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THE BEAR | 2x06, 2x10, & 3x10

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I was here when she died...I mean it as a good thing. I think that's how it was supposed to be.

{✩}

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Marcus, Mikey, Sydney, & Claire

This will be talking about Marcus, Mikey, Sydney, And Claire. It’s a deep dive on the song [Nice Dream] by Radiohead. This is the second part to my meta, “What’s Your Character’s Theme Song?” Highly recommend reading that before this one!

What’s Your Character’s Theme Song?

Text / Spoilers for s3 below

In this commentary of the Legacy episode with Lionel Boyce, he talks about Marcus following the ghost of Carmy's footsteps. I've had thoughts on Carmy being the older brother to Marcus but hearing him talk about this episode really solidified it for me.

I quote tweeted the post on Twitter that involved this particular video with this:

This is so interesting. This definitely feels like Carmy is the older brother to Marcus. How insane is it to say he could even heal from a dynamic that’s similar to Mikey and his relationship? Only this time, Carmy is at the other side of it and wants to do the opposite?

Then, I remembered after the scene between Marcus and Carmy (3x01), They had a song play as the credit rolled that talked about being loved like a brother.

I went back to reconfirm this and did some research on the song, [Nice Dream].

They love me like I was a brother They protect me, listen to me They dug me my very own garden Gave me sunshine, made me happy Nice dream Nice dream Nice dream I call up my friend, the good angel But she's out with her answerphone She says that she'd love to come help but The sea would electrocute us all

Marcus And Mikey

On one analysis of the song, they talk about how Radiohead describes being loved like a brother as someone protecting you, listening to you, and giving you a garden and sunshine.

Mikey had struggled deeply with addiction and his connection with Carmy. We even understand that Mikey felt resentment towards Carmy for being able to go and explore his dreams to which Mikey pushed him to do.

It feels like because of it, the resentment goes both ways. Carmy didn’t really care about being in high prestige restaurants. It was always his family; more specifically Mikey, that he dreamed about. Mikey himself, being shackled to The Beef, would dream the things he pushed Carmy to do, if he allowed it.

I’ve always wondered if Carmy would’ve been happy staying at The Beef or feel adrift to doing something bigger than the family restaurant.

Carmy and Marcus having a potential similar dynamic to his and Mikey’s relationship makes me feel very hopeful about what season four can bring. Especially if Carmy wants his dynamic with Marcus to be more healthy than what Mikey let it be.

Since we didn’t really have that much of an arc for Marcus in season three, it would be so nice to have Marcus fully hitting his stride for season four if it’s the last of the series.

“Take us there, Bear,” could be the significant moment for Carmy and us, making the audience realize that he’s in the role of being an older brother like Mikey. It’s a beautiful thought that Carmy would heal from a similar dynamic he has with Marcus because he has the opportunity to understand his older brother and change the choices Mikey made.

Desperately wanting to be connected to his older brother but Carmy ultimately found out he didn’t even really know Mikey at all. Only after becoming an older brother does he have more of a grasp on who Mikey is than he initially thought and embraces Marcus in the way Carmy wished Mikey did him.

A full circle moment.

Sydney And Claire

Doesn’t this feel like the discussion they had on legacy? In this meta about the best meal Sydney ever had, it talks about how the restaurant is a metaphor for family with Sydney even having a “family tree” behind her.

What gets me the most about this is how they talk about the importance of listening. How it’s a key aspect for a loving relationship.

I did a deep dive on a forum and there’s so many different type of thoughts about the potential meaning for the song!

Essentially I find this to be the most evidently sarcastic song in the history of Radiohead releases. We all know the feeling of being discarded under the false pretense of , " I'm not ready for a relationship," or " We are such good friends...wouldn't want to spoil it." And now here is a song about this scenario. The " Nice Dream" in this song is the presented illusion from a girl-friend who has given many excuses to why a relationship will not work, a diversion from the truth. the last two lines, "...if you think that you're strong enough/if you think you belong enough." are in reference to the personal strength and honesty one must have to realize all of the excuses, are lies. ....and so it's a nice dream, when you don't know.... (x)

Another interpretation of the song’s meaning is certainly interesting. (X)

It’s already been talked about how Carmy said Claire is peace and I’ve been pondering over that for a while. I’ve always been very sure that Claire isn’t Carmy’s peace but what if she is really his peace to some extent? After it said peace, it said security.

Security doesn’t necessarily have to mean good things. I’ve been navigating if comfortability (settling) and peace align in meaning for the sake of this show.

Security is about the things you’ve already known, so could Claire be his peace?Sydney are new emotions and something that demands change from him but Carmy has been fairly consistent in not doing that. Instead, he’ll change the menu, a substitute, to deny himself the opportunity to love someone who doesn’t invoke emotions from the past.

I’ve also heard discussion around Carmy being self aware in his feelings for Sydney, which is why he puts himself in that fridge to apologize to Claire out of guilt. Burying himself in this fantasy of Claire to attempt to ignore his feelings for Sydney makes sense in this context then.

He’s willing to change the menu/change his thoughts of Sydney to Claire.

Another thing is that Carmy is used to his dynamic with his family. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that the dysfunction of his family is what gives him some sense of “comfort” because it’s quite literally the only thing he knows. He talks about how he hates surprises and I think it extends to his love life as well. He gave Claire a fake number but once she had his number and basically invaded in his comfort zone, it could’ve reached to a point of understanding that Claire has the familiarity of breaching his protective barrier like his family. (I could be wrong about this though.)

A Sea Apart

I actually made a prediction of the water between Carmy and Sydney and how they are a sea/lake apart. This part of the article is so fascinating because it discusses that if the narrator gets shocked out of their fantasy, they’ll realize that the friend can’t help them in the way the narrator wants. I try to flip alot between Claire and Sydney when it refers to this friend in the article to see what makes more sense.

