SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the final season of FX‘s The Bear.
The Bear has concluded its five season run, but by all accounts the eponymous Chicago eatery will stay alive after the series finale reveals that Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and the rest of the tenacious staff succeeded in earning not one, but two Michelin stars.
Season 5 takes place largely over the course of one day, as the team prepares for one final service that they believe will make or break their ability to stay open. That’s because Star Man, aka the guy who is rating the restaurant, will be there. If only there wasn’t a horrible storm hitting Chicago right as The Bear is already experiencing its own turmoil — no money, barely any ingredients, and now the building is quite literally falling apart.
As they always have, they eventually find a way through to the light at the end of the tunnel. They make it through the service, only to find out that Star Man had dined there months ago. The intense service was not all for nothing, though, because it ultimately strengthens the team and reminds them why they’re all there in the first place.
It’s a tumultuous season, as the staff also finds out that Carmy plans to leave the restaurant, which ushers in even more change for a group who has already endured so much.
“When we’re dealing with such traumatic changes — job loss, the grief of losing somebody you love — it could be so overwhelming that it can harden you,” Liza Colón-Zayas, whose newly minted chef de cuisine Tina saves the day when her inspired brussel sprouts get added to the menu last minute, tells Deadline.
In the interview below, Colón-Zayas opened up about closing the book on The Bear, Tina’s journey from unemployment to second-in-command at a Michelin-rated restaurant, and learning to move forward even when the future is uncertain.
DEADLINE: How are you feeling with Season 5 out in the world now?
LIZA COLÓN-ZAYAS: Oh man, I’m so proud of it. I think it’s a spectacular, moving, beautifully filmed season, and I don’t know… I think it’s my favorite. Excuse me. I think the fans will be satisfied. It’s a good send-off for the show.
DEADLINE: I was really excited to see Sydney tell Tina that she wanted her to become the chef de cuisine. What did you think about that?
COLÓN-ZAYAS: Yeah, Tina’s journey overall to get to that point was so hard, so I felt like it was so satisfying and earned.
DEADLINE: Her brussel sprouts become the star of the show.
COLÓN-ZAYAS: Yes, indeed. We see it over the years, her feeding people. From previous seasons, even in her past life, even waking up at the crack of dawn to feed her family something hot and fresh when she comes home from work. It seems like that was always just a part of her, and a way of relieving stress when she can’t sleep or insomnia. It speaks to her determination. We see how determined she is to make this work and to elevate in every way. It was a really satisfying, exciting moment, and I think it helps Tina understand how valued she is, how trusted she is. At this point, she’s gonna be okay no matter what happens.
DEADLINE: What did you think of the structure of the season overal, and having it focus on this one day and this final service?
COLÓN-ZAYAS: I heard last year that they were planning on shooting it all in one day. It was so smart, and it really doubles down on the thing that stresses people out but keeps them watching The Bear: the anxiety, the urgency. Every second counts. The clock is ticking. So I thought that was a brilliant way to really focus on once that clock hits zero.
DEADLINE: It’s almost like all of those people have just come too far and they’ve gone through too much to let that be the end of the road, and you can really feel that in that final service when they’re trying to make it happen.
COLÓN-ZAYAS: It’s as much, if not more so, about making this community happen, keeping this community together, this found family, as much as it is about getting a star, you know? Ultimately, yeah, that might save The Bear, the two stars, but I think more importantly, the fire is keeping these people fighting to stay together.
DEADLINE: It’s kind of funny, the reveal at the end that Star Man wasn’t actually even there, which honestly I think just shows they probably needed that to really come together and sort through their differences.
COLÓN-ZAYAS: Yeah, it also goes to show that even at their most chaotic, they find, knowing it or not, gold. They perform at their best without even realizing that that’s what’s happening.
DEADLINE: You and Ayo have just developed such a rich relationship between Sydney and Tina. What do you find compelling about their journey?
COLÓN-ZAYAS: [Tina] was just suspect of her in the beginning, and I think that’s legit. It’s valid as to why, but the way in which she rose above that and invested in me, in the story, is not lost on Tina. As rough-and-tumble, riff-raffy as she may be towards Sydney at the beginning, it’s her helping me with the mashed potatoes, investing in our culinary school, that balance of trust. Investing in Tina is rewarded back with loyalty and tenacity by Tina, and I think that that balance, and Tina’s wisdom and her backbone, proves to be a necessary balance. I think that people who are younger and aspiring towards something really difficult see this hope through Tina, through Sydney, with that relationship, and folks like myself, who are starting a new chapter, are renewed and get less cynical.
DEADLINE: I can see why she’d be skeptical at first. What do you think Tina’s life experience brings to that group that culinary school can’t teach?
COLÓN-ZAYAS: I think that Tina’s lived experiences are hard-tested experiences. You’ve got to be determined to overcome and see something through, and Tina, in her past life, she worked hard. She was the mama bear. So we see that she already. She has a fierce love of family. I think that is kind of an anchor as the seasons progress in that kitchen. She does everything to make do with what she has and be a confidant to the rest of the staff, to hold other people down when they’re spiraling.
DEADLINE: I really like what you said about Tina inspiring people who may be entering a different chapter later in life. What was it like for you to explore that through this character?
COLÓN-ZAYAS: I guess, as a struggling actor for so long, it’s just fresh in me. Even at this point, even having an Emmy, the struggle will always be right in front of me. It’ll always be so fresh. So I think that it was easy for me to tap into and have that empathy for Tina when she’s job searching, and then when she finally lands at The Bear and finds her fit with these guys. When we’re dealing with such traumatic changes — job loss, the grief of losing somebody you love — it could be so overwhelming that it can harden you. I think that that’s where we see Tina at in Season 1. She’s hardened, and these two young people from culinary school, Carmy and Sydney, threaten more loss in this family. So I think that, as we struggle, we can feel like, ‘Am I fooling myself? The universe is trying to tell me that this isn’t for me, and that maybe it’s time to get real.’ So I felt that as an actor, and I hope that what people see in Tina is what they see happening to me now in life.
DEADLINE: How has it been to also bring your husband, David, on as your husband on the show, and get to kind of share that with him?
COLÓN-ZAYAS: I love it. I love working with him. I always have. We’ve done a lot of theater together over the decades, and he has such a track record going back from Oz, and then Dexter. As an actor, as a human being, for me, he’s like my number one grounding force. So I just always love any opportunity to work with him. It’s the best.
DEADLINE: I loved seeing Tina at home, and learning just how supportive her husband was.
COLÓN-ZAYAS: I know, I was like, ‘does The Bear have some kind of surveillance going on?’ I love doing it, because it felt so like how it is for us.
DEADLINE: How satisfying was it for you to finally see that light at the end of the tunnel, that they succeeded and got their two Michelin stars?
COLÓN-ZAYAS: I feel so blessed. I feel so happy for how the show ended. It ended on its own terms. The story at this point ends with hope. After so much struggle together and individually, there’s hope. The satisfaction of being on a show that I know is so special, is iconic — I couldn’t ask for more and not too many actors get to have that.
DEADLINE: Do you feel like you’ve fully gotten closure about the series, or are you still kind of processing that it’s over?
COLÓN-ZAYAS: No, it’s coming in waves, but I know that I’m gonna see these guys around. So it postpones that grieving and that closure longer. I need that.
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