Is This the Beginning of the End for *The Bear*?

This article contains spoilers for the season 4 finale of The Bear.

The Bear just served up yet another cliffhanger, but the potential end of the award-winning series is starting to take shape.

Carmy’s Shocking Decision to Leave The Bear

Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) spent season 4 healing his psychological trauma — he finally sat down with his mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), for an emotional reunion; he learned how to embrace peace over chaos; and he worked hard to repair all of the fractured relationships in his life, including with his ex Claire (Molly Gordon). But all that healing led to his shocking decision to leave The Bear.

Yes, chef — after all his tireless work creating the restaurant of his dreams, he’s already planning to leave! The finale spent a large chunk of time with Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they experience all five stages of grief — and an entire pack of cigarettes — after they found out that Carmy wants to leave. He promised them both he would stay on until the restaurant gets out of debt (and unbeknownst to any of them, they might also be close to finally getting their Michelin star). But once the future of The Bear is stable, he’s out.

What’s he going to do after that? Well, continue his healing journey — in whatever form that takes. Carmy told Sydney that he doesn’t love being a chef anymore, and he doesn’t know who he is outside of the kitchen. There’s so much pain, anxiety, and toxicity wrapped up in what used to be his passion, and he wants the freedom to figure out his life without being tied to the restaurant. That’s why he changed the partnership agreement to take his name off the contract — and agreed to add Richie’s name.

Carmy’s Emotional Confession to Richie

Carmy has another bomb for Richie and Sydney: he did, in fact, attend his brother Mikey’s (Jon Bernthal) funeral. He just couldn’t bring himself to go inside the building.

Richie was absolutely floored by this confession because all this time, he thought Carmy blamed him for not being able to help Mikey while he was still alive. Richie had been feeling like he failed because he couldn’t get Mikey to talk to anyone about his issues. By this point, the tears were flowing, and then Natalie (Abby Elliott) joined the party, so the emotional catharsis hit its peak.

When Natalie learned the two big pieces of information — Carmy’s going to leave, and he actually did go to Mikey’s funeral — everyone hugged, and it seemed like things were getting to a positive place despite Carmy’s plans.

The Ticking Clock: Uncle Jimmy’s Deadline Arrives

But the ticking clock of the season finally struck zero, meaning that Uncle Jimmy’s (Oliver Platt) ominous deadline arrived.

Introduced in the season 4 premiere, the doomsday clock was Unc’s response to the restaurant’s negative review (At long last, we learned the headline was “Bear necessities missing: The Bear stumbles with culinary dissonance”). Unc spelled things out very clearly to the team: “When that clock shows zero, this restaurant needs to cease operations.” The only way to keep The Bear alive is if it becomes profitable … or if it gets a Michelin star.

A mysterious diner who enjoyed his meal earlier in the season seemed to imply that a star could be incoming, and The Beef sandwich window keeps growing more and more profitable (especially if they successfully franchise it like they’re planning). But as of now, they’re out of time.

The Future of *The Bear*: A Potential Series End?

The Bear has yet to be renewed for a fifth season, so there’s no guarantee we’ll find out what happens next. But if the show returns, it could be cooking up an eventual end to the story. Just imagine: Carmy leaves after the restaurant gets a Michelin star, Unc agrees to keep it open since the sandwich counter franchise also makes a huge profit, and everyone gets their happily ever after.

Of course, this show has never been predictable. It could continue for many, many more seasons (it is a popular awards juggernaut, after all) and even take a wildly different turn that no one sees coming. But it’s not hard to see how The Bear could eventually end after this eye-opening finale.

Let’s just hope the show delivers a deliciously satisfying dessert at the end of the meal before we get there.

All 10 episodes of The Bear season 4 are now streaming on Hulu.