The End of ‘The Bear’ Is Surprisingly Perfect

This Week:

• I’ve seen the final season of The Bear.
• The Olivia Wilde/Seth Rogen movie is so funny.
• How dare they disrespect Madonna like this?
• A “comeback” unlike one I’ve ever seen…
• I identify with this photo.

TV’s Most Stressful Show Finds Peace

Talking about The Bear—or, in many cases, arguing about it—often overshadowed the series itself.

For a show that was such a breakout hit and which exuded intangible, but undeniable coolness when it debuted, the passionate (brace yourself for me using one of my least-favorite words) discourse surrounding it was a whiplash-inducing about-face as the series continued.

The Bear changes things up a bit and goes The Pitt-style for this last string of episodes, taking place over the course of one day as the restaurant preps and serves what could be its final dinner service, now that the countdown clock to turn the business around or be shut down has run out. With the deadline passed, the staff is essentially cooking on borrowed time, unsure when the plug might be pulled officially.

For all the major cacophonous set pieces and emotional pyrotechnics The Bear pulled in the past, there’s something refreshing about that simplicity: Back to basics. One last service. One last meal.

Of course, The Bear is still The Bear. Obviously, there’s a maelstrom of chaos complicating matters. At this point, the constant hysteria is familiar. Cozy even.

There’s an apocalyptic storm drowning Chicago, which backs up a drain, causing a pipe to burst and the basement to flood, destroying uniforms and dishware. There’s only one working sink, a tiny one in the locker room, complicating the dishwashing regimen. Because bills aren’t being paid, food deliveries are canceled and the kitchen barely has enough food for service.

Thunderclaps and the constant clatter of rain pounding add percussion to a Stranger Things-like score that characterizes the gauntlet on the way to doors opening as some sort of tense thriller.

So much of the criticism of past seasons centered on the relentlessness and repetitiveness of the show. How much more of life being unbearable and borderline impossible for these characters could audiences take, again and again and again? It was like going to a restaurant for every meal, but being forced to eat the same over-indulgent dish.

The literal finality of these episodes, however, seasons the show’s exhausting stress with sentimentality and profundity. The “we’re going to make this happen against all odds” gumption is still there, but there’s a heaviness to it that’s kind of sweet, as the characters steal glances with each other amid the bedlam, knowing this might be the last time they get to cook and serve together.

There are times when The Bear can feel like Rudy, but for cooking, with how often the chefs overcome Cinderella-story expectations to ultimately, and emotionally, succeed—tears streaking down everyone’s faces. I really dug that about this final season. It’s irresistible.

The worst thing that ever happened to The Bear is that people were forced to argue about whether it’s really a comedy, as it collected major awards in the category that many felt it didn’t belong in. It strangely made a lot of watchers bitter, moving them to actually despise the series because they couldn’t wrap their heads around how it was being sold to them.

That’s a shame, because it meant that the legitimate greatness of the show, over time, was debated rather than celebrated. I think this last season, then, will be a palate cleanser.

There’s not really anything to spoil about the episodes—the staff has to cook dinner—but I won’t get too into the weeds about what happens. There’s a lovely moment at the end that I don’t think I was quite expecting the series to lead up to, but I was really moved by. You see the restaurant staff gathered like a family. It’s like an exhale, for them as characters and for us watching the show.

After all of these seasons of bottled-up tension and pandemonium, it ends with the equivalent of a deep breath. I didn’t realize realize how ready I was to let it out.

One of the Best Comedies of the Year

I originally was going to make this section about how fantastic Penelope Cruz’s performance is in The Invite, but then I was like, but wait, Seth Rogen is so good in the movie, too. Then I remembered how much I loved Olivia Wilde in it, and realized, oh yeah, Ed Norton is pretty phenomenal during the film’s last act.

So, basically, the entire cast is bonkers-good in The Invite, which, six months after I first saw it at the Sundance Film Festival, remains one of my favorite movies of the year.

The film itself is as if Woody Allen made his own version of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, but, like, sexy. The entire thing takes place in Wilde and Rogen’s characters’ apartment, where she had invited a neighbor couple—Norton and Cruz—over for dinner, much to Rogen’s chagrin. It all kicks off awkwardly when the guests arrive while Wilde and Rogen are mid-argument, before it transforms into a powder keg as each couple’s issues with one another sequentially explode.

Do not let anyone spoil the film’s twist for you. It had my entire theater in stitches once the film pivots in that wild, unexpected direction. But definitely RSVP to a showing this weekend.

If Not Her, Then Who?

I love when Madonna gets candid and dishy, which is exactly what she did in a new, very long conversation for Interview magazine. There are fun details about her new music and her origin story in the ’80s, but there’s one part that made my scanning eyeballs do a record scratch and read over again to make sure I was understanding it correctly.

She opens up about the hotly anticipated biopic of herself that she wrote the script for and cast Julia Garner in, but which was canceled by Universal. The reason they told Madonna, the Queen of Pop, that the film wouldn’t be going forward: They didn’t want to cough up the sizable budget it required.

I’m sorry, if a studio isn’t going to put money towards a film above arguably the biggest living music superstar, then what hope does anyone in the industry have, truly? We’ve seen the box-office dollars roll in for biopics of Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and Freddie Mercury lately. A Madonna box-office bonanza would seem inevitable to me. It’s truly baffling.

Am I Reading This Correctly?

Around three years ago, Jonathan Majors was maybe the biggest rising star in Hollywood, with an Emmy nomination for his work in the buzzy HBO series Lovecraft Country, an epic performance in Creed III, and a cushy Marvel contract for a pivotal role in its next phase. Then, in March 2023, he was arrested for physically assaulting his then-girlfriend and found guilty of assault and harassment. Suddenly, that rising star came crashing down.

Now, he’s attempting a “comeback” with the new movie Run Hide Fight: Infidels from conservative media brand Daily Wire. Yes, as in the Ben Shapiro outlet. This is the movie that was shut down by the IATSE labor union for unsafe working conditions, during which Majors fell out of a window with a co-star. Now the logline is here, and, well, I just need to copy it word for word for you to take in on your own. It’s quite something:

“When radical Islamic terrorists hijack a liberal college’s pro-Palestine encampment to enforce barbaric Sharia law on students and execute infidels in a makeshift caliphate, a ragtag band of red-blooded students, a security guard tired of ‘Uncle Tom’ smears and a Delta Force vet must arm up to save their clueless peers and keep America from surrendering to the enemy on its own soil.”

What a Celebrity Lineup

I’m struck by how fabulous this photo is of Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie with Madonna, Charli XCX, Debi Mazar, and an unidentified yet still incredibly chic-looking woman at the Saint Laurent menswear show in Paris.

Or, as I like to think of the photo as, a representation of me as the token gay at all my friends’ bachelorette parties and baby showers.

Opens in new window

More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed

I spent a few debaucherous nights with Lisa Vanderpump in Las Vegas and lived to tell the tale. Read more.

I interviewed one of my favorite TV stars, Padma Lakshmi, about her life after Top Chef. Watch here.

Everything new I learn about Joan Cusack makes me love her even more. Read more.

What to Watch This Week:

The Bear: One last, stressful dinner service that’s worth the reservation. (Now on Hulu)

Jackass: Best and Last: One of the greatest cinematic franchises of our time. Seriously. (Now in theaters)

The Invite: An absolutely wild ride. So good. (Now in theaters)

What to Skip This Week:

Supergirl: While Supergirl is better than the last attempts at Superman movies, that’s a pretty low bar. (Now in theaters)