fresaton

[fresaton]

Who knows about Carmy's problem?

Carmy's darkest secret part 1

Carmy's darkest secret part 2

I assume the people who are closest to him and have known him the longest already know his struggles with substances.

Cicero

We see him watching carmy in Dogs while Carmy was searching the fridge and cabinets for "ketchup" and also observing Carmy in withdrawal. Later he brings Carmy more ketchup to prevent him from going back inside.

Richie

We see him noticing the missing 1½ bottle in Hands.

He makes a comment about "addicts" in the bachelor party scene in Braciole which I think was partly directed to Carmy. Their discussion was cut short by the altercation that led to Richie's arrest.

Natalie

We see her showing him the wine bottle in Fishes which looks like a "was this you?" question which she wouldn't have to if he didn't drink. His strong reaction to it too suggests to me that drinking was a sensitive subject for him.

She gave him a "you're such a hypocrite" look in Ceres when he said "don't co-sign for a drug addict". I also think that look she gave Carmy on Friends and family morning seeing him distressed was her realizing he had relapsed.

Cousin Michelle

I think her telling Carmy to come out to New York because the environment at home was not good for his head suggests that she knew about his problem too.

Sydney:

She is the closest person to him asides his immediate family, so she might know about his struggles or at least might have noticed something. We saw how she just missed catching his hands shake in the table scene. I think if she had caught that, the conversation would have gone very differently.

I'm also beginning to believe her giving him the stink eye at various points in season 1 might have been because she may have caught on to him.

So why aren't they doing something about it?

It's a mystery if you ask me. Maybe they are but since the story is told from Carmy's perspective he is purposefully evading that part. Maybe they have done that before and it yielded bad results. I have a theory that this is the reason behind Michael cutting him off. Maybe he thought Carmy being forced to get out there and see the world would change his perspective and life and give him a chance, instead of being stuck in the perpetual loop (like groundhog day) of the Berzattos' cycle.

What this means for Sydney:

It doesn't matter if she knows or not but a Carmy that is unable to get sober is a problem professionally and personally. She needs to be able to trust him for things to work between them in any capacity. So he needs to prove that he can stay clean.

Also, I have a feeling that Emmanuel is a recovered/recovering alcoholic or has had a family history of alcoholism too and at some point she may had to deal with all that, so she probably wouldn't want that cycle to repeat itself in the man she is partners with or the man she loves.

Why do I think that about Emmanuel and not that he is actually a teetotaler?

The scene in friends and family where Richie states that "drinks are on their way", the way his companion shifts uncomfortably, looks intently at him and nods enthusiastically when he opts for a soda, feels like someone who knows his history with drinking- probably his sponsor, who knows?

Maybe this is why Syd evades talking about her Dad to Carmy because then, all these would come out. I know that this theory would be eaten up by anti-sycarmies and used as a reason why sydcarmy can never ever happen/work (not true BTW) and that's why I hate it so much. But I'd rather not be in denial. If it is what it is, it is what it is.

(Also, it would be pretty hypocritical of Storer to hold that view since he once battled drug abuse and his partner, Gillian, doesn't drink or touch substances because she had an addict father)

On the bright side of this, Syd would have seen first hand that people can recover. We admire the relationship between Syd and Emmanuel but if he once had substance abuse issues it would have caused some strife and taken a lot of work to get there. So she would know what is possible in the right environment.

Does she owe Carmy that? Absolutely, not. But it's her choice, ultimately. And mentally ill people do deserve sympathy and support and whatever love would have them, just as much as normal people do.

[fresaton]

Carmy's darkest secret (part 2)

CONTENT WARNING !!!!!!

Distressing opinions, egregious cornplating, predictive- serious potential spoilers if true.

TRIGGER WARNING: Substance ab*se, Sui**de, Mental illness.

Please read part 1 first.

But what has this all got to do with heroin?

Ok, this one is me using my supernatural powers of deduction, AKA, guess work. This is me going for the worst case scenario using the innie minnie manny moe technique. So expect some serious cornplating. And I probably deserve to have tomatoes thrown at me for this 😂, but, please let me let it rip.

This came from one of the show runners talking about addictions and substitute addictions. I have always believed that they've been using substitute imagery as markers for a different story they're telling, so seeing this, I was like "Uh oh! Got to re-contextualize! ".

