I'm studying to become an animator and create animated shows/movies featuring African characters. I love drawing, Africa, animals, books, and other nerdy things.
Me: *Looking at the inventorofNaleb videos and multiple interviews of Caleb and Noah* Hmm, these two do be acting like a couple. They aren't even being that secretive about it. Let me not say anything and avoid people jumping on me about shipping real people.
Newest interview out today.
Gaten to Caleb(after watching a video from a few years back): Is that how you changed?
Caleb: References getting better at back flips in relation to the video.. than finishes with..... " and uh... I love Noah."
This is not a drill! This is not a drill!
Caleb loves Noah and doesn't care if anybody knows it!!
Noah loves Caleb and stay posting cute photos like this one!
Now people can't get upset with me about it for talking or referencing it.. cause they confirming!! I made sure to cover my basis.
I wasn't going to say anything, but now I am. They are the cutest fricken thing since Stackie.
Go enjoy inventorofNaleb tiktoks and enjoy the treasure trove she dug up... than watch the video!
The fact that Joe Keery took this photo of Caleb is SENDING me!!
Whose idea was it to go low like that? I just wanna know. So many questions.
The imagery of Joe bending down to take the shot and treating it as if Caleb is modeling for him is...
Than we have this one. Dude did another great photo of Caleb. Mind you, it is tricky to get dark skin looking decent on certain cameras and the fact that Joe got the skin tone spot on, is impressive. He took care to get it right, more so than even Netflix did because they did him dirty in some scenes. Best photos that I've seen of Caleb. Bravo!
This is something that I’ve seen in many of the controversies surrounding The Bear. It’s an argument that I’ve find hard to wrap my mind around because, who, in terms of main characters in The Bear, does not have issues within them that could make them a difficult partner? I see so many people say that Carmy should be in therapy and not date, but never say the same thing about a particularly loose canon of a character like Richie. In my time on Reddit and many other online areas who openly hate sydcarmy, I never see them speak on Richie's character needing therapy. Richie’s went on dates and is now potentially being linked with Jessica and still I have not seen anyone say he needs to be in therapy. Trainwreck Richie. Richie who, not so long ago, accused one of his coworkers of doing sexual favors for a good review. That Richie. But all I see in those carmyxtherapy circles is nothing but praise of his potential match with Jessica. So why the difference with Carmy when he is nowhere as problematic as Richie is?
And let’s talk about therapy being used as the be all, end all. Like as if people go to therapy and automatically come out of it as a person who has completely overcome their issues and is no longer problematic. That is not how it works. Therapy can help in many ways and can even be transformative with some, but it’s not usually something you go to for 3 months and come back as a different person. Plenty of people have been in therapy for years and, get this, still have issues. For many people, therapy is the start of confronting many issues and those confrontations can actually cause people to regress. Recovery is not linear, it is a zig zagged line. Carmy being in therapy, isn’t going to disappear all of his issues. Does he need it? Hell yeah! There are a lot of things he needs to confront and therapy would be one of the ways to do it. But do I think that he needs to do therapy before being in a relationship? Hell no. Because therapy doesn’t fix you. It can help get you to a better place if you are mentally open to working with it, but it does not fix you. Making this a solution to Carmy' problems is lazy.
Then we have the Sydney-deserves-better crew. I have no issues with this. People have their reasons. Hell they could simply just not like Carmy and that is still perfectly fine, or they think other characters fit with her better. All good.
The only thing I would push back on is the idea that it’s wrong for Carmy and Sydney to get together. The usual argument will list Carmy issues and needing therapy first, and some will list how Carmy treated Claire and how they don’t want that for Sydney.
First point. Carmy is wrong for Sydney because he has too many issues. I disagree vehemently with this. Carmy has shown, time and time again, that he has the characteristics of a person who is stable and even a great catch. That most important characteristic being that he not only apologizes when he is in the wrong, but he can recognise when he goes too far and actively tries to change it. Do you know how many people, even people who appear to be well adjusted, hate apologizing and can’t recognize their mistakes? Far too many, while Carmy not only acknowledges his fk-ups, but also tells Sydney if he ever is doing something she doesn’t like, to make sure to tell him. Being able to openly criticize your partner, especially as a woman to a man, and not have to worry about him giving you backlash for it, is an amazing thing.
Carmy is flawed, but he got a lot of things going for him. He believes in talking it out. Whenever something is going wrong between them, he gives Sydney the floor to speak out about it. He isn’t afraid to say sorry. He is constantly working on himself. He has a good heart. He tries not to be an asshole. He wants to know everything about the person he loves. He actively tries to learn more about Sydney. Sydney can talk to Carmy about anything and he listens AND gives his input. He wants to make her happy. The main reason he is trying to get a star for the restaurant was for Sydney. He doesn’t have anger issues. Marcus broke his phone trying to toss it to him and the dude took it in stride. Didn’t even miss a beat. Mind you, I don’t have anger issues and Marcus would have heard a little thing or two for that one.
