#Claire bear is the best

[hederasgarden]

How does Scott act when drunk?

@clairewritesandrambles is working on a prompt like this at my request and I just know it’s going to make me and everyone else unwell. Go give her a follow!

[icaninternetfangirl]

Sydney and Luca had more chemistry in 5 minutes than Claire and Carmy have had the entire series.

[magicalshopping]

♡ Teddy Bear BFFs Beaded Bracelets from Claire's ♡

[thoughtfulchaos773]

Pearly Dewdrops-Drops

Hey, remember @currymanganese's post about the song from the last season when Claire and Carmy had their first kiss? It was "Can't Hardly Wait" by the Replacements.

Curry noticed that Fak was talking about the song with the contractor, and Sydney rolled her eyes at the conversation. It's a song played in the coming-of-age teen romcom Can't Harly Wait, in which the guy has a crush on this beautiful girl, and on his graduation day of senior year, he promises to confess his love.

In Episode 3x04 Violet, the song "Pearly Dewdrops-Drops" by Cocteau Twins sets the mood for a teenage romance scene that reminds of something you'd see on the CW, like in One Tree Hill. As Carmy and Claire whisper in the dark, Claire shares a story about a girl with scars who has yet to feel pain, echoing deeper themes of growth and healing (this girl was also a teenager, from what I can recall). This song was also featured in the film Perks of Being a Wallflower, which is about a teenager dealing with PTSD while finding friendship and love. In a way, this plot is similar to Carmy's journey as he grows up and grapples with his mental health.

Claire is embodies an idealized version of teenage love..

Also, when Fak gives Claire Carmy's number and expresses his love for the classic coming-of-age song "Can't Hardly Wait," it represents Fak as a symbol of Carmy's naive side @outmakingmoonshine post explains. Fak captures Carmy's teenage experience - he missed out on youthful experiences, where the teens' characters navigate pain, love, heartbreak, and joy.

Returning to Claire, her role in Carmy's journey suggests their relationship might not last. Claire's presence marks a point in Carmy's coming-of-age story, a journey of gaining experience since his life stopped and he never learned how to navigate relationships healthily.

Looking back on the music, it seems thoughtful in its use to move the narrative and provide a deeper understanding of the characters' inner worlds and growth. That's what season 3 was for me- it focused on the characters' inner life.

But all the music for Claire and Carmy includes heartbreak songs and 80s music, and there are references to coming-of-age movies like John Hughes' filmography.

I think the heavy references to coming-of-age stories show Claire's role in Carmy's life as more about his personal growth than a lasting romance.

Feel free to reply or reblog to discuss!

Tagging @moodyeucalyptus, @vacationship @brokenwinebox, @mitocamdria, @ambeauty, @yannaryartside if you are interested but no pressure!

[perryabbott]

THE BEAR | 2.05 "Pop"

[best-series-forever]

[bubblesandpages]

So on the topic of Claire's nearly fatal allergy oversight, isn't there a direct parallel with that in how Carmy, Richie, Sydney, hell, all of the kitchens, servers, and chefs we see over the course of the show treat allergies, and how meticulous they are with finding alternatives for each element in a dish?

[doitforthescarsandstories]

heyyy so christopher storer why would you completely destroy the relationship dynamics which were the only thing that made ur show compelling in the first place just wondering xoxo

[espumado]

[boasamishipper]

watching the bear (tv) mood

[radio-ghost-cooks]

do ya'll ever see the most rancid take on your favorite character and they're not even being nice about it?

anyway.

.

[blackjack-15]

I KNEW NAT WAS PREGNANT i did not know she knew she was but i knew it!

RICHIE NO HONEY

"is that it?" *boink* "yeah" the bear is a comedy. full stop.

ebra you can do it baby i believe in you and i love you

and carmy's still cooking, still working. him and ebra.

oh syd's mum isn't there. she's not there is she she's dead or she's left or something

that was an Adorable story and i wanna see Syd imitate her mum who is definitely dead

oh candles. yeah. so why did she talk about her in the present tense to marcus? hiding it? hiding means there's prolly some trauma, and her mum wouldn't have been that old if she was the same age as her dad (he said they were both twenty when they started dating) so i'm gonna say sickness. might have been sudden, might have been prolonged, but sickness took her is my guess

"carm?" oh. i think i know who thiiiiiis issss

"claire. hi." yes, yes i did know who this is. that's not an enthusiastic reaction from carmy, but to be absolutely fair, he's rarely enthusiastic.

he is however very nervous here -- defensive posture, his face is red, tense jaw, etc. not sure these two were friends when they knew each other -- not saying they were enemies or anything, i'm just not getting the sense that they hung out much

mmm. based on this convo with syd and her dad? he's never been to The Beef in his LIFE. it would come up that they've closed down his Usual Sunday Place to do this if he had. adding that to the list of chekov's guns yet to be fired, and it's gonna be a friggin chekov's cannon ball depending on when that fuse is finally lit

"i have a partner!" "and you trust him" "yes!" gosh dangit. the subtext is text all right but like....conflict is coming

"i'm older than her now" oh land her mum died young then. and she does not believe her dad when he says she's just as wonderful as her mum was

i'm really hoping richie is gonna take a shower. that cannot be healthy

kay still talking with claire! great that doesn't make me nervous about this season at all!

