After Rob Reiner tragically died at the age of 78 earlier this month, I, like many people familiar with the man, started thinking back on his work as an actor, writer and director. However, rather than my mind going to one of his career classics, like All in the Family, This is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride or When Harry Met Sally…, I instead keep going back to his guest appearances on The Bear earlier this year. In fact, upon rewatching his scenes in the Hulu subscription-exclusive series, I realized that Reiner’s character is more important to Season 4 than I originally thought.
Rob Reiner appeared in three The Bear episodes as Albert Schnur, a business consultant who’s provided his expertise to “everything from Fortune 500 companies to strip-mall laundromats.” Edwin Lee Gibson’s Ebra seeks him out to be a mentor in his efforts to “create opportunity” for The Bear restaurant’s sandwich window. Impressed with the numbers Ebra provided, Albert pinpoints that the best way forward is “expansion through replication,” i.e., opening two more beef sandwich-specific locations in Chicago’s north and south suburbs, respectively, along with a commissary kitchen somewhere in the middle. He also pitches himself as a consigliere to arrange this expansion, comparing himself to Robert Duvall’s Tom Hagen in The Godfather.
At first, it’s unclear if Albert Schnur sincerely wants to help Ebra or if he’s trying to swindle him, but upon meeting the other workers from the Beef window and chatting with Computer outside of the restaurant, it seems pretty evident it’s the former. It’s a shame we won’t see more of this character, especially since his advice may be what dictate’s The Bear's future. Throughout the show’s fourth season, there’s a clock counting down the 60 days Carmy and the others have to save the restaurant. That clock zeroes out in the final seconds of the Season 4 finale.
Since The Bear is returning for Season 5, it’s safe to assume that the restaurant won’t automatically close. Still, with the exception of Marcus being named in Food & Wine’s class of Best New Chefs, not much has really changed. So unless this next season chronicles the restaurant slowly being shuttered as we follow along with Carmy retiring to figure out who he is outside of being a chef, where do we go from here?
Albert Schnur’s idea likely holds the key. Computer was intrigued by Albert’s pitch of opening up more sandwich locations, and this is a man driven by numbers above all else. If he’s willing to extend The Beef’s restaurant in time to reach profitability and convince Cicero that investing more money into this expansion is the right call, this could be just the thing to keep the lights on at the restaurant.
Hopefully this plot thread is allowed to properly wrap up whenever The Bear Season 5 arrives on Hulu, rather than just abandoned since Rob Reiner is no longer with us. If selling more sandwiches around Chicago is what allows the restaurant to finally flourish, then Albert Schnur will be the one to put this all together and could be rewarded for his contribution, even if we don’t see that happen onscreen.
