#as in the scene with tina and him saying ‘you look like syd’

[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

#oh the mis-en-scene of it all <3 #the bear #the bear fx #carmy berzatto #carmen berzatto #anti claire bear #sydcarmy #not necessarily a sydcarmy post but when u think abt him associating their new fits (blue aprons and white shirts) with sydney #as in the scene with tina and him saying ‘you look like syd’ #Many Thoughts To Consider… #the bear meta

[zorrasucia]

Teach Me Tonight - Part 3

[Part 1] [Part 2] Part 3: [Deleted Scene] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Deleted Scene] [Part 8]

Reader x Carmy Berzatto (The Bear FX)

Rating: Explicit (5k)

Tags: Smut, Set sometime after the opening of The Bear, Porn with a little plot, Virgin!Carmy, Oral (M and F receiving), Phone sex, Dream sex, P in V sex, a sprinkle of SoftDom!Carmy at Reader's request, Both Carmy and Reader have a bit of a praise kink

Summary: With everything you had heard earlier, it seemed like sex was another facet of his life where he wouldn't let himself just enjoy stuff. "I want to make you feel good too," you insisted.

It was a foggy day, the cold of Chicago promised a quiet afternoon with few customers. Sydney showed up at the store and invited you to family, saying something about a surprise for Carmy. You quickly closed up and followed her back to the restaurant. Most of the staff knew you by now; Tina cupped your face lovingly, Nat hugged you, and Richie showed you to your seat. Everyone was there except Carmy. 

"What's going on?" you asked Nat in a whisper. 

"He didn't tell you? Of course he didn't tell you," she rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "It's his birthday," she said simply.

"Oh!"

You felt a weight settle in your stomach. How could you not know? You bit the inside of your cheek, trying to hide your nervousness and stopping yourself from crying at the same time. 

"Oh, sweetie," Nat put her arm around you. "You shouldn't feel bad about it. He doesn't tell anyone. The only reason I know is because I'm his sister. We don't do presents or candles or sing because of all the- Well, you know," she gestured vaguely. You nodded. 

You didn't know the whole story but Carmy had let you know bits and pieces of his unstable childhood and the fraught relationship with his Mom, from way before Mike died.

"But Syd wanted to cook something nice for him and Marcus wanted to test a cake recipe, so," she shrugged. You managed a smile. "He'll be happy to see you," she squeezed you to her side.

"Okay, everyone start eating and act fucking normal," Richie bellowed. "We don't want the birthday boy to feel ambushed or whatever. We're having a nice meal, with our neighbor, and there's a random ass cake here for absolutely no reason, okay?"

"Your ass is random, man!" Marcus replied from the other side of the table, cutting slices of what looked like tres leches cake. Fak chuckled between forkfuls of salad.

Sydney had already started passing plates around, it was lamb and salad and it smelled delicious.

"Thanks for inviting me," you told her once she got to you. 

"I mean, you're practically family, right?" she smiled.

By the time Carmy appeared, you were all eating and talking, and he could sneak in and sit by your side almost unnoticed. 

"What's all this?" he asked, looking frantically around the room.

"They asked me to come over for family," you smiled innocently. "It's very good," you added pointing at your plate. 

"No, I mean-" he hesitated, his eyes kept searching for Nat. She was leaning against the door frame and when she saw Carmy, she put her fingers to the corners of her lips and pushed them up, to shape a smile. 'Be happy, okay?' she mouthed.

Carmy nodded, then looked down, a relieved smirk curving his lips. He tried to relax, leaning back on his seat and placing an arm behind your chair. He took the plate Richie brought him and started eating with gusto. 

"So, you know?" he asked after a while. 

"No presents, no candles, no singing," you repeated, knowing it would calm his anxiety a little. "I want to make a suggestion though."

Carmy turned his head quickly. "Yeah?" 

"Yeah," you smiled mischievously. "I think this cake should be like a staple at the restaurant. No way I'm waiting for your next birthday to have it again."

Carmy laughed. After his first bite of the cake he had to agree. "That's fire," he hummed. 

His face looked bright and lovely. Your hand didn't leave his thigh for the rest of the meal. 

You leaned against Carmy's side; he kissed the top of your head and sighed, burying the two of you deeper into the cushions of the sofa. It had been a beautiful day. With his arms around you, you asked him.

"Why don't you like presents on your birthday?"

"Uh- I'm not sure," he replied honestly. His fingers drew pretty shapes on your shoulder. "I guess if you're not expecting anything then you can't be disappointed, right?" 

"I get that," you said after a while. "I just think it's a waste that I sell vintage, and you love vintage, and you don't ask for presents, you know?" you added playfully.

He smiled. "I guess. I think I like it better when it's on a random day, for no reason at all."

"Yeah," you nodded. "Can I do something nice for you, though? Just because I want to, not because it's your birthday," you clarified.

He turned to face you. "Uh- Okay."

You disentangled from his embrace and knelt between his legs on the floor . He tilted his head in confusion. You smiled and grabbed a hair tie from your pocket, making a show of putting your hair in a ponytail. Carmy's eyes widened when your hands ran up and down his thighs, slow, sensual motions that sent shivers up his spine. 

"You don't have to-" he started protesting.

"I want to," you said.

It had come up a couple of times. You'd offer to reciprocate after he'd eaten you out and he would refuse, saying he would rather be inside you. With everything you had heard earlier, it seemed like sex was another facet of his life where he wouldn't let himself just enjoy stuff. 

"I want to make you feel good too," you insisted.

He seemed torn, one of his hands reaching to caress yours.

"You're absolutely free to say no. There's other ways we can have fun but don't say no just because you feel you don't deserve it, Carm. You do. I promise," you said earnestly. 

He bent over to kiss you fiercely. "Alright. Yes. Please," he said.

You moved slowly, undoing his belt and unbuttoning his trousers, watching the rise and fall of his chest as his breathing became more erratic. You pulled his trousers down, towards you, and started touching his thighs gently, raking your fingers through the coarse hair that went down his stomach, palming at the growing bulge over his boxers.

"Uh-" Carmy swallowed. "I have never- So if I don't last just-"

"Hey, it's okay," you reassured him. "Listen, if you last five seconds but you enjoy it, then I'm happy." 

He laughed at that and ran a hand through his hair. "I'll aim for six then," he quipped.

You removed his boxers carefully, his cock was already hard. He groaned when your breath touched his bare skin. You suspected he was right, he wasn't going to last, so you tried to make it worth his while. 

You started by kissing his head, licking the drop of precum in a quick flick of your tongue. It made him shudder with pleasure - and it made you feel powerful, the effect you had on him.

"Let me know if there's something you don't like," you said, your right hand closing loosely around his shaft. He nodded. He was hardly moving and his hands were fisting the cushions of the sofa. "You need to breathe, Carm," you reminded him, your voice had turned husky. You took one of his hands and placed it on your head, his fingers intertwined around your ponytail and you heard him exhale. "Good."

You leaned forward again, kissing around his head, making the kisses open mouthed as you went, letting him get accustomed to the feeling of your lips on him. Your hand started pumping his length, softly, no rhythm to it yet, more a caress than anything.

"You're going to fucking kill me," he rasped, his hand holding tighter to your hair, loosening the ponytail when he massaged your scalp. You moaned against his skin, which made him writhe his hips in return. 

You opened your mouth, taking the first couple of inches of him. You couldn't deep throat, but he didn't seem to mind- your hand was pumping and making up for the rest of his length. He moaned and it made your pussy tingle. 

"You sound so pretty, Carmy," you praised. He chuckled, out of breath. 

You licked the length of his shaft, wetting it enough to help your hand glide easier. You took him again, a little deeper this time, not far enough to make you gag, just enough that he threw his head back in pleasure, the veins of his neck visibly pulsing and his Adam's apple bobbing as he tried in vain to breathe normally. It was all quick gasps and the occasional groan. That was enough teasing, you decided.

You started going back and forth, the rhythm of your mouth echoed with your right hand, the left rested on his knee. He intertwined his fingers with yours, holding tight.

"Please, don't- don't stop," he begged. His face was downwards now, looking you straight in the eye, his pupils were blown and his mouth hung open. "It feels so fucking good. Please, please..."

You sped up, hollowing out your cheeks, moving your left hand so that you were sinking your nails into the muscle of his tattooed forearm. Your underwear was wet with arousal and the sounds he made weren't helping, you pressed your thighs together to get some relief and ended up moaning on his cock.

"Holy fucking shit," he gasped. "I'm sorry, I'm gonna-"

You felt him twitch inside your mouth, every muscle in his body growing tense. He groaned over and over, going quieter each time, letting go completely. Salt covered your tongue in spurts and you did your best to swallow most of it, a little bit of it fell down the corner of your mouth. You slowed down, pumping him until he pulled you off his softening cock, mumbling something about "so good" and "too much". His hand let go of your hair and cupped your face, his eyes were glazed over and blissed out, a loving look to his sweaty face. 

"So fucking good," he managed to say in an exhale. His thumb cleaned the drop of cum off your chin - so carefully, so gently that it warmed your insides. "You're beautiful."

You laughed in disbelief but then you remembered how gorgeous he looked when he emerged from in between your thighs, half of his face completely wet, a turned on blush on his cheeks...

He pulled you up on his lap and kissed you senseless, his tongue caressing your tired lips, humming contentedly into you. You were both a mess: him naked from the waist down, you with your hair completely undone and your underwear soaked.

"Best birthday I've ever had," he said against your lips, his forehead to yours. "Thank you." 

You smiled. "You're welcome. Happy birthday, Carmy." 

~

You had slowly gotten used to sleeping in a bed that smelled like Carmy. Whether it was at your place or his, even if the sheets on his side were cold they still had a hint of salt, smoke, and his expensive aftershave. 

"Get a fucking grip," you reprimanded yourself in a low voice. 

Call me when you get home? 

You sent the text before you could chicken out. He wouldn't leave the restaurant for another hour or so, so you settled on the hotel room bed, the unfamiliar cream colored covers suffocating, the sound of a movie on the TV only making you more antsy. 

When the phone rang, it was a little before midnight. You were comfortable and warm - and completely awake.

"Hey, you okay?" Carmy's voice sounded raspy on the phone. 

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just- I couldn't sleep and-" you chuckled without a hint of humor. It felt silly: it was an overnight trip, you were staying at a nice hotel, and you couldn't sleep because Carmy wasn't there. It was so fucking silly. "Never mind. I'm okay, it's late. I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Hey!" Carmy stopped you from hanging up. "Talk to me. What's up?"

"Fuck," you looked at the ceiling. "I don't know. Nothing bad happened. Actually, the estate sale went great. Uh. This lady had a big collection of dresses, fifties and sixties, beautiful pieces. And shoes! Just tons of them, barely used, Gucci and shit."

"And you got them?" Carmy asked, you could almost hear him frowning.

"Yeah! It's all good stuff and I think it will sell well too."

"That's good," he said, his tone soothing. "So, what's wrong?"

"Uh- I don't know," you repeated. "I came back to the hotel and it was so- just so fucking quiet and it feels wrong, you know?"

Carmy hummed in agreement. 

"I get it," he said after a beat. "When I got here, uh, the apartment was very fucking quiet too. Creeped me out a bit."

You sighed. Maybe it wasn't so silly.

"It helps, though," you said after a beat. "Talking with you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," you smiled. "How was your day?"

"It was absolute shit," he replied.

"Too bad I'm not there to fuck about it," you said. 

Sometimes, when Carmy's day was too bad to even talk about, you would fuck - hard and fast - and then talk about it. Hence, fuck about it. 

Carmy chuckled. "Yeah," you could hear him exhale as he fell heavily on the couch or the bed. "That would actually help a lot."

You bit your lip, feeling your stomach flip a little. "Um, Carm?"

"Mmm?"

"I know you said you hadn't been with anyone before me-" you prompted. "Does that mean you never had phone sex either?"

He coughed loudly on the other side of the line. You pictured him choking on his own cigarette smoke, a deep blush to his cheeks. 

"Sorry?" he asked after a moment.

"I mean that we can still fuck about it... If you want," you offered. "You know, you can say what you would like to do to me, or maybe tell me what I should do... That sort of thing."

"Uh," he hesitated. "I do- I'd like to try but I- I'm not good at playing pretend, you know? Never been, not even as a kid."

"If I do the talking? Would that be better?" 

"Maybe?" his voice sounded ragged but not just from coughing. 

"I've never, uh, taken the lead before but that would, like, even out the playing field, right?" you reasoned, your heart beating faster.

"What- what would that be like?" 

"I could tell you about the nice pajamas I'm wearing," you lowered your voice. "The blue ones?"

"With the shorts and the little bows?" Carmy asked. "You look good in those..."

You opened your legs, your free hand playing with the elastic of your shorts. 

"I wish you would take them off for me, Carm. I wish you would touch me like only you know how. I want your fingers inside me," he cleared his throat on the other side of the line. "Would you like to do that?"

"Yes," his voice was breathy, "I would, yes."

"I want you to do something for me, Carmy," you started teasing between your legs over the fabric of your shorts. "Remember when we first fucked? You closed your eyes and touched yourself to get hard again. Can you do that?"

"Yeah. Yeah," you could barely hear his intake of breath and it still made you shiver.

