Was talking to my friend about sydcarmy tattoos and we got into our usual analysis and it’s just so fascinating to me!
Months ago @yannaryartside made this great post about their tattoos and now I want to share some of my favorite thoughts and observations, because the costume and makeup departments didn’t just give them random shit, they designed two matching, contrasting sets of personal iconography.
I have to start with the absolute blueprint of their dynamic.
Carmy’s Pierced Hand: For a chef, the hands are everything!!! Creation, execution, control. Carmy has a knife plunging directly through his hand. It’s the ultimate symbol of self-inflicted sabotage of his own capability. He is one of the best chefs alive, yet he uses his talent as a weapon against himself. He cannot create without bleeding.
Sydney’s Pierced Heart: Syd’s wound isn't in her labor, it’s in her passion. Her shoulder features the Three of Swords tarot motif-a knife and swords piercing a heart. I assume that It represents the grief of a shattered dream from her past business failure. She leads with her heart, but she’s been burned badly.
Carmy hurts himself through what he does (the hand), and Sydney gets hurt through what she cares about (the heart). When Carmy metaphorically stabs himself in the hand (like locking himself in the walk-in or completely losing focus or leaving) the collateral damage plunges straight into Sydney's heart, killing their shared dream.
The part I’m absolutely obsessed with: the potential portrait of their relationships with food
Carmy’s "86'd" Fish: Shoutout to my cousin who works in a kitchen and confirmed this. During an intense rush, they’ll slash an "x" on a container's tape so someone who isn't too bright doesn't accidentally use the spoiled produce. Symbolically, that is so Carmy. He only cooks or tries food when it's a high-stress restaurant obligation. In his personal life we see him eat junk food over a trash can. Like, food is literally just a stressful production line of panic-management and survival for him at this point.
Syd’s Vintage Anchovies: Syd has the complete opposite, beautiful relationship with food. We always see her in and out of the restaurant being so chill, exploring, experimenting, and never afraid to just try new things. Anchovies are a very specific ingredient used to build deep flavor profiles from scratch.
Where Carmy views food as a checklist of potential disasters to control, Syd genuinely appreciates the raw, complex ingredients that make cooking a soulful, creative art.
They are both drowning in intense, crazy anxiety, but look at how their skin maps out their relationship with time and pressure:
Carmy literally has Sense of Urgency tattooed on his fingers, right alongside the dark irony of a snail forced to "Live Fast." As we know SOU is the ultimate «every second counts». Move faster, sleep less, never stop. Carmy has internalized this mechanical, frantic pace so deeply that he wears it on his hands. He operates at a destructive 100 km/h, even though the snail shows that his soul is desperately crying out to slow tf down.
Syd counters all of that relentless pressure with a cursive "C'est pas grave" ("It’s no big deal" / "It doesn't matter"). It’s the literal antithesis to a toxic Sense of Urgency. My girl is chill. That phrase is like her personal grounding tool-the quiet reminder she uses to force her brain to breathe and de-escalate the panic when the kitchen is actively burning down around her.
So, basically, it shows how Carmy leans into the panic that is killing him, while Sydney actively tries to fight it off.
So, to me, these next two show exactly what anchors them to their pasts and the baggage they carry:
With “773" Carmy carries a loud, systemic obligation to a place. Reality of the South/West sides of Chicago and the heavy legacy of the Berzatto family name. His identity is entirely wrapped up in proving himself to his brother, hometown and the ghost of the family restaurant.
Sydney carries a quiet, private grief for a person. Her Volvo tattoo has a license plate that literally reads "MOM." It’s a devastatingly tender piece of nostalgia, the ultimate symbol of family safety and maternal care that she lost way too soon.
Finally, look at how they view their luck, risk, and life in general:
Carmy has the Grim Reaper shaking hands with a liquor bottle. It’s about as dark as it fuckin’ gets lol. It's just total acceptance of self-destruction. He knows his toxic coping mechanisms are walking him straight to an early grave, but he shakes hands with the reaper anyway. (Also might be a nice homage to his mamma)
Syd has a delicate little wishbone. It's a classic symbol of hope, luck, and wishing for the future. But a wishbone only works if you take a gamble and risk breaking it in half to get what you want. It proves that despite her trauma, Syd is still willing to take a massive leap of faith on her dreams, even if it hurts.
Can’t help but thing about this caption by the makeup artist:
To cope with @capeflatssweetpea knocking the shit out of me with this finding, I decided to re-examine Sydney's and Carmy's tattoos for clues. And oh my god, I feel Storerr was playing in my face.
First, let's talk about both of them having a drawing of their bodies pierced by a knife.