He isn’t toxic towards her. He doesn’t start fights with Sydney just because. He doesn’t put her down. He doesn’t try to manipulate her into doing what he wants. He doesn’t try to dominate Sydney. He doesn’t pressure her. He could have easily been annoying and repeatedly asking Sydney about when she was going to sign the partnership agreement and trying to guilt trip her into doing so, but he doesn’t.. He brought it up once, just to inform her about it, and never brought it up again. In comparison, look at how Chef Adam reacted when Sydney turned the offer down. Straight up started insulting her, gave her attitude, made her feel like she was being stupid.
He doesn’t lie to her. He doesn’t talk her ear off while ignoring what she has to say. When it’s just the two of them, they are at peace. No arguing, no yelling, no passive aggressive behavior, no snarky comments, they are actually having a dialogue with one another, getting each other's input and trying each other their suggestions. But you got some people saying that Carmy is too unstable to be in a relationship. Unstable where? Carmy is actually a very remarkably well adjusted human being, despite his background.
I’ve seen people point out how Carmy was with Claire as to why it shouldn’t happen because Carmy was a bad partner to her, but I will die on this hill that it was Claire’s doing that made it bad. Claire deserves a good 80% of that blame because Carmy tried to avoid it and never would have gone out with her if she didn’t force him into her life than guilt tripped him to hanging out. If Claire was a man, most people would have seen her actions for what it was. Carmy's biggest flaw in all of this was that he should have been upfront about his feelings after she contacted him after the fake number incident rather than going along with it, but I went into detail already on why he did that, so I'll just link it here.
Carmy respects women. He listens to the women around him. He has no issues being told what to do by them. Carmy doesn’t talk about women like a piece of meat. He was disgusted hearing his brother and Richie talking about Claire’s body. He told off Richie when he called Sydney “sweetheart” when they first met up…
But no, Carmy shouldn’t date. Carmy wouldn’t make a good partner. All Carmy needs is therapy. It makes no sense. I can never take this criticism of Carmy character seriously because he honestly just acts like a normal human being most of the time. Not someone so unstable that they shouldn’t date. Dude is going to be a good boyfriend to Sydney. Probably even a great one.
So on reddit, I recently read a comment complaining about how Sydney crying about her dad at the hospital was her being narcissistic and making her dad's heart attack about herself.
I have never been in a fandom that was this fricken toxic. They HATE Sydney, just hate her, and the reasons they hate her is for her being a nonperfect human being like every fricken body else. When people see the things Sydney does, they can't empathize with her and always make her motivations and actions more f-ked up than it was portrayed to be. Of all the fandoms I've been in, I never see people HATE a character like they do Sydney. Oh wait, I do, and it was towards another black character!
Just tired. I try to avoid The Bear subreddit most days because I already know what I'm going to find, but it is the most active online place. I just want to read different opinions on season 4 and I can't do it because I'm constantly reading the same shit. Constant hatred towards Sydney, hatred towards SydCarmy, people really downplaying who she is as a character because they can't fandom that Sydney had a right to stand up for herself against Richie.
They can forgive Richie but forgiving the outspoken black girl is a step too fucking far.
it’s been a hot minute since you’ve talked about this, so you probably don’t keep up with him anymore, but i was wondering if you have any thoughts on Anthony’s press for BNW?
i was going through your old stackie posts and saw one about Anthony being confident sometimes and self deprecating at others.
i noticed during the bnw press (in that interview that went viral and in smaller interviews where he was more candid) he seems to be at a weird point in his career where his “lack of success” (idk seems pretty successful to me) is starting to get to him a bit. specifically in that pivot interview where he talks about the revelation he had about hard work not always leading to success. do you have any thoughts on this? i really enjoy your analysis of both him and seb, so im curious to hear your thoughts (if you have any of course)
Hey Anon, I don't even know if you are still here to read this. I take looonnng breaks from tumblr just to avoid being sucked back in too badly, so I missed great asks like these.
I had no idea about the cracks finally starting to show, but I'm not surprised. Throughout the years when I did follow it closely, the blatant disrespect towards him as an person was INCREDIBLY obvious. I remember watching one of the red press interviews, don't remember which Marvel movie but I believed it was Civil War, and Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie were interviewing together and the reporters had ZERO interests in him at all. He had to kind of make himself visible. When they would do those Marvel press conferences, nobody would ever ask him anything directly. When he would do it with Seb, the only questions he would get were directed towards both of them. When he would do interviews that had nothing to do with Marvel, the only thing people wanted to know about him was what he knew about his white Marvel cast members.
