What Does the Ending of The Bear Season 3 Mean? Cliffhanger Explained

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Everything you need to know before streaming season 4

Co-authored by Marcus Pruitt, BS

Last Updated: June 26, 2025 Fact Checked

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Finale Recap

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Ending Explained

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Sydney’s Panic Attack

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Why Terry Closed Ever

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What We Know About Season 4

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Video

The ending of the third season of the popular Chicago-based cooking dramedy, The Bear, left more questions than answers. What did the Chicago Tribune review say? What’s going to happen to the restaurant? Why did Sydney have that panic attack? If these questions are bouncing around in your head after watching the finale, we're here to answer all of them. Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of The Bear season 3, and get a recap just in time for season 4! Beware: spoilers for The Bear season 3 ahead.

The End of The Bear Season 3 Explained

Carmy's restaurant is at risk of closing due to his costly ambitions. The restaurant is also at risk of losing a key player with Sydney Adamu being offered a better position elsewhere. The season ends on a cliffhanger when we see Carm reacting poorly to the crucial Chicago Tribune review right before the credits roll.

Section 1 of 5:

The Bear Season 3 Finale Recap

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The episode opens with a flashback to Carm’s first day at the French Laundry. The season 3 finale of The Bear starts by thrusting the viewers into Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto’s (played by Jeremy Allen White) first day in the kitchen with Thomas Keller, real-life chef and owner of French Laundry. As the two prepare a dish, Keller tells Carm that being a chef is about nurturing yourself, your colleagues, your customers, and everyone else in the community, especially those who provide the ingredients.^{[1]
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- This scene gives viewers a glimpse into what Carm’s origins as a chef were like before David Fields (played by Joel McHale), who traumatized him with his intense teaching style.
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The episode features Chef Terry closing Ever and congratulating Carmy. The final episode was bittersweet, as it saw the closing of Chef Andrea Terry's (played by Olivia Coleman) restaurant Ever, where Carmy, Richard “Richie” Jerimovich (played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and other characters got their cooking chops. To commemorate the closure, Chef Terry held a funeral for the restaurant, where she explained why she closed, recounted her career as a world-renowned chef, and detailed what she learned while in the restaurant industry.^{[2]
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- She also personally talked to Carmy about The Bear, telling him that she’s proud of his restaurant and that she’s heard it’s wonderful, words he definitely needed to hear after stressing over its success all season.
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At the funeral, Carmy finally confronts Chef David about the past. During the funeral, Carm spotted Chef David, who traumatized him with his intense, verbally abusive method of teaching, and quickly approached him to let his feelings out. After Carm curses him out and explains that David left him with severe anxiety, depression, and stomach ulcers, David takes pride in the fact that he pushed Carm from an average chef to an excellent one, no matter how harmful his methods were.
- Chef David’s response leaves Carm stunned, angry, and in tears, as he realizes the severe price he paid to get to where he is today.
- Chef David’s harmful words have lived in Carmy’s head for virtually the entire duration of the show, with various flashbacks showing David severely berating Carm for dishes that are anything less than perfect.
Chef David leaves Carm in even more sour spirits than when he got there, so he skips out when everyone else goes to Sydney’s apartment for an impromptu party. Carm instead decides to walk down the streets of downtown Chicago while the rest of the crew celebrates with frozen food, drinks, and each other’s company.^{[3]
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During the party, Sydney closes her fridge and sees a review for The Beef on the door, the original restaurant she helped Carmy transform from a sandwich shop into a fine-dining establishment. Upon seeing the review, she begins seeing flashes of her coworkers at The Bear and goes cold. She quietly steps outside, having a panic attack over her future in the restaurant industry after closing the door.^{[4]
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The Chicago Tribune publishes their review, and Carm isn’t happy. Carm gets a notification that the review has been published, along with various missed calls and texts from his uncle James “Cicero” Kalinowski (played by Oliver Platt and often referred to as Uncle Jimmy) and The “Computer” (played by Brian Koppelman), his financial backers. Words like “excellent,” “confusing,” “sloppy,” and “brilliant” flash on the screen without explaining the details of the review, ending on a cliffhanger.^{[5]
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- After reading the review, Carmy angrily shouts “motherf*cker” before a train passes and the screen goes black, leaving the details of the review a mystery.
- Uncle Jimmy said that if the review is bad, then the restaurant will have to close due to financial difficulties, leaving the fate of The Bear undecided by the time the credits roll.