"You looked so fucking hot, I still think about it when I finger myself," you confessed. You could picture him clearly, the veins of his arms and neck bulging, his head thrown back.

"Shit..." he rasped.

"Can you hold the phone close, Carm? I want to hear you while you touch your cock."

"I want to hear you too... Ah, fuck!"

The sound made you curl your toes with anticipation. You got your hand inside your underwear and traced lines on your folds, caressing slowly.

"I'm already so wet," you said. "Are you hard for me, Carmy?"

"So fucking hard," he drawled and you moaned.

"What would you like me to do?" you asked, trying to keep your voice steady. "If I was there, Carm, what would you like me to do?"

"Ri- Ride me," he managed. 

His breathing was a quick staccato that made your hand pick up speed, spreading wetness around your clit. You sat up on the bed, imagined Carmy underneath you, holding tight to your hips, your hands on his sculpted chest.

"How? How do you want me to- oh, God- ride you?"

"Just- hard," he groaned but it was a muffled sound, he was holding back. 

"Carm..."

"I want you to fucking wreck me," he blurted out.

If he felt like he had fucked up, like he had done something terribly wrong at the restaurant, he liked it to hurt a little, you knew that by now. Maybe the rhythm was punishing, maybe it was way too fast, maybe you denied him his orgasm for a while. Anyway, he was atoning. 

"I want you to touch you like I would, Carmy," you said. "Can you do that for me? Put lube on your hand, hold your cock tight, and go as fast as you can, okay?"

"Yes," it was barely a whisper. But suddenly you could listen - deep growls from way within his chest, rhythmic gasps that grew quicker and quicker. You struggled to catch up with him, your middle and ring fingers pumped in and out of you in tandem with his sounds. 

"Oh, fuck," he rasped. "I can hear it. Jesus Christ."

"It's not the same without you, Carm," you said honestly. Your hand was wet to the palm but you still wanted that fullness only he could make you feel. "I need you inside me, I need you."

"Oh, fuck!"

He got quiet for a second, then groaned a few times, your pussy clenching while he did. You were so close. He sighed into the speaker, relieved and spent - you wanted to be happy for him but you were still on the edge and desperate for release. You kept moaning.

"Have you come?" Carmy asked.

"Not yet," you managed to say.

"Shit."

"I'm close though. Just stay on the line, please."

You could feel it slipping out of your grasp. It wasn't enough to have him listen, you needed something to hold on to. You let out a needy whine.

He read your mind, and in that fucked out voice he said: "That was- holy shit- that was so, so fucking hot. You made me come and you didn't even touch me," you fluttered against your fingers. "Can’t believe you're mine. You're my good girl."

He had never called you that. That was it. The tension within you snapped and you could breathe again. Eyes shut and forehead to the duvet, you could almost feel Carmy's hands touching up your back, tickling at your sides. You let out a shaky laugh.

"Fuck, Carmy. Fuck," you repeated, something warm settling in your belly. 

"You okay?" he said. You had dropped the phone and you heard him far away.

You wiped your hand on your hip and settled back on the bed, tired and a little sweaty. You'd have to shower again in the morning but you found you didn't care right now.

"I'm okay," you replied when you could pick up your phone. "So okay. You?"

"So okay," he repeated with a chuckle. 

"Okay," you let out a big exhale. "Now tell me about your day."

~

You were at The Bear, it was late at night, the lights were dimmed down and there were no patrons. You turned around and found the place empty - ghostly and quiet. 

"Hello?" No one replied.

Now that you thought of it, you didn't know how you got there - couldn't remember, actually. But Carmy was suddenly there too, hands on his hips, wearing his pristine chef's whites. The blue of his eyes popped with the ambience lighting in a way that felt supernatural.

"Carmy," you called but he didn't move.

"On the table," he said brusquely, pointing with his head at the only piece of furniture left in the restaurant. There was no tablecloth or cutlery on it.

"What?" you asked.

"On the fucking table!" he yelled and you obeyed, sitting quickly on it, facing him.

"What's going on?" you asked.

He laughed - it wasn't his usual laugh, soft and floaty - it was a cruel sound, glass like. 

"What's going on, sweetheart, is that I'm going to fuck you, on this table, until you come three times," he said and it sent a shiver down your spine. "Or until you beg me to stop, whatever happens first."

You didn't say a word, you couldn't: he kissed you violently, biting on your lip and grabbing your throat. 

"Carmy, holy shit! Slow down," you pleaded when you parted to catch your breath. 

He stopped but only to spread your legs wide open, his fingers digging into your thighs forcefully, then going up your skirt. He leaned to whisper in your ear:

"You sure you want that?"

His voice was low, caramel like, delicious. You ran a hand up his chest, fisting white fabric, bringing him closer. 

"Good," he said. His fingers shoved your underwear to the side and teased mercilessly.

"Fuuuck," you whined as he made you melt in his hands. 

He was touching you just right, having you soaked and pliant so fast it left you dizzy. He thrust two fingers inside you and started pumping fast, his thumb circling your clit - you thanked your stars that you had showed him early on where it was. Your moans grew louder and longer.

"Are you gonna cum for me?" he asked but it sounded like an order. 

You nodded frantically. 

"Are you gonna let me bend you over this table, fuck your pussy as hard as I want?" 

"Yes, please, fuck," you whined. 

Just before the knot within you could unravel, the bright light of morning rushed through the window and made you squeeze your eyes and cover your face. And suddenly you weren't at The Bear, you were at Carmy's place, warm in his bed. It was Sunday, you remembered.

"Oh, fuck," you mumbled. 

Carmy was right next to you, twisting to face you as he woke up too.

The mornings you shared were few and far between, the occasional day off, the days when you had to get up early to take a train for a sale out of town... They were precious, you loved to see Carmy with sleepy eyes, reaching out for you from under the covers. You smiled and stared at him. 

"Morning," you said, feeling a little weird about your dream. 

"Mornin'," he slurred with his eyes closed. "You sleep okay?" 

"Uh-huh," you tried to sound casual. "You?"

"Yeah," you let him pull you in closer, his nose brushed the side of your neck. And his hard on brushed your thigh. 

"Oh!" your heart raced - the one thing that still remained from your dream was the wetness between your legs.

"Shit," Carmy covered his face with his hand. "I'll, uh, I'll take care of it. Don't worry about it."

You cleared your throat nervously. "Actually-"

You didn't know where to begin so you simply grabbed his hand and showed him how wet you were, even through your underwear he could tell. His eyes widened.

"Wh- What- Why?"

"Uh, I dreamt of you," you said simply. 

"What about?" he asked. You shrugged. "I mean, if you liked whatever happened in your dream that much, we could..." he let the offer float. He had that curious look about him.

You bit your lip. It had been good, so good. But it made you feel a little embarrassed about the things that you wanted, what they meant about you.

"We were- Well, you fingered me and- yeah," you hoped he would be satisfied with that. 

"Oh," he sounded a little disappointed but he obliged. "Sure, we can do that." 

He scooted closer still, his hand and the way he moved was gentle and sweet. And completely wrong. You took his wrist and stopped him.

Carmy looked up in concern. "Did I hurt you?"

You shook your head. "I'll- I'll tell you about my dream but promise me you won't laugh," you pressed your hands on his chest. He nodded solemnly. "Even if we don't end up doing it because it's not your thing just- Don't laugh, okay?"

"I won't," he promised. 

"Okay," you took a deep inhale. "So I dreamt that we were at the restaurant. We were all alone, it was late at night and you- Well, you told me to get on a table and that you would make me come three times," you blushed furiously. "You kissed me and you fingered me. You said you would bend me over on the table and fuck me hard. And then I woke up."

"Shit," Carmy said.

"Yeah."

"Was I- Was I different?" he asked. 

"You were a little mean."

"And you were into it?" nothing about his tone betrayed disgust or revulsion.

"I didn't think I would be, but yeah," you replied honestly. 

Carmy ran a hand through his hair and stared at you for a little bit.

"You know I'm not good at the pretending thing," he said and you nodded. "But I think I can fuck you on the table until you come three times."

You felt like you had the wind knocked out of you. 

Before you knew it, you were both naked, kissing in the middle of his kitchen, his hands under your thighs as he placed you on the table. 

"I'm gonna need you to keep count for me," he said, lowering to his knees between your legs. That was the last thing he said before devouring you.

You knew Carmy was competitive but you didn't know it would extend to a dream version of him. He became laser focused: his only goal was to be a better lover than dream Carmy, make you come undone faster and harder than he ever could. Without preamble, he hooked two fingers inside you, curling non-stop, making you gasp for air. His mouth worked tirelessly licking and sucking at your clit, getting satisfaction every time you pulled at his hair. In minutes, he had you bucking your hips frantically, trying to fuck his face. You screamed and heaved and cursed, grabbing to the edge of the table for dear life. 

"How many?" he demanded once he got up from between your legs, wiping his face clean with his forearm. His voice sounded rough and you could see a glimpse of the cut-throat chef he used to be back in New York. You felt the aftershocks of your orgasm go through you one more time. 

"One," you replied.

He grabbed your hips and brought you down from the table, then flipped you over. You heard the condom wrapper hit the floor, then, immediately felt his breath on the back of your neck as he lined up his cock to your pussy. He wasn't careful before and he wasn't careful now, going all the way inside you in a swift motion. It was pleasure and pain in even measures, it was exactly what you asked for. Your knees trembled underneath you but Carmy held you upright. 

"Holy shit," was all you could say before succumbing to the rhythm of his hips against yours.

It was slow, purposeful. One of his hands played with your nipples while the other pressed on your clit. It was too much. You took the hand on your clit and placed it on your neck instead, remembering the way Carmy had kissed you in the dream, holding you possessively. Your Carmy didn't press at all, he caressed the column of your throat with careful fingers, kissed the side of it with devotion. It made you melt onto the tabletop. The feeling of your bare chest on the wooden surface and the sound of his hips clapping against yours turned you on even more. It took you by surprise when you started fluttering on Carmy's cock, your release almost gentle, a series of soft needy moans the only outer indication that you had come.

When you regained your bearings, your cheek to the table and your ass up in the air, you said with an unsteady voice:

"Two."

One of his hands soothed down your spine, a silent question being asked: Do you still want to go on? Can you do one more? You reached for his hand and squeezed it, using the strength you had left to get off the table and turn to face Carmy. He was a sweaty mess, curls falling on his forehead, red in the face from edging his orgasm to give you three. You didn't think you could love anyone more than you loved him right then.

"Carmy."

"I'm here. I'm right here," he maneuvered you gently to lay on your back over the table, his eyes on yours. You hummed contentedly. He lifted your legs, placing one on each shoulder and giving you a shy smile - you realized he had actually read the sex book you had bought him as a joke. You giggled. He didn't do anything in half measures. 

This time, his motions weren't calculated and cold. The tenderness when he soothed your back and caressed your neck had bled into everything else. His hips stuttered every now and then, his fingers touched your ankles gently, and his eyes were fixed on you. It was perfect. 

"I'm close," you whispered, one of your hands playing with your chest, the other reaching behind you to the edge of the table. You felt weightless. "You can let go, Carmy."

It was all a blur: the swirl of electricity down your body, the beautiful sounds that you made together, and the feeling of him falling on top of you. 

"Shit! I'm sorry I'm crushing you," he mumbled on your skin, his arms flexing as he lifted himself up. You looked up at him and cupped his face, the post-coital glow and the morning light making him look angelic.

"Thank you," you said and he smiled. "It was good, better than I imagined."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Right then, your stomach growled audibly. You covered your face with your hands, mortified. He peeled them off and leaned to nuzzle against your cheek. 

"Pancakes?" he offered in a whisper.

You laughed and turned your head to kiss the tip of his nose. "Yes. Please."

[Deleted Scene]

[Part 4]

#still not done with this apparently #soon the virgin!carmy tag will be completely obsolete and it makes me a little sad #carmen berzatto x reader #carmen berzatto x you #carmy berzatto x reader #carmy berzatto x you #carmy x reader #carmy x you #carmen berzatto fanfiction

[gingerylangylang1979]

Reddit and Twitter need this most but I won’t, because reasons

I have said before I don’t think ALL the Camry and Sydney hate is racially motivated but PLENTY of it is. It’s Richonne 2.0. This isn’t new to me.

There is the outright racist coded comments like claiming Sydney has to be a lesbian, has to be asexual, looks like Kendrick Lamar (yes, it was said), along with the inability to ever empathize with her character.

But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about unconscious bias with people who don’t get that they feel the way they do because Sydney is black. So anyone reading this may want to take a moment and honestly examine what I’m saying.

Unconscious bias is, for example, the thing that leads doctors, sometimes even black ones, to presume that black people don’t feel pain in the same way whites do. It’s not necessarily malicious intentional action or obvious hatred towards us. It’s subtle perceptions that change how one views the nature and capabilities of black people while still being able to be friends with them, respect certain qualities about them, and maybe even at times be allies. But there is always something different in perception that is so invisible that you aren’t aware of it.

I've seen it in white people, strangers and acquaintances, making assumptions about what I’m into or should be, what my education and earnings are, and who I should be friends and lovers with. It’s the thinking we can always handle anything and not be burdened. It’s what is happening a lot with Sydney, especially with Carmy.