Addiction substitution occurs when an individual who recovers from one addiction (e.g., alcohol) subsequently increases the use of a secondary addictive behavior (e.g., cannabis)

Source: www.sciencedirect.com

So if by this we infer that alcohol is a substitute addiction for Carmy, then he was hooked on something else that he replaced with alcohol. Something stronger– could be as mild as weed or as strong as heroin or cocaine. Maybe it was a mixture of various drugs like his father who had all kinds of addiction according to Uncle Jimmy.

With this idea, I tried to go back to look for things in shots that I may have missed (not the best investigative method as it feeds confirmation bias but..), looking out for shots that struck me in a particular way and a few stood out.

In "Tomorrow" there's a shot where he is looking at the flour mark left at Marcus' station. At face value, it looks like he's thinking about what's going on with Marcus. Re-contextualizing with a different filter, him staring at the image of literal white powder evokes... You get it! The story is in the sequence of these images.

Looks at white powder, looks at fridge, recalls spiraling and the regret after.

So my first guess was cocaine.

The second image that stuck with me are the flash images shown during his spiral in "Doors" which to me feels like mental anguish from a long-term withdrawal. There's images of an out of control fire juxtaposed with images of Claire, Richie and later images of himself at Noma and Nat grieving, which the media has interpreted to mean him thinking about "the people that mean the most to him". Side eye but, well, ok. But I want to focus on the fire. There's a repeated image of a dark brown liquid boiling over which evokes a different image...

I also paid more attention in my rewatch to the shots that linger especially like the shot of the grim reaper tattoo in Braciole which points to him acknowledging his alcoholism. This shot lingered in Ceres just before the shots of his trembling hands and I noticed what looked to me like pin prick like marks. They probably are just natural marks and freckles/marks that Jeremy has IRL or something but I'd just rather assume and be wrong in this case. And I already warned you about the cornplating so...🤷

Another sign that gives this away is his live fast snail tattoo. How heroin works is it slows things down while giving that feeling of euphoria. So, live fast= high, but slow= snail.

Now of course he doesn't need to shoot up to be an addict. There are other drugs/addictions entirety he could be dealing with and you can also use heroin without injecting it. It just makes more sense to me as a narrative studying the possible symbolism of the imagery. But all signs in my head point to a possible use of narcotics. So, if he was substituting with alcohol in season 1 and somehow started using somewhere in season 2, when did it start?

The Claire bear of it all

The thing about substitute addictions is that they would most likely lead you back to your original addiction. That's exactly why it is not sustainable. People who fall to substitute addictions do so because they have not dealt with the underlying issue that makes them seek out the comfort of their addiction in the first place, like Carmy being unable to process trauma as Nat pointed out. By continuing to consume alcohol, Carmy was headed down a familiar path. He was bound to return to the mojo pin.

So, where does Claire fall into this?

Claire is at the very least a marker, I think, for his descent into hell. She's like a physical manifestation of temptation. His whole shenanigans with Claire wasn't just about getting distracted by a new relationship, it was a metaphor for Carmy being on a bender.

Watch the imagery around where she (re)enters into his life: Richie unintentionally punctures the ceiling to reveal mold "the death knell" (fungus, rot, sickness) at the same time Carmy gets a reason to go to the store where he meets Claire. Even the way they meet is strange because in a setting like that you expect them to literally bump into each other in the very cliché way it happens in real life. But here it looks like she accosts him coming in from the outside, hence all the theories that she stalked him there. Their initial scene together is followed by an ominous zoom in to and ticking of a clock that wasn't even there.

It's also significant that they meet at a store. You know what else you can get at a store? Liquor. And as an alcoholic I can tell you that anytime you go to a store that holds liquor, the temptation to get a bottle comes. Every time. One thing I also noticed is that when they show Carmy bored at home in "The Beef" they show us a shot of old store receipts but they blur the contents. Why?

Carmy rejects Claire by giving her a fake number initially. But she gets his number anyway and manages to pry him out to see her. Then the disappearing starts.

Signs of heroin addiction include behavioral changes such as increased secrecy, neglect of responsibilities, and persistent drug-seeking behavior, physical symptoms like constricted pupils, weight loss, and visible track marks, as well as social indicators including relationship difficulties, financial problems, and withdrawal from previously enjoyed activities.

