Do we like them?

Do we like Carmy Berzatto?

A character from The Bear (2022–2026)

Our score: 6 out of 10. A brilliant, loyal, deeply hurting chef who often wrecks the people he loves in pursuit of perfection. We'd back him, but from a safe distance and with a good therapist.

Carmy is a young star of the fine-dining world who gave up a top New York kitchen after his brother Mikey's death. He heads back to Chicago to take over The Beef, the family sandwich shop, which is buried in debt. He arrives with elite technique and a heavy load of grief, and he has to blend a chaotic crew, his prickly family and his own anxiety into something that works.

His best qualities are obvious. He is gifted, hard-working and generous with what he knows, and he really does want to build something that honours his brother and lifts the people around him. He takes Sydney seriously as a talented chef, and he stands by his messy found family. Critics have noted that his later seasons show him slowly learning to talk, to trust others with the menu, and to face what he has been running from.

The trouble is that he keeps repeating the same patterns. He chases perfection at any cost, shuts out the people who care about him, and blows up under pressure. Some critics see real growth in his arc, and others find it frustrating that he keeps coming back to avoidance. That mix is why he lands in the middle of the scale: easy to root for, hard to live with.

By the end of season 4 he decides he doesn't love cooking any more, quits the food industry and hands the restaurant to Sydney, Richie and Natalie. Season 5 plays out the day after, and he returns to help them through a brutal service. In the end The Bear survives and earns two Michelin stars, and Carmy walks away to try architecture and make peace with his past. It's a surprisingly generous way out, though some viewers still read it as him dodging his problems.