Anthony took most of this in stride. He never openly complained about any of it, he would acknowledge the mistreatment without any hint of bitterness. For him, this was just the reality of the industry, something it seems like he accepted a long time ago. But now, after all of his success, after all of his awards, after reaching heights he never thought he would reach, yet STILL being in the same position with people not caring about what he has to say, despite being a very interesting and talented person mind you, it makes sense that the unfairness of it all is starting to weigh on him. If there is one industry I wouldn't want to be a part of, even if I had the talent and looks for the part, it is Hollywood, because it is an incredibly antiblack environment. Classic whiteness gets the most praised. Be blue eyed, blond haired in this industry and watch the praise falling from the sky. Even the black people involved in this industry are also very white worshipping because it's hard not to be when it's one of the few industries where there is an obvious difference in treatment and respect depending on how white you look. Black people are an afterthought. With how successful Anthony is, the disrespect is starting to hurt more and more. It's different when you are a nobody and you are just grateful for getting acting parts. Now you are doing things even most white actors never get to do and you are STILL not getting anywhere near the attention of the latest, white pretty boy with the mid acting. It must be incredibly painful thing to have to confront.
Anthony has an incredibly successful career and also the money to do whatever he wants, so I'm happy that despite this setback, he has financial freedom. They can't take that away from him. Still, I think he should do what Idris Elba plans to do and help build a new age of African cinema in Africa. Go to where your talents will be respected and where you aren't playing second fiddle to your costars just because you aren't white.
the show can claim being for family and friends and love but how they handled emmanuel's heart attack does not show that. no one is coming around with concern afterwards. she calls carm but that's it, he doesn't even call to check in. subject matter like this is very personal to me (for very different reasons) and i don't think any writers on this show have experienced parent death at an age as young as syd did. i know the burden she feels and what heals is people swarming you with love and a refusal to leave you. i hope s5 could do more on that front, but, not high hopes
Yeah. This is exactly why I put it in my issues with season 4. Something as serious as a heart attack, wasn't given the gravity it needs because we were with the other characters having a meltdown over attending a wedding. It was so tone deaf they should have just given him something less serious than that.
I kind of feel like this was just another example of the writers not knowing what to do with Sydney. She has been on the fence about The Bear since season fricken 2 and she still having to make up her mind for season 4. So what do the writers decide to do, let's give Sydney a family hardship! She was ignoring her dad, let her dad experience a heart attack, that will show some growth! It's like this was just a last minute ad-on, they didn't even do it justice by stopping the comedic moments while we are waiting to find out if he made it through. Than the characters barely acknowledged it. And it happened so fast too, next minute, Sydney is attending a wedding with Richie.
One of the things I noticed about The Bear is that every first episode has a SydCarmy moment that defines the rest of the season. It is always a moment where it is just the two of them, and what happens usually has a major effect on how the season turns out. First season it was the meeting between Carmy and Sydney, and it was her being hired on at The Beef that finally got the restaurant moving in a direction of professionalism. In the second season, it was Carmy’s failed attempt at asking Sydney out in the first episode, and that failure lit a fire in him that helped kickstart a speedy reconstruction of their new restaurant. Third season, it was Sydney and Carmy together after he got out of the freezer, and it was her disapproval of Carmy contacting Claire and trying to make up with Richie, that ended up building up his guilt towards Claire, which added on to so many of his other traumas that he was refusing to deal with.
This time around, the defining SydCarmy moment of season 4 epi. 1 was a very poorly timed confession. In the start of their conversation, Carmy apologizes for not being good enough, which Sydney disagrees is the source of the problem. Here, she speaks frankly. It’s the chaos that the article speaks of, and she tells Carmy how she does not like it either. Who is the main source of the chaos- Carmy. Carmy is hearing a double meaning. You don’t like Chaos and I’M the chaos…so you don’t like me? He tries to get confirmation. Does she really associate me with chaos, which she just admitted to not liking? He then asks her if she thinks he likes chaos. She pretty much confirms his fears when she tells him how he could be so good if he didn’t have this need for mess. He is the chaos, the thing she openly states that she doesn’t like. And that hurts him. Badly. He tells her:
“Congrats. That knocked the wind right out of me.”
Sydney is confirming his worst fears. That she doesn’t feel the same way about him. And that hit him right in his soul. Sydney, at that moment, doesn’t understand the enormity of what this moment is feeling like for him, and she continues on with the conversation about his love of chaos:
“You don’t need it.”
And Carmy really replies with “Air?” because the dude is truly stunned at this moment.