With the recent thought I’ve had in my meta about Carmy and how he could run away from kindness, would he also run away from it because he’s cemented in a strange fantasy?

I briefly discussed how season three’s theme is about isolation, guilt, and regression. Carmy felt fairly isolated from the whole group. It was so strange. Carmy was basically this roaming ghost that could talk, touch, and feel but was stuck inside the shackles of his own mind. A prisoner of his own creation.

It’s important to note the analysis talks about how the narrator desires to be nurtured by loved ones because of a potential worsening mental illness.

Carmy’s potential desire to be taken care of makes me think of the metas that we’ve discussed before.

I’ve explained before that Carmy may want to be taken care of but perhaps he feels like he needs to be fixed first. The tumultuous emotions could be a lot of things he’s been dealing with internally. It’s quite sad to think that Carmy might believe that his worsening mental illness could be alleviated but instead of reaching out, he isolates himself with it.

Hopefully in season four, Carmy tries to be more open to being vulnerable to his loved ones.

Carmy [Nice Dream]

As a person in my twenties, I’ve tried to be more introspective and have come to learn that certain situations should’ve been handled with more care and consideration. All of that to say, I’ve thought about how Carmy thinking that Claire is peace shouldn’t be fully shut down just yet.

Comfort, peace, and security could also have negative connotations. I did some research to see if anybody could describe it better than my constant struggle with pinning my thoughts and putting it all together in coherent sentences. I ended up finding something that I instantly thought of Carmy and Claire in an aspect.

Ever heard of the saying, “I’ve made my peace with it.” ? What if this is what’s going on?

make (one's) peace with (someone or something) - To reconcile or come to terms with a person or thing that was a previous source of stress, conflict, regret, etc.

Carmy could be resigned to any dynamic that’s similar to his family. With that growing comfort, it’s interesting to think about how going into the fridge could be his prison from reaching out. It’s making me think that Claire might be his bridge to preventing himself from truly connecting to others. Was he also getting comfortable in his guilt in season three?

Season four might have that answer.

I have one more part to this to tie it all together and I’ll be done making this series! Thanks to whoever read this and I’m very sorry it took so long to make lol! Feel free to disagree with any of these thoughts!!

I would absolutely love to hear your personal interpretation of this song! I wrote most of this back in August.

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Claire: Peace & Kindness

If anyone has talked about this specific video already, sorry I’m extremely behind. Although, I don’t see the problem with bringing this back up for some brief discussion lol.

Peace clearly has been in the conversation for Claire as a topic for her character since before season three aired.

I can’t explain it but Molly talking about how basically kindness is such a throw off for people because of the current social nature of society is throwing me personally off as well lmao.

Ever since watching this particular clip, I’ve had these recurring thoughts about Carmy running away from kindness (Claire and Sydney both but for similar and different reasons) because it genuinely makes him uncomfortable. Imagine we’re seeing these horror themes around season three because he’s terrified of being treated with care.

Instead, he lashes out and goes through some form of regression. I did mention that season three could potentially be a giant defense mechanism. He was given something he’s never had and instead of embracing the change or what it could mean, he reverts back to what he knows.

It’s kind of funny because this doesn’t even really mean that Claire is the one for him or anything. It’s just more on the idea of him accepting love and where that path could lead him to. (Sydney, etc.)

Claire could be the vehicle to his acceptance of love if he so chooses. Maybe that’s why he was in the passenger seat during their relationship. He couldn’t drive on unfamiliar territory. If he really wanted to, he could’ve/would’ve. Maybe he didn’t want to (out of fear, etc.)

Just food for thought I guess. Feel free to disagree with this take. These are random thoughts that have been scrambling around my brain for a while.

(This is also the video where Molly acknowledged that Carmy’s form of intimacy is staring at a woman.)

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The Scrunchie And The Prayer Card

Spoilers For Season 4

This might be a weird theory but the yelling that happened between Carmy and Claire in s4 with Richie. Was that foreshadowed with the scrunchie and the prayer card?

I had the thought that Richie might’ve been the one that slipped the card into Carmy’s pocket. Now, Richie is by an apartment with Carmy and Claire during a potential breaking point?

People had discussed how strange it was that Richie is in a scene where it potentially didn’t need him but what if this was the purpose?

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Carmy: Regression

This might be the craziest/stupidest take for s3 of The Bear but whatever. I had talked about how s3 was about isolation and guilt before. What if it was also about regression (at least for Carmy’s character)?

Sydney is (re)meeting an award-winning chef of fine dining. Sydney thought about leaving the bear (officially) but still came back in s1/thought about leaving the bear which lead to the panic attack in s3.

Carmy and Richie are back to fighting like in s1 with Marcus and Sydney between them.

I need more time to think about this but I think the whole purpose was about life going full circle and s4 is (hopefully) about fully breaking the cycle.

I’m basically implying this season was a giant defense mechanism. Don’t take my word for it! I’m just getting back into writing metas after a hiatus.

Carmy was always used to the routine and being stressed in fine dining. He still talked about how that experience was “everything” even when he discussed having stomach problems. He also says that he lost track of time then Mikey passed away.

In s3, I’m fairly certain Carmy says that he’s tired or sick of it. That could mean that he’s been trying to get back into that state/routine and it’s not working this time.

“an attempt to achieve something important.” Like getting a star for a restaurant perhaps? “a sense of security, reciprocated love, and trust.” hmm…

I have also discussed how Carmy and Claire are basically reminiscing on their “high school” days in their relationship. Couldn’t that fit for the “feeling of childhood innocence” that’s stated in the article?