The grim reaper

I talked (as a joke) about how the scenes with Claire at the frat party felt like watching a low budget rom-com that you slowly realize is really a horror movie. The more I've thought about it, though, the more it seems like this is exactly what was happening, at least from Carmy's perspective.

It's the grim reaper shaking hands with the bottle tattoo come to life. Claire wittingly or unwittingly luring him back into substance abuse is like the pretty girl who literally lures you to a dark corner where the grim reaper guts you.

Evil Oracle?

If I had to give Claire a magical character role at this point, it would be at best a fate or an evil witch because she comes with a lot of foreboding, at least in Carmy's mind. I'm not saying that in reality she is definitely a bad person, but a lot of things she has said could be read as evil prophecies.

- "Get ready to be out of a million dollars, dude": Carmy would be losing the equivalent of a million dollars if he squanders Jimmy's almost million and can't repay.

- "speaking of dead brothers": Carmy is headed the same part as Michael if he doesn't stop using. And she does this while inviting him to party. Party is coincidentally a slang for using drugs.

She is like a cigarette pack that comes with a warning:

Here I am! K*ll yourself!!

- "somebody somewhere is gonna think that's fucked up, right?"

" Somebody somewhere is gonna be really watching your ass. Which is your choice if you want that"

The multiple subliminal messaging in this is crazy.

- Kyle at the party stopping him with a warning-like "what are you doing?" just before he takes a sip of her "coke" and Claire not letting him speak for himself. The symbolic imagery of the scene could not be overstated. Kyle calling him "bro" reads like a message from the other side as I talked about in my meta about Pop. Also Carmy bringing up the subject of addiction as a disease all ties in together with what is really going on in that scene.

(I posted about why I now think Pop is the most important episode in season 2 and this is why).

But why Claire?

There are several practical reasons for Claire to be the person he turns to, to live out this version of his life

1) She was easy:

Now, I don't mean this in a slut shaming way (some people can get weird about this stuff) but she's easy and open for him. She leads him on the right way, like a fill in the blanks questionnaire. I do mean this in a problematic way. She also accepts the parts of himself that he has trouble with- the broken and sick child that needs a shot. Sometimes what we crave is our brokenness to be seen. To have someone look at our ugly and not flinch. She gave him space to live is shadow self. She knows how to take care of sad drunk people like him. She didn't judge him or demand better, she just let him be whatever he was.

2) She might have been playing a cover for him:

Claire is an ER resident doctor. Which means she's supposed to be really busy all the time but somehow she has all this time to hang out a lot with Carmy, so that he's hardly around for the building of his restaurant. But how many times have we actually seen her with Carmy just wasting the day away like they'd like us to believe?

We read the blank spaces around where he's supposed to be hanging out with Claire as an indication that their relationship really doesn't matter to the plot of the show, but what if the reason we don't see it that much is because it actually didn't happen that much? What if Carmy was lying about the amount of time he was spending with Claire so that he can go off without raising suspicions and everyone would just be happy that he had a girlfriend now?

I know what you're thinking. Carmy wouldn't do that. Carmy might be mentally messed up but he has too much morals. But does he? Really?

When you really consider it, Carmy hasn't always really shown a lot of morals or integrity all the time. Or even discipline. He acts like he does but he doesn't. There are times when he's just gives you a serious head scratch.

– In Sheridan, notice how he flips from wanting to call the police on Richie to wanting him to deal one last time, far away, and he doesn't want to know the details 🙄🤭? He even leans on Neil to say "matae" against his will.

– In "Forever" we see him in a flashback with TK where he is shown how to remove a wishbone. He acts really attentive and respectful and receptive overall but at some point gives an unaware TK a death stare unprovoked. After TK leaves, he disregards the process he was just taught and yanks a messy wishbone out in a hilarious twist. This scene as well as other small details show that Carmy can be completely something else when no one is looking, and somebody else, depending on who is looking.

– Nat calls him out for taking advantage of Pete. It is revealed in the past that he has physically hurt Pete, even though we're not told how. He was dismissive to Pete in dogs even though he was being Uber nice and complimentary and only felt bad after accidentally drugging him.

