The Bear Season 2 Finale Was A Full-Circle Moment

Spoilers ahead for The Bear Season 2 finale. Throughout The Bear Season 2 (which dropped on June 22), viewers are keenly aware of the countdown to the opening of the titular restaurant, with “x weeks left” displayed at the start of every episode. But when the big day finally arrives, the drama has little to do with the performance of The Bear. In fact, minus the requisite kitchen hiccups, it’s a pretty successful night! But The Bear Season 2 ending explained that Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) still has a lot of work to do in balancing his personal and professional life, in addition to confronting past family demons.

So, what happened?

In the middle of The Bear’s bustling Friends and Family Night, Carmy got locked in the kitchen’s walk-in fridge. And, well, everyone could see that coming: Carmy intended to call the fridge repair person in Episode 9 but was distracted by an incoming call from Claire (Molly Gordon) — and ultimately was frozen (ironic!), unable to answer Claire or make the fridge call.

Carmy and Claire’s relationship also prompted some tension between him and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), like when he stood up his fellow restauranteur to help Claire with a favor — or offered Claire’s ideas on The Bear’s menu.

Of course, none of this is on Claire! But in Carmy’s eyes, getting locked in the fridge was the final blow: proof he couldn’t be a great chef and a boyfriend — or much of a person at all. “I am the best because I didn’t have any of this f*cking bullsh*t, right? I could focus, and I could concentrate, and I had a routine,” he tells Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), who’s lending a compassionate ear outside the fridge door.

“I don’t need to provide amusement or enjoyment,” Carmy continues. “I don’t need to receive any amusement or enjoyment. I’m completely fine with that.” This is a direct reference to something he says at group therapy earlier in the season — that he’d like to “provide more amusement or enjoyment for [himself],” so “it would be easier to provide for others.”

But now, he’s over that. “No amount of good is worth how terrible this feels,” he says. “It’s just a complete waste of f*cking time.”

Unbeknownst to Carmy, though, Tina had been pulled away for restaurant duties — and Claire herself, worried about Carmy, was listening outside the door. “I’m really sorry you feel that way, Carm,” she says, before walking away in tears.

After Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) sees her crying, he interrogates Carmy, and a fight ensues across the broken fridge door. At one point, he even calls Carmy “Donna,” referencing Carmy’s mom — suggesting that Carmy was echoing her self-destructive behavior.

After their fight, Carmy listens to the voicemail from Claire’s missed call: She says she loves him and she’s proud of him, and that his late brother Mikey would be too. Naturally, it guts him. While the rest of the team is winding down after a successful night, Carmy can last be seen sitting in the cold fridge as it’s being opened from the outside. If Hulu renews The Bear for a Season 3, it will likely see Carmy continue to work on his relationships (including the one with himself) and achieve the balance he’s been missing.

While the Season 2 finale is full of stressful moments for its characters, star Ayo Edebiri told Variety that the filming experience was quite the opposite. “It felt really cathartic filming it this season. It’s one of the most pleasant working experiences I’ve ever had,” she said. “Even though obviously it’s a show that lives in a space of stress, the actual process of filming doesn’t reflect that at all. It’s just kind and gentle.”