I feel like I’m not making any sense but also think I’m beginning to crack the code at the same time so I’ll just leave this here for now.

Authors Note: I wrote this yesterday on Twitter before the promo that just recently came out. This is not a complete meta but I thought I’d put it here so I could see if anyone agrees or disagrees with these thoughts! I’m glad to be sort of back after a fairly long hiatus! @thoughtfulchaos773 made a video with Carl Jung coincidentally enough. I might be closer to the truth than I thought lol.

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Season 4 spoiler

They're at the wedding. The tables behind Sydney. The dress. The earrings. Is Sydney Carmy's date?

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Man, I don't even post opinions about shows and movies like The Bear, but this really pissed me off! I like Matty Matheson, and I was watching some interviews about his new book and at one point he says that Syd has no formal training... excuse!... no formal training!!! What do you mean!!!

Here's the link for who wants to see the whole thing

He implies that she only worked at UPS!? 3 seasons and that's the impression he has of her?! Did he forgot about that?:

I hope they didn't erase her story and that Matty, even though he's a nice guy, doesn't have any part in writing the show. This is the second time I've seen him talking about the characters (I think it was with Drew Barrymore that he said that the idea for the Faks to go talk to Claire at the hospital was his)... I thought this last season was pretty bad for Syd's character development (and the second one too, to be honest). I like her and I feel like there's a lot of cool stuff to know about her but they don't show it (and now with this, maybe they've even forgotten or left it aside). It seems like they don't give us a chance to get to know her and see her grow on her own, her story is always very connected to Carmy, but according to everyone on the show they won't be a couple...but they also don't know how to be friends...or business partners, they live on crumbs, few conversations and unspoken words. While he lives his life, her character is stuck in this limbo without being able to develop, without having important scenes (especially after they changed Ayo to lead actress in the 2nd season for the awards, I thought they would write scenes that would help her. It is not strange to expect more from the main characters right?! Richie had it! We know a lot about him!) I also saw an interview with Joanna Calo (Director, Writer and Producer in the show) where she said that the idea of ​​locking Carmy in the freezer was just to give Syd a chance to shine and run the kitchen, but in the end, the way they filmed and edited, angles and everything, it seemed like it was all about Rich, and the audience understood that he was the one who saved the day, right?! like, come on! nobody saw it coming?

Anyway, just a rant because I realy like Ayo and I had hope for her character in the 2nd season and we only got hints about her life...so there was that hope for the 3rd...and nothing...and now this. It is frustrating, ngl!

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A screenshot of Carmy's notebook in 3x05 Children. This drawing that Marcus reveals to Natalie looks like an egg waiting to be fertilized.

Natalie describes Carmy's notebook as his secret life - an artistic side that he hasn't shared with many people. I'd consider it a wish or desire he keeps to himself or showing how much life is inside Carmy, how he desires to create and continue life after tragedy.

But the strong desire to create and to nurture life has dimmed inside Carmy. Consciously, Carmy disregards the chef's advice on nurturing those around him, and instead of adding more life to dishes - more abundance, he subtracts. He takes on Chef David's motto of perfection over abundance and excellence over joy.

Carmy used to work at a restaurant called "Fairest Creatures,". As @currymanganese points out, is a reference to Shakespeare's sonnet "From fairest creatures we desire increase." The sonnet appeals to the Fair Youth to have children and for artists to preserve their beauty. We cant see this side of Carmy- this life that exists inside and out of him. Not yet, but it's there in small reminders this season (the blood on the blood orange. Another symbolism for life).

The show writers point to Carmy's answer to a new chapter is related to creation (procreation) and life itself. To live and let it rip. The hardest part for Carmy is accepting that life goes on after Mikey. that the world spins and legacies are built - plants that go together grow together.

Like family trees. Parts of people that are taken and made into something else and carried over.. like children.

Adding also that the end of the episode titled children- Jimmy encourages Sydney to continue the Berzatto legacy but she struggles with what's inherited. Meanwhile, Carmy is shown looking at a picture of himself as a baby with his mother. Like Natalie, Carmy has fears and desires of procreation and continuing the Berzatto lineage with what they carry with them, the trauma, and pain, yet he still wants family. He wants to live. To experience life.

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Have we ever discussed the possibility that Carmy basically threw both, Claire and Sydney, away? Carmy slammed the door on Claire’s declaration of love the same way he cut the tether to his partnership with Sydney.

He didn’t talk to either of them about it, constantly leading him back to the fridge. A simple apology with words of affirmation could’ve solved both situations but those particular words were probably always stuck at the roof of his mouth, wasting and rotting away until he had to chew it back down because he felt it was already too late.

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THE BEAR 2x06 | “Fishes”

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CLAIRE'S LOVE VS NARCISSISTIC LOVE

I was reading Tú no eres el problema: Entiéndete y sana tras el vínculo con psicópatas y narcisistas by psicologist de Elizabeth Clapés and some of the descriptions of the love of a narcisistic person sounded very familiar.

I would like to start this by saying that I don't think Claire is a narcissist (she has centered Carmy too much for that to be the case, in my opinion, I could be wrong, but I doesn't feel right).

Yet, this book does a good job of describing manipulative behavior that can seem harmless.

We have discussed the possibility of Claire manipulating Carmy. The fact that she has feelings for him is not a reason to discard the possibility of manipulation; she may be doing all these things because she genuinely thinks she and what she is doing is the best for him. While gaining his affection in the process. For some people, manipulation may be justified by the means. they may not even call it manipulation. The fact that she "loves him" doesn't mean she didn't force the relationship into being, or she may be playing a part in getting what she wants. There may not be malice, but there may be an unhealthy approach to gaining someone's affection. That is what I am getting at.

content warning: discussions of experiences having a narcissistic romantic partner.

