Is Carmy Really Leaving the Restaurant?

Spoilers ahead for “The Bear” Season 4.

So, did Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and the rest of the crew get that Michelin star, or what? Well, the answer, like all things “The Bear,” is equal parts heartwarming, soul-stirring and frustratingly chaotic.

Before Season 4 dropped, Tina (Lisa Colón-Zayas) visited TODAY with Jenna and Friends and said that the season goes “much deeper” with the themes of “personal responsibility and reckoning,” guaranteeing more of the show’s heightened restaurant-kitchen anxiety that is now a trademark of the show.

“Doomsday could be coming,” she said in a spoiler-free preview, before adding, “I’m not saying it is, because I’m not saying that.”

On June 25, all 10 episodes of Season 4 dropped on Hulu/FX, and if you’re like me, you’ve binged every moment in rapid succession, much like sandwich orders coming through the gang’s long-abandoned ticket machine.

Now we know what Colón-Zayas meant: the future could be doomsday, or it could be exactly what all of our characters — especially Carmine “Carmy” Berzatto — need to survive and finally thrive.

We’ve reached the end of another season full of marinara and mayhem, and here’s where our main players stand after Episode 10, “Goodbye.”

Sydney now knows Carmy’s plans

The episode opens on Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) resting her head against a fence in obvious frustration behind the restaurant. The following half hour and change is what is called a bottle episode, in that it unfolds on one set. Just like the tension that follows, the entire episode stews in this alleyway amongst the dumpsters.

Carmy enters and notes that Syd has pretty much ignored him all night.

“You good?” Carmy asks. (No, she is not good.)

At the end of Episode 9, after we find out Marcus has won Best New Chef from Food and Wine, Sydney finally found out from Pete (Chris Witaske) the exact terms of the updated partnership agreement she has avoided signing this season. Carmy wants to sign away his ownership of the restaurant, turning over The Bear to Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt), Natalie “Sugar” (Abby Elliott) and Syd.

As one would expect, Syd feels blind-sided, particularly after choosing her love for The Bear over her partnership with Adam Shapiro in Episode 8. Now, she’s ready to hash things out with Carmy.

Yes, Carmy does actually want to leave The Bear

It seems almost unbelievable that, after all this effort and at such a crucial time for the health of this very family-oriented business, that the restaurant’s main driving Berzatto would want to leave, but there have been clues into Carmy’s intentions all season.

First is Carmy’s actual efforts to heal some wounds, especially with Claire (Molly Gordon), his on-and-off (and maybe on again) girlfriend he fell out with thanks to a locked walk-in — and truly cruel admission — at the end of Season 2. He’s also timidly starting talking to his mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) again.

Also, he’s seemed distant all season long; changes to the menu that would normally set this character on a roller coaster of screams and epithets were met with an eerie calm.

When he had no notes for Syd’s scallop dish, it felt like his work mentoring her was done — but neither her nor the audience picked up on it until now.

Sydney and Carmy fight over The Bear’s future

“Can I actually just not hear you talk for one f—ing second?” Syd says as she attempts to smoke a cigarette, something our white t-shirted hero points out she does not usually do. She takes a trembling drag anyway.

Carmy tries to explain his thinking behind leaving the restaurant. First, he plans on staying on until the restaurant is financially viable, something it is very much isn’t at this juncture.

Nearly 1,440 hours — or two months — have passed on the clock Uncle Jimmy set up to show when he would stop funneling money into the restaurant, leading its employees to subsist solely on profit, which we’ve repeatedly been shown does not exist.

The chaos — both in action and the recently-shelved chaos menu of old — has led to the debt, in Carmy’s opinion.

“I don’t have anything to draw on, I don’t have anything to pull from,” Carmy says. “I was trying to put hurdles in the way.”

Syd lists many of the issues Carmy has: tensions with family, shaky mental health, non-existent stress management, anger issues and more, and he fully agrees with her. Carmy also reveals that he knew Syd was considering leaving for Shapiro’s new venture, but says he understands that, too, because of all of his issues.

Carmy thinks Syd, with her natural leadership, love of cuisine and her empathy, is the true future of the restaurant and she finally begins to see where he’s coming from, at least a little bit.

“I believe in you more than I’ve ever believed in myself,” he says, and she asks why. “Because you’re The Bear.”

The conversation devolves into screaming once again when Carmy says that Syd doesn’t need him.

“I know I don’t need you but that’s not the point,” Syd says through tears at someone she considers her partner. “You’re supposed to be here.”

Richie joins the argument and gets a promotion

Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) hears all the shouting outside and enters the scene. He misunderstands when Syd says Carmy is leaving at first, just thinking he’s leaving early after closing.

“He’s leaving the f—ing restaurant,” Syd clarifies.

Richie is shocked at Carmy “retiring,” saying he’s “f—ing 12,” and accusing him of being on drugs. This whole season, Richie has been dealing with his feelings about belonging: his acceptance of another father figure in his young daughter’s life, mistakes he’s made at work and his efforts to grow.

They fight and Carmy blurts out that he went to his brother Mikey’s (Jon Bernthal) funeral — everyone thought he had skipped it, but the audience found out that he did when Uncle Lee (Bob Odenkirk) said he saw him earlier in the season.

Carmy and Richie have a heart to heart: Richie thought Carmy wasn’t at the funeral out of anger and resentment at him for not figuring Mikey out. Carmy says that he was actually jealous of Richie and Mikey’s relationship.

“You were like, inside my family,” Carmy says.

Richie also admits he resented Carmy for his abilities, even disclosing that he purchased a fine dining cookbook, “The French Laundry” written by Season 3 cameo’s Thomas Keller. Carmy is impressed, even though Richie calls the book “demented,” and after a beat, the main reason of this shocking departure is succinctly explained.

“I don’t know what I’m like, Richie,” Carmy says. “Like, outside of the kitchen.”

Richie becomes part owner of The Bear and Sugar gets read in

Sydney finally agrees to Carmy’s terms, but has one addition: that Richie also becomes part owner of The Bear.

“Updated partnership terms,” Sydney says. “One side Jimmy, and the other side me, Nat and Richie.”

Richie doesn’t believe it at first, thinking it was just a kind gesture, but Syd is serious, saying it’s what she needs and Carmy accepts the update to the updated terms.

“F— yes, Chef Sydney, it is a f—ing honor,” he says. “In my official capacity as partner, I do have one question though, how the f— do we keep this place open?”

Sugar then enters, and Richie tells her that Carmy went to Mikey’s funeral. Rather than yell like everyone else, she wordlessly hugs her brother, bursting into tears. Cut to the empty restaurant, where the clock ticks away to zero.

It’s been an emotional rollercoaster with these four, who all delivered performances in this episode we’ll likely see clipped come next Emmy awards season.

FX has renewed “The Bear” for a fifth season, so Syd, Carmy, Richie and Sugar will leave that alleyway soon enough toward an uncertain future. Just like our sweet, swearing and sweaty faves, though, we’re just going to have to live in tension until those episodes drop.