#THE BEAR META

[whenmemorydies]

On that season 4 teaser for The Bear…

It definitely looks like Syd and Donna are talking at a wedding reception and we know by the end of season 3 that Tiff and Frank have a wedding in the works.

I really don’t think Syd is Carmy’s date to that wedding.

I’m thinking she’d be Richie’s +1 to the wedding: as a friend/support person, given how hard the breakdown of his marriage to Tiff has been for him, how close Syd and he have gotten and how fucked his relationship with Carmy has become.

I want Sydcarmy to happen as much as everyone else but I just don’t see Carmy willingly bringing Sydney to an event where she might meet Donna, given he’s spent 5 years avoiding his mother.

UNLESS that scene is from later in the season and Carmy’s done the work to move through (at least some of) his pain with Donna.

[freedelusionshere]

Thoughts/speculation on the S4 footage:

They’re not going to spoil Sydcarmy on a trailer, so I’m preparing for angst early on.

They’ve already filmed Tiff’s wedding, and Claire is friends with Tiff. So guessing the leaked footage of the Claire/Carmy fight with Richie present might be connected.

Donna knows Carmy is in love with Syd.

[yannaryartside]

Stfu this trailer is so pro Sydney, not just sydcarmy but pro Sydney

The point of the teaser is syd talking about the one (importance to her dreams and character)

Then the conversation with Donna (wich is the recognition of the matriarc of this system and technically it could imply Sydney being able to deal with the “beast” that is Donna in a positive way. Donna and Michael are one of the most important pieces of this narrative and no one has had a personal convo like this with her beside Nat.

That’s is incredibly important narratively speaking

Like I am not complaining but I am kinda mad, the previous seasons and trailers where all about idolizing Claire as this big solution to the toxicity in the family and carmy and now you are gonna do a 180 (as you should because that narrative sucks)

But you sold the series in the past with the clairexcarmy narrative and the Claire savior narrative (to the point to break a significant part of your fandom) and now you pretend to sell the show with exactly the opposite narrative?

You have balls fx

You are gonna use sydcarmy to sell your product and then give something completely different? I am never gonna forgive this

[brokenwinebox]

Carmy: Regression

This might be the craziest/stupidest take for s3 of The Bear but whatever. I had talked about how s3 was about isolation and guilt before. What if it was also about regression (at least for Carmy’s character)?

Sydney is (re)meeting an award-winning chef of fine dining. Sydney thought about leaving the bear (officially) but still came back in s1/thought about leaving the bear which lead to the panic attack in s3.

Carmy and Richie are back to fighting like in s1 with Marcus and Sydney between them.

I need more time to think about this but I think the whole purpose was about life going full circle and s4 is (hopefully) about fully breaking the cycle.

I’m basically implying this season was a giant defense mechanism. Don’t take my word for it! I’m just getting back into writing metas after a hiatus.

Carmy was always used to the routine and being stressed in fine dining. He still talked about how that experience was “everything” even when he discussed having stomach problems. He also says that he lost track of time then Mikey passed away.

In s3, I’m fairly certain Carmy says that he’s tired or sick of it. That could mean that he’s been trying to get back into that state/routine and it’s not working this time.

“an attempt to achieve something important.” Like getting a star for a restaurant perhaps? “a sense of security, reciprocated love, and trust.” hmm…

I have also discussed how Carmy and Claire are basically reminiscing on their “high school” days in their relationship. Couldn’t that fit for the “feeling of childhood innocence” that’s stated in the article?

I feel like I’m not making any sense but also think I’m beginning to crack the code at the same time so I’ll just leave this here for now.

Authors Note: I wrote this yesterday on Twitter before the promo that just recently came out. This is not a complete meta but I thought I’d put it here so I could see if anyone agrees or disagrees with these thoughts! I’m glad to be sort of back after a fairly long hiatus! @thoughtfulchaos773 made a video with Carl Jung coincidentally enough. I might be closer to the truth than I thought lol.

