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It took two days to binge the ten new episodes of The Bear season 3, which featured some stellar episodes including its premiere and the Ayo Edebiri-directed Napkins. But when you reach the end, the show ends on a cliffhanger that is very frustrating, and reminds me of a totally unrelated show, The Walking Dead.

The most famous Walking Dead cliffhanger in history was waiting an entire year to see who Negan smashed with his bat, cutting the episode before we know. Here in The Bear, we finally see the arrival of the Tribune’s review of the restaurant, but we have no idea what it actually is, despite words flashing on the screen.

Some people seem to think that this is a mixed review, given the words that show up, but I think it’s very clear we’re not supposed to actually know, which includes what Carmy’s “mother***er” may mean at the end.

Throughout the last few episodes we see Carmy imagining both positive and negative potential review of the restaurant, indicating his own stress about the review. There is no reason to believe that is not exactly what’s happening here. You just have to look at the words:

“Confusing, sloppy, innovative, inconsistent, simple, complex, excellent, culinary, and stale,” are ones we can see.

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The Bear

FX

There are multiple pairs in there that simply don’t make sense when put together in a single, real review. Simple and complex are the most obvious. Innovative and stale are two more. I guess you could put together sloppy and excellent too. These are diametrically opposed concepts and it very much indicates that the same “positive/negative” review imagining thing is happening here.

I hated how this was handled. Ever since around episode 6 we are waiting for this review to come in, and to have it end on a cliffhanger is not just annoying and breaks with the tradition of the show, but it’s pointless. Previously, season 1 ended with the discovery of Mikey’s money to start a new restaurant, a happy ending if there ever was one. Season 2 had mixed results, a successful restaurant launch, but a big fight with Ritchie and Carmy losing Claire. But the point isn’t a happy resolution, the point is that it’s definitive.

There is no reason that confirming that it was a positive or negative review could not have been its own type of cliffhanger. Overcoming an initial negative review seems close to impossible, but given that this is The Bear and is addicted to stressful situations, I could see that happening. However, there has essentially never been any poor feedback to any dish in the restaurant, only really Ritchie’s sloppy serving front of house (which is often Carmy’s fault) and long wait times, I don’t really know why a restaurant review would be negative in terms of the food, however. But we’ll see. In a year, which sucks. I do not think this was the right decision.