Disclaimer: I do not have much to say here, but to list the behaviors listed in this book that could be relevant. I have been influenced by other posts analyzing Claire's behavior; but I understand that this may be assuming the worst from a character we still don't know much about. The author of this book encapsulates narcissism and psychopath behavior to help people identify these tendencies. I am using this list only to indicate the manipulation that can come from someone determined to get a relationship in an unhealthy way. I will be paraphrasing and translating. In the book, the "love interest" of a narcissist is referred to as their "victim," so I will be using that term.

BEHAVIORS OF A NARCISSISTIC WHILE PURSUING A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP.

Show only the best of themselves.

Love bombing, creating a perfect castle customized for the victim's wounds. They know what the other person needs and modify themselves to fit their needs.

Only when the narcissist is sure that the other person has developed feelings for them would they start talking about the mistakes they made, but always showcasing the pain that those mistakes caused them and downplaying the consequences it may have for other people involved. (This could be demonstrated by Claire downplaying (IMO) the fact that she almost killed a fucking kid, but made a whole story of how that affected her emotionally). This scene happened after the relationship was established.

Using family members of the victims to get access to them (telephone number, talking about how the Faks would beat him up for rejecting her).

Making the victim feel like they are doing them a favor by being with them. That they are too good for them.

The relationship starts when the victim is going through a really difficult time in their life.

The victims fall in love with the way the narcissist treats them, presenting themselves as the ideal partner.

All this to say, there is a space for discussing the fact that Carmy is a person with highly integrated self-hate and little to no significant social experience or experience creating healthy bonds with people outside his family. Then he falls in love with the "perfect girl" with no needs and is always in the mood to attend to his needs. He is a typical victim of narcissistic people. If Claire had been a man, many more people in the audience would have raised an eyebrow at Claire's tactics to get to Carmy.

Not to mention, the only apparent narcissist in the series is Donna, and the mechanic of love bombing their kids after making mistakes instead of taking accountability is a typical behavior of narcissistic parents. There is also the possibility that Carmy was able to accept Claire's love because he was familiar with the love bombing, but since she told him there was no other shoe (Donna's eventual mood swing), he may think this is the real deal (hence the peace comment).

Anyhow, this may be nothing. But it feels to much of a coincidence indeed to be nothing. If Storer is creating this story based on his experience (he was casted out of his family I understand) he has to be aware of manipulation techniques and the vulnerable position declining mental health puts you in with those individuals. You are telling me they could not engineer another way for Claire to pursue Carmy? Or all those things other blogs have rightfully called red flags, particularly in her profession where she has lives in her hands? Idk.

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What’s Your Character’s Theme Song?

A song breakdown for the characters of Jeremy Allen White, Lionel Boyce, Matty Matheson, and Ricky Staffieri. It will discuss the connections other people and I made for the characters Carmy, Marcus, Neil Fak, and Ted Fak.

↓ long text below

Jeremy Allen White

Jeremy Allen White, who ironically, is about to play Bruce Springsteen in the upcoming Bruce Springsteen film, said that Carmy’s theme song would be “The Ties That Bind.”

The expression 'the tie that binds' is used to describe a common idea or belief that links people together. It can also be used plurally as 'the ties that bind'. For example, you may say: ''We are family, held together by the ties that bind. Nothing will tear us apart. (x)

This is when it gets interesting. The Ties That Bind is an opening song for his fifth album called The River.

The songs on The River reveal a tension between the need for community and the need to be alone. "The Ties That Bind", along with "Two Hearts" and "Out in the Street", is one of the key songs on the album about the need for community. (x)

This feels so incredibly reminiscent on the struggles of Carmy. His driving force to fully isolate himself to those he cares about while probably also feeling like he needs the people he’s pushed away.

This also reminded me of @espumado’s post The Night Of The Hunter & The River which was then talked about by @currymanganese’s post on the potential parallels between two romantic relationships in the The Night Of The Hunter and The Bear.

There’s so many weird horror elements in the show. Which is interesting because in this picture we see a revised 2nd edition of The Exorcist! So how farfetched is it to see those elements on the show. Especially this season!

I mentioned before in my post, “Fourth Wall (being broken)” that the Save It For Later song could be about Carmy being lost and it became a reflection to the season. I can’t help but wonder if Save It For Later could have multiple meanings for each character.

@happylikeasadsong broke down some lyrics of the song and explains what it could do with Sydney’s decision.

Lionel Boyce

Lionel Boyce said Sèrgio Mendes, “Ides Of March.” for his character Marcus’ before realizing that’s probably not the name of the song. It was actually “Waters of March”

Sèrgio Mendes is most known for his song, Mas Que Nada, which translates to whatever and anyway. In this article I read, they call him a bossa nova king and Mendes explains how life is about magical encounters.

This is probably a funny coincidence but I actually know a song named Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones. It was playing on a playlist that’s about songs you’d hear during magic shows. (x) (x) (x)

Although, Ides of March wasn’t the name of the song and I write metas for The Bear (AKA I’m insane), I did research on both to see what I can find!

Ides of March, day in the ancient Roman calendar that falls on March 15 and is associated with misfortune and doom. It became renowned as the date on which Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 bce and was further immortalized in the tragedy Julius Caesar by English dramatist William Shakespeare.

On the topic of William Shakespeare, @currymanganese has a post on The Bear being a super deconstructed Shakespearean pastoral comedy.

It was then corrected to Waters of March. I tried to find the meaning for that particular song by Sérgio Mendes but it all lead to “Water Of March” by Antônio Carlos Jobim.