[gingergofastboatsmojito]

The battle of the Mothers of Victory (handle with caution)

Disclaimer: This is not a prediction or a theory, it's my thought process. This is how I roll at first and then I rule out stuff as I see fit, so BEAR WITH ME.

So, first thing that came to mind was:

"OMFG! That tells me all I need to know, that's Tiff’s wedding. Syd and Donna sitting at the same table in a family event. I am losing my mind IF syd is Carmy's +1. Maybe they are not showing him at the wedding bc it would be too obvious if they spoiled rn that she was his +1. I’m pretty sure Syd was his +1... OMFGGGG!

BUT, I said IF. FML

She may have attended the wedding with Luca.

FUCK!”

And then the overthinker in me took over and ... it didn't go that well.

What we know

is that C was there, Carmy was there and Syd was there too. We don't know about Luca, that's the wildcard.

And we also know that Shapiro's subplot was already closed and archived long before Syd even got invited to the wedding, that's why she's there, so YAY! 💅 and we also know there was a fight between Carmy and C on the street at Syd’s place:

What we don't know

is the ORDER of the scenes.

IK it looks like Syd and Carmy at the wedding pissed C off and someway somehow C ended up knocking on Syd’s door and Carmy got the door and then C stormed out and Carmy went after her and they had a fight.

Remember my theory about → territory? Well, no wonder the C person stormed out IF that was the case... LOL!

Wishlist

I hope that the order of the scenes was precisely that one. BUT the truth is we don't know. The teaser could be a red herring. IDK... The wedding seems too early in the season to be such a Sydcarmy catalytic event.

But we could be right!🤩

I wish the footage of that fight, which I went over 1000 times already and couldn't see WTF were they wearing, was better bc I could confirm the potential chronological order based on their outfits.

IF the fight happened after the wedding we’re golden!

Moreover: If that's the case WTH was Carmy doing at Syd's place after the wedding? THAT'S THE MEAT OF THE MATTER.

Too good to be true...

Let's calm the fuck down.

Having said that, I'm not complaining…

😍😍😍😍

#MANIFESTING

Bonus track: Maybe if we all think about this together I can calm the fuck down faster. LMK what you, chefs, think.

Are you pessimistic or optimistic? Scratch that! That's the WRONG QUESTION. The right one is: What do you think Storer would do? (Argument pls)

I'm all eyes👀

Related notes:

[outmakingmoonshine]

I wrote this in response to this post about Adam Shapiro but I didn't wanna hijack OP's post as I was replying to @freedelusionshere comment anyway so i'll put it here instead.

I agree the way Shapiro's character has been presented seems suspicious. Like a lot of things on this show it's portrayed subtly and indirectly but purposefully.

It's interesting to me that Syd had no idea who he was even after she stopped to look at him, until he said his name and she recognized it as a chef from Ever. But he knew who she was and seemed to know enough details about her role at The Bear to ask her to do an almost identical job for him the next time they met. How did he know she was capable of all that?

All the articles we've seen about in the show don't mention Syd, they don't credit her with helping to build the restaurant or even mention that Carmy is partnered with another chef. As far as we know her work isn't being publicly acknowledged and nobody outside of the staff and Emmanuel (and possibly Claire) know how much Syd's done there, so how does Shapiro seem to be aware of details you don't just pick up eating at a restaurant "under the radar" one time?

Richie worked at Ever for a week in S2 but he wasn't exactly Syd's biggest fan then so if he did talk about her I doubt he made her role at The Bear sound like a good thing or said positive things about the changes she'd made to make Shapiro want to poach her.

Shapiro said he ate at The Bear with friends, maybe one of them told him. But again, how do they know? The show makes it seem like Syd's full role at The Bear isn't public knowledge. Especially not the kind of details Shapiro seemed aware of.