As the conversation continues, Carmy tries again to defend himself about how he doesn’t like dysfunction. He is trying to convince her that that is not him, do not associate me with something you don’t like. When Sydney asks what does he likes, he takes it upon himself to push further, further than he ever gone before with her because he truly thinks that she is confessing her dislike of him. He tells her “I like this”, what they have, being together at this moment. He likes HER. But Sydney scoffs at it and criticizes his delivery…and Carmy took that as confirmation of his worst fears. He ducks his head and tells her “That hurt”, and after she walks off, he stares longingly at her, eyes slowly watering.
Carmy spends this season believing that Sydney rejected him, and when you really think about it, she kind of did. Just by the way she looked at him when he tells her “I like this”, I do believe she understood that he was referring to what they have, but she was not in the mood to consider any of that because Carmy has been dismissing her for too long for her to give anything other than a negative reaction. She doesn’t want Carmy as he is now, someone so miserable to be around, and she tells him so. She can't take him seriously. Say it without all that misery attached to it. Unfortunately, Carmy takes this as a complete rejection, and this changes so many things for him.
Carmy has an incredibly complex relationship with food. In his desire to impress his brother, he goes to school for cooking and discovers that he is really good at it. So good that for the first time in his life, he is being recognized and openly praised for his skills, and he took much pleasure in being the best and besting his competition. It was his way of proving to his brother that he is good enough to work at his restaurant, because that is truly what is this was all about. Carmy love of cooking is not only tied to his ego, but also who he shares it with. He became the best cook in the world so that he could be worthy enough to cook alongside his brother. After his brother died, Carmy took it upon himself to continue on at The Beef and make it successful, but Carmy had so many shortcomings while also still dealing with his brother’s death, that his attempt wasn’t going well at all…until Sydney showed up. It was Sydney who turned The Beef around, but she also transformed Carmy. She showed herself to be the perfect partner. Incredibly knowledgeable about cooking, so much so she could finish his sentences. She was very business savvy and a great leader, he knew he could depend on her to lead it, especially when the pain of reality got too much for him. She took the spot of the person he loves to cook with, and that inspired Carmy to dream for more and fight for his old dream- the dream to build up his own restaurant, and he does. And all of this is because of Sydney. She became his muse.
Working with her made him love working at the restaurant, he even admits to Claire that Sundays are his least favorite days. The days he doesn’t get to see her. Sydney fueled his creativity. Not only would he design dishes based on what she was wearing, but he also took out his drawing tools just to draw out the imaginary dishes for her and impressed her with it. What she desired, he worked hard to get it for her. Much of his motivation throughout these three seasons was trying to be the best for her. Now, in season 4, Carmy is confronted with the possibility that she might not feel the same way. That she might even dislike him a little and in his mind, and this changes everything. Carmy saw how unhappy she was while he was trying to get her a star. He definitely noticed how she never signed the partnership agreement. Dude probably started to think that maybe he got ahead of himself. Maybe she does not want to be with him as he does with her, and there was even a possibility that she plans on leaving him eventually. Carmy probably correctly predicted that the thing Sydney wanted to tell him was that she was leaving. The argument at the beginning of season 4, probably confirmed his worst fears. She didn’t sign the agreement because she was never going to be a permanent member. She was one day going to leave him like she did in the first season, and probably sooner than he would like. So he starts preparing.
This leads to some serious soul searching for Carmy. Carmy was truthful with Sydney when he told her how he didn’t want to do this without her. If he could not make her happy then she will eventually leave, and if that happens, then being the owner of The Bear was not something he wanted to do. The Bear was a restaurant he originally created that he and his brother would own. It then became the restaurant that he wanted him and Sydney to own. It was never something he wanted to go in by himself, and none of the people that currently work at The Bear, not his sister, not Richie, not any of the Faks, were what he wanted in a partner. Sydney was it and if Sydney was not going to be part of it, then that was that. His motivation left him this season. He wanted The Bear to succeed for the people who worked there, but he did not want to be a part of it. Cooking, by itself, never gave him much enjoyment. The love of cooking was sharing that love with a special someone, and that special someone, in his eyes, does not feel the same way.
In episode 1, Richie new hires implement an effective system that is bringing life back into The Bear. Despite that, in episode 2, Carmy is incredibly depressed. He starts thinking of his mistakes and trying to make things right, and for the first time, considering leaving the place he worked so hard to build. So he starts backing off and allowing Sydney to take more control. He starts seeing her talent as not a competition( he is still a competitive person after all) but as a sign that he isn’t needed. He seeks to apologize to Claire, something he probably would have done a long time ago, but didn’t do because he was respecting Sydney’s wishes. He starts listening to his crew and giving them what they needed to succeed. He starts to explore his other interests and is fully focused on finding himself outside of the restaurant. He created an updated agreement, removing himself completely from the equation because at this point, he figures that since he is the wrong thing in The Bear, the chaos that Sydney doesn’t like, removing himself is best for everyone.