The inspiration for "Águas de março" came from Rio de Janeiro's rainiest month. March is typically marked by sudden storms with heavy rains and strong winds that cause flooding in many places around the city. The lyrics and the music have a constant downward progression much like the water torrent from those rains flowing in the gutters, which typically would carry sticks, stones, bits of glass, and almost everything and anything. Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote the song during a visit to his family rancho, in the interior of Rio de Janeiro state amid a steady rainstorm which had turned the roads and landscape to mud.

sticks and stones may break my bones, (but words can never hurt me) - said in order to show that people cannot be hurt by unpleasant things that are said to them (x)

When it comes to mud, I was immediately reminded of @whenmemorydies’s post on Claire being clear [as] mud. (Which I’ll go a bit more into depth in another post). I’m also fairly certain @ago0112 talked about it as well!

I talked about the topic of glass in my previous meta, The Glass Table & The Glass Fish Tank, where I found parallels to Claire and Donna. Those comparisons got a little confirmed in the script of (2.02).

I did some research on the scripts about Claire on (2.02) as well.

In the post, there was a bit of a deep dive on the potential meaning of glass/shattered glass and here’s one of them I found a connection to.

Connection between the fragility of glass and the human condition: Glass can be tough, but it becomes fragile when it faces too much pressure. Similarly, people can be strong, but life's challenges can make us feel a bit delicate. The broken glass helps us see that we all have both strength and vulnerability inside us, teaching us about the balance between being tough and sensitive in our own lives.

When it talked about how broken glass helps us see that we all have both strength and vulnerability inside us, teaching us about the balance between being tough and sensitive in our own lives, I was reminded of this particular thebearfx’s post:

After that, I recalled dialogue that I wrote about in my post on Richie being a fox and a caterpillar. In this scene, Natalie and Richie talk about the soul of the dining room in (3x07).

Richie: [scoffs] “Dining room sounds like shit.” Natalie: “Like, the acoustics?” Richie: “No. It’s like, the soul, you know? It’s like--Service sounds like total chaos.”  Natalie: “Every day can’t be perfect.” Richie: “Every day is like the Super Bowl. I could use a lightning bolt.” Natalie: “Can’t control the weather.”

In Waters of March, there’s a reference to a fox in a brush.

The oak when it blooms A fox in the brush A knot in the wood The song of a thrush (x)

What’s so fascinating about this particular rabbit hole is about what it all potentially means for Marcus as a character.

The song is about spring in Brazil as an allegory for life: how it continues on despite our best efforts to control it. It reminds us how with the ugly, comes the beautiful. (x)

The ugliness could be about death while the beauty of it is what the love he has for his mother could inspire for Marcus.

The plan of the house, the body in bed, the car that got stuck, it’s the mud, it’s the mud. a float, a drift, a flight, a wing, a hawk, a quail, the promise of spring.

He had become frustrated with the difficulties the rain was causing for the construction of a new boundary wall along his property line. The skies rained from above while chaos reigned below, as plainly stated in the lyrics: “It’s the mud, it’s the mud…” With plenty of time to contemplate the situation, Jobim created a modern parable for daily life. (x)

I’ll certainly talk about all of this in a separate post (whenever that will be) but there’s so many small details that evolve into a beautiful narrative.

The Coca-Cola Jingle

Coca-Cola tapped Antonio Carlos Jobim for the rights to his ‘Águas de Março’, giving new lyrics to ‘The Waters of March’ to make the jingle a worldwide sensation. Jobim even became a celebrity spokesman for Coke in a relationship that lasted for several years. (x)

Coca Cola is one of the most popular soft drinks in the world. In doing my research, I found an article talking about how design elements of the soft drink’s logo clearly portray the idea of energy, fun, and good times.

The recent 2021 hug version logo of the brand was termed as “magical” and “genius” by designers. It ended up being introduced with a new tagline as “real magic.” Apparently, it’s considered magical because you can imagine the bottle even when it is not there.

There’s even a well-known story about the white and red logo being inspired by the brand’s first advertisement that featured Santa Claus wearing his red and white suit with a bottle in his hands. (x)

@vacationship made an analysis on the green and red sauce and the potential importance of its symbolism.

Sydney and Claire have an interesting parallel with coke. I actually found that little connection earlier but didn’t know it had any relevance to this until now.

(Sydney pouring/drinking coke after the scene of the group being at Marcus’ mother’s funeral isn’t a coincidence.)

Matty Matheson

Matty Matheson chose Hakuna Matata for his character Neil Fak. The Bear’s instagram account also talked about how he is a master mocktail maker.

Hakuna matata roughly translates to “there are no troubles” in Swahili. The phrase was popularized in English by the 1994 Disney movie The Lion King, where it's translated as “no worries.” It has a connotation of not worrying about things outside a person's control. The movie popularized the phrase internationally, making it a cultural staple and synonymous with Disney's family-friendly brand.

'Hakuna matata' is Swahili for 'no worries'. As such, it is the perfect catchphrase for Timon and Pumbaa, as it perfectly reflects their relaxed, devil-may-care attitude to life. (x)

@outmakingmoonshine has discussed the possibility that the Faks are the inner voice/imaginary friends for the protagonist (Carmy).

Are they suggesting Pumbaa, Timon, and Simba are Neil Fak, Ted Fak, and Carmy?

The Lion King was released on June 15, 1994, receiving critical acclaim for its music, story, themes, and animation. With an initial worldwide gross of $763 million, it finished its theatrical run as the highest-grossing film of 1994 and the second-highest-grossing film of all time, behind Jurassic Park (1993).

Timon: Hey, where you going? Simba: Nowhere. Timon: Gee. He looks blue. Pumbaa: I'd say brownish-gold. Timon: No, no, no, no. I mean he's depressed. Pumbaa: Oh. Pumbaa: Kid, what's eatin' ya? Simba: Who cares? I can't go back. Timon: Ahh. You're an outcast! That's great; so are we! Pumbaa: What cha do, kid? Simba: Something terrible. But I don't wanna talk about it. Timon: Good. We don't wanna hear about it. Pumbaa: Come on Timon. Anything we can do? Simba: Not unless you can change the past.

