The Bear‘s Season 4 finale will have fans of the hit FX dramedy screaming “YES, chef!” and “NOOOOO, chef!”

On one hand, “Goodbye” is a remarkable, daring, masterfully executed installment that courageously breaks form and elicits breathtaking performances. On the other hand, once the credits conclude, The Bear — both the show and the restaurant — will be irrevocably altered.

The fourth season of Christopher Storer’s Emmy-winning series features Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney (Ayo Edibiri), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and the team racing against an actual countdown clock to save The Bear following The Chicago Tribune‘s critical review. After another significant round of culinary chaos, the finale — crafted by Storer as both writer and director — presents an unforeseen twist aimed to unsettle everything and everyone in Season 5. (We’re expecting a renewal announcement soon, or else an uproar is likely!)

Season 4’s second-to-last episode concluded with Pete (Chris Witaske) finally disclosing to Sydney about Carmy’s revised partnership agreement: One side includes Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt), while the opposite side lists only Natalie (Abby Elliott) and Syd. Carmy has entirely extracted himself from the arrangement! In the finale, we uncover the reason…

Hungry for The Bear Season 4’s finale recap? Decider’s The Bear Season 4 ending explained has you covered. Just be warned: The Bear Season 4 spoilers lie ahead.

The Bear Season 4 Ending Explained: The Bear Season 4, Episode 10 Recap

On the heels of a tense dinner service, The Bear‘s Season 4 finale takes its chefs outside to hash out months, years, and seasons-worth of pent-up emotions, conflicts, fears, and harsh truths. As a palpably stressed Sydney rests her head against a fence, the restaurant’s door swings open and Carmy appears. When Syd says she’s smoking a cigarette in hopes that he’ll head back inside, Carm clocks her lie, turns around to join her and asks why she didn’t talk to him all service. Syd attempts to brush him off, but rather than ignore their issues like he would have in the past, the head chef bluntly declares: “I don’t like the way this feels.” (Good boy, Carmy! Use your words!)

Once Carmy opens the can of worms, Syd tells him about Pete’s call and admits she’s devastated to learn that he’s quitting and leaving her “with all the shit.” Carm knows that he owes his partner an explanation — after all, he tried to tell her as early as Episode 5! Caught off-guard, however, the best he can muster is: “This is the best thing for the restaurant. We have to put the restaurant first.” The vagueness upsets Syd more, and when Carmy promises to get The Bear out of debt before he goes, she actually grabs a cigarette to take the edge off the painful exchange. Carm, who famously quit smoking, also caves to take a puff. (Thanks to the running Syd smoking joke, I didn’t cry the entire episode.)

As the two poor communicators silently process their pain, viewers may assume the verbal sparring portion of the night is over. Far from it. In one of The Bear‘s most ambitious swings yet, the 33-minute finale is entirely dialogue-driven. The chefs stay outside and take turns talking, screaming, crying, apologizing, and silently stalling until they’re emotionally cooked. It’s a heart-wrenching, cathartic, momentous feat that needs to be seen to be fully appreciated. But if you can’t wait to watch, or simply want to relive the experience, we’ve got you.

Carmy finally explains: “This is all I’ve ever done. This is all I’ve ever known. I think I did this — become a cook — so I didn’t have to do other things.” Syd reminds him that he loves cooking, and is shocked when he replies: “I used to.” Back Episode 402, Natalie told Carmy, “You found something that you love and it’s completely 100% OK if you don’t love it anymore, because the most special part about it is that you were capable of that love.” After an emotionally taxing season — and with permission to abandon the culinary intensity that ran his life for years — it seems Carmy’s ready retire from the tortured chef life and see what he’s been missing on the outside.

Carmy takes accountability for his bad behavior and apologizes for “being a general menace,” but he also tells Syd that he knew she was considering leaving The Bear behind to work with Adam Shapiro. Now, it’s Syd’s turn to apologize for not telling Carm about the offer sooner — though she never explicitly confirms she shut Shapiro down and chose to stay with him, which could have taken the convo in a whole other direction.

As Carm tries to explain why he has to remove himself from the restaurant, he pours his heart out to his sous chef in hopes of reminding her of her worth: “Syd, you’re everything I’m never gonna be. You’re considerate. You allow yourself to feel things. You allow yourself to care. You’re a natural leader, and teacher, and you’re doing all this stuff for every fucking reason. I get it, this is a great opportunity, and it’s for a lot of fucking money and you can hire whoever the fuck you want, but this place right now, it’s starting to gel, it’s starting to feel alive, and you have seven people in this building who will jump in front of a fucking train for you. I’m gonna do everything I can to set you up for success, but any chance for any kind of good in this building, it started when you walked in. And any possibility of it surviving, it’s with you.”