People are allowed to not like the ship. They don’t have to. I’m not going to assume everyone who doesn’t is racist. But for anyone who doesn’t I think it would be beneficial to examine a few things.

Viewing the first scene between them, how would you interpret Carmy’s taken aback, entranced, nervous reaction to seeing her? To me it obviously says attraction and surprise. If there is another explanation I’ve never heard it. People just gloss over that interaction and I think it’s a tell. It shows that people may not be able to see him showing signs of attraction to her because she doesn’t look like who you would expect him to be attracted to.

2. How would you explain the way Carmy is constantly looking at Sydney closely like he doesn’t look at anyone else? When we see her from his perspective she if glowy or hazy or out of focus. We don’t see that with any other characters he interacts with aside from that finale flashback with Mikey. He doesn’t look at Sugar like that. Syd is the only one who gets special framing. If you’ve never noticed, why?

3. If you think Syd could be a lesbian or asexual, why her and not for instance Tina, or others on the crew? Sex isn’t referenced a lot so why is it not being referenced with her any different than it not being referenced with others? Often people assume a woman who dresses tomboyish is just that. Why can’t that just be her style? I have plenty of women friends that are straight and sexual with a similar style.

4. Could you imagine the scenes with Syd and Carmy if a man was in Sydney’s place? What would you think of the vibe?

5. Could you see Ayo in the Claire role?

6. Could you see Jeremy and Ayo playing love interests in a totally different show?

7. If Molly Gordon plays Syd could you better picture her with Carmy?

8. When you see a dark skinned black woman in a couple with a white man IRL does it make you especially take notice or feel it’s a bit off?

9. Does the thought of Sydney and Carmy kissing or being intimate make you have an extreme reaction like eeew or gross? Maybe not so extreme does it make you feel awkward to think about it?

10. Do you often compare their relationship to siblings?

11. Can you recognize the Syd isn’t into Marcus romantically and has other options?

12. Can you only envision Sydney alone and not needing romance because her career is all she needs?

13. Do you think maybe Carmy could find her attractive if she looked more glamorous?

14. Could you more easily see Carmy into Syd if she was played by Zendaya or someone that looks similar?

15. Have you never seen a couple that looks like Syd and Carmy?

16. if you saw the Emmy magazine photo shoot did you not perceive the touchy pose with Ayo and Jeremy as sexually suggestive and think it’s an impossibility?

17. How do you think Clairs would react if she saw all of their interactions?

18. Is it easy to view Sydney as having complex motivations and emotions at the same time? Can you possibly see that she’s jealous of Claire because she distracted Carmy from business AND because she has feelings for Carmy? Is it possible to think she can view Carmy as a boss, mentor, and someone she is attracted too and that’s hard to process?

All of these things may not apply to your perception but if any do realize these are very common examples of how unconscious bias plays out when thinking of black women, especially in storytelling. This is a lot of what has historically been seen with similar ships and IRL mixed couples. That’s not to discount the numerous white man, white woman ships that people don’t like, but these things are consistently present with black women and white men presented in the media and celebrity couples. There is always more scrutiny with these pairings.

You may not have a context to understand that. You may have never been questioned in this way. You may be angered to think it’s possible this is a role in how you are viewing things, but it’s the truth based on lived experience and observation. It’s worth examining.

I’m not here to be hostile, I’m just trying to voice in a gentle way what so many here already know and you may not be aware of or ready to think about.

I’m not going to argue with anybody about it but any intelligent, respectful dialogue is welcome and encouraged.

#the bear fx #carmy x sydney #chefs kiss

[thoughtfulchaos773]

Fixing & Empathy

This is a long one- and of course, I'm talking about the table scene. But it's such a great example here.

How Carmy connects with Syd and Claire shows the difference between Empathy and Fixing. Fixing is our instinct when our partner is in feelings of discomfort; we sympathize and try to see the silver lining for this person; we want to solve their problems instead of sitting in pain with our partner. Empathy, you're showing someone you care and understand; it's finding something within you to connect to the other person. This is the art of vulnerability.

Fixing

Claire: When we were, like, six, she, uh, fell off a fence and broke her arm, and it scared the sh¡t out of everybody? Except me, I just, like, sat there and stared at her arm.

Carmy: 'Cause you wanted to fix it?

Claire: I wanted to understand it.

Carmy: Right.

This has become my favorite interaction of the Claire & Carmy storyline. It's the summary of their relationship, a foreshadowing, if you will.

If I fill in the blanks, she is a fixer, at least in romantic relationships. I know Molly said with Carmy it's the first time Claire has stood up for herself. Maybe that's what she means: Claire wants to fix her partners; she's an enabler, as @moodyeucalyptus said. Enabling is when someone else will always fix, solve, or make the consequences disappear, and I noticed this dynamic in 2x08.

2x08: She listens to his problems and reminds him that everything is fine the night after his panic attack. When Claire asks Carmy what he's thinking about. He can't be honest that he's still thinking about the suppression test because she will attempt to fix it. He does not trust her with his feelings of discomfort. The fixing Claire does is futile support.

The way she attempts to fix Carmy, we hear through Carmy himself. A panic attack about his family gatherings - Claire's solution is finding a new meaning, making the cannolis your own. chaos menu? Could you try making it something you care about?

Can she truly understand and connect with what he's feeling? Carmy not defining their relationship could mean the lack of a bond on Carmy's part.

Part of the solution to Carmy's dilemmas on the show lies in connecting - moving out of the constant state of isolation.

Connection improves Carmy; when he initiates contact, he becomes a better version of himself. He stops screaming, gets out of his head, and can provide for others and inspire them.

All the above matches what he does for Tina, Richie, Marcus, Ebrahim, and most of all, Sydney.

It's like what Luca says in 2x04- being inspired by someone, bettering ourselves because of the person next to us- and really getting out there in the world means opening ourselves up to other people, which is what Carmy and Syd do for each other- they use empathy as a source of bonding.

Blocking was talked about for their scenes before, how one always initiates closeness- Carmy usually does that, especially in season 2. That need for contact - touching Syd on her back and shoulders - shows Carmy's longing for closeness with Sydney.

Before I get to empathy, Here's the thing: I know people hate to say that Carmy relies on Sydney or that she's his peace argument, but this does not mean Sydney actively tries to fix Carmy. Just Sydney's presence ignites change in him; just by her honesty, he's willing to try and be there for someone and get out of that place where he's hiding within himself. Sometimes, it's forgotten that social isolation can impact our mental health, and bonding with others can make positive changes.

Empathy

"...empathy is kind of this sacred space. When someone's kind of in a deep hole, and they shout out from the bottom, and they say hey it's dark, I'm overwhelmed, and then we look, and we say, "Hey," we come down."I know what it's like down here, and you're not alone."

-Brene Brown

I talked about the table scene fifty-eleven times. It makes a great example of the connection Carmy feels to Sydney.

When we're with people - our person - they make us want to be better. We don't fear a future; we expect a future with this person. There's this knowing Carmy has about Sydney; he knows whatever this relationship is, they'll work on it.

Carmy & Sydney show us the correct way to deal with your partner's feelings is empathy- listening to one another, instead of correcting emotions- you get in the hole- or table with them and express your own fears. He leaves space for Sydney to share her concerns and doesn't try to correct those feelings. He affirms and tells her he's right there with her (I fuck things up all the time), and he's honest- the without-you dialogue isn't just to make her feel better. It's his own moment of vulnerability.

When Carmy says I won't let you, I think he will hold his side and make it easier so they can fix themselves. All while empathizing with each other during their partnership.

Writing this makes the scene of the walk-in even more heartbreaking. Carmy was in the dark hole- calling for Sydney to bond with him; they couldn't help each other :(.

This is why I can't blame Carmy for screaming at Richie; he sort of begged Richie for empathy, but Richie judged him- causing panic at that moment and more isolation.

Though the end of season two was heartbreaking, I have faith we'll get more intimate, empathetic scenes despite the fall in season two.

This is a roundabout way to say- whether they end up together romantically or not (they will i just say this for the sycarmy doubters), Carmy pretty much confirms his bond with Sydney is unlike any other he's experienced, and no one can replace what he feels for her- even if someone is sitting at their table.

SIDEBAR: Read this insightful post by @bioloyg about Carmy fixing himself.

I've referenced Brene Brown's Empathy Vs. Sympathy

#the bear meta #sydcarmy #the bear fx #anticlaire #carmy x sydney #carmy berzatto #carmen berzatto #sydney x carmy #chefs kiss #i think the sydcarmy tag is frozen

[melfinawins]

I originally posted this in a reblog to @melonatures, but I'ma post it here.

Since you posted this, I haven't been able to forget it. I love it, but it took a little bit to figure out why these two gifs are particularly great.

I love your gifset. Let me explain all the ways:

"No, no, no. Fak's not my best friend."

I love how Carmy's face is turned away from the camera for a moment. And he hesitates and looks towards his front door where Syd just left. But then he agrees that Neil is his best friend. Which is totally fine! But I wonder if he was pressed by say, Nat or Richie he'd say the same thing. Fak is best friends to everyone, but is he Carmy's? I dare say Carmy's best friend is Syd, considering we're shown in the show how they are quietly and steadily laying the groundwork for a long, strong and substantial partnership. A partnership that is also a relationship.

We know that Carmy is working with Syd to reach her goal of a Michelin star, stars he thinks are bullshit. This is her goal but he's more than happy to help her reach it, to the point that he's willing to give her hands-on training on how to perfect a dish. Perfection requires fine tuning and precise decisions. Syd is an amazing chef early in her career, and has the makings of a wunderkind on the food scene if she can harness her natural abilities and training. I think Carmy sees that in her and admires it. I think he's attracted to her love of food and by spending time with her on the menu and just hanging out, it's reminding him that, even if he became a chef to spite Mikey, he actually loves it, he just didn't want to do it alone.

In working together to make the menu for The Bear, which will also help Syd get the star she covets, they've gotten close (more close than sitting behind the shop and commiserating), even if it's how they each come to their ideas about menus. In Honeydew, Luca tells Marcus that he experiences life and that's a part of what makes him a better chef. Sydney already does this. We see in Sundae how Syd gets inspiration for dishes, as well as her getting ideas in dreams (shortrib and risotto). Carmy is by the book, but I think he likes the way Syd thinks. That man would have never put chips on Nat's omelette! But I think Syd craves his wealth of knowledge and experience and ability to edit himself. We see in an episode where she realizes she's doing too much to a dish with Tina. Carmy helps her by hearing the ingredients and giving advice; I love Tina and everybody else, but only Carmy can provide that for her. They really do compliment each other, and learn about each other through their cooking.

"I fe- sorry, I feel like I should have known that, or, or- something--"

Makes sense that Carmy was mistaken! I think he's gotten to know aspects of Syd over a short period of time and in this scene he's maybe noticing that Syd holds things close to her chest. Omission plays a big role in her psyche. He can't just assume that she's okay or that she's an open book, because she's not.

Like mentioned above, I think Carmy is learning a lot about Syd through their menu creating. He's listening to her stories and anectdotes, laughing at her humor and learning about what she values through the food she creates. They have such symmetry through food, he assumed (incorrectly) that he knew more about her than he did. Because Syd is bringing back his love of food and the two of them really do communicate their desires through food. Syd loves taking care of people. But so does Carmy! They both don't want to use tweezers on food they don't care about. They want to use tweezers to show how much they love people lol

I love his stuttering in this gif because this man lost the plot and thought he could substitute communicating through food with actual communication. Example: Bro really was confused when Syd wasn't happy about the wall being torn down. By his logic, he tore the wall down for her, like he's working on the menu for her, so what's the big deal? (Someone save this man.) He's very action oriented, so it flew right by him that making a menu with Claire for Syd wasn't it, because he thought doing this action was what she wanted--like he said in that particular scene. But Syd wants communication and hands-on training (😏😏😏), because they're doing this together and if he just wants to put a menu together without her, she can just go somewhere else and make bullshit no-love tweezer dishes. They're supposed to be doing this for the love of food, not to just make money.

And even though they talk to each other via food, it doesn't make up for the other way they can and should communicate: straight up talking.

But The Table ™️ scene shows, in my opinion, that he's learning that. "Say more, please."

Anyway! I love this gifset melonatures. Sorry if this broke any Tumblr edicate. I loved your gifset. Thanks for making it! ❤️

#sydcarmy #carmen berzatto #sydney adamu #carmy x sydney #syd x carmy

[unlikelyjapan]

s2e2 rewatch notes

Back on the horse - less wine this time, but probably some of the same analysis you've heard before:

Carmy + Syd all matchy-matchy walking down the hall to "She Drives Me Crazy" by fine young cannibals <3 - and Carmy so badly wants to learn more details about her Dad in that scene.

After sawing open the locker, Carmy immediately passes the hat to Richie (knowing that will give him the kind of comfort he needs) and then instantly moves to self-soothing himself by asking Sydney over to the apartment to work on the menu.

Someone on here already pointed this out, but I didn't see how marked it was until a rewatch - Marcus was *totally* trying to divert Syd's attention right after the invite by requesting "more inspiration" (even syd seems surprised by the timing). There wasn't even a scene break, so we can't blame it on editing - they're really working OT to draw our attention to the 'triangle'.

