'The Bear' Season 4 recap – What to remember before Season 5

Before your upcoming reservation at “The Bear” allow us to refresh your memory about the previous course, Season 4.

Viewers can begin feasting on the final eight episodes of FX’s Emmy-winning “The Bear” on Thursday, June 25 (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Hulu and FX). The series’ fifth installment will stream in its entirety on Hulu on premiere day and air weekly on FX.

In the Season 4 finale, released in June 2025, Bear proprietor Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) shocked Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) by revealing his plans to walk away from their high-end Chicago restaurant.

“This is all I’ve ever done,” Carmy explained in the episode titled "Goodbye."

Carmy, who lost his brother Michael (Jon Bernthal) shortly before overhauling his family’s casual restaurant, suspects he became a chef “so I didn’t have to do other things.” Carmy vowed to get the restaurant out of debt before savoring some soul-searching and crafting a new recipe for success.

In many ways, the 10-course Season 4 felt like a long goodbye for the chef. He apologized to his ex-girlfriend Claire Dunlap (Molly Gordon), whom he parted with in Season 2, and made amends with his mom Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) as she celebrated nearly a year of sobriety. The countdown clock set up by financial backer Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) to monitor the restaurant’s time left to operate ran out.

Jimmy and Carmy split ownership of The Bear 50-50. In a revised partnership agreement, Carmy gave his half of the restaurant to Sydney and Natalie (Abby Elliott). In the finale, Sydney asked that Carmy’s half be divided amongst her, Natalie and family friend Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Carmy agreed.

What happened in the ‘Gary’ episode of ‘The Bear?’

A surprise, standalone episode titled “Gary” debuted on May 5, 2026. The 59-minute installment depicted a day referenced in the Season 4 finale, when Michael and Richie delivered a package to Gary, Indiana, for Jimmy.

“Gary” showed just how juxtaposed best friends Richie and Michael were toward the end of his life. Richie, expecting his daughter with wife Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs), was basking in life’s possibilities, while Michael brought a darker, “glass-half-empty kind of energy,” Richie observed.

While the two killed time at a bar, Michael confided in a woman named Sherri (Marin Ireland) about how he felt incredibly weighed down by “the meaninglessness of it all.” When it was time to leave, Michael unleashed on Richie in front of the other bar patrons, suggesting that if Richie left, he’d be doing his kid “a favor.”

The final minutes of “Gary” returned Richie to a time after Michael’s death. Richie stared at the empty seat next to him while driving in the rain. Then another vehicle T-boned him on the passenger side, and the screen went black.

What will happen in Season 5 of “The Bear?”

The new season resumes the day after the Season 4 finale, when Carmy turned his half of the restaurant over to Sydney, Richie and Natalie.

“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 debut announcement teases. “Ultimately, they learn that what makes a restaurant ‘perfect’ might not be the food, but the people.”

While speaking to USA TODAY in early May, Moss-Bachrach said he “found making Season 5 to be a really glorious experience,” describing it as a “magnum opus for the whole show.”

At the time of the interview, he hadn’t seen any of the new chapter but looked forward to watching the episodes he’s “really, really proud of.”

“It's not easy to end something,” he said, “and I think we went about it in a bold, bold way.”