"Groundhogs" is the first episode of the fourth season of the American comedy-drama television series The Bear. It is the 29th overall episode of the series and was written and directed by series creator Christopher Storer. It was released on Hulu on June 25, 2025, along with the rest of the season.
In this episode, the staff returns to work after the Chicago Tribune posts its review, dealing with the aftermath and how to proceed with the restaurant. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its tone, focused storylines, and performances.
Plot
In a flashback, Mikey helps Carmy with a meal in the kitchen. As Mikey mentions problems with his rental car business, Carmy suggests the idea of opening a restaurant. Despite some of Mikey's skepticism, Carmy claims that restaurants always bring good memories to everyone and they can make people happier. When Mikey asks what should it be called, Carmy suggests "Mikey's". Mikey says he has a better name.
In present day, Carmy leaves for work. The Chicago Tribune review is seen on a newspaper with the headline: "BEAR Necessities Missing: The BEAR stumbles with culinary dissonance". At The Bear, he talks with Sydney over the review; the critic praised the food and the sandwich window, but criticized the menu's inconsistency and restaurant's chaotic atmosphere. While Carmy and Sydney try to move past it, both Richie and Tina aim to improve their skills after reading the review. Cicero visits the restaurant, and informs the staff that they will have two months to finally start turning a profit, as The Computer has concluded that payments and attendance could point to a dead business. If they fail to achieve it, the restaurant will be forced to close.
As Richie begins to apologize for failing in identifying the critic, he gets into another argument with Carmy over taking the blame. Cicero and Computer agree that getting one Michelin star could save the business, but they also warn them to stop hiring people and wasting money. Richie then reveals that he actually already hired "non-negotiables": Jess, Garrett, and Rene from Ever. They help introduce a new system of communication with the staff, which will help them lose less time at work. During their first night together as a staff, they manage to work together while avoiding problems. During this, Carmy stares at the countdown, exasperated.
Context
There are no explicit timeline markers, but the Carmy–Mikey flashback probably falls before "Fishes," because Carmy has been to Napa (where he staged at the French Laundry), but the brothers are just cooking up the name Bear for their restaurant. After the French Laundry, Carmy worked at Ever for a time before Chef Terry sent him to Noma for further training. Carmy has already been to Copenhagen when he comes back for Christmas in "Fishes" and brings with him a sketch elevation of the Bear restaurant as a Christmas present for Mikey. During this "Groundhogs" flashback, as Mikey snacks on pistachios (a food that will later be incorporated into the savory cannoli Marcus created in his honor), Carmy talks about his dream restaurant but "it is clear that it is the exact opposite of The Bear. Carmy describes someplace warm and inviting that plays quality music and feels like home. The Bear, as we know it to be, is cold, harsh, uncoordinated and chaotic. This puts into perspective the fundamental question of the episode: Can The Bear change for the better?"[1]
The Ringer described the Chicago Tribune review of the Bear restaurant as "not so much bad as it is disappointed, which always feels worse."[2] Decider summarized the review as saying "that the place is trying too hard."[3] The most important criticism seems to be the feeling of "culinary dissonance," which Computer translates as the restaurant's vibe being "harmonically fucked."[4][5]
The title of the episode is a reference to the film Groundhog Day, directed by Harold Ramis and starring Bill Murray (both Chicagoans).[4]Groundhog Day is playing on TV when Carmy wakes up on his couch the morning after the Ever funeral and the mixed review. A poster of the movie was on the wall in the dining room of the Original Beef, and Mikey and Richie repeatedly retold a Bill Murray anecdote in seasons one and two. The song "I Got You Babe" is an important motif in the film and resurfaces later in season four, specifically in "Green," over an interstitial montage of sophisticated dishes (presumably from the Bear) and bills getting paid, while Bear profit line go up.[6] Carmy also says "I got you" at various points during the season, addressing Tina, Sophie, Donna, and Sydney. Cracked.com writer Tara Ariano commented on the use of the film: "It's an allegory of, as [FX chief John] Landgraf put it to Vanity Fair, the 'stuckness' we may all feel from time to time. If the movie is being used as an intertext here to make it very clear season three's wheel-spinning was intentional...good one? But maybe now Storer can spin his wheels like he's trying to drive himself and a screaming groundhog off a cliff and step on it."[7]