Syd told a couple of chefs Carmy's her partner in S2 and judging by the lack of Syd mentions in the articles, I'd imagine they're probably thinking "I told you so" right now...but this does seem like the most plausible way he could know. It's still a flimsy connection imo bc the show has given us no other outside acknowledgement for Syd's work at The Bear. No other chef mentioned it or congratulated her in 3x10, even Chef Terry who congratulated Carmy then partied with Syd at her apartment didn't mention it to her. I assumed Luca would have an idea through Marcus or Carmy but he didn't say anything about it either and there was plenty of opportunity in their conversation. Shapiro is the only other chef who's congratulated her or mentioned it.

Knowing this doesn't necessarily make him a bad person, maybe he just noticed the negative environment of The Bear and decided to offer Syd an opportunity but it does make you wonder how he knows so much and no one else seems to. Maybe the show just does a bad job at portraying that it's public knowledge but judging by their usual level of attention to detail in storytelling, I don't think that's the case.

I guess Shapiro could know other chefs Syd's worked with in the past but getting info from them then approaching Syd the way he did without mentioning that is also just weird. And how would he know she can single handedly build a restaurant from scratch to the point of giving her complete creative control?

If it was sudden for Carmy to offer Syd such a big role in building his dream restaurant after months of working together in S1, it's very strange for Shapiro to offer Syd an almost identical offer but even better, after only meeting her twice.

Plus he says he doesn't want it to be "a gross poaching" but what else do you call asking someone who's already trying to build a restaurant with a chef he personally knows to basically abandon that project to come build his business full time instead? A decent person with good intentions would've spoken to Carmy and Syd together or at least gave Carmy a heads up that he planned to offer his CDC an opportunity to work for him instead. And Shapiro made that offer hard to refuse, even Syd knew it seemed too good to be true. That in itself is such a shady thing to do.

The definition of poaching in business: "Poaching is when an employer actively approaches, or 'head hunts', someone who is already employed by, or working at, another organisation, as opposed to advertising a vacancy and going through a usual recruitment process." [Source]

Shapiro can dress it up all he wants, poaching is the literal definition of what he's doing and the way he's gone about it is "gross" bc it's not like Carmy is a stranger to him, Syd was a stranger though.

His character has been subtly presented as someone who shouldn't be trusted imo. Kinda like Claire in S2. There seems to be no reason to dislike them on the surface but if you look beneath the surface there are plenty of reasons, too many to be a coincidence. Maybe Shapiro's not a good guy or maybe it's deliberate misdirection, either way I think he's been presented as a slightly suspicious character on purpose.

[yannaryartside]

I’ll take it too!

But why this two gifs in unison look like wedding b-roll? Like Carmy trying to be cool because his future wife dressed him and made his hair and Syd is just shy looking like an absolute angel?!!!!

Random info that could mean nothing but 🤷‍♀️ JAW is filming in Newark, NJ today and coworkers met him while they were out on a walk. He was chilling by himself and was super nice. Thanked them for saying hi and said he was there filming a movie, as if the entire state of NJ hasn’t been on high alert.

One of my coworkers said he loved the Bear and JAW said they were filming more seasonS soon. I clarified like 20 times that he said seasonS plural and he swears he did. There is a slight language barrier so still could be a misunderstanding but I’ll take it.

Sure, why not lol

I'll believe it. What is there to lose. Season 5 sydcarmy endgame season finale wedding y'all!!!

Honestly if they are all coming back to film 3.5 episodes, just keep them there a little longer. They filmed 16.5 in like 16 weeks, they can definitely squeeze out like 6 to 8 additional episodes.

[strawberryscare]

can’t stop thinking abt the only time we see carmy wear a The Beef tshirt is when he cooks dinner for claire. you know, the piece of clothing he refused for all of season 1 (when their restaurant was Actually called that) and asked everyone else to switch OUT of (to white shirts and blue aprons).

something something claire fundamentally does not allow carmy to grow as a person + represents carmy’s backsliding into his past something

[mitocamdria]

This is what fun is for Carmy.

Laughing, cooking and telling stories with the people he loves.

With his family ❤️

(First gif from just_ustas on live journal)

[freedelusionshere]

The leaked S4 argument with Syd and Carmy and Richie and Marcus are there?

