freedelusionshere

[freedelusionshere]

So does anyone else want to talk about all the new accounts following our community now after Carmy told Syd she’s “The Bear” and why that might be happening?

[freedelusionshere]

I agree Claire is depicted the way she is for a definite reason.

Syd and Claire can have that hospital moment because they don’t have to work through anything. It’s sometimes easier to offload on strangers than it is the people closest to you. You’re not risking getting hurt when that happens.

If they wanted to, they could have shown Claire and Syd interacting at Tiff’s wedding. They did not.

All of the characters in this show want to be seen and loved and the show isn’t really concerned about sex or sexual jealousy, it’s about intimacy and wanting to feel known and seen and to be needed and supported.

Carmy had sex to try to use it as a shortcut to intimacy and he told Claire in S4 he couldn’t do it, and he’s sorry.

The show has been making a case against Carmy all along that he needs to work on himself and get his stuff out of the way, and he started doing that.

But also Syd blocks intimacy and wants to have Carmy in the restaurant with her collaborating before she’ll ever even give him a shot outside the restaurant.

She told his mom directly at Tiff’s wedding that she she wants it all to work out in the restaurant and Donna told her “If you’re lucky,” and then “God bless you.”

No compromises are happening with these two fools in love with each other. They are stubborn in the same ways and want the other person to compromise first.

In S3 Carmy thinks about his relationship with Claire in flashbacks about listening to her talk (she’s muted we don’t even hear what she’s saying), her telling him her real fears (not just afraid of failing like Syd - non starter non-specific) and her running back to him before she starts her workday to kiss him goodbye.

So now this dummy is trying to force her to need him by stepping outside of the restaurant. And she’s not going to go for that until he collaborates with her.

sydney and claire have more chemistry in like <10 minutes of 4x6 'Sophie' than claire and carmy the entire show ngl

[freedelusionshere]

What if Evie’s birthday party is at The Bear?

Richie’s turf. He told Tiff and Frank they could only come there when it’s perfect, but he can’t put that off forever.

Would force Carmy to come to The Bear (assuming he will actually even stay away which I’m not convinced of). And Syd did tell Chantel she could come by The Bear some time so maybe she shows up there to pick up Syd with Mary?

And then Chantel sees a little of what’s going on and the next episode is making Syd unpack that for her.

Or…Chantel just invites Carmy along to get it from him directly because Carmy wants to meet Syd’s family really bad.

Could be very funny. Syd having to explain any of what’s actually happened to her family and how she owns part of this restaurant.

I kind of want her to have her own solo thing apart from all of it, but I also want hijinks and for their worlds and families to collide.

Did Sydney just out of the blue decide in three Saturdays she's taking off to hang out with Mary and Chantel, or did she already have that day free?

This show is trying to be tight with time and uses it as a marker for an event coming the following season. Last year, they made sure to point out in season 3 that Tiffany's wedding was being held on a Sunday via the invitation on the desk; this day mattered so that Carmy and Sydney could go to the wedding.

My guess? It's for Eva's birthday party, which they've been hinting at since season 3, and it's supposed to take place within a few weeks after Tiffany's wedding. Richie is rounding up people - Marcus to make the cake, and Sydney to maybe help with catering. So, since Sydney may be helping Richie, she could take the rest of the day off.

Another potential Bear family event, where Eva mentioned she told Auntie Donna what she wants, so Donna will be there. Carmy is on good terms with Richie and Natalie, of course, he'll be there.

Another event to look forward to is one where Syd and Carmy will have to see each other again outside of work.

There also needs to be a call back to 1x04 dogs in some way since we're dealing with another children's birthday party.

But just imagine after the birthday party ends, Carmy is getting ready to go back to the Bear to start dinner service, but he sees Sydney is not coming back to the restaurant; she's going out.

Or she gets changed at the Bear and meets her girls from the restaurant.

I just want Sydney to go out, and it's a good way to see Sydney, now a Berzatto, spending time with Richie and the family, then having her own identity outside of the in-laws.

Either way, the writers better read this.

[freedelusionshere]

The “microexpression of rage” is so good, though. Carmy is trying to get Syd to say she needs him, outside of the restaurant now, and she did: “I can have another you in a minute, in fact, he’s here right now!” 🤣

This show is a comedy.

In contrast, Carmy can call Claire and she immediately picks up and was standing around watching the phone, and Syd only returned his call/messages when she felt like it.

