“The Bear” returned for its fourth season this week, including plenty of high-stakes restaurant drama along with another series trademark: high-wattage cameos.
The 10 episodes are packed with surprise guests from both the food world and Hollywood. There is a master sommelier who appears to offer advice about wine pairings. There is an Oscar winner who stirs up chaos at a wedding.
These celebrities drop in amid the continuing story of the tormented wunderkind chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and his fine dining restaurant in his hometown Chicago. The new season opens with Carmy and his crew — including his professional partner, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), and family friend-turned-colleague Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) — reeling from a mediocre review. There is a new ticking clock indicating how long before the Bear’s money runs out. There is also a big wedding and emotional reconciliations.
Here’s who pops up throughout the journey.
Alpana Singh
In the second episode, the Bear’s sommelier, Gary (Corey Hendrix), heads to the Chicago restaurant Alpana to meet with the proprietor, Alpana Singh. If you want to learn about wine, she is a good person to consult: Singh is the youngest woman ever to pass the master sommelier exam. Gary is having trouble figuring out pairings because Carmy constantly changes the menu. Singh tells him Pinot Noir is a “sommelier’s best friend.” She also offers the handy tip that you can drink red wine with fish, explaining that it’s not the redness that gets in the way, it’s the tannins. If you can see through a red wine, it should go well with fish. (Something to keep in mind for your next dinner party.)
Rob Reiner
The only stable part of the Bear’s business is the sandwich window. (Maybe Carmy should have just focused on serving great Italian beef instead of opening up a wildly ambitious fine dining restaurant!) Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson), who runs the sandwich operation, has big ideas for expansion and a new mentor to help him: Albert, played by Rob Reiner, the director of classics like “When Harry Met Sally …” and “A Few Good Men.” (Reiner is also a TV veteran, as the former Meathead from “All in the Family.”) Albert, who appears throughout the season, is a tough talker who wants to franchise out the beef operation — hopefully he’s as good of a businessman as he makes himself out to be.
Donnie Madia
This isn’t the first time Donnie Madia, Chicago restaurant royalty, has shown up on “The Bear.” Madia, behind One Off Hospitality, which has lauded restaurants like Avec and the Publican, appeared in the second season. He’s back briefly in the fourth when the staff is trying to figure out how to identify a Michelin star inspector. “It’s almost better that you don’t know who they are,” he advises. “Because you need to treat every guest that walks through your door like they’re the chosen one. If you focus on this one guest, that guest is going to know they are getting better treatment.”
Danielle Deadwyler
The fourth episode brings another acclaimed actor to the fray, with a guest turn from Danielle Deadwyler as Sydney’s hair braider and cousin, Chantel. Deadwyler is known for intense performances in films like “The Piano Lesson” and “Till,” but she’s hilarious here as a chatty, overwhelmed mother who code switches when she hops on the phone to speak to a potential client. But Arion King as TJ, Chantel’s daughter who advises Sydney on her big decision, might steal the show.
Kate Berlant
While the serious thespian Deadwyler gets a chance to be funny in “The Bear,” the comedian Kate Berlant’s cameo swings the other way. Berlant, whose 2022 one-woman show earned raves, appears as a woman at Carmy’s support group for the loved ones of addicts. She opens Episode 5 with a touching monologue about her brother. Berlant understands the absurdism of the story she’s telling, which involves finding a bunch of open ketchup packets on her bed, but also sells the tragedy of it.
Brie Larson
The center of the “Bear” universe is the Berzatto family, but we’ve also met lots of Faks. Neil (Matty Matheson) and Teddy (Ricky Staffieri) work at the restaurant, and last season introduced their brother Sammy, played, almost inexplicably, by John Cena. Now we meet their sister, Francie, who in another fun bit of stunt casting is played by Brie Larson, a best actress Oscar winner for “Room.” Francie appears in the seventh episode, but her entrance is foreshadowed earlier by Natalie Berzatto (Abby Elliott), who hates her over a past perceived betrayal. Francie and Natalie square off at the wedding of Richie’s ex-wife, Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs), but eventually make up. The details of their feud remain iffy at best, though they seem to have hooked up at one point.
The extended Bear family
Tiff’s wedding is an occasion for the whole family, introduced during the dismal holiday dinner in the Season 2 episode “Fishes,” to gather again. They include Sarah Paulson as Carmy’s cousin Michelle; John Mulaney as her husband, Stevie; and Bob Odenkirk as Uncle Lee. He is not actually any Berzatto’s uncle, which makes sense because nobody in the wedding is a Berzatto either: Tiff isn’t, and neither is her ex-husband, Richie, nor her new husband, Frank, played by Josh Hartnett. But as “The Bear” constantly reminds us, family is what you make it.
Marcus’s mystery father
One of the overarching threads of the season is the father of Marcus (Lionel Boyce) reaching out and Marcus being resistant. In the eighth episode, Marcus approaches the well-known Chicago diner Lou Mitchell’s and sees the back of a man, sitting alone. Instead of walking in, Marcus turns around. The actor was an extra — we never see the face of the person Marcus was going to meet. But if “The Bear” returns for a fifth season, that role will probably be filled by somebody famous.
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