"you wanted to fix [the broken arm]?" "i wanted to understand it" a very valid viewpoint, not knocking it.

but it does show the difference between them -- carmy, like in the party with the kids, like when he's checking in with richie and natalie and syd and tina, wants to help people, wants to fix stuff for them. claire wants to understand how things work -- two different approaches, two different foci.

oh. mm.

okay. okay. okay.

first off, carmy's "i should really listen to myself" about telling that kid not to become a chef? further proof if you ask me that carmy will end up stepping back from professional kitchens in some way

but

if someone so obviously does not want to be doing what they're doing -- if someone says they should not be a chef, for example, and then says that they're opening a restaurant? the first question most people would ask is: "why are you doing that then"

what claire says is "you're doing the thing!" which. i don't actually have words for that response. what in the brain-dead -- i don't care if that's what you remember of him from school or being kids or whatever, how on earth is that the response?

"because you're the bear. and i remember you." spit bucket please!

who the eff says that in a grocery store to someone holding frozen veal stock

he has absolutely no idea how to take that, wow.

in fact, yeah, i don't think carmy has any idea how to deal with personal attention like that, and he needs people to be fairly direct b/c he's sort of oblivious when it comes to how people think/act around him specifically -- he seems to understand People as a General Concept pretty well, just not as they relate to him -- which speaks to abominable self-esteem and i'm going to guess that when he says "i never had any girlfriends" it's not because a few girls (it was probably only two or three, especially being as Carmy as he is, but still) weren't interested in him, it's because he absolutely did not notice, God bless him and keep him

"i'll just get your contact information" oh here it issss here's the thing i know about

and they were so careful to have him recite his number earlier so we'd know what it is

"01....0....2." it's a VERY deliberate choice to give her the wrong number. this isn't a spur of the moment choice, he thought this through. and when she repeats it back and he has the chance to say "oh no 01 sorry", he just says "yup", no hesitation. they're emphasizing to the view that he's okay leaving it there, that this is done on purpose, that he's lying and that he knows he's lying

now there are a multitude of reasons for him doing this. if you think he does actually want contact with her, then it could be he doesn't believe she actually would want to talk to him, he doesn't have any idea how to handle her and is running, etc.

you could even say that this is classic Carmy repression -- he's not letting himself do something he wants to do because he's repressing the desire for it. that one's probably the strongest argument -- really the only valid argument -- on that side

but.

i think that the reason to have this in this episode specifically? is because he and syd have that conversation about the three-star call in this episode

remember what he says? first 10 seconds feels like a panic attack, b/c you know you'll have to keep it up. your brain skips any sort of joy or celebration, and settles instead on dread. that's carmy's experience with getting an honor few get in the culinary world, and it shows that he's actually not happy in being a Chef-with-a-capital-C. this episode fairly beats that into the viewer, honestly

i think it's the same thing here. he knows if he gives her his number that he'll have to keep it up. his brain skips any sort of happiness and settles on dread. and -- finally taking his own advice here, probably because he just mentioned he should take his own advice, carmy is quite introspective, he's just a little Blocked when it comes to his own emotions -- he decides that it's not worth it. the panic and the dread and the sheer effort it would take to maintain this is not worth it

this conversation is not shot like it's easy. carmy's leaning on the side of the freezer like he needs something to physically prop himself up. the lighting is great for claire, who's comfortable, but it washes carmy out, makes him look even more tired.

full disclosure, i don't know anything more than the fact that she goes behind his back (!!! i will have words!!) in the coming episodes sometime to get his real number, that's the extent of my knowledge.

but even without knowing that, watching this conversation? this isn't a full-fledged chekov's gun, this is at most a chekov's water pistol. she's gonna be here, but she's not gonna be omnipresent. her presence -- which i'm guessing will work largely as a distraction, pulling carmy away from The Bear, as well as being a Specter of the Past -- will cause conflict, rather than build a relationship. shot in the dark work, but given that we're shown how Carmy has a problem going all-or-nothing, and last season he went overboard on the "all" part of that, i'm guessing this season she'll be used to demonstrate the "nothing" part of his personality

which will cause problems and conflict, yes, and also provide an opportunity for the other chefs in the kitchen to grow into the roles they'll need to fill in carmy's eventual (permanent) exit from the kitchen. i get the feeling that the sign for "sorry" introduced here is gonna get quite a bit of airtime

this is long and rambly, but yeah! that's episode 2 -- two very relaxed season openers, i'll note -- we've got 8 to go, and i can feel the un-caged bear getting restless enough to start causing a ruckus....

[variousqueerthings]

i feel like the funniest thing about the bear s2 for me vis a vis the odd romance plot (and trying to figure out why it was done in the precise way it was) is that the closest we got to a sex scene if I'm remembering correctly was a strange purple-lit under the covers couple of flashes of difficult to decipher limbs. they coulda just been wrestling or hanging out, hell it coulda just been him in there or a piece of his imagination or a very windy day. the lack of attempting to inject sexual passion or chemistry into their relationship was fascinating and not because they were trying to give us ace carmen (rip that would be actually great). just threw out A Girl Template and did the absolute barest minimum to remind us she exists and "is great" according to occasional reviews from other characters and completely neglected to write. chemistry.

[soba-riri]

I finally watched JWD, and it's so funny that Alan and Ellie are on a mission to save the world from a corrupted company. Meanwhile, Owen and Claire are throwing hands across the world to get back their kid from said corrupted company.

[riotinyellow]

fucking hate Claire, it should be Syd and carmy

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

sucks to realize that i (stuttering awkward uncomfortable singleminded mess) am in fact Carmy in this equation