"This needs to get good or go away"

Claire is a skippable track on an otherwise award-winning album

It's time to admit that I skip the scenes Molly Gordon is in or play them in the background while I surf the web on a different window which I know is not how this show deserves to be (re-)watched. It's been three seasons and her acting and her character arc has not gotten better. What gets even more riveting each season, though, is the chemistry between all the Emmy-award winning actors in this scene.

They never seem to hit a false note; their onscreen chemistry is off the charts and I find myself rewatching every scene they are in to catch nuances of each performance. When you have these acting powerhouses to play with (and Liza's singing! and hopefully soon Lionel's writing credits with Ayo!) and a relatively short season (10 episodes with most no more than 30 minutes), it's a travesty to waste precious screen-time on an actress like Molly Gordon who is just nowhere near the same league. This goes also for the infestation of Faks, random over-priced white guest stars' cameos and anything that takes us further away from the original cast of characters we first knew and loved in Season 1 of the Bear.

It also seems like a tragic decision not to explore how the dishwashers (Manny and Angel) are faring or more of Sweeps' backstory or Ebra's life. I'd like to know whether Tina's son Louie is doing better in school and why Marcus's dad suddenly wants to get in touch with him. How are Garrett, Rene and Jess coping with the shift from Ever and is Garrett (a recovering alcoholic) still attending AA meetings? Can the writers' room commit now to letting Manny and Angel speak? I'd love to hear what they think of all the changes with their back of the back of the house perspective.

Let's apply "this needs to get good or go away" to Claire and the Faks. We know Ayo, Ebon and JAW will not have time for this project forever so it kind of seems like Storer is acting like Carmy tossing premium ingredients in the garbage when he sacrifices their scenes for ones featuring mediocre acting from Gordon and the Faks. Much like the critiques of Season 3 that were incorporated into Season 4 (such as Syd telling Richie his quotes seemed a bit "too lofty"), the Claire arc is jarring and confusing. If it is meant to be a cautionary tale and Carmy is regressing by going back to Claire, the payoff has yet to come and is leaving many of us so put off that we fast forward through their scenes. It also is squandering the electricity of this, specifically Carmy's demonic micro-expression of rage directed at Richie when Syd makes him the partner she "needs:"

Dear Chris Storer and Joanna Calo, you have actors of such high calibre that you can stick them in a dark back alley together and we will watch them shout at each other holding our breath. I know I'm not the only one who has watched "Goodbye" multiple, multiple times. Please serve us the nutritious, inspiring meal we want and deserve next season and not more of that mushy-gooshy, overly processed spaghetti we can find on any other show.

[freedelusionshere]

Really proud of this collage I did on shuffles (@/hadafumadaa lol) not a lot of ppl use it so I figured it’ll get more love on here

[freedelusionshere]

If four of you are out to dinner, who's picking up the bill?

[freedelusionshere]

#Love him

[freedelusionshere]

The Bear’ star Jon Bernthal on the ‘real gift’ of doing ‘maniacal, insane work’

The actor opens up about his pivotal scene in "Napkins" with Liza Colon-Zayas, being directed by Ayo Edebiri, and why he keeps coming back.

About Tina and Liza:

[freedelusionshere]

The bear as tumblr posts

[freedelusionshere]

I just think she's neat :)

[freedelusionshere]

Sydney's 5 Levels of Anger

She's my favorite character on the Bear and she plays her cards so close to her chest that you really have to work to figure her out in between the loud Bearzatto clan. When she shows up, the Ballbreaker theme plays faintly in the background (auditory cue).

Level 1: She can't hear you, doesn't have much to say to you, won't look you in the eyes and is cooly professional if you confront her about this. You better fix it immediately because her walls go up fast. Marcus learns this in Season 2's finale after he asks her out and then yells at her for ignoring him. He realizes he needs to get back in her good graces as soon as possible by telling on meth-head Josh to regain her approval. Carmy notices and catches her on it as soon as possible.

Level 2: The sarcasm. Watch it when Syd makes caustic jabs verbally to you cause soon you're going to be stabbed, either literally (as Richie was) or psychically (as Carm was in Season 4's opener when she sarcastically tells him to sound less miserable).

Level 3: That angry smile means you. have. messed. up. Richie says "oooooh" in the back as he observes it and Carmy already knows it is bad because that was the smile he received in Season 1's Review Episode right before she delivered her devastating judgment (the real review of the episode) of his talent vs his shortcomings that lives in a loop among his Worst Memories of all time. He's terrified to see it again even though he does not understand why telling her the walls needed to come down before they were torn down is causing her to be angry at him.

