Spoiler Warning: The Bear Season One

This summer had a few television series debuts, but none as impactful or highly reviewed by critics and viewers alike as The Bear. The first season was released on June 23, 2022, on FX on Hulu. The first season of The Bear follows “Carmy, a young fine-dining chef who returns home to Chicago to run his family restaurant. As he fights to transform the shop and himself, he works alongside a rough-around-the-edges crew that ultimately reveal themselves as his chosen family.”

The series stars Jeremy Allen White (Shameless) as Carmen “Carmy,” an award-winning chef who returns to Chicago to help manage The Original Beef of Chicagoland. The restaurant was owned by his brother Michael (Jon Bernthal), who died from suicide. His cousin, Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and the rest of the staff stubbornly disagree with how Carmy wants the business to manage as he brings modernization to the run-down restaurant.

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It also stars Ayo Edebiri (Big Mouth) as Sydney, an aspiring chef from the Culinary Institute of America who wants to help Carmy save the restaurant because it was her dad’s favorite. It also stars Lionel Boyce as Marcus, a baker who wants to expand his skills, Liza Colón- Zayas as Tina, a cook who resists change, and Abby Elliott (Saturday Night Live) as Natalie “Sugar,” as Carmy’s sister.

After the success of the first season of The Bear, which dealt with a lot of change for each character, FX on Hulu immediately renewed it for a second season. Here is what we hope to see in the second season of The Bear.

Where The Bear Season One Left Off

     FX/Hulu

Season one of The Bear dealt with many different storylines that were resolved throughout the season, but some were also left open-ended. Carmy was a chef in a fine dining restaurant in New York City, as shown in episode two in a flashback. But it also shows the verbal abuse he got from the head chef and the environment he was in before versus what he is in now. Although the two environments may look different, they are parallel.

While Carmy wants to change the dynamic of The Original Beef of Chicagoland, such as everyone is addressed as “chef” because it is a sign of respect, as well as having an organization in the kitchen during service, we also know he wants to maintain control during stressful times, something he lost during episode seven and ultimately regrets. Carmy also realizes he needs to help himself from the trauma Michael caused and, on the advice of his sister, attends Al-Annon meetings.

Carmy hires Sydney for her help because of her expertise and because her dad loved going to the restaurant. She tries to be Carmy’s sous chef but has difficulty gaining respect from her fellow cooks, especially Richie and Tina, who dismiss or sabotage her. She tries to prove herself to Carmy with a dish she created, going behind his back, serving it to a customer, who then raved about it in the newspaper but was still reprimanded by Carmy for disobeying orders. In episode seven, the demand from the review and her mistakenly leaving on the pre-order to-go system proved too much for everyone when there wasn’t enough food or workforce for the number of ticket orders. The stress-inducing episode had Carmy on everyone’s throat, enough to make Sydney realize the position wasn’t for her and quit in the middle of service.

Richie, who at the beginning of the series would fight and resist Carmy as the new owner and head chef of The Original Beef of Chicagoland, in the end, realizes he’s all he’s got and gives Carmy a letter that Mike left him. The letter turned out to be the recipe for the spaghetti, an option on the menu before Carmy took it away. The recipe calls for smaller cans of tomatoes because they taste better, and as Carmy opens a can to make the spaghetti, a wad of cash comes out. They end up closing for the day to go through all the small cans of tomatoes, realizing that Mike left all that cash for his Carmy to start his own restaurant, The Bear.

Now that Carmy has found the money his brother Mike left him, we know he will rename and revamp The Original Beef of Chicagoland to The Bear, a cliffhanger from the season finale. What kind of restaurant will it be? Will it still pay some homage to Mike, or will it just be an incorporation of all the chefs?

Marcus and Sydney’s Return (With New Signature Dishes)

Marcus, the baker, inspired by Carmy’s approach to change, attempted to make signature donuts during episode seven but also quit along with Sydney during the chaos. While we do not know if he will come back as that storyline is also left open, if he does, we do hope Carmy will be open to him letting him incorporate his pastry chef skills into the revamped restaurant.

While we saw a bit of Carmy’s background through flashbacks, it would be important to see more of Sydney’s background. In season one, it is clear her passion is cooking, but it isn’t clear why. What’s also curious is since The Original Beef of Chicagoland was her dad’s favorite restaurant, did she ever get a chance to go to it too? Also, in the season finale, after Carmy apologized to Sydney, he told her what needed improvement on her dish. Will we also see that new and improved dish in the second season?

Tina and Richie Continue to Accept The Bear

     Disney Platform Distribution

Will Tina and Richie, who at first were resistant to Carmy and change, but in the season finale of The Bear, they also had a change of heart on how things were being run, accept a whole new restaurant? While that might seem like an obvious yes, they are also known to be stubborn characters. Perhaps how Carmy runs the revamped restaurant won’t be easy to adjust to, and we can better understand why they are resistant to change.

While there isn’t much information about the second season yet, we hope that all the first season’s cast will return and that we will see these storylines covered. If you haven’t watched it yet, viewers can binge the first season of The Bear only on Hulu while we await season two.