i didn’t like how sydney interrupted the flow of a busy service to ask jess what’s going on with richie. i didn’t like how ted fak fell on and possibly could’ve injured sydney when he came through the roof and it was brushed aside
This goes out to anyone who has a problem with writers who tend to write Sydney and Carmy’s sexual dynamic with Carmy taking a more dominant and active role in their sex lives.
There’s plenty of gross mischaracterizing going around in the fandom but that’s not even what I’m here to speak about. I am fed up with people thinking that they are doing some kind of cape crusade by speaking against fics written where Carmy is more than capable, ready, and excited to be the dominant lover that Sydney would want.
Carmy’s trauma does not automatically make him someone that would shrivel up into a ball the moment he has a chance to be physical with Sydney. In fact, there’s plenty of evidence that it would be quite the opposite. Whenever we see Carmy be intimate with Claire it’s almost always initiated by him. He’s a very physically affectionate person. He doesn’t not allow himself to touch Sydney. The way he holds faces when he kisses, or embraces, places him in a more active and confident role when it comes to intimate acts. He’s not scared in fact. He’s very confident when it comes to that part of his life.
What he’s scared of is doing these things with the wrong person. We know that he doesn’t feel for Claire in the same way that he feels for Sydney. We can see in his face the distance between him and his body/emotions when he’s intimate with Claire. The panic attack that follows because something about it doesn’t feel like the good thing he was told it would be. When he is with Sydney, he’s attentive, focused, eager, remembers every single word she says. Literally wants to give her everything she desires. Why wouldn’t that translate sexually? And why is it consider “incorrect” to write them in such a way?
I could speak about misogynoir and how people tend to prefer Sydney in a more dominant position sexually or in their lives when at her core she’s not that way at all. How they see her less feminine because she wears pants and oversized t-shirts? How they can’t see the inherent femininity of her chosen profession, her generally softer disposition (especially around Carmy), the way she accessorizes, styles her hair, cares about her belongings, and customizes her work space. But for someone reason it’s very hard for some to see that Sydney’s femininity is not a weakness. That her submissive and softer tendencies are not a mistake. That she can be a leader and be in her soft girl era at the same damn time.
*Also I’m not someone who subscribes to gender binaries and feminine and masculine shit in a problematic way but it is very important to this conversation.*
Carmy’s aloofness, depression, anger, and avoidance doesn’t mean he can’t be an active, involved, and passionate lover. Carmy has been shown to be all of those things especially when it comes to Sydney. She is his soulmate in all forms and all ways. No she’s not gonna cure him of his grief and of his less than healthy coping mechanisms and depression but I believe she would be the person that he would put his all into and give her his everything. Carmy is a very masculine man, but he’s also very gentle where it’s required, appreciates cooking and fashion, prefers to work in an environment when he can be of assistance and not worry about the daily stresses of keeping something alive. In fact, I think his eagerness to be of support and take care of the staff in a way that doesn’t stroke his own ego is incredibly masculine. His ability to let go and put others on the pedestal is masculinity in its ultimate form. To have something and to say I want to provide it to others.
He’s not shy, he’s not insecure, and he’s not religiously repressed or inexperienced sexually. This is a completely made up headcanon. So why is it a problem if others tend to write Carmy in his fullness? They see what’s best about Carmy and turn it into him being the best lover for Sydney.
So I’ll advise, if you feel this way:
A. keep it to yourself. We really don’t care and frankly it’s rude and poor fandom etiquette.
B. Write your own fics, scroll past ones that don’t fit the dynamic you’ve created for them in your head. But also self reflection is truly necessary.
Me and the girlies gonna continue to write them the way we want and how we want!
This is in reply to @microsuedemouse who made a post in regard to Carmy’s sexual dominance in fics.
the sad truth about claire is all that theorizing and guessing we as a fandom made and wrote for over 2 years that involved her, in attempt to explain some of the loose ends the bear never tied up, will never be resolved because she only appeared for a grand total of 5 seconds in the last season ever and her storyline with the main character is never actually resolved (meta/rant soon?)