Level 4: She's out the door and will break off all ties without looking back. That means even if she is still forced to be in your presence because you work together day in and day out, she's effectively shut certain doors in your face. She won't be tempted as the Bearzattos are by a verbal fighting match, a tussle or any long drawn out back and forth that keeps her enmeshed in playing the game with you. She doesn't have time for you any more. That's why we don't hear about past bosses, competitive cohorts from the Culinary Institute, former boyfriends, messy members of her extended family--when Syd is done, she's done.

There may be tears at this point and you should definitely worry if you see them because Syd does not cry much and (unlike Claire) is not a woman who uses her tears to manipulate the men around her. Carmy instinctively knows he is reaching a dangerous level in Season 1 Brigade. She is more than likely scrolling for other job openings on her phone before he comes to tempt her with Ebra's chicken suqaar. He watches her force back her tears and this memory shows up in his nightmare from Braciole. He doesn't even know her that well yet and somehow his dreaming self is fully aware that he reached a dangerous point in making Syd cry in the alley.

Richie does not step in to referee the back alley fight until Syd reaches the crying point and then he knows he must intervene for everyone's sakes cause he (rightly) doesn't trust Carmy's ability to avert disaster.

Carmy has breached this level before and only his dead brother's bequest of secret money was able to win her back.

I think in some ways her evaluation of Carmy as a romantic partner after the whole Claire mess is still at this level. That's why at the wedding when Carmy dances with Claire, he can't seem to keep his eyes off Syd (first dancing with Richie and then Uncle Jimmy) to the extent that even Claire is craning her head in their direction. Yet Syd never even spares them a glance. In Carmy's mind, dating Claire is tied to being obsessed with Sydney. I don't think he can grasp that she does not operate through jealousy and one-upmanship so in Season Four Goodbye when he is referencing Claire (without saying her name) and Syd tells him "I think that's great" he responds with an angrily astounded "You do?!" and has to bring up Shapiro because he is very jealous of any perceived professional infidelity. When Syd doesn't bother with jealousy, you have officially reached Level 4 and that door has closed on your face. You're locked out now. As Syd says on her way out the door, "Good luck!"

Level 5: Arctic Chill. In Goodbye, we witness Syd move through all four levels of anger and reach a tired, broken place past tears even. We (and Carmy) are about to discover what happens when Sydney Adamu reaches Level Five.

[freedelusionshere]

[freedelusionshere]

People say Sydney was the crazy Carmy fangirl stalker but he is the one literally imagining fan edits of her, he was calling up all her old bosses to see what they could tell him about her, he wrote up a fan fiction in his head of her coming back and starting a restaurant with him, and he made fan art of the menu she wanted. He is just a fan.

[freedelusionshere]

Yes! I genuinely want the show to switch to Syd and other characters’ POV and Carmy and Richie to be supporting and show the flip of the Berzatto’s struggles because others have also struggled. They have plenty of work to do to keep them all busy!

I want the backstories they keep teasing, not just Gary in a batting cage for 2 seconds. Syd doesn’t want the solo spotlight she wants to share it and build something together. They already commented in S4 once she took over things started to improve, but money is certainly not the only measure of success.

It doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for them, but it doesn’t have to front and center. And certainly not the only legacy and family woven into this story.

The Michelin star chasing and timers need to go.

Carmy can say all this stuff to Syd in the alley but can he say it in front of everyone? Can he confess he made a big mistake to that whole kitchen and tell them how much it means to him to get to be able to step back and support them now?

That would be beautiful. That’s what real leadership is anyway.

I want them to go back to making family meals but Evie is there and Sophie and Louie and Emmanuel, and TJ and Chantel and Christopher.

Great meta!

I've heard enough of the white man's blues

And if anyone thought I was reaching with the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy and The Bear meta (and the theory that S4 Luca is modelling how Carmy can come back to The Bear as an ally in S5), the song that Christopher Storer and Joanna Calo decided to have playing as new stage Luca arrives in The Bear's kitchen is “Hope the High Road” by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit:

The song, released in 2017 (one year after Drumpf another self-involved white man came into a fuck tonne of power and began running roughshod over community...hence the lyrics: "Last year was a son of a bitch!") was described by Rolling Stone as: "[a] guitar-charged tribute to those feeling disenchanted by today’s divisive politics and social issues, the song fires twin blasts of electrified empathy and resolute optimism." Note that the song title evokes Michelle Obama's 2016 DNC speech when she endorsed Hillary Clinton against Drumpf, telling Americans, "when they go low, we go high".