Simba: Hakuna matata? Pumbaa: Yeah. It’s our motto! Simba: What’s a motto? Timon: Nothin’ what’s a motto with you?! (laughs) Pumbaa: Hakuna matata: These two words will solve all your problems. (x) (x) (x)

Carmy could have a side of him that feels outcasted by the rest of the group (there was also a group chat he had no idea about) so he conjured up another set of outcasts that promote a motto and philosophy to solve all of his problems.

Neil Fak is the naive/childlike aspects of himself that I suspect Carmy got from his childhood with his mother. I can’t help but wonder if the Faks representing Carmy’s inner voice was only applied to the dumpster scene when I found dialogue about how nice it is in the office before Carmy called Sydney nice after checking her out. Does it only apply when they’re all alone together?

As with many characters in The Lion King, Pumbaa's name derives from the East African language Swahili. In Swahili, pumbaa (v.) means "to be foolish, silly, weakminded, careless, negligent."

Richie and Carmy calls Neil Fak a bitch in (3x02)

Neil Fak: “Nat, the vibe’s weird.”

Carmy: “You’re such a fucking bitch.”

Richie: “You’re such a bitch.”

Natalie: “I know, sweetheart. Don’t be scared.”

Most of these could probably best describe Neil Fak (and even Carmy perhaps) but I wonder about the negligence of his character. Is this about the lack of real tools of his? Another detail that I’m not sure connects here is that Neil Fak mentioned being afraid of boxes to Ted Fak.

Warthogs regularly come into contact with villages and people. When this happens, they usually cause havoc, scampering through a garden or village and making a mess of everything. There is one Pumbaa adjective that is correct. They can be lazy. Rather than digging their own burrows, they will often just use the burrowed home of other animals. (x)

I remember this dialogue vividly, but there was a scene where the Faks asked Donna if they could stay over her house during Christmas.

Neil Fak: “Do you think that we can sleepover—” Donna: “There’s no sleepovers at Christmas. What the fuck?” Neil Fak: “No, we can sleepover.” Donna: “No, you can’t sleepover on Christmas. No. Mm-mmm.” Neil Fak: “No? No. Big Neil got us skateboards.” Donna: “You know what? Shut up. Michael!” Neil Fak: “Michael hid ‘em.” Donna: “Hey, Michael. Get in here. Mike? The Faks are asking me stupid things—”

(The fact that there’s a Hakuna Matata reference after Hulu is bought by Disney is also not lost on me.)

Timon is a historical Greek name, taken to mean "he who respects." Timon's name may derive from Shakespeare's tragedy Timon of Athens, another Shakespeare reference in a film which derives its plot from Hamlet. The tragedy is based in the history of the real Timon of Athens, a famous misanthrope during the era of the Peloponnesian War, who refused life in Athens to live isolated. Another explanation is that he is named after the Greek philosopher Timon, a disciple of Pyrrho, the founder of the school of skepticism. (x) (x) (x)

I happened to stumble upon another Shakespeare reference. If Timon is meant to be Ted Fak then this is going to be a bit ironic because of what Ted Fak’s theme song is!

Ricky Staffieri

Ricky Staffieri chose Back Then by Mike Jones for the theme song of his character, Ted Fak. Ironically, this song is vulgar in nature with calling woman “hoes” and all.

In the same meta I mentioned earlier, @outmakingmoonshine talked about Ted being sex driven and maybe representative of Carmy’s primal mind.

We also have @thoughtfulchaos773 having a post on the inappropriate double entendre jokes on the show.

I never really listened to the lyrics until about two months ago, but now that I have, they’re pretty amazing. On the surface, it’s a vulgar song about “hoes,” but on a deeper, more philosophical level, it’s an anthem about self-confidence. The overall message in Jones’ song is that the ladies in his life were never really gave him the time of day until he started to make it big. When you really listen to the message of the words – and not necessarily the words themselves – a lot of it is just him spewing the harsh truth. I think it speaks to all of the ugly ducklings out there, or the really shy people who never put themselves out there until they found themselves later on in life. That cute girl in middle school or high school who is now a bombshell? Yeah, she remembers how you treated her. (x)

Claire always told Carmy about their past history when they were young but Carmy seemed to have no recollection of it.

After reading this analysis on its philosophical meaning, I couldn’t help but wonder what it all meant pertaining to Ted Fak. Do we really know anything about Ted Fak’s history in high school besides Carmy? I just got a sudden wave of theories that this is referring to Carmy.

For Ted Fak, maybe this is about being treated poorly in high school. Now, he ended up working for a popular food establishment with very sudden attention from woman which had never happened before.

For Carmy, Ted Fak could be the more anxiety/primitive ridden version of him.

The reason I talk about the anxiety aspect is because some people have the personal experience of saying things they don’t mean when they have anxiety. Ted Fak could be representing the brutal ‘truths’ that Carmy could or don’t really mean.

Anxiety activates people’s fight or flight instinct When someone has an anxiety disorder, they'll often feel intense fear towards possible threats and dangers. For someone with a social anxiety disorder, this could be crowds or social events, whereas for someone with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), their fear could be focused on a broad range of potential scenarios, such as losing their job, damaging their friendships or getting into accidents. These thoughts cause people to experience symptoms of anxiety such as an increased heartbeat, shortness of breath and nausea. This is because thinking about the possible dangers activates their fight or flight instinct. Irritability is a symptom of anxiety When a person is experiencing anxiety, they'll often be more irritable than usual. This is a common symptom of many types of anxiety disorder. (x)

The increased heartbeat caught my attention because Claire noticed his heart was beating fast in a scene before it cuts to Carmy looking at a clock in (3x04).