Section 2 of 5:

Theories About the Ending of The Bear Season 3

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Sydney is going to leave the restaurant for a better opportunity. With the intense, high-pressure environment fostered by Carmy, Sydney’s already been stressed. After Chef Adam (played by Adam Wilson) approaches her with a job offer, this stress worsens, as she’s torn between staying at The Bear or moving on for better opportunities. After her panic attack at the end of the season, however, it’s been speculated that she’s already made up her mind about leaving and just doesn’t know how to break it to Carmy.^{[6]
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The ending foreshadows the restaurant’s closure. Throughout The Bear, it’s been alluded to that the restaurant is a money pit. In season 3, this allusion became apparent, with various characters expressing how dire the restaurant’s financial situation is. Uncle Jimmy gave Carmy an ultimatum: if the Chicago Tribune review is bad, then they will close. With Carmy’s angry reaction to the review and the flood of calls and texts from Jimmy and The Computer that followed, The Bear may be cooked.^{[7]
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Carmy’s attitude is pushing away the people who care about him. Carmy’s determination to get a Michelin star has damaged a lot of relationships. He still hasn’t apologized to Claire (played by Molly Gordon) or Richie for his outburst in the season 2 finale, and he keeps pressuring the crew to meet his high demands. He even ditches Sydney’s party to stress about the review.^{[8]
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Research source} His goals are blinding him to how he’s been treating others, and the end of this season suggests that he will be iced out because of that.
- Carm skipping out on the party symbolizes the growing distance between him and the rest of the crew due to his lofty goal, and paints a bleak picture for where he’ll be in season 4.
- His angry reaction to the review and the calls from Uncle Jimmy and The Computer suggest that he’s worried the restaurant really is failing. They’ve been talking about how much money the restaurant’s been losing the whole season.
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A Reddit theory says season 3’s ending is setting up a loneliness arc. In season 2, Richie talks about how someone in a book he’s reading spends his days watching trains out of loneliness. The person’s friends cut him out of their lives since he wasn’t advancing in his own life, which the theory suggests will happen to Carm. When Carm looks at his phone after receiving the review, he angrily shouts “motherf*cker” before looking up and watching, wouldn’t you guess, a train passed by, symbolizing his lonely lifestyle in the making.
- The fan who came up with this theory believes the Chicago Tribune’s review was good, but because of Sydney instead of Carmy, adding fuel to the belief that Carm isn’t advancing like his peers.
- The theory suggests that Carmy’s presumed lack of progress is because he doesn’t have a purpose aside from getting a Michelin Star; a purpose that’s bleeding the owner, his uncle, dry.

Section 3 of 5:

Why did Sydney have a panic attack?

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Sydney's panic attack is due to her conflicting emotions about the job offer. Earlier in the season, Chef Adam (played by Adam Shapiro) approached Sydney with an offer to work at a restaurant he’s opening. Although the job boasted more pay and better benefits than The Bear, it left Sydney at a crossroads, as she had to decide whether to stay with her chosen family at The Bear or move up in the culinary industry. These conflicting feelings boil over in the final episode, when she has a panic attack right outside her own party.^{[9]
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- Although she never accepted the offer on camera, Sydney’s panic attack suggests that she’s made up her mind about leaving The Bear but doesn’t know how to tell Carm & crew.
- Chef Adam’s offer also gives Sydney more of a voice than she has at The Bear, with Adam saying that he wants it to be an equal partnership where the concept can be whatever she wants.
- Carmy also put Sydney in the chef de cuisine position (the top-ranking position) at The Bear, which further exacerbates her conflicting emotions.

Section 4 of 5:

Why did Terry close Ever?

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Although Ever boasted extensive waitlists and Michelin-quality meals, at the end of season 3, Chef Terry closed the restaurant to give herself more time to live and enjoy life without the pressure of the restaurant industry. She explains to Carmy that she wants to travel, sleep in more, party, and meet people. Her tenure in the industry has ended with success, and now, she’s ready to chase success in other areas of life.^{[10]
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Section 5 of 5:

What We Know About The Bear Season 4

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Like other seasons of The Bear, the Chicago-based restaurant dramedy will return at the end of June, specifically on Wednesday, June 25, at 8pm ET, 5pm PST, and 7pm CST. It will be available to watch on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally upon release.^{[11]
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Sydney will make a decision between The Bear and Adam’s offer. With Sydney’s panic attack at the end of the last season, it’s understandable that this decision will be hard for her. But considering Chef Adam told her he wants to move fast, and that she has a considerable stake in The Bear (which is on the brink of closing), she will have to make a decision between the two in season 4.^{[12]
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Camy will continue to chase his dreams of earning a Michelin star. Carm has already worked at Michelin-starred restaurants, and now he wants his own. Season 3 already gave us a glimpse into the lengths he’s willing to go to achieve his dreams, and once season 4 opens, he’ll have to see if those lengths have gained him favor with the Chicago Tribune or put even more pressure on him to revamp the menu for that star.^{[13]
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- Although he’s determined to chase his dreams, if he keeps up his harsh, no-mistakes attitude, he’ll have to work in the same high-stress environments that damaged his headspace in the first place.
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The crew will have to face the aftermath of the Chicago Tribune’s review. The restaurant’s closure depends on the review, which was deliberately left ambiguous in the finale. If it turns out to be good, the crew will have to gear up for Carm’s high-intensity, ever-changing menu on top of new customers. If it turns out to be bad, they’ll have to search for new jobs. Whatever the case, it’ll result in a dramatic opening next season.^{[14]
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The Bear may end up getting shut down due to a lack of funding. In season 3, Uncle Jimmy constantly talked about how the restaurant was losing more money than it was making, but didn’t explain how bad the situation was to Carmy. He threatened to close the restaurant if the review was bad, but The Computer explained that things were already past that point. With the missing calls and texts from both of them on Carmy’s phone after the review, things don’t seem to be looking too good for the restaurant.^{[15]
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