Richie is team Carmy and is pro-sydcarmy (per his little notebook in S3).

And Marcus is team Syd but also knows that Syd’s favorite dish of all time is was made by Carmy?

Basically everyone telling them all S4 they are obviously a thing, while Carmy lets go of his pride and Syd lets go of her prejudice?

[freedelusionshere]

I don’t trust them, either lol. Donna, who doesn’t know how to say “I love you” and Carmy hadn’t spoken to her in five years; she knows her son is in love with Syd. That’s definitely the subtext to me but she’s framing it around work to be indirect.

The “one” thing could unfortunately be SydLuca because they won’t reveal its Carmy in a trailer and it’s also very Disney of them to do thar basic love triangle stuff 🤣 I hope not I think it’s a time waster and boring.

Like you said, it could be teasing Emmanuel, and her explaining why she didn’t leave The Bear for the Shapiro offer, and it also doubles as Carmy being “the one” but that won’t happen until later because Carmy is wandering around riding trains and looking lost per usual, LOL.

It would be refreshing if Carmy and her did get together early on and he’s busy trying to make things right in these scenes and doubting if he’s good enough for her and Syd asking if he’s the one and getting a bunch of backstory for her. I want all the angst coming from outside forces interfering for once.

IS THE BEAR NATION AWAKE BECAUSE PROMO FOR SEASON 4 SHOWS DONNA AND SYDNEY TALKING

AND SYDNEY SAYING “THIS JUST FEELS LIKE … THE ONE” OVERLAYING A SCENE OF CARMY

I AM NOT OK. NEED THIS IN FRONT OF MY EYES RIGHT NOW.

[yannaryartside]

Spoiler for s4 sydcarmy and the clairexcarmy fight

I am starting to think the fight is originated at this wedding…let’s say clairexcarmy do get back together but Sydney is Richie’s date (is he pro sydcarmy and anti Claire now?!)

Then Claire witnessed something between Carmy and Syd at the wedding?

This is so messy…

[glitterslag]

needed to clear out my drafts so

[shamixlour]

The Bear - 3x03

The way he looks at Syd here. I found it extremely interesting and back then I understood it a certain way but now that I have the whole context, meaning I have finished watching season 3...well I see it in a totally different light. Okay this might be a bit long one but here me out. 

At first, I thought Carmy was mad. They were in the rush of service and some plates took longer than necessary to be ready and so he was in his full-asshole Chef mode, running expo in a way that was cold and stressing. I thought he was simply angry because Sydney went to help Tina with the pasta cooking/plating. 

I still think he is mad but with the events in the following episodes, I believe it is way more than that, I think it is much deeper than I expected it to be and I might be reading into this too much but I made another meta and I feel like I cannot speak about this scene without bringing the Carmy scene at Ever in 3x10. 

Now, I think Carmy is jealous. I believe he is impressed. He is mad. He is so fucking envious. He is scared, petrified even. Carmy is in awe and quite astonished. 

That is how I see it now.

The thing is Sydney is portrayed as being impatient, and sure she might have shown some signs of being so regarding certain aspects but when it comes to cooking, when it comes to leading a team, when it comes to being the Chef of cuisine, when it is about running her kitchen, her cooks, she is patient. 

Sydney is patient and calm and pedagogue. She is willing to repeat, to assist and to help. She does not shout, she does not squeeze you even more into the panic of the kitchen even if the situation pleads her to do so. Sydney is loving, caring and fulfilling. She brings back your confidence up, she highlights your strengths, she shows that she trusts you. Sydney is willing to wait, repeat and assist you without doing it all for you even under the humongous pressure of time and peak service. She provides the tools, shows you how to use them in the most efficient way and lets you do it, her hand ready to chime in if needed, if you ask for it. Essentialy, she's a humonguous talented force that whispers you that you can do it. You can do it, Tina. You can do it, Marcus. You can do it.