The other part of the song I absolutely love is: “I ain’t got no time to call her. I’ma stall her like she stalled me, now she trying to call me; (girl) I’ma dog your whole ass like you dogged me.”

I can’t lie. I laughed so hard when I saw this lyric. Like damn, I wonder who exactly this could refer to here? It could be about Kelly but I’ll have to do more digging to figure that out.

I can’t speak for everyone in the world, but I know that I have an elephant-like memory when it comes to people how people treat me – whether it was in middle school, high school, college, or recently. I’m a firm believer in that unless someone gives you a reason to treat them like dirt, you shouldn’t. I know that I don’t pay any mind to people – not just girls – who treated me like crap and are now trying to make like everything is OK. Respect is earned, not given with me; I believe people can change (to a degree), but it will take time for someone to earn my trust and respect, if violated.

This is when we get the depiction of respect and how it’s earned, not given. Does Carmy respect Claire and vise versa?

I didn’t really get the vibe that Claire was a mean person or a bully with the way she spoke about her and Carmy’s history. But what if she scrubbed the ugly parts of it?

It’s making me ponder whether Carmy felt bitter that Claire suddenly had this interest in him because he’s well known as a chef now. It’s even more bizarre because they were both in New York. Mikey told her about Carmy’s chef adventures by the time of Christmas. Why didn’t Claire reach out to him then? Did it really take Mikey passing away for her to make a move?

There was discussion between @devisrina, @thoughtfulchaos773, and I about this. This is when I had the thought that Claire might’ve started talking to Carmy to humor herself and her friends because Carmy was the loner in high school. It was after the scripts came out and we discovered Claire was originally supposed to be blonde like Carmy’s mother. There’s so many questions on whether Claire and Carmy really had a crush on each other.

The Phone Number

I’m at the early stages of what I hope will be a very successful sports reporting career, so some people have reached out for various reasons (advice, recommendation, etc.). I’m happy to try and help the people who treated me well, but I almost want to laugh at the people who treated me like dirt and are now asking for a favor, however small. Mike Jones may use more colorful language than I would have had I wrote this song, but its underlying message is essentially the Golden Rule laced with profanity: Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

Something that I thought was interesting, was that Mike Jones rapped his phone number into the song. The most obvious parallel to this is that Carmy (purposely?) gave her the wrong number when they reunited by the grocery store fridges.

They see that I'm a star, now they wanna sit in my car Now they wanna count my cheese, smoke my weed and sip my barre now They used to love to me diss me, now they rush to hug and kiss me now They tellin' all they friends when I leave how they miss me now (281) 000-000 Hit Mike Jones up on the low cause Mike Jones about to blow Befo' the ice was in my grill, before I got my major deal These hoes wouldn't give a damn if I was ill, geah (x)

Apparently, ice on grills is a thing in the cooking industry. Graham Elliott revealed in an interview that his trick for making better burgers is pressing an ice cube into the middle of the patty before grilling.

“And if you're worried about the ice cubes making your burgers cold or wet — don't! The ice melts pretty quickly so no one will even know they were there.” <- This just felt reminiscent to my theory on Claire being an illusion. (x) (x)

Chef Graham Elliot Remembers Charlie Trotter “Famed Chicago chef Charlie Trotter died on Tuesday at age 54. Graham Elliot joined Charlie Trotter’s at age 21, and worked in his kitchens for three years.”

It seems important to note that Graham Elliot had three years of experience with Charlie Trotter.

Chef, mentor, trailblazer, philosopher, artist, teacher, leader. These are the words that immediately come to mind when I think of Charlie Trotter, or CHT, as he was referred to by the team. Rarely does one encounter an individual that can both inspire and frighten you with his (almost perverse) dedication to excellence and perfection. I learned his philosophic approach to cooking, and that everything was of equal importance. That you had to be your own toughest critic. That we weren’t in the “food industry” but in the “make it happen” business. To this very day, I try to foster the same ideals in my team: That the food you put on the plate, the way you keep your knives sharp, the way you wipe down your station—all of those represent who you are as a person. (x)

@moodyeucalyptus recently tagged me in their post discussing the documentary about Charlie Trotter and the similarities with Carmy’s asshole boss. I don’t think it’s a coincidence I found this connection.

We know that Carmy was buying very expensive food ingredients/supplies and helped Claire’s mother with moving boxes. (Not to mention, he was literally moving boxes with Claire like he was doing with the Faks.)

As @outmakingmoonshine pointed out, Carmy had a problem with Richie calling Sydney sweetheart in the very first episode but didn’t really seem to care about Claire being called a piece of ass by Ted Fak. The only thing he did was clarify what he meant and that was it.

Is it possible he didn’t really flinch because these were his thoughts about her for a while and has been trying to navigate through his true feelings for her?

What really caught my eye was the smoke my weed part. Funnily enough, in season three, we see Claire and Carmy share a cigarette.

Claire: “Can you just not make this weird? Like, I need a favor. My cousin bailed on me.”

Did he feel a certain way after doing that favor for her? Which would explain why he asked her for a favor too and struggled to explain why he gave her a fake number. Carmy mentioned how he liked her alot at the party. Did he think it wasn’t anything more than what it was, exchanging favors?

Claire: “You know he, uh he told me you guys are really close and he’s your best friend.” Carmy: “Fak said that?” Claire: “Mhm.” Carmy: “No no no. Fak’s not my best friend.” Claire: “Really?” Carmy: “No no he is. He’s probably my best friend.” Claire: “That’s interesting. To sit with. For you.”

I thought Claire saying this was very strange because I couldn’t grasp whether she was saying a lighthearted joke or making fun of him.