Production
Development
In May 2025, Hulu confirmed that the first episode of the season would be written and directed by series creator Christopher Storer.[8] It was Storer's 15th writing credit and 20th directing credit.[9]
Costuming
Sydney wears two scarves manufactured by Kapital: "rain smile" and, when talking to Carmy about the Tribune review, "mirrored Fuji."[10][11] (She wore the same "mirrored Fuji" scarf in the season/one episode "Review," the day after the Original Beef of Chicagoland was reviewed by the Chicago Tribune.) Later in the episode she wore scarves produced by the brand Eloi: the hot dogs bandanna is called "Weiners," and the Matisse-cut-paper-collage-looking one is called "Soul Alphabet."[12][13] When the crew are calling out "Doors!" in the last segment of the episode, Syd wears a Mur by Ayca scarf in a design called Life of Shapes.[14]
Filming
The New York Times commended the visual storytelling of Carmy sending an SMS message while riding to work on the train, during "which we can see that he has been texting Mikey (and getting 'not delivered' notices) since his brother died."[4]
The episode ends with a time-centric montage: "...the culminating seconds of the first episode emphasize precisely that [time is of the essence] with a rapid-fire sequence of clocks and timers. There's a dirty timer thick with pasta sauce, a Chicago city clock, wall clocks, stop watches, and the timers that haunt Tina as she tries to get her pasta course plated in three minutes...Time has always been an integral part of The Bear's nerve-wracking appeal—not having enough of it, wishing you could go back in it, spending more of it with people who are no longer around."[15]
During the flashback conversation between Mikey and Carmy, Mikey is shelling and eating pistachios, and Carmy is working on a sauce, which Mikey says has too much garlic and is sticking.[3] Carmy mentions Omega Restaurant & Bakery in Niles, Illinois and Homer's Ice Cream in Wilmette, Illinois, but neither suburban location was filmed.[18]
Critical reviews
"Groundhogs" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Jenna Scherer of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B" grade and wrote, "After last year's strangely listless 10-episode run, the season four premiere is a welcome return to form for a series that built its reputation on rapid-fire dialogue, big feelings, and harried chefs sweating into their béchamel."[19]
Marah Eakin of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star out of 5 rating and wrote, "I have a hard time believing that The Bear would ever really fuck over our onscreen pals given that their scrappy perseverance is the whole heart of the show, but the stakes this season are pretty evident in that big clock. The season is just getting started, but it looks like the end may already be in sight."[20] Eakin would rank the episode as the 15th best episode of the first four seasons.[21] A.J. Daulerio of Decider wrote, "This sort of meta 'screw all the haters' way of saying 'sorry, not sorry' reminds me of how Lena Dunham used to make it known that she read all the reviews about Girls by writing storylines that would often be direct responses to the show’s critics."[22]
Bryce Olin of Show Snob wrote, "Overall, I don't know how much I loved the season 4 premiere. It was a solid episode. There were a lot of things that needed to happen to shift this story and move Carmen's quest to be great back in the right direction after the major steps back in season 3. There's still a lot of drama to be had, though."[23]
Substream magazine argued, "Christopher Storer creates an easy re-entry point with 'Groundhogs', in which he still places Carmy as the centerpiece. He has to adjust—whether he chooses to do it or others do it for him. This time, it may be a hair too late for Carmy to do so."[24]
Retrospective reviews
In 2025, Vulture ranked "Groundhogs" as 15th-best out of 38 episodes of The Bear, describing the episode as perhaps too dependent on a repetitive surprise-interruptions trope (which reappears in the season-four finale) and that is "probably something the show can ease up on in future seasons."[25]
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