Carmy texts to Mikey:
"Miss you bro"
"Found the tomato cans"
"You were right about Claire Bear."
"Thinking about you today."
"The restaurant was called Kerringan's"
This post is my attempt at consolidating a whole bunch of meta on this platform about Claire's role in The Bear. Because given the new season, everyone's coming in with takes (some great, some not so great) and it gets hard to wade through it all. Also, there has been A LOT of historical analysis of this character from past seasons and almost all of it still holds up. But Tumblr being what it is and folks' attention spans and ability to actually conduct research being what they are, a lot of that analysis has fallen by the wayside.
Above: Claire in 4x03 Scallop looking a haggard mess. Also a picture of my shrivelled soul after reviewing this insane volume of Claire-based meta in the last few days.
With all that providing a lens through which to look at season 4, this season has confirmed for me that Claire has been purposefully written as an escalating threat to Carmy's mental health. This has been building from the start of her tenure in the The Bear, up to and including season 4. I repeat: Claire has not been written with the intention that anyone in the audience should ship her with Carmy. And if you do? If you are watching The Bear and are rooting for Carmy and this woman to be endgame? The show told you in 1x01 to stop watching get out of line along with the other media illiterate white supremacists incel, QAnon, 4chan, Snyder-cut, (and I'd also add) Reddit motherfuckers. [In case I need to spell it out: this is because you'd rather ship white wunderkind chef man Carmy with one of the only available, conventionally pretty white women in show whose character has not been fleshed out at all, than imagine him loving, needing, wanting his beautiful, multi-faceted, professional equal (well...superior at this point) who is a Black woman.]
Now, I'm not saying that Claire has been written as an out-and-out villain. The Bear doesn't have those (except for Chef David of Empire). Among the many things the show is about is how we all hold light and dark within us and that we have choices to make about how or if we share or weaponise those parts of ourselves with others. This is why many of us love this show, its realistic in that way. And lets be real: the folks in our lives who are not good for us, usually don't enter our lives with a sign around their necks or red flags flying from their heads to identify them as threats. In many cases, it takes time to recognise that someone's behaviour hurts. Similarly, it will take time for Claire and Carmy's incompatibility to make itself plain for viewers (particularly those who don't want to engage subtext when watching this show).
TLDR: If Syd and Carmy are the slow burn love story at the heart of The Bear, then Claire and Carmy are its slow chill: a relationship that if it keeps going at its current pace, will leave Carmy frozen in heightened anxiety, unable to move.
I put together this post in the hopes that it might make people feel better about this character's future (or lack thereof) in season 5. I've said it before and I'll say it again: legacy media, Reddit, Twitter etc none of them hold a candle to the level of analysis and rigour that gets put out by the folks in the #sydcarmy tag on Tumblr (and they know it too - thats why they're regularly combing through our shit and stealing content without attribution *cough*).
The list of meta links below, while long as shit, is by no means comprehensive. Its based on my own imperfect searching through multiple tags. I also stopped actively searching for Claire meta in the last week so thereās probably lots of recent S4 meta Iāve missed in this list. Feel free to reply or reblog with links to meta youāve found/written that are not listed here. This post was haunting my drafts so I had to get it out lol. The list is under the cut.
Season 2
@eeeeehhhhhkiszkahkiszka's meta on Claire as part of a pattern in Carmy's life where things are chosen for him.
@strawberryscare's meta on a costume choice in 2x08 Bolognese that associates Claire with regression into Carmy's past instead of his forward growth.
@fairestbeardās meta on Claire's disruptive waiting in S2.
@fairestbeard's meta on the use of signs and magical realism in 2x05 Pop.
My meta on the subtextual sex scene between Claire and Carmy in 2x05 Pop.
My gif-based meta highlighting the difference in warm and cold lighting for Syd/Claire scenes.
@brokenwinebox's meta analysing Clairmy over the course of S2.