Considering the new information thebearfx had given, did Carmy sense that? Especially when Jones talked about how they wouldn’t care if he was ill. It felt so reminiscent to Claire leaving Carmy in the fridge after he said things that were more concerning rather than hurtful.

Maybe Carmy didn’t realize the type of relationship it was until it was too late.

Thank you so much for reading!! This seems so convoluted. I made a good majority of this on August 7th. Feel free to call me insane for this rabbit hole (I’m well aware of how insane I look). There’s alot of information that I just discovered recently besides this meta but I don’t even know how to put it in the proper words. So, bear with me for a bit lmao. Fair warning, the topic of animals, gardens, plants, water, glass, and cigarettes might come back in a good majority of my metas for now. Hopefully I’ll be able to properly explain why later lol.

(c) brokenwinebox

[brokenwinebox]

Jung Meta Series:

The Anima Projection

An excerpt from Man & His Symbols audiobook by Carl G Jung on the negative aspect of the Anima in the male psyche.

Tagging: @currymanganese @ambeauty @brokenwinebox @whenmemorydies @vacationship @moodyeucalyptus @turbulenthandholding @mitocamdria @devisrina

(c)thoughtfulchaos773

[brokenwinebox]

✦ Sydney Adamu in THE BEAR 3x10 | “Forever” ✦

[brokenwinebox]

“Nobody’s Keeping Track Of Shoes.”

@thoughtfulchaos773 “…I was thinking the same thing losing time when it comes to his brothers death. That scene where he asks claire what day it is he's losing track of time and not in a good way.”

In my Claire analysis, I made a theory about that particular scene when they talk about the fire suppression test.

Here it is:

In al anon s2e3, Carmy talks about how he has to remind himself that there’s no other shoe.  Carmy: “(have to) remind myself that the sky is not falling. That, um, there is no other shoe. Which is incredibly difficult because there’s always another shoe.”

Carmy: “I just want you to know that this is really nice. So nice that I, um.”

Claire: “You’re waiting for the other shoe.”

Carmy: “That’s it.”

Claire: “Wanna know a secret?”

Carmy: “Yes.”

Claire: “Nobody’s keeping track of shoes.”

Why didn’t she say there isn’t another shoe? or there’s no shoes at all? Instead, she said nobody is keeping track of them. What does that mean? For me, my interpretation for this was time. “Nobody’s keeping track of time.”

In s1e8, Carmy talks about how he lost track of time and Mikey died. Carmy: “And the more he wouldn’t respond and the more our relationship kinda strained, the deeper into this I went and the better I got. and the more people I cut out, the quieter my life got. And the routine of the kitchen was so consistent and exacting and busy and hard and alive and I lost track of time and he died.”

(Also, @yannaryartside has a meta about Sydney being the chemist in the kitchen!)

Tagging in case anyone is interested! @currymanganese @whenmemorydies @moodyeucalyptus @fresaton

“Mold Is The Death Knell.”

After doing research and documenting it on Twitter, I decided to transfer it all here. We’re going to be talking about (2x02)’s script.

We (kinda?) got confirmation on the parallels between Donna and Claire in the script. There’s many metas I’ve most likely missed but here are the ones I remember:

Jamie’s instagram post on Claire/Donna by @espumado

Jamie Lee Curtis: A sydcarmy truther? by @thoughtfulchaos773

Scene lighting, blocking, & dialogue callbacks between Claire and The Berzattos by @currymanganese

There’s also my metas on Claire/Donna:

Claire: Ominous Or Naive

Glass Table & Glass Fish Tank

What Did You Get Out Of These ClairexCarmy Flashbacks Scenes?

If there’s metas I’ve missed, please feel free to reblog with the links!

Before seeing Claire again, Carmy was enjoying the orange sunset during magic hour while walking on Clark St.

Since I saw the words ‘orange sunset’, I automatically assumed that it was golden hour when this scene had occurred.

Blue hour is apart of magic hour as well. I read a bit about it in this article, “Mastering Golden Hour, Blue Hour (Magic Hours) and Twilights | Natural Light Photography.”

Magic hours are a more diffuse concept than twilights because there is no mathematical definition. In fact, both the golden hour and blue hour, also known as the magic hours, overlap with civil twilight.

I’m wondering if they tried to capture golden and blue hour at the grocery store with artificial lighting instead of natural lighting to insinuate a fakeness to their reunion/relationship.

I also happened to stumble upon another potential meaning to golden hour. A person’s golden hour is the first hour after a severe internal injury.

Granted, being cut by sharp objects like glass is an external injury. But, in the dialogue, Claire talks about how the girl was bleeding and they couldn’t figure out what the source was. Wouldn’t you be able to tell where the bleeding stemmed from if it was just external? It could mean there was internal damage as well.

Mold is the death knell which is a sounding of a bell to mark someone’s death or used to refer to the imminent destruction or failure of something.

(A bell to mark the death of Mikey and the failure of The Bear?)

There was a discussion of mold pertaining to Claire and the potential meaning of it in @moodyeucalyptus’s meta on Claire being a bad doctor with @vacationship’s reblog about how penicillin is an antibiotic coming from green and blue mold while fennel is a natural antibiotic.

All of this to say mold is the death knell, golden hour is also a term used in the medical field for trauma patients, and that girl that Claire told Carmy about was a trauma patient that was given penicillin while having an allergy to it by Claire reading her chart wrong.

There’s so many interesting details in the network draft/script! If I’m wrong about any of this, let me know of course. As always, thank you so much for reading! If I haven’t replied to your comments or reblogs lately, I was shadowbanned briefly before getting my account back so yay! If you tagged me, I didn’t see them unfortunately :(

[brokenwinebox]