in its entirety (on Hulu, not on linear FX) tonight, to some extent, we’re all in this final dinner service together.
Always looking for a leg up, I asked stars Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach to tell me exactly what happens in the last episode. With five seasons of Disney media training under their belts, the trio didn’t flinch. So I asked them what the finale episode is not.
There are no funerals, Edebiri said, and there’s “no Red Wedding,” referring to the iconic ninth episode of season three of Game of Thrones. (It was actually titled “The Rains of Castamere,” but is colloquially referred to as the Red Wedding for its bloodbath.) Notice how Edebiri didn’t just say no wedding period — you out there, Claire Bear? (Molly Gordon, who plays Carmy’s ex-girlfriend, is not in the batch of screeners we received.)
“It wasn’t all a dream,” Moss-Bachrach offered. So no Newhart ending.
“But we’re not saying — like, it could still be insane-asylum fantasy,” Edebiri said. “That’s still open.”
I mean, clearly Carmine (White) is not well.
“There’s no epic jumps forward or backwards in time,” Moss-Bachrach offered. As the only one of the three who has really went back in time, for standalone prequel episode “Gary,” he’d be the authority here.
What it definitely is, White told The Hollywood Reporter, is the end of The Bear — though he hedged with an “I think so.”
“It’s a really elegant and appropriate ending to the show that feels complete and significant,” Moss-Bachrach said. Again, not that (at the time of this writing) I’d know. (Also, Storer did not shoot multiple endings or employ any such trickery to keep secrets, well, secret.)
There are also no discussions for “Gary,” written by and starring Moss-Bachrach and Jon Bernthal, to ultimately serve as a backdoor pilot for a Better Call Saul-type spinoff.
“You pitching me?” Moss-Bachrach replied. “I don’t think so. I think ‘Gary’ is this sweet little fulcrum of a flashback that ties the seasons together, and I think that should stay right there.”
The surprise “Gary” release preceded season five by 51 days; in story, most of the episode preceded the events of season one by a few years. When Moss-Bachrach and Bernthal shot “Gary,” they were “never really sure where it was gonna be placed” in the greater The Bear schedule, Moss-Bachrach continued. What showrunner Storer picked was “perfect,” he added.
“It just made it vibrate on a bigger level, and it had brought it to life in a different way somehow, rather than just this sort of hermetically-sealed flashback. It became more present,” Moss-Bachrach said.
The fifth and final season of The Bear picks up the morning after Sydney (Edebiri), Richie (Moss-Bachrach) and Natalie (Abby Elliott) discover that Carmy has quit, leaving the restaurant to them. “With no money, the threat of a sale and a torrential storm in their way, the new partners must band together with the rest of the team to achieve one last service, hoping they’ll finally earn a Michelin star,” the synopsis reads. “Ultimately, they learn that what makes a restaurant ‘perfect’ might not be the food, but the people.”
The half-hour series also stars Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas and Matty Matheson, with Ricky Staffieri, Oliver Platt, Will Poulter and Jamie Lee Curtis in recurring roles. The series was created by Storer, who serves as executive producer alongside Josh Senior, Cooper Wehde, Tyson Bidner, Matheson, Hiro Murai and Rene Gube. Storer’s sister — and a legit chef — Courtney Storer is the show’s culinary producer. The series is produced by FX Productions.
The final season of FX’s The Bear premieres June 25 at 9/8c on FX and Hulu.