Crucially when Luca makes his season 4 debut in 4x05 Replicants, the lyrics playing from "Hope the High Road" are:

I used to think that this was my town / What a stupid thing to think

I hear you’re fighting off a breakdown / I myself am on the brink

I used to want to be a real man / I don’t know what that even means

Now I just want you in my arms again / And we can search each others dreams

Then Storer and Calo make the decision to cut the following lyrics from the song in the scene:

I know you’re tired / And you ain’t sleeping well

Uninspired and likely mad as hell / But wherever you are I hope the high road leads you home again

They cut these lyrics not because they're irrelevant (they're absolutely still relevant) but because they wanted the following lines to be sung as the camera shifts to Carmy:

I’ve heard enough of the white man’s blues / I’ve sang enough about myself

I laughed so hard when I heard them. These particular lyrics sounded faint in the show (quieter than the rest of the song we get to hear)...I suspect this might be so that the message isn't blatantly obvious for the incel, QAnon, 4chan, Snydercut, Reddit motherfuckers that are already whinging about season 4 from their parents' basements.

Still, the song choice is unmistakeable in its meaning:

I used to think that this was my town / What a stupid thing to think

White men/Carmy: your ancestors were colonisers and slaveholders (or assimilated into the white American identity that spawned from colonisation and slavery) and you need to reckon with that legacy and the intergenerational wealth, power and bodily safety its given you. The ownership you used to pride yourself on is morally reprehensible, so still thinking that way is categorically stupid. Also towns - communities - aren't owned, they're made. Made by the people and the relationships in them.

I hear you’re fighting off a breakdown / I myself am on the brink

White men/Carmy: you're deeply unhappy and facing a breakdown because capitalism won't save you and the path to joy isn't by smoking motherfuckers. Like Toni Morrison said here: "if you can only be tall because somebody's on their knees, then you have a serious problem. And my feeling is that white people have a very, very serious problem. And they should start thinking about what they can do about it."

I used to want to be a real man / I don’t know what that even means

White men/Carmy: you cling to the idea of violent, aggressive masculinity to assert your power, but doing this meant cutting off parts of yourself too: the parts that love, that are scared, that are vulnerable, that can be happy. Because its harder to be violently aggressive if you allow yourself to feel those things. Now you know there's no such thing as a "real man". White supremacist capitalist patriarchy sold you that idea and that idea is a lie.

Now I just want you in my arms again / And we can search each others dreams

White men/Carmy: put your bullshit down and allow yourself to feel, to dream. You might find some peace in the quiet. You might find some inspiration.

I’ve heard enough of the white man’s blues / I’ve sang enough about myself

White men/Carmy: Its time to stop centering yourself in the story of America/The Bear. Its time to talk about the community that makes a place and all the people that do the work of relationships to make those places home.

All of this gives me lots of hope for S5 led by Sydney and the team and to see Carmy's growth and integration. And if the latter can do that and model it onscreen, maybe some other white folks might have a crack at it in their lives offline too.

[freedelusionshere]

Yeah, it could be entirely by accident and a lot of people just in general self medicate or replace addictions with other things.

I mean, Carmy was a chain smoker in S1 and prior and that comes up again at the S4 wedding when Stevie said he wreaked when he came home at night and Syd also refers to him as “stinky” to TJ. So a referendum has been made on Carmy’s smoking addiction in fact not being “cute” now, LOL.

The show talks a lot about replacement addictions with the career stuff, too, Luca brings that up again in S4 to Tina.

Part of the whole thing with the opioid crisis in the mid 2000s leading up to COVID is that it was pushed by pharma and mental health issues weren’t addressed.

It’s also worth noting how opioid epidemics get more attention because of the perception that whites (80% of opioid OD victims are white) are impacted most when the majority of OD victims across the board are non-whites. But OxyContin was pushed by pharma companies as a “mild” and legal solution to pain management when they knew it was highly addictive and doctors were getting incentives to prescribe it.

I don’t know if the show will bring up COVID again and the isolation that came along with that and The Beef being hit hard, but Mikey resorted to dealing (prescription drugs, and supplied by who?) to keep the restaurant going. Also you can plateau from Oxy and turn to harder stuff once you’re addicted, people sometimes end up on heroin after using prescription pills.

In the house party scene is it implied Ambien guy gets his supply from Claire? It doesn’t say for certain. But…

If you add that to her saying she “takes care of” her wasted friends, her dropping the drug dealer lingo including forms of acceptable payment (Venmo vs untraceable wire), and her story about the girl who ODed in her care, kind of feels like Claire is leading the witness? Who is Carmy.