We saw that during season 1. We saw that again during season 2. She is special, she is something. We saw that once more during season 3, more precisely with Tina, taking the seconds necessary to show her multiple times how to properly cook the pasta and plate it correctly even under the pressure of service. She sets aside her work and helps, guiding Tina with utmost care. She was annoyed too. She was stressed. It was in the middle of service, it delayed everything but Sydney still helped. 

And what did Carmy do in those specific instances? 

He shouted. He was cold, destroying Tina’s confidence, spitting deprecating comments. He did not help. He did not love. He did not care. Sure, he’s under pressure but Sydney is too and yet Sydney stopped and went to Tina, she understood her distress, she felt her silent cry of help and crossed the kitchen to her, steadying Tina again, calmly, without harsh words, without being a total prick even if the situation was nerve-wracking. 

Carmy saw that. He looked at that interaction, watched Sydney be a teacher, a pedagogue, he saw Sydney be the Chef he is not. The Chef he probably never will be. He gazed at something that he does not know how to do, at something he did not even think possible in a kitchen. 

He looked at it and was mad, impressed, envious and solemn. He looked at Sydney as if she is special, as if this is special and something. Something that was worth taking a few seconds to stop, to see and take in. The few seconds he pointedly declared they did not have to Tina.

That is something.

[yannaryartside]

Agree. I literally didn’t want to be mean about it

But as s3 rolled out I was like…did this man blackmailed Storer and co that if he didn’t had more screen time he would leave the show or something?!

It is amazing how even among people that have different approaches to the show, in a pretty controversial season, all viewers have stated that the Faks were the worst of it

matty matheson saying what he said about syd confirms my suspicions that hes behind the insufferable amount of screen time the fak clan has been given in szn 3

[chefkids]

Claire is the physical manifestation of Carmy’s avoidance.

Before he got locked in the fridge Carmy chose to prioritize Sydney over Claire. But at Friends & Family night he ended up picking Claire over Sydney because he was being pressured by Richie and his avoidance kicked in again. This resurfaced his NYC Chef trauma, because Claire was a distraction to getting Sydney her star and the general success of The Bear. Then he tried to over compensate by turning into NYC chef all of a sudden and freaking out at Sydney. Because he wants to get Sydney a star but he’s also terrified of failing and having the NYC Chef “win” and wants to succeed out of spite for how he made him feel.

He left Sydney at Kasama to be with Claire because it was the easier choice for him than to put himself out there and be vulnerable with Sydney. Then he left her to go to that party with Claire and ended up having the Fishes Christmas panic attack. He left Sydney to cook for Claire, then ended up with the alleyway panic attack about Claire and Fishes. He left Syd at service for Claire and ended up with the NYC Chef panic attack then locked himself in the fridge and he is mainly concerned with Sydney and the staff through flashbacks. Using Claire as a distraction from Sydney always comes with a cost. And it always brings up the root cause of his avoidance which is his mother and the NYC Chef.

Carmy promised Sydney that he would not leave her alone after the fridge. And while he physically has not left her alone to be with Claire. He never mentally left Claire. 

Sydney suggested he should make a call after he got out of the fridge, and he thought she was referring to Claire instead of Richie, who is his actual 'family' and who he really hurt with his words. He apologized but in the most generic way possible and Richie knew he was just doing it to get it out of the way, which is why they're still fighting. He's still using Claire to avoid confronting his emotions for people like Richie and Sydney, who he knows he has hurt but who he really cares about. Sydney didn't give Carmy "permission" to call Claire then. He needed Sydney's push in his relationship just to call Claire his girlfriend. He thinks not talking to Claire equals prioritizing Sydney, but in turn he is still prioritizing Claire only just in his head, not physically, because he is still using Claire as an avoidance tool for his feelings for Sydney, his lack of apology for Richie, and even his lack of confrontation with his mother. 

In Season 3 we see him happy and panic free in Claire flashbacks. Because she is in a romanticized version of his past. We know he can be an unreliable narrator and see things that aren't fully there or twist things, and his flashbacks to his relationship with Claire is not the full picture. He's not thinking about all the times that being with her led to a panic attack after. He is using her to be avoidant of Sydney and what she means to him and what doing all of this for Sydney means.

