Returns June 26th on Disney+. Surprised we don't have a thread already! This show is all kinds of amazing and I'm really looking forward to its return

We've started watching season 4 this evening and I'm relieved to say that it is a big step back up after I really wasn't keen on the third season. It's back to actually having some more character driven episodes and, whilst the restaurant is still there as a theme (and it totally needs saving still etc), it's no longer drowning out the other characters that work there.

I agree with Dandy that it's a step in the right direction again but it has fallen off a lot since the first two seasons. It's starting to become a bit of a chore forcing my way through it. I don't ever remember there being this many montages either. It gets boring!

On the one hand, there are some great character-driven episodes like Sydney and her cousin but then there's issues like Tina's whole arc this season which is making pasta in under three minutes. Surely they could find something better to do with her. The Fak's being constantly babied is also irritating, and I'm getting sick of Carmy/Claire and their inability to open up. Richie has grown so much and his scenes are always a delight. It's all a mixed bag.

I'm kind of hoping they'll announce that it's been renewed for S5 (and maybe S6 at a push) and then those to be announced as the final seasons.

Edited July 19Jul 19 by Josh!

So we've finished now and my favourite episodes were definitely the one with Sydney and her cousin, and the one with the wedding. I thought the ending was reasonably bold, being entirely shot in one setting, but at times it returned to the headache inducing shouting at each other that put me off S3.

I think that Carmy is actually the most irritating character in the show, I didn't enjoy any of his episodes as much as the others. I enjoyed all of the new hires (including those that returned from previous series to keep them on the show haha) and felt that each of them really worked within the team dynamic there. Agree with Josh that all of the rest of the staff needed more meaningful stories of their own though, even Marcus was reduced a lot... and I love Tina and think she really does deserve a bigger story at some point. I'm not massively keen on Jamie Lee Curtis in this, she was a bit more tolerable in this season but I've found her character to be too annoying, despite the praise she gets for it. Absolutely agree that Richie is great and has so much depth to his character, the difficulties he has navigating his parental role is so endearing, and his desire to really do well at the restaurant is also lovely. Sydney also continues to be a great character.

So, at the end, I still enjoyed it but it didn't quite deliver on my expectations - I hope that the restaurant grows in S5 as it would be good to move past that story and focus on the development of the chefs etc instead.