I'm working with this timeline of when he got each tattoo. Carmy got the knife tattoo right before working with Chef Fields. But, as @sonoranbumblebee explained in this post, it is quite possible that Michael did harm Carmy at some point, particularly burning his hands. Whether or not the abuse caused the burning scar that he has right now. Carmy could have, in fact, put his hand on a burner, but the wound itself reminds him (or dissociates him from) Michael's abuse.
In comparison, it makes perfect sense that Sydney's pierced-heart tattoo parallels his pierced-hand tattoo.
A three swords tattoo often symbolizes overcoming hardship, pain, and heartbreak, representing resilience, strength, and courage, frequently inspired by the Tarot's "Three of Swords" card which signifies sorrow, loss, or betrayal, but also the eventual passing of pain and the need for healing. It can also signify a powerful journey through past, present, and future struggles, or themes of honor, protection, and truth
It's about how Sydney has also experienced a loss/trauma that allows her to understand and empathize with the betrayal and sorrow, for which she can provide "honor, protection and truth," and you know the crazy part? This pierced heart tattoo was revealed to the audience right after a scene of Carmy and Claire kissing. @morningssofgold and @notthebear made recent metas about the possibility of Carmy being sexually abused/harassed, so the pierced hand tattoo in particular could also be about the shame of being touched without consent. And we have been talking about Claire using sex as a tool of control over Carmen, particularly coercion, and this sense of anxiety that plagues all their hookups. tagging @juniper-is-in-the-house and @alpinecoalescence cause they also talked about this.
Now, the fish.
this tattos are about their mothers. We have Donna and the seven Fishes tradition. And we have Sydnsys' mom, who died of lupus, and people with that illness benefit from a special diet, needing omega-3 to reduce inflammation, and fish are a good way to do that, like anchovies, salmon, and sardines.
anchovies can be a good addition to a diet for people with lupus, primarily because they are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which help reduce inflammation. However, because they are often processed (salted or cured), they should be eaten in moderation rather than in high amounts.
This might be a stretch, but Sydney is obsessed with high-quality ingredients that are also accessible. She doesn't like processed foods, even if only for the taste. It is possible that one of the ways Sydney had to cope with the death of her mother was to investigate the importance of nutrition through illness.
On the other hand. It's kind of interesting. Sydney has a group of anchovies, and Carmy has one singular fish, maybe to explain Sydney's desire to make a difference ina group, contrasting with Carmy's perpetual individualism. God, I love them.
But on the other, other hand. You see that x in the fish? Almost like he is saying to himself, don't eat the fish?
There is another x in his tattoos, here:
in alcohol. He thinks his mother's fish are as poisoned as the tendency towards alcoholism he inherited from her. That's extremely telling, especially considering he deliberately put the seven fishes on the menu.
'Live fast' vs the French expression "ce n'est pas grave that I've been told is translated to "it's not a big deal" and "never mind." This is about them going into the industry to avoid facing their trauma. Sydney also admitted to it.
Not the fucking soulmatism in tattoos. Fuckig hate this show.
Love in the Moonlight is a BL with a wonderfully empathetic male protagonist, but what made me fall in love with this show was the incredible cast of female characters. Perhaps because his status as a gay man undermines his power as a wealthy prince, Saenkaew is able to connect to the women in his life without a sense of superiority or judgement. In addition to his mother, who died defending him from his father, and his grandmother, who truly wishes his happiness, Saenkaew's greatest allies are shaping up to be all women. (Even more so than his love interest, Sasin, who tends to jump to conclusions and lash out.)
Rachawadi is a preceptive, savvy businesswoman who runs a club that is a haven for LGBTQ people. Her style is also to die for!
Pin could have been reduced to the evil fiancé in a lesser series, but here she's a sympathetic character with her own traumatic backstory. In spite of her struggles, she is a kind and lovely person.
Songsawat would be an archetypal sexpot villainess anywhere else, but in this series she's a pragmatic actress who becomes the mistress of a powerful man to survive. She's a friend and ally to the main character, but has her own struggles with her reputation and all the judgement for her non-traditional life.
More than the conflicts that arise from the single-dimensional antagonists, I'm interested to see how these women continue to help shape the narrative.
Thank you for letting me stay for a night. And you even made breakfast for me. Don't mention it. Sasin spends the night here all the time. He does, huh? You surprised? It's not like that. We're just friends. After work, musicians at the bar like to hang out here and sleep over.
I swear they could play brothers in a series. While I was watching the first two episodes of Love in the Moonlight, I couldn't stop thinking that Peak looks like someone else in the role of Prince Saenkaew and I found it. He looks like Joe played by Poom in My Stand In. They have some similarities. I think they have mastered the teary eyes yet beautiful look.
Saenkaew running for the sake of his love for the first time, running away from everything that has kept him trapped for so long, running to Sasin even knowing what he could lose... because to lose Sasin would be worse than this.
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