Nat is his sister and knows him better than anyone so her accusation has weight. Carmy is capable of taking advantage of people. He can take advantage of people's affection towards him and their desire to protect him. We can say that he took advantage of Syd's ambition and enthusiasm to overload her with work. Maybe he's taking advantage of Claire and her desperate infatuation? Which brings me to the next possibility:

3) He was using her for access:

You know what's worse than a mentally fucked up drug addict with a great personality and a lot of friends? A mentally fucked drug addict with no personality and no friends. He was seen as a weirdo but wanted to be cool. There's a part of his life he thinks he missed out on that he wishes to make up for.

In "Pop" he says to her "you always had so many friends. I wanted that!". He wanted access to her friends. Her circle. But he didn't even remember that she sat behind him in algebra freshman year. How does that even make sense? We also watch him be a pathetic loser (and not in a cute way) at the frat party to the first people who talk to him. We see him generally just being cringe and unsettling the whole time.

Her friends (circle) also would probably have access to and use drugs. You know that frats parties usually have drugs around. Who knows what he was on when he stole away and came back to weird every reasonable audience out with that mind-blowingly cringe and pathetic Logan performance? We also have Kyle talking about taking ambien very casually.

She also has a lot of access to narcotics as an ER doctor. So there's a chance he could have been getting direct access to drugs from her. Remember how she said she loved shoplifting for thrills? What stops Dr Claire that loves to steal for fun from stealing drugs for "love"?

Now this one really got my wheels turning. In Carmy's flashbacks of present day Claire, the first visual is him outside the hospital. It looks like he was just being boyfriend of the year by seeing her off to work but what if he was there for a pick up? A prescription or maybe drugs directly? Also the comment he made about the mail drop "I thought it was going to be a dark alleyway or something" might be a metaphor for the difference between getting narcs from a dealer and getting one from a doctor.

5) She was his drug partner

This is another possibility in addition to the rest. Something about the flashback scene in Violet makes me think there's a chance they got high together too. They are both experiencing haziness where the days bleed into each other and they can't tell the days apart. Claire has to " think really hard about it" to remember and says it happens to her "all the time".

Which brings me to the story about the penicillin allergy patient. Claire said she read her chart wrong and gave her a drug that sent her into shock. If we want to view this scene as a substitute story, it then means the allergy story was in reality an overdose story.

The truth, Recovery and the 12 steps.

I believe season 4 will reveal a lot of truths about the real plot and relationships between Carmy and the people in his life. A lot of holes in the narrative will be plugged and a lot of blur will be refocused. This is why Claire might be having a bigger role to play this season, because we'll have to find out what really went on in that relationship and why he was so distressed by it. What he really needs to apologize for. What really happened in that fridge will be revealed because I have a feeling one or both of them (Carmy and Claire) are lying. One thing that particularly strikes me is why they blurred the text messages between Carmy and Claire. It's quite an odd thing when we already know the nature of their relationship– except the text messages are saying something different or revealing something we're not supposed to know.

I think what Carmy is grappling with is how to overcome the 12 steps of recovery. To be successful at that he needs to confront his past, his present and make solid plans for his future. That entails 1) telling the truth 2)confronting and processing his traumas and being clear about his feelings 3) righting his wrongs (making restitution), among other things.

The AA meeting scene in Legacy where he's listening to the boy and woman talk about forgiveness and apologies are a stand in for Carmy and Donna and vice versa. That's why they show both point of views. He's been wronged but he has also wronged. He has been Donna's victim and he has been Donna. It begs the question, if he can't forgive his mum, does he deserve to be forgiven?

He also talks to Sydney and Marcus about being square with everything and everyone and filtering out the bad. I think season 4 will be about Carmy attempting the 12 steps (with all its setbacks) and moving forward.

"It's never gonna happen again!"

[fresaton]

Carmy's darkest secret

CONTENT WARNING !!!!!

Distressing opinions, egregious cornplating, predictive- serious potential spoilers if true.

TRIGGER WARNING: Substance ab*se, Suic*de, Mental illness.

I'll just come right out and say it.

I think Carmy might be an addict.

And I don't mean addict like a workaholic or perfection addict like we've been saying here.

I think Carmy might be an actual addict.

In fact, more specifically, I think Carmy might be a heroin addict.

"Woah! WTF, are you crazy?"

Hopefully. Hopefully I am..

I've never wanted to be more wrong in my life. And I want this meta to be so clown worthy, to be actual comedy in retrospect because it gets me properly laughed at for how wrong it is.

But walk with me here...

An unreliable narrator?