Carmy's "at least you can rely on him. Is your mom cool" - "So, your dad...." man he's really needling her, this episode is a lot of him trying to connect and getting (nicely) rebuffed - I can't imagine how those soft slights play over in his messed-up head.

Sugar's whole toilet monologue "We don't try new things - we keep doing the exact same things with the exact same people" followed in the next beat by "Who doesn't want easy? Who doesn't want to just be fucking okay?" was a (maybe too tidy) synopsis for the whole series. It's Ebra vs. Tina's perspectives. It's Carmy with Claire vs. Syd. It's Richie's aversion to change vs. understanding his life needs to move on by force.

To be honest, the whole saccharine meet-cute vs. Syd with her Dad parallel play was harder to sit through the second time, but I did it:

The Radiator story was offered up about Syd's mom being more competent than Emmanuel, and how that made her so attractive to him. This is followed by Syd revealing how high the stakes and sacrifices are with her and Carmy with the relationship restaurant.

Emmanuel has an inkling that Carmy is "the man" from the radiator story, and (protective dad-mode activated) his daughter as far too equally competent and vulnerable for such an arrangement (which is on the nose, given these scenes are spliced with foreshadowing at the grocery store).

Followed by Syd revealing how high the stakes and sacrifice are with her and Carmy and the pursuit of the restaurant - her dad seeing carmy as "the man" and her as far too competent for such a hashed arrangement.

Emmanuel says "The restaurants - they're hard and they don't work out" - it's almost like he's echoing/warning her about a relationship with Carmy. "It doesn't mean that YOU won't" - this is literally how all conversations go with concerned parents after you bust out a spontaneous engagement announcement, ha.

Syd gives the classic rebuttal - "I'm in a better place in my life - I've learned a lot of lessons - I know what I'm doing"

After he asks if she trusts him, and after a quiet moment she scoffs - it's almost like she's thinking about saying something else before she pivots and talks about it being weird that she's older than her mom was when she died now, bringing it back to something she knows he can relate to.

She also doesn't quite believe she's "just as wonderful" as her mom - and/or can't take compliments. Syds are made in the same factory that Carmy's come from I guess *sobs*

MEANWHILE - standard meet-cute stuff and bashful Carm, until Carmy almost seems taken aback when Claire says ""because I wanted to understand it" re: the whole broken-arm thing. He takes a beat, looking away, before stuttering his throwaway "th...that was at roosevelt?" line. It obviously derailed him, as it doesn't compute with his idea of care.

I didn't catch this before, but the conviction in the whole "Because you're the bear and I remember you" line delivery is more forceful and less murmured than all the other lines - if you think she's guessing/nostalgic/riffing with him here, I have a bridge to sell you. She talks with Fak, Tiff etc - girl is on her game with reconissance.

#the bear fx #the bear season 2 #the bear spoilers #carmen berzatto #syd x carmy #the bear #tina the bear #sydney x carmy #carmy berzatto #carmy x sydney

[sydcarmyfan]

Love at First Fight

I am a big LANY fan and their song ‘Love at first fight’ makes me think of Carmy in season 1 after Sydney quits.

Part of the lyrics are:

‘’We were under the moonlight, clenching your jaw

And that's when I saw the fire in your eyes

Clothes on the floor, you stormed out the door

And that's when I knew that I can't live without you

It was sparks at first sight

But it was love at first fight’’

Throughout season 1, we saw Carmy have fights with Richie and others, but the fight in episode 7 which made Syd quit was huge and the consequences left Carmy pretty sad as we see in episode 8. Remember, Fak asking the machine, ‘’do you ever feel sad?’’ and the robot/machine says, ‘’Of course, I do, Neil. But I don’t talk about it.’’ Then it cuts to Carm and Tina in the kitchen and Tina asks, ‘’what time is Syd coming in?’’ That man is sad, but he doesn’t talk about it, then in an earlier scene in episode 8, Tina said, ‘’you are not annoying like usual.’’ In the same scene, he looked at Tina and said,’’ you’re dressed like Syd’’, which kind of told us why he looked like a wounded puppy all episode. He was thinking about the fight and the fact that Syd broke up with him. Broke up? They were not dating, you say. I know that they were not dating but Syd’s resignation definitely felt like she was dumping him, it was not simply quitting. Also, Carmy finding Syd’s notebook was like an ex boyfriend finding an item his ex girlfriend left behind after she dumps him and walks out of their shared apartment. It is the way Carmy turns the pages with so much care that makes it even more adorable.

The last episode shows Carmy causing a fire. That man was ready to let it burn (in Usher’s voice) because Carmy didn’t know what to do without his boo thing; that man was teary in the walk-in and looked like he could not breath. Anyway, going back to the lyrics above, it hit Carmy that he couldn’t do it without Sydney (which he confirms in season 2 under the table scene) after their first fight and that’s why he texts her to apologise talking about ‘no acid’ like boy, you better say the words ( in Mikey’s voice). Also, Carmy giggling like a school girl with a crush when Syd texts ‘shove it up your ass’ was beautiful. Carmy may have felt the sparks at first sight, but he surely was in love at first fight!!!

I thought that the moment Carmy had feelings was when he said, ‘’family style? Two tops? booths?’’, but after everyone’s reply in this post, I am thinking that every moment with Syd, Carmy falls a little bit more, which explains why he runs away to Claire in season 2; he was trying to avoid falling more in love with Syd because ‘’who doesn’t want easy?’’( in Nat’s voice) and because he is with Claire, a woman he used to draw in his sketchbook, Carmy probably first thinks that because of the drawings and familiarity with Claire that things will be easy which is wrong because Carm is not satisfied (and probably feels shitty) as we see after his ‘intimate’ scene with Claire as this man had his eyes wide open and stressed after an intimate act. We keep thinking that Carm is avoiding fun, but who is he avoiding having fun with because it sure ain’t Claire. That man is avoiding having fun with Sydney because he is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

#carmy x syd #carmy x sydney #sydcarmy #syd x carmy #sydney x carmy #chef's kiss #sydneyadamu #syd x carmen #sydney adamu

[loveabledirtbag]

1.06 - ceres

the one second lead in: the music, the handwashing, the VOICE, and then it’s him! jon bernthal!!! jon bernthal is mikey

and the moment you realize he’s mikey, it makes you hit your head. because you saw the back of his head for a second and who else could it be? you heard him speak to carmy in carmy’s head and who else sounds like that? every rewatch you will see him and hear him before this episode and think to yourself: “how the FUCK did i not know it was him the moment we got that glimpse of him?”

i love that mikey is wearing a beef shirt, just like richie does in the present day

i love the charisma of this story. that mikey can talk about being drunk and high at 6:45am with richie and we the audience are just like “hell yeah, what a night!” and how in the flash forward and in future episodes we see the immediate narration from the creative team behind the scenes telling us: no, no, no. this is BAD

this is the most chicago story of all time. ceres bar, savvy, bill murrey, blackhawks. just pure chicago

i love that the quick mention that richie went behind the bar to grab a informational pamphlet about ceres, the goddess of agriculture, and about ceres the bar, and how it will come back to play in the episode when richie talks to syd

fun fact: in the restaurant where present day richie is on a date; the kitchen of that (real chicagoan) restaurant is where they filmed carmy’s new york kitchen flashback in episode two. it’s funny that the kitchen was played off as new york, but the dining room was set in chicago where it actually is

the quick snap to the present to listen to richie/no-charisma richie/lost-without-his-best-friend-richie is so good. because mikey is so engaging that we totally forgive and forget the element of the story where he was drunk and high at 6:45 in the morning at a bar. but when richie tells the story it’s deeply sad and we realize it’s sad. and it makes me wonder how much of mikey’s problems weren’t dealt with because he was charismatic? how many people thought he was totally fine until he died, and then looked at the people around him and saw how sad they were and realized how sad mikey must have been?

i saw a really funny post online where someone was saying they thought richie must have been skimming off the top of the bear because he was wearing a $6,000 suit that was perfectly tailored to him. which is hilarious to me, because this is a tv show. carmy is wearing a $60-$120 t-shirt. A T-SHIRT! we’re being told that both of these guys are broke-ish, operating a broke sandwich shop. they’re not stealing from the shop, they’re characters on a tv show. i love the idea of richie skimming from the top, but as we see more and more as the show goes on, richie is committed and wouldn’t do that

that song that plays as we come into the beef. i’m blanking on the name, but it also played in ferris bueller’s day off, which is also set in chicago. i’m just assuming it’s a “chicago song”? i like it though

richie twisting his poor date as HER fault as he recounts it to tina. so real. i’ve talked to a lot of richie’s who go on a lotta dates and when they tell me about it afterwards it’s always THEIR DATES fault, and never their own. “no sense of humor, no sense of chicago history”. not, “we’re in our 40’s and i’m trying to entertain and impress her with a bill murrey story about being high and drunk at a bar at 6:45am”

“OK LISTEN UP! okay, i just yelled like that?” “yeah, make it worth it” THATS HOW YOU RUN A FUCKING KITCHEN! like, i know carmy gets so much shit for how he runs the kitchen, and i’m not trying to excuse his NUMEROUS faults. like with his mental health, how he expresses his feelings in a professional setting, and his obvious shortcomings with managing a shop. BUT a dishwasher felt empowered to make an announcement to the whole shop about taking tape off of bins they toss in the sink, and i love it. it’s the little details that show that carmy IS actually a good, caring, empowering boss who probably deserves to be the boss. he just also has his struggles, which is why he needs sydney. which is kinda the point of the show? or at least one of the points

ok. i know that i complain about syd a lot; WHICH I DONT WANT TO, because syd is the best. BUT i think it’s overlooked that the show does try to balance syd and carmy. neither are perfect. and it shows here where syd is diving into a conversation about her new dish, and carmy REPEATEDLY tells her “now is not a good time, can we do this later”, but she barrels on ahead. now, can we assume that she’s probably tried to talk with him more than just this once? sure. but how do you expect to get carmy’s OK if he’s saying “not right now” and you insist “now”? i really like how this show gives both carmy and sydney faults. i like that syd is as excited and peppy as carmy is hesitant and a bit cynical. it’s very: elder service industry vs. new service industry. when i started out i was very syd, and by the time i left i was very carmy

another mention of the story arch for risotto, and the to-go! now they’re lumped together. risotto to go (which is fun to say) AND also, is kinda weird and hard to do. risotto is a sticky mess and if it’s anything less than perfect is barely worth eating and to-go’s thrive on food that is worth eating when it’s less than perfect. because it’s been sitting in a box for 10min - 1 hour. 15 minutes in and risotto is crap

the fact that carmy says: “i’m thinking about it. have you thought about the work flow? have you talked to manny and angel (about dishes)?” and when syd says “yes” he says “okay. now you know where i’m coming from. we have just gotten this place to a kinda functioning, chill place. i’d like to keep it that way for just a bit.” shows a good amount of managerial insight. like, i love syd for wanting to jump into these ideas and work towards creating the restaurant she dreams of with carmy. but the hardened realism from carmy of “this is a journey, and there are a lot of working parts, and a lot of those working parts are human beings who we need to make sure are onboard with coming in this journey with us. so we can’t just forge ahead and have them dragging their feet behind us”

of course, that good moment of managing then follows right into carmy not knowing how to work with the irs with the beefs taxes. which is so fitting. carmy is good with food, and (in my opinion) respecting people who aren’t pretentious. he’s not good at business. but nat is (��foreshadowing!!!!!)

carmy and cat saying “you’re yikes” to richie is so on point. and richie hopping into their sibling chat, like he thinks he belongs (because he does think he belongs in family talks) is also on point.