Or she could be trying to clue him in Mikey was doing it, but as the audience we already know about it. Probably not to what extent, but it’s not an unknown.

She feels like someone with a dark secret to me that she’s waiting to offload. After S4 I think she’s more stuck than Carmy.

Also there is obviously a pattern of Mikey, Richie and Carmy all driven by feelings of feeling unloved and unneeded, and it’s driven by shame: Carmy named it and admits to it in the alley fight with Richie in S4, which I thought was really powerful. Mikey pushed Carmy away for the same reason.

Shame is different from low self esteem. It’s about a perception of weakness that comes from toxic masculinity and patriarchy. Does Carmy actually have low self esteem? I don’t really think so.

He knows he can get very good at certain things. He wants things to come easy to him? The stuff that is hardest. So he’s started working on that finally. There are signs Ricbie is, too, but Richie actually had/has low self esteem.

I don’t think Mikey did. So yeah, to your point, I could see him drowning in shame and also Donna kind of alludes to this because she wouldn’t deal with her own addiction and knocked people for acting weak in order to cope.

Something I was thinking about @freedelusionshere theory on Claire being the one that suplied Michael with the painkillers, is that, diving into it, there is a chance Michael got addicted to them by accident, wich is important to understand for his character. Both Carmen and Nat have a fear of substances, why wound not Michael had it too?

There has been a large amount of people who became addicted to opioids while receiving treatment for an illness or injury that required painkillers (what is often called the opioid epidemic as I understand it, the way pharmaceutical companies corrupt the system). So, did Michael had issues getting new prescriptions for painkillers and went to Claire, who didnt suspected he had an addiction? Maybe she ignored the signs because of her feelings for him? Did she do it because she wanted her to need her and maybe because of that he would return her feelings?

Did Michael ultimately hated himself just for becoming an addict and thought there was no hope for him?

[freedelusionshere]

I was just laughing while writing to @sonoranbumblebee but Claire is basically just a glorified Fak.

Think about it. Like higher in the sense of perceived social status (which the Faks are always trying to attain to), but she says a lot of stuff and isn’t exactly right or wrong about it, but kind of misses the mark, and she always has an angle or a task that needs to be done.

She serves the same narrative function but everyone treats her differently.

Claire is the queen of the Faks.

[freedelusionshere]

Kitchen tables generally symbolize family and community. Hospitality in the most ancient sense?

In S1, it ends with them literally talking about what kind of tables they will need to put in the restaurant they're going to make. Family style, Danish design, 2-tops, booths. This was also Carmy telling her he read the little black book behind and was promising her dream restaurant if she would stay.

Under the table in S2, it's just the two of them, and the table is unstable, but they're righting it together, being intimate, discussing their fears. A lot has happened; he ducked out in S2 and tried to have a life outside the restaurant.

We see Syd running her hand along the grain of the table in The Bear in S3 like it is settling in it represents home to her now? It's quiet and she's the only one in the FOH and taps her fingers on it. Her house, her space. By the end of the season, she's contemplating running.

We see Carmy running his hand along a kitchen table in S4 at the Wright Museum like he's imagining what a home could be outside the restaurant? Domesticity? A bigger container for their community and dreams, perhaps, like Wright tried to make?

At Tiff's wedding it's a large group/community that ends up under there. Originally, Evie went under the table to hide. The whole season is a lot about adults hiding. But they all crowded in under there with her and talk about fears, again.

Claire just informs Evie that Carmy is very scared. Speaking on his behalf, his favorite thing, LOL. And Syd asks Carmy twice to say what he's afraid of, so he can speak (just like he gives space for Evie to do since all the dumb adults have been talking over her).

And Carmy says he's afraid of math, when Syd had sat him down at a table in the FOH (maybe even the same table they were once under) and tried to work through a math problem with him.

I'm sure there are lots of other examples of this symbology coming up and interpretations.

There is the Biblical story about Jesus turning over tables where a place of worship has been turned into a place of commerce, and with all the other religious imagery around, it does make me wonder.

Because the idea of turning tables comes up in S3 in the sense of turning over customers inside the restaurant to make more money (because of how Carmy is spending it, and Richie leads the customers into the kitchen and Syd and Carmy are going at it. There is an imbalance, again, with Carmy trying to assert dominance in the kitchen.

but really what's up with sydcarmy and tables? they have a pseudo sex scene under them, (whatever that means), they caress them regularly, they feed people at them, take care to set them properly

are they? allowed into a pottern barn? what's going on?