Can you imagine wasting an entire day of filming for a series in which you once played a supporting role, only to end up appearing as an extra in the final season? No lines, just filling out the background alongside a friend, who also has an irrelevant role. You, who used to brag about being the protagonist’s love interest and wanted the lead role alongside him (undermining the real female lead, your so-called friend, by stirring up online rivalries and paying for media coverage), ended the season as an extra… lol. At least you were flawless in that regard, Storer. Honestly, I never imagined this would happen or at least that the character would have a dignified ending; as always, she was just randomly thrown in among the others, left there in a corner. In fact, her character has always been like that random, appearing out of nowhere, never having a real connection to the Berzattos; she was an intruder. Even Tina’s husband had more lines… Manny, Angel (finally), the guys from Beef… Seriously, not a single line for her? Just mime… lol. Now I get why she was so desperate to cling to anyone on the cast,the producers Faks, JAW, Courtney, just to stay in the spotlight after 2024. She knew she’d be written off the show, and her character was never meant to end up with Carmy. Could Claire be any more predictable? I’ll be laughing about this forever!!! A sad ending, M.G.! I’m going to make fun of this woman whenever I can! This is my blog and I’ll say whatever I want; if you don’t like it, feel free to move on to the next one!
Tbh as much as I was happy of not seeing her at all, a part of me went…all thi?..,to end up like that?
Like even in a storytelling stand point…is insane.
I was thinking of creating a post about the contradictions I feel in the narrative and the way it was handled.
Cause there is no way Jeremy and Ayo didn't act like two people that were attracted to each other. I don't know how anybody could film and edit that scene of Sydney revealing the heart tattoo and not hope for us to root for her getting with Carm in the end. Even if she was planned as an obstacle, a break up scene (a real one) with Carm would have given her character so much gravitas (and would have given Molly some good acting credit for the people that only saw her in her perpetual smiling state).
But this? No lines? To be inserted only in the middle of a conversation between Syd and Carm. And you see him smile at Syd instead of her, but Carmy's face doesn't show when he is talking to Claire? That's genuinely wild. Even if Storer was mad that nobody liked the main love story (again, if we are supposed to believe that was the case, that Claire was so badly acted and unlikeable that it butchered all of the symbolism and intention the character was supposed to have), all this is too violent. What a way to cripple your own story. You are telling me you didn't want to double down or re-evaluate to give it a last good try? Idk, man, that's wild. It's almost like they wanted an actual breakup to bring the point home, but this was the second-most violent thing they could do.
I finally cracked the complex puzzle known as what sydcarmy ACTUALLY is within the canon and context of the show
The relationship between Sydney and Carmy has been talked about, examined and widely interpreted in different ways by almost all fans of the show. This meta isn’t to discourage anyone in how they see sydcarmy but Season five of The Bear has been out for two weeks and having finished it and thought very long and hard on the relationship between Sydney and Carmy throughout all 5 seasons, and what the finale season conveyed and portrayed in regards to it, I have come up with a conclusion that best fits how to define sydcarmy: an implicit romance.
Before I go into the details of this relationship, ask yourself this question, when you think of romantic relationships when you watch movies and TV, what do you picture? Like me, you’ll automatically think of two people expressing grand romantic gestures (giving gifts, going on dates, verbally committing to a relationship), enacting physically intimate scenes (kissing on the lips, sexual relations) and some big emotional confrontation between characters that is verbally expressed. What that is, what we are used to seeing onscreen, are explicit romantic relationships. Think about ross and rachel in friends, carrie and big in sex and the city, harry and sally in when harry met sally and any other movie or tv show with a romantic relationship within it. In the context of The Bear and romance, I think of Tina and David Marrero and Natalie and Pete Katinsky.
Now ask yourself again, when you think of a friendship between characters within a movie or a show, what do you picture? Characters who are friends are consistently there for each other through the good times and the bad, friends talk about both easy and difficult things without much barriers between them and friends always have a clear platonic divide that doesn’t impede on their romantic relationships. Think about any of the core four characters in sex and the city, molly and issa in insecure, jon and sam in game of thrones. In the context of The Bear and friendship, I think of Tina and Ebra, Sydney and Marcus and Marcus and Chester.
In our fandom, I think everyone can agree that Sydney and Carmy’s textual relationship existed outside of the realms of both platonic and explicit romance, never quite veering into either area throughout any and all five seasons of the show. Before season 5, I would’ve defined sydcarmy’s canonical relationship as nebulous and undefinable. In 4x10 Goodbye, we all saw that argument scene and at its peak she tearfully claimed that he’s her (business) partner and he angrily rebutted that he’s her friend. Both assertions fall into the realm of platonic. But both assertions are not true, as Sydney had yet to sign the partnership agreement, which would’ve made them official partners (the show even ends without us even seeing Sydney inking her name on the renegotiated agreement, an argument for another day lol). And his claim on friendship is also false, seeing as they never hung out outside of work, as we saw Sydney and Marcus doing (in s1 at Emmanuel’s apartment after they both quit and in s3 making a dead mom’s pact), fully working out their differences after a brief falling out like Tina and Ebra did (s2 when he came back to The Bear) or being there for each other after a difficult time like Marcus and Chester (s4 the latter took care of the sale of his mother’s house). The show consistently went out of its way to pull out all stops in showing Sydney and Carmy not having a platonic friendship. In season 2, when he makes plans to meet her at a restaurant where they would’ve hung out outside of work, he bails. In season 3, he doesn’t join everyone else they work with at a get-together at Sydney’s apartment. In season 4, he doesn’t join her at her father’s bedside in the hospital and she refuses his request to go with her and be with her. They are not friends and only Sydney is aware of that.
