Commentary: 'The Bear' moved us to tears over its five seasons, ending on a happy, loving note

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Set us as preferred “The Bear,” Christopher Storer’s critically lauded, much argued over, award-winning series about a Chicago sandwich joint transformed into a fine-dining experience — to radically oversimplify — wrapped up its five-course meal Thursday with eight episodes (released at once), transpiring mostly across a single day.As a torrential rainstorm pummels the city, pipes burst, servers quit, shelves empty, money runs out even as the house is seriously overbooked, while chefs Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) attempt to navigate a new professional relationship — the show’s typical nexus of practical and emotional crises — leading to a frenzy of improvisation and ingenuity that brings all hands on deck.In the end, the Bear gets not one Michelin star but two; now-broke Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt), who spends much of the season trying to secure the building’s “sky rights,” finds financial salvation for it in Ebraheim’s (Edwin Lee Gibson) plan to franchise the Beef; Sydney accepts that she is the head chef Carmy could never be and names Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) as her chef de cuisine; Marcus (Lionel Boyce) comes to peace with his own greatness; Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who has never been on a plane, or seemingly outside Chicago, is invited to an international hospitality conference in Japan and finds new love with colleague Jess (Sarah Ramos).

And Carmy is turning his creative force to architecture.Television The actors at the center of Christopher Storer’s FX series discuss the finale, what it means to leave their characters behind and what they imagine for the Bear and its crew.L.A.

Times TV critic Robert Lloyd and culture critic Mary McNamara, both of whom have written about the show across its run, discuss the show’s final season and its overall legacy.Robert Lloyd: T...