Throughout The Bear’s first four seasons, the TV show’s millions of fans saw its characters go through a lot. As a result, there have been times when it has felt like there was no way for the show to surprise its dedicated viewers anymore. However, when Season 4 of The Bear ended, the show ended on a note that took many people by surprise. Jeremy Allen White’s character, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, announced his intention to leave his culinary career behind.

Not only was it surprising that Carmy intended to leave his career behind, the way his friends and family reacted was even more shocking. After all, there is an obvious reason why the people who care about Carmy shouldn’t just accept him giving up his career, at least not so quickly.

The Bear’s Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto’s Friends Shouldn’t Just Accept Him Giving Up His Culinary Career

Anyone who has watched the first four seasons of The Bear can likely come up with many reasons why Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto giving up his career is a good thing. After all, fans have seen Carmy’s career weigh on him in a lot of different ways.

Almost always very hard on himself, and often others, the pressure Carmy feels because of his culinary career can’t be healthy. While working in the same location where his brother’s restaurant was, Carmy is regularly reminded of his loss. Carmy has accomplished so much in his culinary career that there may not be anything more that is meaningful for him to do.

With all those reasons and more in mind, it would make some sense for people to support Carmy quitting his culinary career at first glance. Despite that, it seems very clear that Carmy’s loved ones shouldn’t accept him abandoning his culinary career, at least not immediately.

During the finale of The Bear Season 4, fans saw Richard “Richie” Jerimovich, Sydney “Syd” Adamu, and Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto learn that Carmy plans to leave the restaurant. While Syd and Richie both initially argued with Carmy, the season ended on a different note.

By the end of the lengthy scene that involved all three characters learning of his plans, Syd, Sugar, and Richie seemed to at least partially accept Carmy’s plan. However, while thinking about the situation more, it seems like accepting Carmy’s decision so fast would be a mistake.

To be clear, fans have only seen Syd, Richie, and Sugar’s immediate reactions to Carmy’s decision. As a result, it would be premature to argue that the characters will just accept Carmy’s decision in the long run.

With that in mind, this article will argue that Carmy’s loved ones shouldn’t just accept his decision to leave the culinary world behind.

Throughout the first four seasons of The Bear, it becomes very clear that members of the Berzatto family seem to struggle emotionally.

Carmy’s mom, Donna Berzatto, appears to suffer severe mood swings, exhibit self-destructive behaviors, and she often struggles to cope around her family. While Carmy’s brother, Michael “Mikey” Berzatto, was undeniably charismatic and loved, he also behaved in self-destructive ways and he struggled in relative silence.

Just like his brother and mother, Carmy often behaves in extremely self-destructive ways. Carmy also appears to suffer from social anxiety, panic attacks, and obsessiveness. It should also be noted that Carmy is extremely critical of himself, and he rarely appears to experience happiness.

While looking at the pattern of Carmy’s behavior over the first four seasons of The Bear, his actions appear to point to a certain conclusion.

Highlights of the Awards Jeremy Allen White Has Won For His The Bear Performance, According to IMDb

• Critic’s Choice Awards 2023 Best Actor in a Comedy Series
• Critic’s Choice Awards 2024 Best Actor in a Comedy Series
• Primetime Emmy Awards 2023 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
• Primetime Emmy Awards 2024 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
• Golden Globes Awards 2023 Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
• Golden Globes Awards 2024 Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
• Golden Globes Awards 2025 Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
• Screen Actors Guild Awards 2023 Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
• Screen Actors Guild Awards 2024 Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Many of the things that Carmy appears to be suffering from can be hallmarks of depression. The way that fans have seen Carmy behave could also be symptoms of the character suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to a PsychCentral article, some people who suffer from depression make rash decisions. Similarly, suffering from PTSD can also cause people to make rash decisions.

Based on Carmy’s past behavior and his family’s history, him making a huge decision like giving up his culinary career shouldn’t just be accepted by the people who love him. Of course, Carmy is an adult who can make his own decisions and giving up cooking could become the best thing for him. However, Carmy’s huge career move could be something he quickly grows to deeply regret.

With all things in mind, it seems like the people who love Carmy the most should encourage him to make a different career move.

Why The Bear’s Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto Should Probably Take A Sabbatical From Cooking Instead Of Quitting

At the end of The Bear Season 4, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto wasn’t talking about immediately giving up his culinary career. Instead, Carmy pledged to help fix the restaurant and turn it into a thriving business before leaving it and his culinary career behind. Still, while he continues to plan to stop working in kitchens, it would make sense for Carmy’s loved ones to encourage him to take a sabbatical instead of outright retiring.

If Carmy moves forward with retiring from cooking and decides he has made a mistake, he could start up a new restaurant.

However, Carmy would have already given up any ownership stake in the restaurant that fans have watched him work so hard to build. On top of that, if Carmy came out of retirement, that could easily lead to resentment between him and his loved ones.

Carmy taking a sabbatical instead of retiring could be the best of all worlds for him and the people who love him. After all, Pete Katinsky could rework the contracts again to state that Carmy retains his partial ownership of the restaurant if he returns and loses that if his sabbatical becomes permanent.

Throughout The Bear Season 4, Carmy speaks about wanting to break self-destructive patterns in his life. Given how stressful his culinary career has clearly been, it would make sense that Carmy would think the best way to do that would be to leave professional kitchens behind. However, just because a decision seems obvious doesn’t think that it is the right thing to do. After all, a sabbatical could help Carmy figure out how to maintain his culinary career while having a better work/life balance.

Alternatively, if Carmy is right and leaving the kitchen helps him become happier, at that point his sabbatical could become permanent. The only thing that Carmy gains from totally giving up his role at the restaurant instead of taking a sabbatical is that he won’t have the pressure of a possible return hanging over his head. As appealing as that may seem at first, Carmy will still have to figure out what to do next if he walks away from the restaurant.