He can't really answer Nat or Sydney when they ask “Why are you doing this?” because he’s still in denial about what he is really feeling for Sydney. But he can answer that he feels guilt whenever someone brings up Claire because that is easier to address.

Carmy is an avoidant. In Season 1 he oscillated between avoiding dealing with his actual grief about Mikey by just focusing on the restaurant and avoiding dealing with what was growing between him and Sydney by using the restaurant and his grief for Mikey, until it blew up in his face. He physically avoided the restaurant itself Season 2 because he needed to avoid his feelings for Sydney, but still projected his feelings for her onto Claire by doing everything Sydney enjoys with Claire until it blew up in his face with a panic attack about the two of them.

Then in Season 3 he couldn't physically avoid Sydney, so he mentally avoided her by trying to reframe his relationship with Claire as something joyful and carefree and peaceful. When we all know that the reality of it was something else. He tells the Fak's he can't apologize because it's too hard. He's avoiding apologizing to Claire for many other reasons too. Cause if he does he'll have to address the fact that Claire said she loved him, which I really don't think he loves her back like that. He'll have to face the real version of Claire and his relationship with her; which was not all sunshine and butterflies. It was filled with panic attacks and anxiety. So he'd rather live in a romanticized version of her in his head, missing her and filling his thoughts with her instead of Sydney, than face what was actually going on.

Sydney is still his muse. He slipped into thinking about Sydney that night by making a dish about her and by inviting her to go to Ever with him. He made that dish that was blatantly inspired by her standing right in front of him. He has been avoiding talking to her, and he clearly wanted to say more, but didn't know how or what to say.

Once Sydney left he started hearing the music from his time in the fridge, he threw the dish out and immediately started to spiral. He stared at the bar cart with party items for Richie's Tuesday Surprise. aka the Amusement and Enjoyment. Which is what he was trying to find with Sydney that day he had planned an inspirational food tour with her, but ended up ditching her for Claire at Kasama. And what he told himself he no longer needed in order to focus on getting Sydney a star.

He stands outside the fridge then Strange Currencies starts playing very quietly under the fridge music, "I don't know why you're mean to me When I call on the telephone." He then goes inside the fridge and "I don't know what you mean to me. And I don't know what you mean to me But I want to turn you on, turn you up, figure you out I wanna take you on" plays a little bit louder, which is basically what his deal with Sydney is right now. He doesn't know what she really means to him. He knows she calms him down and inspires him, but he doesn't ever say what that means to him out loud. Then it grows louder with "These words, "You will be mine""

Then he reached for his phone to try and call Claire. Because he's trying to drown out the song with Claire. The first time we heard it was when he first saw Claire by the fridge and once he rejected her, aka when he chose Sydney, the song got louder. Then when he wanted to take Claire to the restaurant, aka where Sydney was, after the party it played again. He knew it was for sure about Sydney from the panic attack, because with Claire it was backwards, she was his past, but with Sydney it was moving forward.

When he's debating pressing call to Claire, the fridge music overpowers Strange Currencies, because Claire is what keeps him frozen in the past and "haunted" by it. He practices saying sorry as the songs grow louder trying to drown each other out, and we see a clip of present day Claire working and Strange Currencies stops playing.

Then a flash of her in The Bear sitting on the garde manger aka cold prep, which was the same clip we saw of her when he was thinking about her when he was locked in the fridge, Strange Currencies plays again over it. He is still stuck on it even though she's moving on and living her life. Strange Currencies grows louder because he keeps trying to convince himself the song is for Claire and reverts back to the past when he thought it was for her that night he took her to see the kitchen.

Claire's I really love you voicemail plays. Then it cuts to who else but Sydney. I really love you. aka I really love *you*. Sydney. What he is actually thinking but avoiding. What stops Carmy is fearful avoidance, because Claire Sydney is so great she scares the shit out of him.