The fourth season of the once-pulsating The Bear runs in circles. Every show reaches a point where a crisis of faith in itself becomes all-pervasive. It’s a test that determines whether the makers still have anything to say without leaning on the previously established. A lot of runoff from earlier seasons congests the latest in the series.

Season 4, which premiered Wednesday, continues apace. The pressure starts with the decision from Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) and Computer (Brian Koppelman) to install a countdown clock in the restaurant kitchen. When the clock reads zero, The Bear has run out of time to turn its financial fortunes around. And you thought your deadlines were rough.

Led by Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri, the show takes reconciliations and ruminations a tad too seriously for its own good.