“i know exactly where it is” SMASH CUT to nat and carm in the office NOT FINDING IT. this is comedy gold. rough, gritty, painful, amazing, comedy gold

it’s interesting that in a scene where we focus on the end of it, the beginning of it we see richie burst out the door and sigh looking like he’s absolutely exhausted and the ONLY thing that can save him is a cigarette. thats when he looks over and sees the bar closed. but why would he be exhausted? we know the place hasn’t opened yet. we also know he doesn’t do anything except man the register (and “manage”, whatever he thinks that means for himself). so his job hasn’t really started yet, but he’s exhausted already??? we know he suffers from dread (from episode four) and takes xanax. i wonder if he was having a panic attack come on and a quick smoke was going to help soothe the nerves. not that i know from experience or anything….

if you think marcus sleeping on the floor of the kitchen isn’t something that has happened at your favorite restaurant…HAHA, so sorry to disappoint you. for a million reasons it happens. sometimes there are people so obsessed with getting something that they stay late and don’t want to go home just to come back, sometimes they are homeless (either short or long term) and it’s all they got. but it has probably happened at your favorite restaurant. sorry if that bothers you

i like the back and forth between syd and richie here. syd is reaching out in a generally nice and friendly manner, and richie responds mostly in kind. but richie’s somewhat hypocritical response of being sad the bar is closing, because it is another spot that he see’s as “his” that is closing. even if he was pseudo-banned from the bar. it wasn’t the bar he went to, but it was in HIS neighborhood. that makes it HIS community. like family. you don’t have to see eye to eye, to appreciate them in your life and be sad when something bad happens to them

but it’s also nice to hear syd’s side of things: these older (maybe dingier) places are shutting down and being replaced by “nicer” spots, because in her mind the people of the neighborhood deserve nice drinks and food

i love the sorta surface level debate about gentrification this show brings up. because richie likes what the river north neighborhood had to offer: the beef. the bar next door. these familiar places for working class, everyday people. sydney likes that nicer/trendier places are coming in because that’s gotta be “good for the community” as everyone says when something like that goes into a “rougher” neighborhood. i remember like 15 years ago gentrification was a GOOD THING in so many (white, conservative and neo-liberal) circles. a “good restaurant” was going to bring jobs, class, and clientele from outside the neighborhood to come into the neighborhood and spend their money, and then there will be more money for this neighborhood. of course, most of the people in those neighborhoods learned that as time went on, more “nice” places moved in, and they brought in more “nice” people from outside neighborhoods, and suddenly real estate prices went up, and suddenly rent went up, and suddenly those “nice” people from out of the neighborhood started moving in, and suddenly the businesses and the people who had been in that neighborhood for generations were getting squeezed out. i know richie is concerned about gentrification (even if that word is never used) out of his own selfish purposes, and his own fears of himself being squeezed out as the beef gets better. but i don’t think he’s fully wrong in what he’s saying. the owner of that bar lost his business, people who worked there lost their jobs. a sweet green is going in across the street. the river north he was raised in is disappearing, and without the love and anchoring of his best friend, he might disappear too.

in this talk between richie and sydney, we see richie pull out his knowledge of cerses again! he clearly read that pamphlet deeply. and also he must have identified with cerses a lot if he has retained all this info. but again, richie isn’t dumb, he loves phillip k. dick. he reads. he might be bad at stories, and explaining his analogies properly, but he’s not dumb. i love the poorly spoken idea of richie talking about the ceres statue not having a face, because when it was built it was the tallest building in chicago, no one could see it, so why would it need a face if no one could see its face? but then as time went on buildings rose up higher than the statue and now everyone could see it has no face. we know richie feels connected to ceres (his voicemail is bill murrey saying that they’ve reached “the goddess of agriculture”). he’s the statue with no face. he used to feel like he was on top of chicago, but now everyone is rising up past him, the beef is getting updated with a classically trained menu, and they can see that he has no face. which actually says more about him, than the others around him. he says they’re ruining things by making “bigger buildings”/changing the beef/improving the beef. but he’s actually scared that they’re going to improve to a place where everyone can see that he actually “has no face”/he’s not as good or important as he says he is. they’re going to grow up around him, and not need him anymore. he sees it as ruining a perfectly good statue, but really he’s reacting out of fear

i love that his talk about gentrification and the neighborhood changing too much is then interrupted by a bullet going through the window. the neighborhood isn’t changing too much

plus, his first move is to talk to the mobsters that hang out next door about if they knew anything…the neighborhood still has some ways to go

i also love that these gangsters are also soprano stereotypes, but it’s also spot on for a lot of italian mobsters in chicago

we see a little inking of who richie is, and his real role at the beef and his skill set with his talk with crooked john. he talks to him without fear, with an obvious previous relationship, and they share a conversation with respect. richie knows they exist and in his eyes they’re a part of his community, his little family, and as such they also deserve his respect. and after their talk, richie asks him if he could find anything out about who shot the window, and crooked john immediately gets guys to go and check it out. this is richie being the tallest point in chicago; this world is being squeezed out, but for a long time this was him being top dog of his world. but now the sweet greens are moving in, the buildings are growing in taller than him

also, i LOVE that crooked john says “alright, don’t go calling the police.” and richie says “what do you take me for? this is me we’re talking about.” ACAB, we love it. no police! (okay, it’s not strictly ACAB, but it IS a wide belief of working class people that cops aren’t going to do shit for you if you’re not rich enough. you gotta look out for yourself, and your community). this is what neighborhood watches were made to be, until white upper-middle class suburbanites made them into gossipy-call-the-cops-on-people-of-color-just-out-walking-their-dogs-at-night kind of things. so many studies show that neighbor and community solidarity actually does a better job at keeping the community safe and people cared for than any amount of money invested into police presence. just sayin’

sugar, in this moment, is SUCH a upper middle class individual. we’ve seen her nice house. we know she’s not living in the area anymore. she had an urban flight. she’s so upset that she owns a spot where bullets can fly through the window. and, yes, in this moment we’re supposed to focus on the fact that carmy is pushing for everyone to keep working so that they can open on time and not lose business. it’s more about carmy’s denial of feelings and always working and pushing so he doesn’t have to deal with his own issues. BUT notice how everyone is working together without qualm. for them, this is a part of life. and yes, not a good part. but if they don’t open, the shop probably closes and they lose their jobs. when nat asks to call the cops, in unison they all say “no cops” (ACAB ACAB) why? because cops aren’t going to help, and they know. some of them might be illegal immigrants. and again, if you think illegal immigrants aren’t in your favorite restaurant, or even cooking you your favorite meal…sorry for the rude awakening. everyone in the restaurant is dealing with the issue themselves, as they always have, because they live in a place where cops don’t come to help, but only cause more problems. nat, who lives in a more residential area, most likely a suburb outside chicago (from the looks of her house), and her whiteness and blonde hair, means she’s probably more used to the cops helping her. this show is about class and race, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong

a rare moment of harmony between carmy and richie. “paperwork’s not really my jam” “me neither”. they didn’t teach paperwork at noma, nor at devry. we have this sweet moment that shows richie and carmy’s long history together, and the fact that they’re cut from the same cloth. they even share a cigarette

“is there a name for that feeling where you’re scared of something good happening because you think something bad is going to happen?” “i don’t know. life?”

richie being in his ex-wife’s phone as “richie bad news” is so harsh. i have never been divorced, but i can’t imagine trying to poison my kids image of their parent to the point where they think their dads last name is bad news. but we’re just seeing so much of richie’s life

“oh shit! it’s the man with the golden dick! how are ya tom?” is……just a wild line to say to a customer when they come into your shop. i have so many questions. why does this man have a golden dick? why are you commenting on it? what transpired between the two of you (a guy behind a register, and his customer) that you have “golden dick” as context, and you feel comfortable bringing up said golden dick? ALSO, i’d love to know if this was pre-written by the writers, or if ebon ad libbed it himself. it feels like ad lib but, if it is written, i want to meet the person who wrote it. or, even more, IF THEY PITCHED the line in a writers room. like if someone sat at a table with the rest of the writers and someone was like “what should richie say to this customer?” “what about…’oh shit, it’s the man with the golden dick’?”

BUT i LOVE that this scene shows that richie IS GOOD at his job. i feel like it’s skipped over a lot this season. but richie is personable. he’s good with people. he talks with people friendly, personably, and it’s obvious why he’s front of house

ok. syd’s dish she wants to add to the menu does look AMAZING

but see, syd asks carmy if now is a good time to try her dish, he says yes, and he thanks her for asking. like…before syd was rushing things and pushing. carmy owns a business, he’s looking for tax shit, he’s got a million other business things he’s working on to make sure the place doesn’t close, and he’s working the beginning of the dinner rush and overseeing the line, which means he’s keeping track of every dish and what everyone is doing to make sure it all is up to quality. so, he’s busy. telling syd he can’t do something right then isn’t a dick move, he’s BUSY. but now he can talk with her, and try her dish

WHAT I WILL SAY THOUGH, and i’ll say it now and bring it back up when it comes up in future episodes is that he doesn’t tell her what’s wrong with her dish BECAUSE HE DOESNT KNOW. and he has to be the best chef, and not knowing drives him crazy and he doesn’t want to admit he’s stumped. he tells her it’s tremendous but it’s missing something, but he won’t tell her what it’s missing because he doesn’t know himself. this is a dick move. some might say he’s trying to teach her, but he has no problem pointing out other flaws in the dish that she says she’ll fix. he also has no problem correcting others to help dishes be better. but for this dish, he can’t tell her what’s wrong. not because he’s “wax on/wax off” teaching her, but because he really doesn’t know. i’ll talk about how i know that carmy doesn’t know what’s missing from the dish as the clues pop up (but that will be in a different episode). but this is a dick move on carmy’s part. a real golden dick move.

i’ve seen people say they’re so confused why syd would’ve given her dish to a customer. but i’ve seen that all the time. it’s not enough for a family meal. plus it’s not time for a family meal. it’s during dinner rush. so she can either toss it, or give it away. and giving it away makes that customers day. i’ve both given stuff away, and received stuff. and it did make my day. the fact that he happens to be an “immensely important customer” (that we’ll learn about next episode) is just a bit of tv happenstance

i just realized with this watch through that nat says it pisses her off that carmy never asks her how she’s doing. and that made me think about the flashback episode in season two. we’ll talk more when we get there, but it’s interesting that nat always asks her mom if she’s okay. and she’s mad at carm for not asking her.

i love the duality of where nat and carmy place their blame. nat blames the restaurant for their mom, for mikey, and now for carmy. and she’s scared the restaurant is going to do the same thing to carmy that it did to mikey. carmy blames their mom and mikey for their own faults and sees the restaurant as a neutral place that happened to take the brunt of their faults. it’s also telling that carmy’s happiest memories with mikey are when they’re cooking, and he found cooking to be an escape from his traumatic and toxic family. but nat seems to not find cooking an escape and does it occasionally and for family care, and nothing else

i love the slow opening up of carmy. he admits he feels trapped and that he doesn’t want to ask how others are feeling because he doesn’t know how he feels. it’s just that little bit closer on carmy’s journey to personal mental and emotional health

i also think it’s symbolic that as the restaurant is failing, and carmy and nat are fighting over the restaurant but also fighting over their relationship and what the restaurant represents for their family, their own wellbeing, and how carmy’s attempts to save the restaurant are slowly killing him and leading him down a path that nat fears will repeat mikey’s mistakes, it’s only after carmy and nat have a heart to heart and share their feelings that carmy (as the one who finally opened up) found the tax documents that they needed to give to the irs to save the shop. because it’s only through mental and emotional health that the shop is going to be saved. like nat was saying: less chaos, solid footing

the repeat of the lowboy checks, and it’s nice to see them look perfectly adequate. i mean….we’re dealing with lowboys, it’s not like i’m going to be blown away by good food storage

i’m not sure if i’ve mentioned this in these live bloggings before. but i’ve been to chicago a few times, and i’ve seen a few fights break out on more than one trip. so, the fact that two gangs begin to fight outside of an italian beef sandwich shop…….that tracks for me? i’m not saying it’s a specifically chicago thing, i’ve seen other fights break out in other places (i once went to a bar twice, and each time a fight broke out) but like…this doesn’t feel like tv happenstance to me. it kinda feels like a chicago scene to see two rival old school gangs fight

“WHERES MY GUN, ANY OF YOU MOTHERFUCKERS TAKE MY GUN???” ohhhhhhh richie

the fact that syd, a tiny tiny human being shoves herself between to tall and large men, who are clearly mob connected, is WILD. she’s a better person than i am. but whatta great save: pop and sandwiches for everyone if they just calm down. but keep it on the DL. i love sweeps asking these people to betray their gangs rivalries for food and they’re like “eh. ok.”

i also love the slow undercurrent of sweeps’ backstory. sweeps tells marcus that when he used to play for the cubs he had to sleep in a few creative places. crooked john asks him about the changes and sweeps says “this is what happens when you sweep the padres but fail the drug test”. i love it

it’s wild to me that not being able to get into a fight between the two arguing gangs is what sets richie off. we know he’s having a bad day. he’s missing his best friend especially bad, he’s reminded that his daughter thinks his last name is bad news because his ex-wife has his name in her phone as richie bad news because she says he always calls with bad news. he feels like the ceres statue being passed up by every new building being built. but like…..the fact that he couldn’t be the mediator between two warring factions of mobsters is wild. it’s wild.

