Spoilers for The Bear’s Season 4 finale are ahead! You can stream the show in its entirety with a Hulu subscription.
The second I finished binge-watching Season 4 of The Bear after it dropped on the 2025 TV schedule, I was left with a lot to think about. The clock ran out of time, and it’s unclear how the restaurant will stay open. However, the biggest bombshell to me came when Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy told Ayo Edebiri’s Sydney that he’d taken his name off the partnership agreement and planned to leave.
watching Season 4 of The Bear, I kept thinking about Carmy’s declaration to Mikey in the opening flashback regarding his dream of making a peaceful and joyful restaurant. Clearly, he hasn’t done that, and this season, while on a quest to heal, he started to question if his work was worth it.
Seeing him find some semblance of a spark again outside the restaurant as he cooked for his mom and rekindled his relationship with Claire brought me immense joy. It also showed that Carmy was moving toward grappling with his demons and healing.
So, when he took his name off the agreement, I got where he was coming from. He wanted to take himself out to find himself, and he was aware of the trouble he’d inflicted on The Bear. He was attempting to remove the “hurdles” for everyone he loves, as well as himself.
However, He Also Can’t Run Away From His Problems
Now, after learning Sydney’s true feelings about her future in Episode 4 of The Bear’s fourth season, and seeing her go back and forth about leaving or staying, I get why she was distraught by Carmy’s choice. He’s the reason they’re all in this beautiful mess; the restaurant was his idea. Losing him would mean losing a key player in this business as well as a member of their family.
Sydney also sees this as another example of him self-sabotaging and sprinting away from his problems, as she yelled through tears:
I know I don’t need you, but that’s not the point. You’re supposed to fucking be here. And you self-sabotage and you run away when things are good, and it’s not fucking fair…So, then why are you doing this? You’re my partner!
Jeremy Allen White’s character has a track record of running away from things, and that’s not the right answer. Therefore, maybe he should stick around The Bear and find a way to love this all again.
For days now, I’ve been going back and forth about who is right here. On the one hand, Carmy has a point; if he’s lost his passion, he should go find it. He’s got baggage he needs to work through, and taking a moment to reflect and heal could be great for him and everyone in his life. However, on the other hand, he’s the man behind The Bear, and most importantly, his family works there. If he leaves, he’d be running away…again.
Now, when the season ended, it was decided that the agreement would have Sydney, Richie and Nat’s names on it, and Carmy would stay until the restaurant was on solid ground. So, if the show gets a Season 5, I’d imagine Jeremy Allen White would still be in The Bear cast, and there’d be more discussion about whether Carmy should continue cooking or not.
I know I need them to keep this conversation going, because I don’t think there’s one perfect answer. This is a complex mess, and I see everyone’s points. So, hopefully, the debate can continue…