And his fears get confirmed when Shapiro calls him while Sydney is at the hospital. This time around though, Carmy is prepared to lose Sydney. He isn’t going to freak out like season 2 and 3 Carmy definitely would have. He accepts that she doesn’t feel the same way and plans accordingly. He seeks out Claire as he eases on to a possible future without Sydney. This is happening all the while, Sydney has no idea that Carmy has given up on them as a partnership.
And when she finds out, it crushes her. Something interesting to note is that Carmy finds Sydney outside, and when he asks her about what’s going on, she replies how she “is getting some air.” Carmy leaving her has left her similarly breathless, the same way Carmy felt when he believed she turned him down. It is a great way to show that the strong feelings between the two are mutual. She does want him as much as he wants her, but she keeps him at a distance so well that it has fooled Carmy into thinking that she doesn’t.
And in their big confrontation, Carmy is confused as hell. Why are you upset at me leaving when I am chaos to you, something you didn’t like? Why are you upset when you were going to leave me anyways, now you have a restaurant of your own? And Carmy tries to explain to Sydney what he feels about cooking. He tells her that hasn’t been enjoying it lately. He doesn’t have anything to draw from anymore. There is a Sydney sized hole that he feels he no longer has, so that enjoyment is gone. It’s gone because he believes Sydney is leaving for Shapiro, so it’s best if he leaves and let her keep the restaurant because the love of it will leave with her anyways. And through the argument, with Syd not getting it, he lays it on her and explains why her owning the restaurant is for the best, why this is a great opportunity, and why he wont leave her in this mess and will make sure the business is okay. And Sydney, damn Sydney. She pulls every excuse out in the book why she isn’t happy with him leaving to avoid the main reason. She made it out as if him leaving her a failed business is why she is so upset, but after he promises that he will make sure it doesn’t fail, she couldn’t use that excuse anymore. As he cites the reasons why this is a great opportunity for her, there is no happiness there for her, because none of that matters. She loves the crew, she enjoys the business, but the one and only reason she chose to stay and sink with the ship was purely because she wanted to stay with Carmy. And sadly, it’s at the end of their confrontation when Sydney finally gets to the real reason why she is upset. She doesn’t want to lose him. And we get cut off once Sydney finally admits the real reason why she hates seeing him leave, and we miss how Carmy reacts to it too, but the way he stares at her as she is crying after Richie interrupts, he might be putting two and two together.
Now I want to talk about the lack of progression in Carmy and Sydney's relationship in season 4 and why it creates a big problem with the story and maybe leading The Bear down a bad rabbit hole. The thing about their relationship is that they are the solution to each other’s most pressing problems. This has been established many times throughout The Bear. It’s why the show started off with Sydney's first day at The Bear and not Carmy’s first day. Carmy has what Sydney lacks and Sydney has what Carmy lacks. Carmy has the restaurant and the wealthy investor family member, while Sydney has the business knowledge and is a natural born leader. Together, they are at peace. This was shown most prominently in season 2, episode 2. This scene, with the blue light hitting on the side, showed the two of them where they were most at peace. What Sydney desires is an equally skilled partner to brainstorm menus together. Due to her past business failures, she does not want to go into any business by herself. While Carmy’s love of cooking is directly tied to who he does it with. It was originally going to be his brother, but now it became Sydney.
Due to certain factors, Claire being the main one, they both got away from what they truly desired, which was what they found in each other. Carmy, in reaction to his own failures after he locked himself in the freezer during the restaurant opening, became this unfeeling, closed minded, aggressive individual who put his own desires for the restaurant above everyone else’s. This put him in direct conflict with Sydney who wanted a partner she can bounce off ideas with, not someone who she had to follow. But their natural state is this moment, right here. They naturally work well with one another. They just have to get back to it.
Watching season 4, at first it seems like that is exactly where they were heading- Carmy getting away from that negative headspace and going back to how he used to be. Sydney learning to trust him again so that she can start making the decisions. It’s all going well, except that instead of giving the relationship a natural progression to that conclusion, the show chooses to stale the relationship, in preference of keeping the same factors that got in the way in season 2.