i love that the scene of richie flying off the handle; of lashing out by telling a loud raucous story that disrupts everyone’s routine, their system, (the new system), is kicked off by ebra dunking his hands into ice water to handle a bunch of hot meat on a grill. that method is OLD SCHOOL, maybe old school like richie is old school. the kind of old school that thinks yelling and laughing and slapping people on the back is okay during a dinner rush

it’s also so good that this is how richie lashes out. he has the cigarettes in his hand, even though just a few weeks ago he took the blame for leaving cigarettes out during a health inspection. he’s interrupting the workflow, even though we’ve repeatedly seen carmy yell at him about getting back to work and letting everyone get into their zone. he’s lashing out like this intentionally. and his outburst at sydney makes sense because she’s the biggest threat to him. carmy is family, his “cousin”, in his community. even as carmy is threatening to build taller towers that surpass richie, it’s more okay because carmy is in the family. but sydney isn’t. richie doesn’t know sydney, or care about her past. they didn’t grow up together. she’s an outsider, and so when she yells at him to get back to work, it allows him to freak out at her. she symbolizes everything he’s scared of, and she’s the one who solved the gangsters, the last bit of usefulness he thought he had

and it’s also so good and powerful that it’s tina that talks to him. tina is the one who was with richie the most. she was the most resistant to the new system. she laughed when things failed, she was making things harder for syd. but now she’s better. she’s figured it out. this new system is better. she’s more efficient, she’s cooking better food. she works at a place she believes in, and she believes in herself for the first time in a long time, if not for the first time ever

so tina telling richie he needs to go home, and cool off, and if he quits where else is he gonna go is simply so powerful and good. because that’s kind of the point, and richie doesn’t realize it. most people in that shop have nowhere else to go. maybe they’d find another job, but maybe they wouldn’t. they were just people working in a struggling sandwich shop and carmy (and sydney) have allowed them to believe in something more, because sydney and carmy believe in them. and richie either needs to realize that, yes, he’s ceres statue and everybody else is a taller tower, but he’s being offered a ride to the top of one of those towers if he’d just let go of his pride that he used to be the tallest one around. “where are you gonna go?” is so cutting. he’s got this misplaced pride and tina is saying he’s got to let it go. because if he can, someone is willing to help pick him up and take him to bigger and better things

and the fact that it’s so wrapped up in the past. tina brings up mikey “seemingly” out of the blue, but it’s because richie talks about the place being cool before. he calls syd and carm kids. because richie is a middle aged man who realized that he pissed his life away attaching himself to “the wrong person”. which also probably has guilt attached to it. he followed mikey to the gates of hell and then mikey left him there. richie is divorced, friendless, working a register at a sandwich shop, with a strained relationship with his daughter who is the only person he seems to really care about, and now these young people are coming in and changing everything and he’s scared that he’s going to get pushed out. it’s a midlife crisis to end all midlife crises. his best years are behind him (in his eyes) and he never thought about the future and now the futures here and he’s unprepared and it’s partially mikey’s fault but you can’t be mad at the dead, right? there’s so much guilt, and pain, and trauma, and everything in this convo between tina and richie, because tina gets it. but tina jumped over to another building and rode it to taller heights, and so she’s trying to get richie to do the same

AND THEN AND THEN: right after richie leaves it’s so smooth in the kitchen. and that’s the point. people are moving in and out, swapping to different stations, starting prep the moment someone finishes theirs without even waiting to look to see if they’re finished because they know they’re done. it’s a well-oiled machine, and richie not being there is truly for the better. there’s even a poppy little tune, people are smiling, it almost crosses the line into weird fantastical daydream territory, but it doesn’t

carmy asks if he wants to know what happened out there and sydney says no, just that she gave some people some leftovers. i just realized this now: is she talking about the gangsters or her dish? obviously, she’s talking about the gangsters, that’s the most immediate thing that just happened, but she also gave away her dish and that’s been the conflict between her and carly all day. is it a duel meaning? am i just high as i watch this episode? idk, you tell me

but also, carmy then apologizes to syd if he was shitty to her and she acts as if it’s no big deal. like, he’s trying. like he says in season two, he’s not trying to be shitty. idk, i just feel like people always talk about carry being angry and mad, but he really is shown trying

the poppy song and scene being cut to richie outside having called the cops (ACAB RICHIE, ACAB) on the gangsters is so good (i know i say good a lot). because specifically was insulted when crooked john said “don’t call the cops” and crooked john smiled and nodded, like “yeah, yeah. it is you. you’d never do that.” but this is like a real low point for him. he’s been talking about the delicate ecosystem, showing respect for the people in his community even if he disagrees with them (like carmy, like the bar owner, like these gangsters) and now he’s betraying his own morals, the morals of the staff at the beef, and fucking with the ecosystem he said he cared about and worried about how delicate it was. it’s showing that instead of just getting on the elevator to a taller building, he’s fighting a losing fight to hold onto his pride. syd took his pride when she handled the dangerous, scary gangsters, so he made the gangsters go away

but what’s also so good about this closing scene is that it still goes against what carmy is all about and the work he’s doing at the beef. carmy is fighting to not have the people of the beef be squeezed out with the changing of the neighborhood. he’s trying to teach people with no formal training — cooks — classically trained recipes and elevated methods to make them into chefs. but carly doesn’t want to change who they are. like he said in the third episode, he doesn’t want to change their dynamic but harness their potential. he even joins in the choir saying “no cops” when nat suggests it. carmy would never call the cops on the gangsters. case in point, he DIDN’T call the cops on the gangsters. no one did. there was this universal understanding; almost a respecting of the delicate ecosystem. and richie is the one who threatens to fuck it up by betraying everything he believes in just to hold onto his pride, and to push against carmy’s system. it’s almost like he knows mikey’s system is truly, completely dead in this moment. carmy’s system has won. and as the last holdout to join carmy’s system, and with mikey’s system destroyed, instead of moving forward richie becomes a free agent doing whatever he feels like, without a system, or a code, that he draws on. which is kinda scary if you think about it.

BUT THATS THE EPISODE

it’s so good. final thoughts: i love last episode and this one; these sort of break from the carmy show (and i love the carmy show) and allowing us to get a little deeper into the lives of the other main characters. i think it’s done even better next season (and we’ll talk about it later when it comes up)

my last thought has nothing to do with anything that happened this episode, but just something i thought of while watching the show: carmen, michael, richard. but we their nicknames are carmY, mikeY, richIE. they all have that “ee” sound. natalIE, sydneY. they also have that “ee” sound, but their nicknames are nat and syd. no “ee” sound. is there a reason the guys have “ee” nicknames (and that their nicknames are used more than their regular names) and the women have “ee” names but their nicknames don’t? is this something? or am i just high?

anywho

that’s the episode and the next one is EPISODE SEVEN and i’m not emotionally ready. see ya then!

Season One: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 |

Season Two

#the bear #the bear fx #the bear hulu #carmen berzatto #the bear tv #carmy berzatto #the bear liveblog #liveblog #sydney #sydney adamu #sydney the bear #marcus the bear #richie the bear #richie jerimovich #ceres #the bear season 1 #the bear season 1 spoilers #tina the bear #the bear series #the bear review

[espumado]

Waiting for the new season of The Bear and thinking about Sydney Adamu🥰.  When season 1 ended I thought what an incredible show full of great relationships, friendships and found familie. Syd and Tina 💞 Tina and Ebraheim, Rich and Carmy, the Berzattos brothers, Syd and Marcus... But about Syd and Carmy, I didn't get it, it didn't seem like a friendship, a partnership for sure (especially at the end) but I thought the authors wanted to leave it open, which might be interesting to see, like reconciling personal life and the restaurant (Jimmy says that Carmy's father had the restaurant and took Donna to work there and everything went wrong, so I thought if this had something to do with them🤔, and there was all camera shots and angles and soundtrack) like, a romance was the only thing the show didn't have and I thought the authors were very good at talking about relationships so it would be interesting to see were this could go, i trusted them you know?! (There was Nat and Pete but I didn't know if they were going to put more of them and I'm glad they did because they 🥰 There was Richie and Syd too, I mean they had a lot of tension😅 I see the sydrichie vision but one thing we knew about him is that he is the father of a girl and about Syd is that she was a dad's girl and I didn't want any dad issues for my girl😂).

Then I see that the authors said they wanted to write a story without romance and I'm like ok, I get it, that's it, i got it wrong, forget it. But then season 2 started and they introduce a new character for a super cliché romantic arc! I remember that before the episodes were released, a review said the new season was excellent despite some cheesiness and mentioned the scene where Claire says "you're the bear and I remember!" I thought, how could this show be cheesy and then I watched it and remembered that critic because, don't get me wrong, Claire is great and they have a lot of chemistry, but the scenes with her felt very cringe. It was like watching a cliché romance in the middle of a show that is not cliché at all on the contrary, and then I see the authors saying that they wanted that exactly, especially ep 5, to be like a classic romantic comedy! Like why?!

Anyway, not satisfied, they always put Syd in the middle of Carmy's scenes with Claire. And if they wanted it to look like she was working hard and he wasn't, there was a better way to do it without looking like she was jealous. Like, right at the beginning, after cook and chat with Syd, Carmy receives a call from Claire and at the end she asks if Fak is his best friend. There was no need for this emphasis but they made a point of saying Fak is Carmy's best friend (and throughout the series we see that he is, he really encourages Carmy and has been with him for a long time). Is not Syd, and we see that Carmy isn't even a good partner and they might not be that close (he didn't even know about her mother, or she didn't feel comfortable talking to him anyway) That's why I don't feel these two are the bffs or platonic partners like everyone says, partners, yes, but there's still a lot of work to be done. Then when they are discussing the menu she complains about Claire's participation (fairly since with Syd, his CDC, he postponed the matter) and in the end she says that he has to decide if she is a friend or a girlfriend and it feels so strange cause they dont seem that kind of friends, it felt weird when she said, it sound like a Fak and Rich thing. Then she literally has to explain that it wasn't jealousy but concern for the restaurant... Anyway, there was a way to do all this without seeming jealous or bummer, It was professionalism but nooooo, they had to put Claire/Carmy relationship against Syd /Carmy/restaurant.

And not satisfied, the authors, who didn't want romance, put Marcus into Syd (and that was a friendship that was super cool, talking shit about the chef and all) and later, after receiving a no, he raises his voice against her in front of everyone, he who is super calm (and at this point almost everyone in this kitchen has already disrespected Syd at least once and he was the one who was nice) and it is difficult to root for them as a couple, not to mention that if he loses his mother and they bond over it, after so many cool things between them, it seems so depressing (like welcome to the dead mom club!😬)

Oh! There was also the montage that showed her tattoo, in the middle of Carmy and Claire scenes! If they were going to show Syd dumping Marcus later, why not show him in the scenes too or something (he was in the beginning of it), then it would be like the meaning of the Three of Swords was that she had her heart closed to any romance, you know, and not just "treason".  And Carmy's anxiety attack that could show his "best friend" and Rich in a suit, Tina and everything good that was happening at the restaurant, but no! And with Claire/Carmy song playing.

And the authors said they put Carmy in the freezer just to give Syd a chance to shine... and wow, how wrong that went! It was perfect to close Rich's arc and even his relationship with Syd (in the end he was the partner that Syd expected from Carmy) but for her?! I wanted her to have the attitude she learned from the book and to be more firm, Rich could be part of it no problems, but with her in charge, more confident (like I wish she would knock on that door and tell Carmy to shut up when he wouldn't stop screaming from inside the freezer!) But she seemed like just another chef in the kitchen with Rich in charge, no?

All i am saying is I hope they know where they are going with Syd, she is a great character, with personality and deserves more than to be in the middle of a couple, or put her in a relationship just cause. Also Ayo switched to lead actress so I expected more from the character, Syd deserves to shine!!!  Like she also deserves "amusement or enjoyment" and all that but I don't know, now i understand those who say that romance would ruin the show, this thing with Carmy and his relationship was really boring to watch (sorry Carmy, I swear I'm rooting for you). I'm more excited to see more of her with Tina and Naty than anything else, really.  And she had her dream of having her restaurant with her food, the best food! and now she have it, but it's Carmy's restaurant, with his family, and their nickname, and almost all of his menu (which was hardly discussed with her), and probably her name it's not even in the documents...and I have no idea what the next season will be like, which is cool! But i am anxious🥲

And i'm kind stuck in season 1, the yellow light, the characters... like the bad thing about adding new characters to a new season of any series is that I don't tend to care about them as much. I wanted to know more about the OGs, you know?!  Ebraheim and Tina (her son!), Gary and the dishwashers (they barely showed up!) and Rich, Syd, Naty of course! Like if there's more of Claire with Carmy I get it but I don't wanna know more about her friend, or Fak's brothers and there are a lot of new employees too of course, and i dont care about them sorry😭 like I hope they focus on the OGs and give them more screen time and not for newbies.

 This was not going to be this long but this show 😅🥰😭!!!

#everyone wants a friendship between a man and a woman without romance #platonic and all #but Syd and Marcus were there doing it really well and no one seemed to care about the direction it took😒 #And Richie and Syd too #enemies to bff #sorrie sydrichie people #i feel youI they're amazing but I think it works better in fanfics now😅 #and Tina & Ebraheim #the best platonic relationship in the show! #always there for each other #but Syd and Carmy I don't understand! #If they are best friends and partners I hope to see more partnership and friendship between them without parallels with Claire! #everyone involved deserves better #the bear #sydney amadu #syd adamu #sydcarmy #<not really but #still can't get over the shot of the red stain over her heart after the Carmy/Claire sex scene like what was the point?

[blackjack-15]

i have never found fak less charming than i do now. yikes

"do you think donna's gonna do something crazy?" donna being mrs. berzatto's name i'm guessing (mulaney calls her "Auntie Dee")? yeah she is.

nat trying to enlist carmy in getting rid of the alcohol and carmy is like "i have no idea i'm doing six things no one look at me"

the history of nat's nickname is so...mundane? like...we've all mixed up salt/sugar before. not in gravy, mind, but i don't make a lot of italian gravy. traditional gravy (meat drippings + roux)? yeah. not italian.

cousin steve going in on the baseball card racket b/c it sounds hilarious to him is the most relatable thing i've ever seen on tv. like it's not gonna end well but boy is it gonna be worth his money for the entertainment

gosh in every carmy/mikey scene every line of dialogue is a painful reminder of carmy's "i just wanted him to say good job!" from 1X08.

