'The Bear' Season 3 Ending Explained
Hulu released all 10 episodes of FX’s The Bear Season 3 on June 26. The hit restaurant dramedy’s third serving featured all the things fans have come to expect from the show—a great soundtrack, a ton of celebrity cameos, highly stressful emotional intensity—before culminating in an ending that left the future of the Bear, Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) new restaurant, in an uncertain place.
The season starts the morning after The Bear’s friends and family night from the Season 2 finale, where Carmy disastrously got locked inside the walk-in refrigerator for hours and had an emotional meltdown that led to him alienating his girlfriend Claire (Molly Gordon) and his “cousin”/front-of-house manager Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).
Carmy’s breakup with Claire spurs him to refocus entirely on the restaurant to an extremely perfectionist degree, which leads to chaos throughout the season. He’s constantly fighting with Richie, changing the menu every day and pushing his employees too hard. He’s spending more money than the restaurant can bring in. At one point, his uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt), his main investor, warns him that if the restaurant gets a single negative review, he’ll pull the plug.
While the Bear is opening up, Ever, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant where Carmy learned his trade, is winding down. Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), the Bear’s sous chef, gets an offer to go work with Adam Shapiro (Adam Shapiro), Ever’s chef du cuisine, at a new restaurant he’s starting. She can’t decide what to do.
The uncertainty comes to a head in the season’s final episode, which largely takes place at Ever’s final dinner service. And while the season doesn’t quite end on a cliffhanger, its stories are left unresolved.
FX
What happens to Sydney at the end of The Bear Season 3?
Sydney and Carmy attend Ever’s “funeral,” along with other important people from the restaurant industry. Sydney’s conversations with other former Ever chefs force her to look at where she’s at and what she wants in her career and life. Carmy is getting all the credit for work that’s hers, too, and the volatility of the Bear’s kitchen is wearing on her. She talks to Adam again, and tells him that she’s still considering his offer, but she hasn’t talked to Carmy about it yet. She has partnership offers from both restaurants, and can’t bring herself to sign either of them.
The afterparty takes place at her apartment, and she’s having a great time hanging out with the staffs of Ever and The Bear. But when she sees a newspaper clipping on her fridge praising her work back when The Bear was still The Beef, she goes into a closet and has a panic attack.
Sydney can’t decide what to do. Should she go with Adam, who is promising her credit for her contributions, more money and better benefits, and a less insane work environment? Or should she stay and finish what she started with Carmy? Should she choose with her head or her heart? We’ll have to wait for Season 4 to find out.
(To be clear, her complicated relationship with Carmy is not romantic in nature. There are no plans for Carmy and Sydney to get together. They love each other, but not like that. Carmy is still pining for Claire but can’t bring himself to apologize to her, so that will be another plot line that continues next season.)
Related: Are Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri Dating IRL?
What happens to Carmy at the end of The Bear Season 3?
FX
At Ever’s funeral, Carmy sees David Fields (Joel McHale), a demanding but excellent chef he used to work for in New York. David was emotionally abusive to him, and Carmy carries a lot of resentment over the cruel things David said to him.
When he confronts David about how David treated him, David says “You’re welcome.” He says that the way he pushed Carmy helped make Carmy the great chef he is now.
But Carmy feels like a broken man, with serious emotional issues and no life outside of his work. He’s recreating the toxic environment of David’s restaurant inside The Bear. His maniacal pursuit of excellence at any cost is driving people away. Though Carmy doesn’t know it yet, he might lose Sydney because of it.
After that, Carmy has a quiet moment with another old boss, Ever’s chef Terry (Olivia Colman), a kind person with whom he has a much better relationship. Terry tells him that she’s closing the restaurant because she wants to have a life outside of work, which seems to make an impression on him.
As he’s walking home, he looks at his phone and sees a number of missed calls from Jimmy and Computer (Brian Koppelman), Jimmy’s financial manager, and a Google alert that the Chicago Tribune has published its review of The Bear. Carmy reads the review, and while we don’t see the full text, we see a number of words, including “confusing,” “excellent,” “dissonance,” “innovative,” “disappointed,” “overdone,” “sloppy,” “inconsistent,” “incredible,” “stale,” “simple,” “complex,” and “talent.” It seems like a mixed review at best.
He swears, and looks up at the El train speeding by above him, as the screen fades to black and says, “TO BE CONTINUED.”
That means Season 4 will pick up where Season 3 leaves off. We’ll find out what Sydney decides to do, or if Jimmy makes the decision for her by following through on his threat to shut the Bear down if it gets a bad review.
Related: Is 'The Bear' Based on a True Story? Your Fact-Versus-Fiction Guide to the Series
When will The Bear return for Season 4?
FX hasn’t officially announced that The Bear has been renewed for Season 4, but Variety reports that the next season was shot back-to-back with Season 3. Jeremy Allen White actually confirmed that filming on Season 4 is already complete. We expect a formal renewal announcement will be made soon.
If Season 4 is in fact already in the can, then The Bear should have no problem following the same release schedule as the first three seasons. We don’t know for sure when The Bear will return, but we would be surprised if it’s not back in late June 2025.
Next, Will 'The Bear' End With Season 4? Everything We Know About What's Next for the Show