Claire. Oh Claire. Carmy chooses to confront how terribly he ended it with her and goes to apologize. This was good and necessary. Claire was the conflict that got in the way of their partnership in season 2, and his guilt over her helped lead him to spiraling in season 3. The apology scene should have been it. Them leaving each other in mutual understanding that they weren’t the best for one another, should have been it. Claire was too triggering for Carmy, and I wrote down my reasons for why I think that was the case, but whatever reason it was the show never gave it. Carmy described the feeling like being on fire. They broke up, they weren’t good, that should be the end of it… but it wasn’t! Instead of allowing Claire to fade into obscurity, the show brings Claire back! Three times. She danced with Carmy in the wedding. Claire comforted Sydney at the hospital. Carmy called Claire before he met his mother. Claire, who was the obstacle between the two main character's path, now seems more prominent than ever and is now a potential future partner for Carmy.
And that doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make any sense to the narrative established in 4 fricken seasons. Carmy can not have The Bear and Claire. Carmy is much too scatter brained for that. He actually can’t have any romantic relationships outside of someone already working in The Bear because of the amount of time the business takes. Sydney put her foot down with that. In season 2, she told Carmy how she needed his full focus, and did not want to share it. Sydney pretty much told Carmy no romantic relationships...one, it wouldn’t work with how busy they are, and two, she wanted to be his full focus. Carmy recognized that too. They didn’t bother to say to give the restaurant your full focus. No, it’s give each other that focus. This means that, other than finding partners from people they hired, which is inappropriate, the ONLY possible romance is with one another.
And both Carmy and Sydney are down with that. It’s been well established that they both share a romantic interest in one another. This is going to anger some folks, but I’m speaking purely about what the story has given. Now mind you, I love me some good, close platonic heterofriendships, and would have been happy to accept that for them, but the way it was portrayed showed that it isn’t. In the beginning of season 2, Carmy tried asking Sydney out at the end of episode one, but couldn’t do it, but then planned to take Sydney out on a work “date” , this was after giving Claire the fake number. Sydney showed obvious jealousy whenever Claire came into the picture, or was mentioned by Carmy. Sydney doesn’t want to share Carmy. The feelings are there for both of them, so why did season 4 go in the direction that it did?
First, keeping Claire around when she should have gone on her merry way. Second, by Carmy choosing to leave The Bear altogether. Now, one of my predictions for the show was Carmy stepping down as “head” in some form or fashion and letting Sydney take the lead. Carmy is just way too internally chaotic to ever be a good leader, and that has been established well in 3 seasons. He freaks out over stressful situations. I suspected that allowing Sydney to run The Bear was going to be his way of keeping her. Him stepping down and being just one of the cooks, would have been better for his mental state while being able to still do what he loves, which is cooking with the people he loves. What I didn’t expect was there EVER going to be a choice of him leaving The Bear entirely.
For one, leaving The Bear means that Carmy completely went back on everything he had told and promised Sydney. “I wont let you fail” “ We will work on it” “I don’t want to do this without you” All these promises and declarations, and he wants to leave The Bear, and leave Sydney. The ONLY reason Sydney came to The Beef and dealt with all the bullshit there, including the low pay, the aggressive coworkers, the constant instability, was because she wanted to be with Carmy. That’s it. Yes, she absolutely considered leaving The Bear for the opportunity of a lifetime, only after Carmy went a full 180 on her and became a tyrant rather than a partner, but she ultimately chose to stay despite the stakes, and she stayed for the hope for him to be better and become that partner she desired. Sydney doesn’t want to go it alone, same thing goes for Carmy, and that’s what makes their partnership so special..
..but now that is over with. Carmy destroyed any amount of trust that he gained with Sydney. He wants to leave her behind despite telling her that she wasn’t alone. And for what exactly? An ending where he goes to find himself with Claire now by his side, now that he doesn’t have a restaurant to run? And the way this season was set up, it SEEMS like it is headed in that direction. There are far less friendly moments in between them, despite this season being the one where Carmy is trying to repair their relationship. The thing is, they gave many different scenarios where they could have gotten closer to one another, but the show instead stubbornly had them have those moments with others. Richie takes Sydney to the wedding and dances with her. Sydney refuses to allow Carmy to come with her to be with her at the hospital, and Carmy chooses to talk with Claire versus Sydney when going to meet his mom. The few moments they had between them are nothing like the friendly banter they used to have, which is understandable given the circumstances. But it also feels like the show has given up on them as a partnership.
If the show backs away from this partnership, the story is absolutely going to suffer from it. It already did by choosing to go down the route where Carmy breaks every promise he made to Sydney and chooses to leave The Bear. It already did when they decided to keep Claire around after Carmy apologizes, and had the usually tight lipped Syd, who doesn’t even show her vulnerability to The Bear crew, cry her heart out to Claire. When characters start acting against their own characterization just to make an ending work, then that’s when you know that someone has lost the plot.