"i don't need you acting all nice if you don't give a f//k" that's carmy, down to his bones. it's why he said nat was being gross when she pulled the Small Innocent Little Girl act on cicero. carmy lies, dodges, represses, stays out of stuff, sure. but when people ask him what he thinks, he tells them. and he doesn't want people to be nice to him if they actually don't care.

carmy wants to be loved so badly, wants to be loved without having to ask for it or claw it out of people. it hurts really, really bad. exquisitely acted.

gift giving! he has a knack for it -- the knife to tina is the most recent example, but very few people to give to right now. the drawing is so lovely, and carmy looks so boyish and happy when mikey says he loves it

oh mikey. he looks so lost and so unhappy and so worried when he's by himself. he's not doing well and he hides it through loud bravado, and especially looks like he hides it from carmy. the beef is a mess right now, and i think he knows he probably won't be around to open that restaurant with carmy. but his note makes even more sense now, as does the money. it really was the gift he felt like he could give. i'm hard on mikey as an older sibling, but he's got his own stuff he's dealing with on top of everything, and it really shows sometimes

this family is so full of desperately sick, unhappy, unhealthy people. and it seems like when they congregate, it just gets worse.

mikey's trying to set carmy up for life, in the role of father figure/older brother -- skills, money, even a romantic partner. but none of it is what carmy actually needs, present day.

"is it possible that you're the asshole" cousin steve can you come back we need your insights. i feel like him, syd, and pete would be Buddies

kind, sensitive, devoted, altruistic, empathetic, and commonly known to be adept at grieving -- characteristics of bears? characteristics of our titular Bear?

mikey sneaking out in full Joseph of Bethlehem regalia, richie noticing

cousin steve do not get eaten by the jaguar

i love when normalish people interact with Berzatto Insanity (like my beloved pete! where is pete? did nat not meet him yet?) and it's like...oh they're in another realm. right.

"no one lifts a finger to help me" as nat is down on her knees cleaning up. yikes.

suicide threats. wonderful. yeah i'm going back to the armchair diagnosis of HPD. my gosh.

RUN COUSIN STEVE that was hysterical

that is a hug that nat very much needed. thank you cousin steve

oh no what's donna gonna do. i know it's not gonna be suicide but it's def gonna be a Spectacle, and prolly traumatic

#the bear #liveblogging #2X06 #this is a hard ep to watch. about 20 min. left and i have no idea what else can go wrong #are the seven fishes gonna burn? is donna gonna burn the house down? #bad things are brewing and carmy's disappeared and i am Worried

[multifandombullshitbabes]

so i just finished the bear. and i knew there was gonna be a scene where carmy said smth fucked up to claire or some shit?? well. i watched the last ep, right? right.

im gonna say this as kindly as i fucking can: if yall are genuinely mad at what carmy said, yall are STUPID. STUPID AS FUCK.

HE DIDNT EVEN WANNA SAY ALL THAT TO CLAIRE!!! he was VENTING to tina, he was STUCK on the fucking walk-in, on the most stressful day of his life up until that moment. like, tbh? that scene didnt make me angry. it made me SAD. so fucking sad

because it showed just how fucked up normal everyday life can be. claire was a good thing. carmy was DRUNK on that good thing and he literally almost fucked up everything with his project with syd. like. no joke. most if not all problems with the bear (restaurant) happened cuz carmy was fucking around n finding out.

n yknow what? he found out. there was literally no worse time for him to get caught up in dating than that time. he was needed elsewhere. and he was not there. repeatedly. he tried ofc. but he still wasnt there. all because he was so unused to good things, we know this, he says it, that when he got claire he couldnt get enough. it felt GOOD.

and then what happened? the second he realized that this good thing was affecting smth else in his life in any negative way? he panicked. he goes "see? this is why i cant have nice things, look at all this, its all fucked and its all my fault cuz i kid myself into thinking i could have smth GOOD" and he COULD just not how he was doing it!!! but thats it!!!

he does not know HOW to have good things!!! he doesnt!!! he has no experience!!! and you know what happened??? he Made A Mistake. and guess what? thats what everyone does on this show all the time

the claire breakup thing or whatever is literally just a sad scene, its not supposed to make u hate carmy like what r yall doing??? legitimately, are yall using yalls brains?? god.

#the bear #carmy berzatto #the bear spoilers #hey look i posted a thing #shit talking but seriously (or not) #i thought i was gonna see carmy screaming at claire. saying smth completely out of line #when all he said is shit theyve been throwing on our faces the whole season like r yall ok??????? #yes claire was a good thing. yes claire was getting in the way of the bears success #those 2 statements can and DO coexist #now carmy can grow n be better. focus more on his job at least rn when theyre trying to get SO much money #like at least dont own like hundred thousands of dollars to ure fucking uncle n shit right like fuck

[corvidclub]

The Bear music hcs

Carmy: does not have a music taste. he's rarely shown in the show as listening to music diegetically like Syd or Richie and I chose to believe this is another aspect of his lack of identity outside the kitchen. I think he enjoys individual songs that he associates with his siblings or happens to hear around him but he never goes the extra step of listening during his free time. Because of this, his constant dissociation, and the fact that he never went to parties he missed out on a lot of pop music. So there's a lot of moments where a song will be playing and Carmy will be like 'what is this?' and everyone will look at him crazy because it's like...Lady Gaga or something. Syd sends him some calming instrumental playlists and he's like mindblown that they actually somewhat work.

Sydney: a lot of instrumentals like jazz, ambient, and movie soundtracks. ik a lot of ppl won't like 'syd' and 'lesbian' mentioned in the same sentence but I imagine her music taste as very lesbian in the sense that she listens almost exclusively to female singer-songwriters particularly older ones that her feminist mom listened to like Tracy Chapman. I imagine she went through a phase in middle/high school where she was really into 1D or a kpop bg and that band are the only men on her phone. Her playlists are very chill with a lot of r&b, neo-soul, folk, with the occasional hip hop or indie rock song.

Richie: I think Richie's taste is closest to the actual show soundtrack a lot of dad or alternative rock that was popular in the 80s and 90s. A lot of Chicago artists. Also a lot of movie soundtracks bc I imagine him and Syd as the resident film enjoyers. I think Richie is actually the most "cultured" of the cast in the sense that he actually tries to keep up with what's popular even if it's just to complain about it so he'll listen to whatever the Grammy nominees are or to a popular artists new album if its getting a lot of press. His conversations about music with other characters generally have a lot of 'how have you NEVER listened to x do you live under a rock??' I also hc his family as being originally from the south so I think he has a few guilty pleasure country songs that he listens to.

Marcus: Hip-hip (dare I say Tyler the Creator?), anime openings, and some girly pop songs. #dudesrock

Tina: We've already seen that she likes classic spanish ballads and I think her music taste is pretty similar to that, but I also think she's a Cool Mom who tries to listen to what Louie likes so she'll sometimes be humming Bad Bunny or Rauw during service.

Mikey: I think his taste was very similar to Richie but I think he listened to a lot more hip-hop. He was exactly the type of suburban white kid to get into gangster rap in the 90s to piss of his mom. He probably picked Carmy up from Kindergarten blasting N.W.A. Bragged a lot about being an early Kanye fan (because Chicago) and Eminem fan (because white).

Natalie: It'd be easy to say to that her taste is basic based on her appearance and her being the "normal one" but that just how she had to present to survive her home life and her music I think reflects all her pent-up rage. She went through a punk/emo/goth etc. phase unbeknownst to any of her family bc she would still dress how Donna wanted her to but just listen to the music. I imagine her riding in the car with Richie playing MCR and he's like "I thought you'd listen to pop music" and her rolling her eyes and saying "mcr is pop music" and he is suddenly very intimidated. Basically I picture her having a version of the Jeff papa roach scene from Yellowjackets everytime she leaves work.

Pete: Again it'd be easy to assume he's basic bc he's a dorky white guy but in my mind he's exactly the type of unassuming dorky white guy who is obsessed with music. He knows all the albums that Fantano rated 10 and has thoughts on them. He and Nat slept together for the first time after he invited her to his dorm room to listen to the new Nine Inch Nails album. He secretly judges Richie for being basic.

#the bear #m.text

[unlikelyjapan]

s2e7 rewatch notes

Forks. Here we go...

Enters with Syd doing menu R&D with Coach K's interview layered on.

I'm going to be honest and say I hate inspirational sports narratives - years ago my husband used to work for a huge sports conglomerate, and I'm still finding and disposing of "TEAMS GO HARD - THERE ARE NO APOLOGIES" motivational-type swag to this day.

That being said, the interview is highly relative to Syd, foreshadows Richie's arc apex, Carmy's choice/fall/probable redemption, the teams learning curves, the restaurant's impending ebb and flow, so I've transcribed it for posterity:

So as you've been coaching over the years, what would you say are the most important lessons of leadership that you've learned?

The very first thing is that in order to get better you change limits. And when you change limits, you're going to look bad and you're going to fail. And at West Point I learned that failure was never a destination. In other words, when you are knocked back, you know, figure out why, then change.

The other thing is that you're not going to get there alone. You know, be on a team. You know, surround yourself with good people and learn how to listen. You're not going to learn with you just talking. And when you do talk, converse - don't make excuses. Figure out the solution. And you don't have to figure it out yourself.

I always wanted to be part of a team and obviously I wanted to lead that team. You know, what an interesting life it is to be a leader.

"That's something" Syd murmurs. The whole talk is the glue that holds her to RIchie and co. without Carmy in e10.

I do appreciate how they portray (with the aid of spooky music) Richie's wake-up, the city of Chicago, and the modernist restaurant as bathed in grey/blue hues and basically haunted at the jump. Richie as a shell, an angry ghost, terrified of his perceived lack of agency, his irrelevance, and whatever future fate Carmy has in store for him.'

"Chef Terry is always watching" contrasted with the initial starkness of "Every Second Counts" without context - so much has already been reported on this episode re: ritual/purpose, but I just relish watching Richie be in jail the first portion of this episode.

And don't worry, I'm not going to make any "OMG a fork! Remember when...." observations, this isn't the Reddit sub.

I do like the use of David Byrne's "Glass, Concrete & Stone" as Richie tucks into day two and three of his stage.

"Now, I'm wakin' at the crack of dawn, to send a little money home, from here to the moon...."

I mean, his conscious mind is screaming "I have to do this so Carmy will pay me", but some part of his lizard brain has to be cluing in at this point that this whole exercise/path might lead to a more lucrative life - so he can support the family he doesn't possess anymore.

Carmy, Syd, Tina, Marcus and Natalie are thrown into a restaurant montage overlapping RIchie's scene while the song continues to play out - it doesn't play in this lyrical order, so you know every note is intentionally directed at one/all:

Lookin' at happiness

Keepin' my flavor fresh

Nobody knows I guess

How far I'll go, I know

So I'm leavin' at Six O' Clock

Meet in a parkin' lot

Harriet Hendershot

Sunglasses on, she waits by this

Glass and concrete and stone

It is just a house, not a home.

And my head is fifty feet high

Let my body and soul be my guide

There's too many dual meanings /applications for these lyrics to even sift through here. Bravo, Christopher Storer.

In my last recap of Fishes, I had said a bit about how all the men in the Berzatto orbit can be ground down to a pulp by men they perceive as an authority/threat.

Garrett represents a beta-persona to Richie, someone he could easily go off on (with a "G or R" comment casually thrown in) when he starts lecturing him in the alley about his commitment/work ethic, but Garrett is so assured of his work, and more importantly assured of his mother-fucking purpose.

The obvious layer of this is that Richie's seeking his purpose, so it's a crystalizing moment. The secondary layer is that it reveals the kryptonite of the Berzatto(ish) men - people who have and are assured by their purpose, and who lead with that instead of myths and bluster.

This explains Carmy's early "othering" by the family, for better and for worse - he's not assured of that purpose because of all his enmeshment and hang-ups, but they caught a whiff of what it could lead to, and it brews a curiosity, mocking and quiet disdain.

It also explains Richie's bonkers hatred of Syd in season 1 (reciprocated in kind), as Sydney comes rushing out of the gate with assurance and purpose. It also explains the immediate tune-up their relationship undergoes as soon as Richie wanders back to The Bear. Same goes for Richie and Natalie's repair/sudden appreciation for one another by e8.

Re: the teachers who had saved up for a fancy dinner at the pre-service meeting:

"I want to go above and beyond tonight. Every supplement and caviar, a tour of the kitchen, a champagne tour in the gallery as well. And, guys, we're not going to let these people spend a dollar. Do not drop a check. I wanna blow their fuckin' minds."

I will cop to shedding a happy tear the first time I saw this. I really hope it changed some mid-American perspectives on what service work and hospitality can mean (across the board, but especially in its upper echelons), by what metrics they assess it, how they value the people who work purposefully to take care of them. So good! I'm glad it hit Richie like a ton of bricks.

It looks like Tiff's been crying before she calls Richie in preparation. It's really sweet that Richie's first thought is obviously a worry about her health or something when she says she needs to tell him something, followed quickly by relief. I didn't question that there wasn't real love there, but it's nice to see it linger between the two of them in the aftermath....Ebon and GIllian both played this scene so sincerely.