Carmy admits he believes in Sydney more than he ever believed in himself. When she tearfully asks why, he simply replies: “Because you’re The Bear.” AHHHH!!!!

Bestowing his nickname on Syd with a line that hearkens back to the affecting Season 3 speech from Claire that rocked his world? BRB, SOBBING! As Sydney desperately tries to change his mind, reminding him that he loves to self-sabotage and run when things are good, Richie walks outside to investigate the screaming and The Bear kicks things up another notch. BAM!

Richie’s response to the news? “Right. You’re retiring. You’re 12. You on fucking drugs right now?” Classic. When Carmy assures his cousin he’s “fucking done,” Richie laughs in his face and blames the move on “classic escapism.” Since Carmy’s been putting in some serious work this season, rather than respond with to Richie’s jabs with insults, Carm apologizes and lets him in on a long-kept secret: “I went to Michael’s funeral.”

Convinced that Carmy is lying, a distraught Richie grabs him and forcefully presses their foreheads together, threatening to fight. After Syd begs them to stop, Carm explains that he went into Mikey’s service for a second, but hid out in his car, ashamed and unable to handle his grief. “When I came back, I didn’t know what to do. I was so fucking angry, and so fucking stuck, and I was so fucking scared, and I didn’t know how to deal with it,” Carm rants. “I never thought of it before, just how sorry I am, because I didn’t realize how you lost somebody, too.” Tissues where?! HANDS? I NEED HANDS!

Recognizing Carmy’s earnest emotions, Richie matches his vulnerability, admitting that he felt Carmy resented him because he “failed” to keep an eye on Michael. Oof. Carmy quickly puts Richie mind at ease, stressing how much the Berzattos love him and that any resentment was only because Richie got to spend extra time with Mikey. After the trio shares a smoke, Richie admits how much he missed his cousin when he was in New York. (He even bought a French Laundry cook book to feel closer to him! Help!)

“The restaurant — it’s gonna be good. It’s gonna be fine,” Carmy tells his pals. Richie know, because he still has Syd, but she reveals her employment depends on updated partnership terms: On one side, Jimmy. On the other side, her, Natalie, and Richie. When Carmy asks if that’s what she wants, she corrects him to say, “That’s what I need.” What she wants is for Carmy to stay; to keep the promise he made when he said he would never leave her alone again, and to achieve what they set out to do as partners. Once he realizes the offer is real, Richie accepts but asks a crucial question: “Exactly how the fuck do we keep this place open?” Before anyone can suggest a plan, Natalie walks outside, swiftly learns that her brother is leaving and went to Mikey’s funeral, and tearfully embraces him with a mix of sorrow, support, love, and pride. The two need no words. Everyone is talked out.

Before The Bear goes back into hibernation, Season 4 shows quiet glimpses of Chicago at night and The Bear’s dark kitchen at 1:11 a.m. An incessant beeping in the background comes from the menacing countdown clock, and after the final 12 seconds tick away, a timer blares before St. Vincent’s “Fast Slow Disco” (Syd’s scallop song! and the S4 trailer jam!) plays viewers out as they battle perhaps the strongest bout Bear-induced agita yet.

While a half hour spent having heavy conversations was a step in the right direction, these chefs still have a ton to talk through. But even if Carmy really leaves the biz behind, he promised to help The Bear get back on its feet first, and surely that will take time. Among the many loose ends still in need of tying ahead of Season 5, Ebra still has yet to pitch Carm his grand mini franchise plan, and “star man” Mr. Clark can still come through with game-changing news. So who’s to say Carmy can’t be convinced to stay, to work his shit out in a healthy way, find a better work-life balance, and recapture the initial spark and sentiment he had when he first set out to create a restaurant with Mikey — and again with Syd?

Whether the chef backtracks his decision or not, the restaurant’s dynamic is undoubtedly about to change. So if the show and restaurant any chance of surviving without Carmy, The Bear needs to rewrite its recipe for success.

THE BEAR – SEASON 4: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Can’t get enough of The Bear Season 4? For more insight, analysis, GIFs, and close-ups of Carmy’s arms, check out some highlights of Decider’s coverage:

The Bear Season 4 is now streaming on Hulu.