#do NOT count the amount of slashes of parentheses i used YEESH so sorry

[strawberryscare]

ohhhhh interesting! i think i read it the way i did bc i only noticed his shirt after watching the panic attack scene, which to me blends/associates claire with carmy’s toxic past. hindsight/confirmation bias is 20/20 and all that.

in regards to the show trying to show us how good claire is for him, i don’t necessarily buy that. i say that actually bc of what you mentioned abt the romance feeling shoehorned in. claire and carmy’s relationship, even tho it may seem happy, is heavily veneered - he struggles to tell her abt his deep-rooted past in a uniquely toxic work environment, why he chooses to continue to cook despite hating it, or even about his mother. it frustrated me when she said “i love you” to him bc what DOES she know abt carmy? and the same goes for him. what does carmy (and by proxy, the audience) know about claire to validate loving?

claire on her own reads as very manic pixie dream girl. beyond having a good relationship with her mother and being a doctor, there isn’t very much information available about her. carmy also utilizes time with her as a form of escapism. we are aware that chris storer is fully capable of writing complex female characters (sydney, obviously, but also tina and natalie too!) and complex relationships (not just between the staff, but the romantic relationship between nat and pete is super interesting to me for reasons that deserve a separate post) so claire is extremely offputting. which is probably why claire AND their relationship come off as misplaced in the context of the show - she doesn’t even have a last name.

plus, full disclosure, i really really dislike claire 😭 if you couldn’t already tell lmao. that’s more of a personal thing/could even be argued is the whole point of her character but it does mean i have a very biased interpretation. i will also say maybe their relationship could work in the context of a romcom, but unfortunately that is not what the bear is.

i love media that is all abt subtext and i’m glad the bear invites a fandom to go wild!!!

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