One of the things I wasn’t a fan of with season 4, and might be why some people find this season a nothing burger, is how many of the conflicts repeat itself. Another doomsday countdown, constant threats of shutdown, the characters who never change and aren't suppose to change(the Faks and their group of nothing burger characters), a repeat of Richie's issues with his exwife and daughter, and a few more things. Thankfully, at least in Richie's case, those issues reached a satisfying conclusion. I can't say the same for another character. I was not a fan of what they decided to do with Sydney this season. One of her biggest conflicts in season 4 was the exact same conflict in season 3. She was debating with herself on taking Shapiro’s offer. Like, we already saw this conflict. Poor girl was hyperventilating over this decision in the last episode of season 3. The story has already well established that this decision is a difficult one for her. Instead of starting the season off anew, they have us spending more than half the season on Sydney being stressed out about her decision.
And what ended up being that decision? She chose to stay… she ended up being exactly where she started. So all that screen time spent on trying to decide and she still chose the safer, boring option. This just means that all that time spent being sick over it was meaningless. I get the impression that The Bear writers just don’t know what to do with Sydney half the time. Having her spend two seasons debating over this decision, only for her to choose no change, is just bad writing. It’s very anticlimactic. You had all this build up only for her to finally be convinced to stay after a family event? It’s boring, and no big changes in the story means the character stays the same. It’s well established that Sydney is afraid of failure, has a great relationship with her dad, and is a natural leader. Great. Where would leaving The Bear temporarily take her character? How would it have challenged the other characters? How would it have challenged Carmy? There were a lot of ways they could have taken the story if season 4 started with this decision already being made in the first couple of episodes, and the fallout from that decision. It’s a missed opportunity for drastic change, something season 4 could have really done with.
Hell, I think it would have been fascinating if Sydney chose to leave the bear in the first episode, and gave them all a time line for when she is finally departing, and they spend maybe an episode where they were able to convince her to stay.
Then they decided to give Sydney’s dad a heart attack and… I’m sorry, I really questioned the decision to put something so heavy, in the midst of a time where there was so much humor going on with the others. You have Sydney rushing to see if her dad was going to be okay, and them debating going to Tiff’s wedding around the same time. It felt kind of tone-death. Like we didn’t even know if her father was even alive at this point. Sometimes, it is good to take the time to feel the fear that Sydney is feeling and not try to humor it up. And why make her father have a heart attack in the middle of the season when it never factors too strongly in the story? If they wanted her to learn how to appreciate her dad more, they could have had it where her dad calls her informing her that he is in the hospital. Rather than a heart attack, it could have been him falling unconscious due to overwork and stress. It would have made Sydney more conscious of her dad all the same.
So Sydney, who is character number 2 behind Carmy, isn’t given the challenging enough story line she deserves. She remains largely the same character she was in season 2, afraid of failure and trying to decide the best direction for her future and whether it is by staying with The Bear or leaving it. And with Sydney not progressing much, it affects the whole story. Carmy development is circular. He goes from being this guy trying his best to save his brother’s dying restaurant to a complete tyrant in season 3 trying to micromanage everything to trying to get back to a place where he wasn’t so intense about everything. Circular development is okay especially when a character can learn from their mistakes that were made when they were that extreme, but when you have character number 2 who has been in this same character arc for two seasons, things can start to feel old fast.
And the first part of the season was good, as far as Carmy goes. He was trying. You could see he was trying to loosen his standards and give more control to Sydney You could see he was trying to make things right by finally confronting Claire about what happened between them, and finally meeting up with his niece. This was a good progression in his character and I was enjoying watching it. But as the season progressed, there was one thing that was definitely missing and it was the natural progression of Carmy and Sydney relationship. More on that for another post.
I largely enjoyed The Bear season 4. I loved where the show went with most of the characters. These characters have become like a comfort blanket to me because I enjoyed them so much and fell for them so hard. That only happens when a show really hit with me in terms of characterization. I care about each and every one of them and loved watching them grow, and I loved what they choose to do with each of them.
Marcus winning chef of the year is well deserved. We started off with a character who was just meandering through life, only to find his passion and he jumps head first into it, researching, finding inspiration, learning from his mistakes, all to come out at the end as not only a good chef, but easily one of the best. I loved that for him.
I enjoyed seeing Donna, the mother, own up to her mistakes and have episodes that focused on her recognizing her toxicity and trying to make up for it. I loved that scene with Donna apologizing to Carmy and finally telling him he is enough! And Carmy accepting that apology and wanting to make something for her. I had no idea whether or not he would forgive his mother and I can see why he wouldn't, but he chose to open that door up, and it makes me so happy!