As he re-enters the kitchen, Richie is watching the careful food prep and the FOH interactions with such a childlike intensity/wonder. I didn't realize that the "rebirth of Richie" happened in a day, not a week (which I felt was too fast already) but I actually find myself resenting it less at this clip. Basically all the things he held dear (being Van Halen, potential reconciliation with Tiff, the dishonesty of white collar life and dining/fraud Carmy) were obliterated in a single day, but a life that requires "someone who's good with people" has presented itself in tandem. (I...god....its a fork in the fucking road, ok? ugh.)

Just taking a beat to marvel over the Chicago cinematography in this episode. My God, the colors they were able to coax out of trains and the skyline at night, it's truly magnificent.

Some reddit gals were pointing out that Chef Jess' gold 'X' earrings are the exact same as Claire's, which indicated that she's marked as a love interest for Richie the same way Claire is marked for Carmy, everything being intentional and all that.

While I leave a slight amount of room to believe that a show about a group of kitchen rats doesn't have an overly-extensive jewelry collection to pull from in the wardrobe department, if it was intentional I think it says more about Richie's motivations than it does Carmy's.

Richie really wanted a Claire. Someone available, interested, someone he could regard as a "high-calibre woman" (I am not going to include any of the dialogue from Fishes, don't worry). I think the "X" could signify women who are emotionally open and available. What the men do with that is up to them - I don't think The Bear is going to fuck around with fatalistic narratives when it's actively trying to dispel them elsewhere.

I really love the sense of play as the staff gather around the perquod's pizza as the chef is preparing it - taking a minute to delight in it without it disrupting the urgency of the kitchen at rush. I can't wait until The Bear gains its sea legs and we see everyone BOH being afforded moments like this.

Deep dish is not "magic pizza" though. Far from it.

When Richie identifies the apple cider gastrique and Garrett cries "THATS MY FUCKING BOY RIGHT THERE!!" -

I mean, it's bro movie shit, and this would never happen in a week....but it is a truly charming context switch. The Taylor Swift bit was way too cloying for me, but I'm relieved to see Richie smile and Ebon really sells it all.

Shout out to the shot of Ceres.

It's been discussed, but Garrett's sobriety story re: acts of service for recovery/hospital-ity is a poignant add-on.

Every character featured on the show is tasked with providing service and taking care of people in either a hospital or hospitality setting, and it's the key to maintaining (or regaining) control of their lives.

Richie is a baby who's learning, we know this. This seems more like a direct shot across the bow at Carmy - even with the example of a girlfriend who's a doctor, he's negating taking care of people and providing acts of service for them to provide for himself (thinking it'll make him better at it). Carmy has dodged alcoholism through abstinence, but he's exhibiting addict behavior by abdicating his responsibilities to others in order to chase sensations. He dodges his AA meetings, neglects service to others, and ends up losing control of his life.

Aaannnd we're back to Berzatto patterns with Richie feeling like Carmy owns and controls him, once it's reinforced that Garrett/Chef Terry defer to Carmy re: Richie's working life. We all know Carmy would never deny him the opportunity to move on to another stellar job, which makes his call to him so annoying.

I like that the next morning Richie is shown to be 50% less self-destructive. He's bloodshot again and staring at Mikey's prayer card in the mirror, but he's also up in a flash, organizing Eva's crayons, cleaning the counters etc. instead of just fully dirt-bagging it out the door. He's not perfect, but he's changed.

Hmmm - Richie reveals to Chef Terry that he was a military brat.If he moved around a lot as the sole child (it's been established that his parents were shit), it definitely explains why he would gravitate towards Mikey's very rooted family to have an established sense of place, no matter how dysfunctional it is. He also seems to take it very personally that their dad was a deadbeat - I wonder if that was a secondary abandonment for him too.

Chef Terry - "I tried to open a place years ago. I had all these accolades, I was younger, I was on fire. I was arrogant and I tried to move too fast and I couldn't keep the place open, and the market crashed and I got killed.[......] the most public wipe-out.

Yikes. Followed by the story of her current place:

"That was on my 38th birthday. I was out walking all night, unemployed, angry, depressed - blaming everyone else for all the time I'd lost and all the money I'd lost, all of it. And it was raining - and I was walking through Lincoln Park - and my phone died. And so I stood under this awning waiting for the rain to stop - and I just stood there and stared - and then the sun came up, and it turns out I was right there.

And then I walked 'round to the front and I saw the sign. It was an actual sign. It was a restaurant for lease sign."

Richie - "Like a, uh, never too late...."

"Yeah. Never too late to start over."

Again, the meaning as it applies to Richie is pretty overt and obvious, but I wonder how they're going to tether this more to Syd or Carmy next season (or just rail them both equally with it, along with the fate of The Bear). There are also parallels of it being a family business, and the death of a family member that she didn't get the opportunity to know as well as she should have.

"He believes in you. He told me" - Aw, Carmy ❤️ I'll be mad at you again tomorrow.

This ended up being more enjoyable than I remembered. I think Pop and Fishes just did a number on me.

#the bear fx #the bear season 2 #the bear spoilers #the bear #carmen berzatto #carmy x sydney #richie jerimovich #syd x carmy #sydcarmy #carmy berzatto

[blackjack-15]

syd eating a sundae (name of the ep!) while a love song plays and she watches a couple in the booth across from her? on a food tour thing carmy was supposed to be on with her? forget a comedy, the bear is a romcom. this is explicitly text.

and back to the bear! all roads lead to rome etc

BACK TO THE BEAR INDEED WHY IS CARMY HERE? WHAT? DRESSED DOWN? WHAT HAPPENED?

why is he looking inside like he's got a mistress in there. the bear is a comedy.

"what are you doing here?" "c'mon, i'd love to show you" shades of aladdin here, loving it, loving it

THE BACK TOUCH WHAT THE EFF

okay i know only like me and twelve others watched the John Cho/Karen Gillian magnum opus that was Selfie, but there's a whole scene where Eliza (Gillian) is talking to Henry (Cho) about girls liking it when men touch them while flirting, since she's trying to help him get laid, and Henry says he doesn't like touching people for no reason, and she retorts that she's not talking about no reason, she's talking about one, very specific reason (aka sexual attraction).

Yeah. This back touch? there's no reason for this, apart from one very specific reason.

kicking the debris out from in front of sydney? regency shit right there. my land, just lay your coat out for the lady

i do see where syd is coming here, but the wall had to go down. termites and roaches and raccoons, babe. he 100% should have called tho

THE VERY CLOSE TALKING. WHAT.

carmy gets all the way in her space here, they're talking like 2 inches apart. what is the reason carmy. hmm.

"umm" *follows sydney* dad's in trouble with mom...

RICHIE'S FACE. richie can join tina and cicero in the They Been Knowing club.

the sorry sign, carmy balancing the slight sarcasm with an actual desire to solve the problem with syd

"Thanks, chef" oh back to titles

"OOOOOH" RICHIE MY BELOVED.

the way carm whips around to stare at him for it. syd's reaction.

i know a lot of tumblr is just pictures of two characters and the text "there's no platonic explanation for this" but like. there is No platonic explanation for this. you don't use this blocking, this dialogue, these reactions for any other reason. one specific reason, remember?

cooking by her own, and it's not right. two dishes failed, two different reasons.

the episode is called Sundae -- a dish made with a dozen little ingredients, all working together harmoniously.

we're on the way, but we're not there yet

#the bear #liveblogging #2X03 #and we didn't have claire back! huzzah! it's amazing how unimportant she is when she's not being an obstacle! #forgive me father for i have been riotously correct and true in my opinions

[blackjack-15]

ep 2 we're watching time pass let's do this!! 12 weeks to open my gosh they're insane

CARMY'S IN THE BLUE SWEATER. THIS IS GONNA BE AN EPISODE I CAN FEEL IT

talking about syd's familyyyyy (mom's birthday dinner? there's the mom again, why haven't we heard about her other than these tiny mentions? we hear so much more about her dad) they're over here being domestic! i've said it before but these two are Very intimate for people who've known each other for what, 3 months at most?

real vote of confidence in the career there carmy. God bless you and keep you sir. he is 100% not staying being a chef for his whole life

MARCUS THE PHONE

"i'll call him back" the bear is a comedy

also about carmy not finding himself funny -- carmy is funny, he's just got a very, very dry sense of humor. syd does too, but carmy's is the driest i've seen on tv in a while. carmy has, in fact, a lot of the qualities he prized in Mikey and that he prizes in others, he's just completely unable to see them. i know that's the stuff of character arcs, he'll grow more confident etc etc, but the older sister in me is coming out again and wants to slap him upside the head and make him see it

"if it makes you feel any better, my sister doesn't think i'm a genius" "it doesn't hurt" i love them. can i just say again that i love them and their banter is adorable

natalie is momming this restaurant and i love it. also i'm positive she's pregnant now, and she's gonna be a great mom and pete is gonna cry like a monster when they find out/when she gives birth. i need to see carmy with his little niece/nephew too, i doubt he's encountered many babies, and i think it'd be super cute

from the very little we've heard about mrs berzatto, i think i want her far away from the little baby

EBRA'S GOING TO CULINARY SCHOOL I DID NOT CALL THAT!!! i knew tina would have to in order to sous properly but!!! that's wonderful!! they're taking care to build a restaurant that can function without carmy being actively in the kitchen, and that's a very good thing

the fridge thing looks like it's gonna be a reoccuring thing too. the fridge, the fire stuff, the hole in the wall...anything i'm missing? i'm sure there will be more later, we've got 8 1/2 more episodes for things to go Wrong

blue sweater = mikey hanging over the episode. noting that now in case it comes back. it also looks really nice with his eyes, coloring, and the gold chain, so maybe can we get more blue sweaters that aren't the Trauma Blue Sweater?

"that was really fun!" that is the first time i think we've heard carmy call something fun. that is incredibly sad and this scene is really well acted and giving richie the hat is the right call and

and

and he turned right to syd and is leaving with her. holy eff.

yeah this is text at this point. gets mikey's letter, texts syd. finds mikey's hat, leaves with syd. syd's what distracts him from pain, syd's what helps him smile when he's in pain. whether you view this romantically or not (and the show does, look at the camera angles, the audio choices, etc), that's not debatable

also "the apartment"?? not "my apartment"??? kids how often do you work there this is Text

marcus looking for her attention away from carmy, that's what i figured -- boy has a crush but he's not Bad about it or anything, refreshing

"i'm not an asshole!" yeah you are syd XD everyone in this show is it's just everyone's more than just an asshole as well

#the bear #liveblogging #syd x carmy #2X02 #i'm LOVING this can we keep this energy going?? #probably not but let's try!!

[blackjack-15]

THEM GIVING CICERO THE BUSINESS PITCH LIKE PROFESSIONALS WHILE THE ALARM GOES OFF IN THE BACKGROUND i'm sobbing

"he's not our uncle" "well richie's not your cousin" "HEARD AND RESENTED" this scene is amazing

"i don't mind it" oh carmy. that's not great.

um. cicero's looking between syd and carm as they argue about carmy getting vs retaining the star? no reason for that cut, the scene would linger on carm and syd arguing since they're the speakers, but it chooses to go to cicero watching them with that look on his face? yeah there's no reason for that apart from, well the obvious reason. adding cicero to the They've Been Knowing club with tina and 80% of the viewers of this show

carmy putting the whole land/restaurant/everything up as collateral -- not only is it their only choice, let's be real, but also it sets up an interesting dichotomy -- while carmy doesn't wanna lose, would it lead to his happiness? i'm still feeling that 1) they'll succeed by the skin of their teeth and 2) carmy will end up stepping away after creating a Good Spot to work and eat at

gosh the sydcarmy banter is so GOOD this episode. sure hope no incel stalker chick comes by to ruin that or anything, that would be a damn shame

"you want a star, yeah?" "i think it'd be nice" "godspeed" yeah i think that's where it's gonna go. this is carmy's namesake, but it's syd's ship to helm ultimately, and it's her that's gonna get the star (with help from the crew of course!)

"TREMENDOUS" "thank you" the sarcastic tremendous?? after it's the word he used to describe her dish in s1 and that they flirted over?? this is flirting right now thank you i am Flapping My Hands in glee

I CALLED IT WITH TINA!!! AND SHE'S SO HAPPY IT'S SO CUTE!!! carmy talking about finding people eager to learn and syd immediately thinks of tina, it's wonderful

calling it now, the people who are gonna become Bedrocks of the restaurant (with carmy/syd leading of course and nat on project management) are Tina as the new sous, Marcus finally fulfilling that copehagen storyline and really diving into patisserie, and...i'm gonna say Richie -- giving him purpose, they mention that he doesn't have his food handler's license as foreshadowing, and he's gonna use his natural charisma and knowledge of people/the area to good use. def front of the house for him. also balances the giant personality (carmy/syd) in the back of the house

eff it i'd love for pete to get involved too, he's gotta have a marketable skill. handling Difficult People in the restaurant? or oh my land, helping out in HR. if he can deal with the berzattos he can do HR

bring back louie i miss him. he can get suspended again as a treat

#the bear #liveblogging #syd x carmy #2X01 #yeah i'm taggying sydcarmy this is a huge ep for them #just blowin smoke but i hope i'm in the Vicinity of sense