“Forks” was the episode in which Richie’s potential was realized, but his scenes since that powerhouse half-hour have been a mixture of bottled-up anxiety and quick retorts to those who have more important things to do, both in the restaurant and outside of it. Richie’s story asked us a lot of questions, but it rarely provided the answers we were looking for throughout season 3.
Much like the series did for a lot of its ambiguous plot lines in season 4, The Bear gave Richie the requisite time to work through his past and look to the present with greater focus. Richie’s ex-wife’s wedding is a main focus throughout the first seven episodes, culminating in a therapeutic marital super-event with nearly every character that has ever been involved in the Berzatto family’s inner circle.
Richie still loves Tiff (Gillian Jacobs), but sometimes that isn’t enough to make a relationship work. Seeing Richie support his former partner and encourage her to find happiness in a new marriage was a mature and thoroughly satisfying development for Richie. The scene in which he tries to help Tiff’s groom, Frank (Josh Hartnett), find common ground with his own daughter elevates the character into a grown adult. Richie often behaves like a kid, whether it be yelling when he doesn’t agree with someone or undermining Carmy for a petty or resentful reason. He doesn’t want to see another man steal his child, but he can let go because he’s much more secure in himself than he was back in season 1 or even season 2.
Richie’s progression into one of the main cogs in the restaurant has coincided with his ability to look inward and take pride in his own growth. He has confidence in himself now, and he’s a perfect encapsulation of how a man can use self-esteem to treat himself and others with the respect they deserve. But despite how far Richie has come, his relationship with Carmy was still holding him back heading into the season 4 finale.
“Goodbye” is a good episode for the first half of its runtime, but the second Richie comes out to the back of the restaurant to find out that Carmy is leaving the Bear, is when the finale explodes into something truly memorable. So much has gone unsaid between these two in their love-hate interactions for the past couple of seasons. They usually decide to just stay silent for the sake of not screaming their heads off, but an admission from Carmy that he attended Mikey’s funeral is enough to both hurt and then heal something deep within Richie’s soul.
Richie feels everything and wears so many emotions on his face (this is true of many of the characters, but the most so with him). Moss-Bachrach lets us inside Richie’s rainbow of emotions by swearing his allegiance to Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) at the end of the scene. He forgives Carmy for his past sins, but also is able to slay that dragon in his mind because he’s been freed from Carmy’s shadow. Richie is a follower, but now he can lead in his own way without Carmy commanding him or lording over the business.