@brokenwinebox's meta on pushing between Claire and Carmy and between Marcus and Syd
@yannaryartside's meta on Claire pushing Carmy.
@radio-ghost-cooks' meta on Claire as the last thing holding Carmy back.
@myloveismineallmine's meta on Claire, Carmy and chores.
Part 2 and Part 4 of @myloveismineallmine's multi-part meta on song choices and Sydcarmy. Note: this whole series is awesome: Part 1 and Part 3.
Season 3
@outmakingmoonshine's meta: Part 1 and Part 2 on the fact that Sydcarmy has been intentionally written by Chris Storer as endgame from the jump and the superficial role of Clairmy in the show.
@moodyeucalyptus' meta (and ALL the reblogs) on Claire's performance as an ER doctor and her role as an anaesthetic that helps Carmy to numb himself.
@brokenwinebox's meta laying out visually the associations between Claire (in the present) and abusive Donna (in the past).
@brokenwinebox's meta on connections between Claire, mold and death.
@ambeauty's meta on Claire as the personification of the freezer Carmy got stuck in during 2x10 The Bear
@ambeauty's meta on Syd, Carmy and Claire's roles and how they fill the tropes in a romantic workplace comedy.
@yannaryartside's meta on Carmy's relationship with Claire as another example of him not dealing with his past traumas.
@freedelusionshere's meta analysing Claire's role as a dramatic foil: "Donna with a soft voice."
My reblog meta on @espumado's original post about Claire being a reverse-engineered haunt, created by Carmy to keep Michael in his life.
My reblog meta on @mitocamdria's original post about Carmy's sublimation and shame and what this might tell us about his relationship with Claire.
@yannaryartside's meta on why Carmy has a freeze response around Claire
@ciaomarie's meta on Claire's treatment of Carmy over eps 2x10 to 3x09.
@thoughtfulchaos773's meta on Carmy's memories of Claire and Syd and what they tell us about his state of mind with these two women.
@thoughtfulchaos773's meta on repeated connections between Claire and Tiff
@thoughtfulchaos773's meta on Claire being the mother that Carmy wanted.
@yannaryartside's meta on Claire and narcissim.
@freedelusionshere's meta on Claire and gaslighting.
@thoughtfulchaos773's meta (and ALL the reblogs) on Claire, Carmy and S3's horror theme.
@mitocamdria's meta on Carmy's reluctance in his relationship with Claire.
@bioloyg's answer to an ask about Claire's role in S3 as it pertained to Carmy's charcter arc.
@turbulenthandholding's meta on Carmy, Claire and dissociative amnesia.
Season 4
@marianasue20's meta about Claire's propensity for making light of the heavy things that Carmy discusses with her.
@fairestbeard's meta (and @freedelusionshere's reblog meta) on Molly Gordon's acting choices to convey Claire's disdain for Sydney.
@fairestbeard's meta on dialogue in 4x08 Green between Claire and Carmy and how this might point to Claire having two faces when it comes to Carmy.
@bioloyg's meta on the use of Claire in 4x06 Sophie as a confessional for Sydney to disclose her fears.
@brokenwinebox's meta on Claire's controlling language in 4x03 Scallop.
@thoughtfulchaos773's meta on Carmy's use of fire (and Claire) to forget/escape pain.
My meta comparing Pete, Syd and Claire's approaches to the surviving Berzatto children as they navigate their reintroductions to Donna.
Listen, Claire chased Carmy. Carmy gave her the wrong number on purpose and she still pushed her way into his life. She essentially forced him to accept her which is what has happened to Carmy his entire life. Heās basically never chosen anything for himselfā¦ heās just had people push and poke and prod him into ādecidingā (not deciding, just doing whatās expected). He became a top chef to spite his brother. He inherited The Beef. He inherited an entire staff. Nothing was what he chose.
theartofmadeline
discoholicmusic
snowghoul
baratheonpilled
kianamaiart
germansingergirl
titsay
dailybridgerton