We saw Richie dealing with his mental torment at the ideal of a more successful and wealthy man marrying his wife and, what felt to him, replacing him as a dad in his daughters life and how insecure he felt in his life because of it. A situation any human can sympathize with, only to discover that he isn't the only one who is incredibly insecure in his new role, and the new man in the house is just as rattled about this change as he is. He discovered how his daughter will always have him as number one in her heart, and a stepfather will never change that.
I loved seeing Ebrahim taking the time, energy, and research to make the next step in his work. He did not want to go back to school and I really respect him for that, because not everyone grows in that kind of institution. I think that is very important and what I loved about the Bear. Marcus didn't go to school for cooking, he devotedly followed his passion and tried to get better and better at it and did. He didn't need to take out thousands of dollars in loans to do it. Ebrahim is potentially going to grow The Beef into a successful franchise as him as the head.
I enjoyed seeing Tina and her struggle with the standards of being in a professional kitchen. I can relate to her and her frustrations. From watching all 4 seasons, you see Tina struggling to keep up, and the stress that comes with it. But she didn't give up. She practiced and practiced at it until she could do it, and this is a really important lesson in it all.
One of the things I loved about The Bear is how all the characters are now in way better positions in life than where they first started. They all obtained the skills they needed to really advanced in life and if worst comes to worst and The Bear closes, I can see them all being able to move on professionally. They aren't just sitting ducks who will collapse with the barn when it falls. Marcus not only has the skills now, but is now nationally recognized for his skills, Tina has professional culinary classes under her belt so finding a job in another professional cooking environment should be easier, Ebrahim could potentially take The Beef to new heights, and Gary is becoming a wine expert and can work in similar field now. They don't NEED The Bear anymore, which is important. They choose it because they are found family and want this restaurant to work to stay together.
I feel like all these characters have been given very satisfactory character development, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for them as far as where they are all going. It was a joy to watch them.
The show did everyone else so well that it is incredibly puzzling to me that they failed in the progression of the two main characters of The Bear, and part of the reason why they failed in it, IMO, is that the story forgoes the obvious conclusion that was building up from the first 3 seasons of The Bear in order to push Carmy in a direction that is away from restaurant entirely and away from his partnership with Sydney, and that makes NO sense.
And this is getting much too long, but I will continue in another post about most of my hang ups with Season 4.
I have so many god dang emotions about season 4. Some really good, some baaaaaadddddd. But one thing I wanted to point out...
SPOILERS
Carmy confesses to Sydney on episode one. Sydney pretty much turns him down and/or he takes her reaction to it as a rejection.
Carmy: I don't like dysfunction.
Sydney: Okay than, what do you like?
Carmy: I like this ( while looking at her pointedly).
Sydney pauses while giving him a look.
I could be reading too much into it( looking at my Claire posts), but the only thing "this" could be at that moment was them being side by side, standing close together and chatting. He likes their relationship, and Sydney pretty much scoffs at it and tells him he sounds miserable even saying that. Dude admits out loud how "that hurt" and I really believe that's him taking it as a rejection. I thought that this scene meant that the rest of the season will feature Carmy growing to be better in his well being and showing her a side of himself that is truly "alive"... but after watching the entire season, I truly think this scene was meant to spell the end of sdycarmy for good. Carmy does like Sydney, but any chance he had with her he seems to have lost it, and this scene seems to reinforce that Sydney is not the one.
I no longer think they are endgame. Despite everything, EVERYTHING we've seen between the two, this season truly did blew it all out of the water. I strongly felt that narratively speaking, if they had a chance of happening, they needed to lay the groundwork this season. The Claire issue was suppose to be done with from the first or second episode, and have that chapter in his life be an obvious closure... but it's not. In fact, Claire as the endgame is more alive and well than ever before. It makes no sense for Sydcarmy to happen with Claire still in his life. What was annoying is that, the situations that SHOULD have brought them closer together, they narratively had them have those scenes with other characters rather than each other, even though they were RIGHT there. It makes no sense why Carmy wouldn't be with Sydney at the hospital. It makes no sense that Carmy called Claire before he meet up with his mother. It makes no sense that Sydney danced with Richie and not get one with Carmy. If we get another season, it just wouldn't make narrative sense for Carmy and Sydney to get together. It would look like it came out of nowhere after Carmy got with Claire in season 2, spent all of season 3 pining for her, than have season 4 leave them in a will they/wont they hang up.
It's confusing as hell after looking at what we were giving with Sydney and Carmy in the first two seasons which hinted so strongly at them getting together...
I have a lot of feelings on this matter. There were a lot of things I liked about this season, but the way the show handle their relationship is really off putting. And I'm not saying it as them not being romantic is bad. I wanted to see more of them in their partnership. They as a partnership, have some of the best chemistry I've seen in a show, but both season 3 & 4 decided to push that aside.
Got a lot to say on the matter, but I'm going to stop it for now.