So if the show refused to make Sydney and Carmy’s relationship strictly professional and also refused to make their relationship a platonic friendship, I can only make the well informed hypothesis (based on prior knowledge, the observable evidence provided in The Bear, and relevant comments from the cast and crew) that their relationship is a highly intense, uniquely intimate, implied and implicit romance.
Tvtropes defines an implied love interest as “when one character fills the role of a Love Interest to another character in the narrative, or otherwise has a lot of tropes related to being a Love Interest surrounding them, but nothing explicit in the narrative or from the creators is ever stated on the matter.” Sydney and Carmy are each other’s implied love interest as evidenced by the romantic tropes, textual and subtextual content between them. The actors have chemistry, that’s undeniable, but the way they both acted around each other is unique in that their interactions cannot be replicated with any other character. Here’s some reminders if you need to jog your memory (A, B, C, D, X, Y, Z). That’s the text of the show, that can’t be changed or misinterpreted by anyone.
Subtextually, many of instances where we see romance implied is where interpretations will vary by how someone sees the show. The infamous s2 panic attack scene, where Carmy breaks out of it by picturing pivotal moments of Sydney in his life. The repeated and indisputable fact that Carmy made the best meal of Sydney’s life (reinforced by actually showing us this moment in s3’s premiere episode). The once thought abandoned plot of the cola braised short ribs being reintroduced in s5 to highlight that Sydney made the best meal of Carmy’s life. The original under the table scene, framed and shot like a sex scene. The scene where they met, the plot of season 1 only occurring because they meet. The repeated instanced of Carmy recreating Sydney’s attire on a plate of lamb. The star reveal and subsequent hug scene. These were all pivotal moments that showed us their love for each other, a love that no other character had with anyone else onscreen for the entirety of the show.
Both the critics and viewers have highlighted since the show's inception the uniqueness between Sydney and Carmy. After season one, when asked about their relationship, main writer Joanna Calo replied that a hook up between them was floated but ultimately shot down and the show's creator, Chris Storer replied that their relationship was a “partnership”. TVTropes goes on to further say that “One reason for this trope is in a serial work, it allows the author to gently cover their bums when it comes to either Ship Sinking ("Hey, the ship never set sail in the first place") or Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends ("The potential was there from the start"). The writer may state that they Hooked Up Afterwards, or leave it to the reader's imagination. Expect there to be at least some fans who pair the couple up regardless.” Sound familiar?
I want to especially clarify that when sydcarmy became so popular and synonymous with the show (somewhere between s2 and 3), that I think some fans (me included) wanted a clear explicit relationship between them. I would go so far as to say that our wants of explicit romance were known by both cast and crew and were shut down routinely because of the way most romances are portrayed and seen, and they knew that Carmy and Sydney will not kiss, date or be physically intimate onscreen that expresses sexual relations. It is a creative decision that was supported substantially textually and subtextually in the latter three seasons of the show that, for better or worse, solidified the fact that an explicit romance between them was not going to happen.
To conclude, now that season 5 is out and Jeremy himself confirmed there is love between Sydney and Carmy but it is not a romantic partnership, I can only define what they have between them as implied romance and that was the intent from the beginning. It didn’t need to be verbalized and physically expressed onscreen like his relationship with C*****, and it can’t simply be relegated to professional, platonic or familial the way these characters had with others. Sydney loves Carmy. Carmy loves Sydney. That very real but ultimately implicit love exists and is the reason we were invested since the beginning. Their love was written in the margins, indeed.
jeremy didn’t lose a nom for the bear yet until they started putting his face next to miss lady’s for his fyc campaign and all of a sudden he didn’t get it this year
and this is why people like me say ayo was carrying the show on her back 🤭 THE ONLY LEAD ACTOR FOR THE BEAR NOMINATED FOR THEIR PERFORMANCE IN SEASON 4 AYO EDEBIRI EVERYONEEE
andulkaphoto
tangentwithtanner
