The third season of The Bear ended on two crucial and possibly series-disrupting cliffhangers: one, that the restaurant’s financial future hinged on a positive review from The Chicago Tribune, and two, that Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) might take a job elsewhere. In The Bear trailer for the fourth season, both notions are quickly thrown out the window. Sydney inevitably sticks it out in her partnership with Carmy (Jeremy Allen White). And while the restaurant is still in financial peril (with a countdown clock to prove it), the review—”Consistency seems to be the weak link here”—didn’t make or break them.
Of course, the central question isn’t whether Carmy can make a successful restaurant; the central question is whether he can break the cycle of dysfunction that is deeply embedded within his family and within the restaurant industry. “I get it, you know, chaos and turmoil. But it’s a problem when you’re letting it fuel you and fuel the food,” Sydney warns him in The Bear trailer. And after indulging in some pretty bad, neurotic habits running the kitchen last season, Carmy seems to finally remember that he promised to build something better. After all, the reason people go to a restaurant is to be taken care of, he observes. “We can do this, we could take care of people,” he insists. “We could make it calm, we could make it delicious, we can make people happy.”
Will Carmy be able to live up to that promise and keep the restaurant afloat? It looks like The Bear has some new staff (Richie’s buddies from the beloved “Forks” episode), and he’s even reached the point where he’s mentally healthy enough to see his mother (Jamie Lee Curtis), a confrontation several seasons in the making. But even though Carmy doesn’t “want this place to be chaos,” would The Bear really be The Bear without it? Don’t worry, this trailer has all the classic ingredients: Crashing plates, screaming relatives, a ticking clock. All that and more is on the menu when The Bear returns to FX on Hulu June 25.