I've discussed previously in this meta my opinion of how the story of The Bear is being told from Carmy's perspective and his subjective mind, and so, the visuals and general ambience including how we perceive the characters are at least partially controlled by him. One thing that convinces me of this is how the show literally starts inside his head (the bridge dream) which sets the tone for the rest of the show.

An unreliable narrator can be defined as any narrator who misleads readers, either deliberately or unwittingly. Many are unreliable through circumstances, character flaws or psychological difficulties. In some cases, a narrator withholds key information from readers, or they may deliberately lie or misdirect.

Source: jerichowriters.com

Carmy could very well fall under the mentally impaired unreliable narrator but I think he is possibly just a dishonest narrator. Because he seems to be purposefully evading vital truths (lying by omission and substitution).

Another character in media that fits this dishonest narrator description is Fleabag of season 1. Up until the end we were with her, we sympathized and empathized with her. We cried and laughed with her. We fully understood her anger at Beau for doing what she did (won't spoil the plot for those who haven't watched it). And even at the end you still are with her. She manages to get you to see yourself in her and it's all in the power of how she tells her story.

Carmen, the drunk

I had too much to drink

I didn't think, I didn't think of you

Half A World Away - R.E.M ("The Bear")

One interesting assumption about carmy is that he is completely sober, a teetotaler, in fact. I've seen people make jokes about how he would be so light brained that he'll get drunk on nothing. Because we've never seen him drink. We've seen his confusion and anger discovering that Mickey had a drug problem he didn't know about. We see how much he despises Donna and the trauma she brought them through her drunkenness. So it's very fitting that we assume he wouldn't drink or use substances at all because that is the logical response.

But what if Carmy was actually drunk for at least all of season 1?

An unreliable narrator, especially in the 3rd person narrative, will leave clues. The pilot starts by showing us an idea of what Carmy was dealing with; unpaid bills, unreliable vendors, an outdated system and an untrusting and disrespectful staff. In between those flashes we see shots of half drunk bottles. Now those bottles could have been there for any number of reasons. Maybe it was left there by Michael. Maybe it was cooking wine. Except in the coming episodes you realize that they didn't really have anything on the menu they cooked with red wine and the bottles kept changing in content so they were obviously active bottles.

There's another spot the difference magic trick happening in these shots. Can you see it? Hint: our mother of victory.

The shots are saying something.

"Hands" was the first full on attempt to call our attention without telling us that Carmy had a problem. I said in a recent post that you had to pay attention to the shots used in the show as ask yourself "why that shot?" everytime.

The episode starts out with shots of full bottles on the table when he's interacting with Syd. We also see the bottles full after he sends Richie and Syd of to the store and he's talking to Sugar about joining Al-Anon which he seems resistant to. However, by the time Richie gets back, finds Mickey's letter and tries to deliver it to Carmy, a whole 1½ bottles of the wine is gone. This is in one afternoon, in the space of at most 2-3 hrs. No casual drinker could ever drink that much alcohol in that space of time. We are dealing with an alcoholic.

We also see that he has lapses in memory (a classic symptom of alcoholism) at the end of the episode when he discovers that the cigarettes that caused the day's mishap was actually left by him, which made him seriously consider joining Al-Anon.

Sleep walking:

Sleep walking can be triggered by alcohol (I've experienced this first hand). He says to Nat that it happens to him from time to time and she immediately brings up Al-Anon, telling him he can ask for help.

Withdrawals

Carmy shakes a lot. He's fidgety and can't stay still most times. Knowing his history and current state of mind we blame his neurotic nature. What we don't consider is that Carmy sometimes is having the shakes- a sign of withdrawal. The first time they show this is in "Dogs" at Cicero's party. We see shake off the shakes while making the hotdogs and having a laugh with Richie and Cicero.

We also see this happen in "Ceres" in the flashback with Michael making Braciole. If I had to guess, this is why Michael cut him off from the restaurant. Imagine two addicts working together? He probably felt Carmy going out in the world and finding inspiration would make him opt for a better and maybe get clean.

Some other scenes with Carmy showing signs of withdrawal:

- In the meeting with Cicero in "The Beef" his hands are clenched almost the whole time to curtail the shakes.

- Tomorrow in his Ever scene with Luca you can see his hand shaking as he raises his voice to Luca before chef Terry intervenes.

- When Chef Fields says "Are you shaking? Are you nervous?" to Carmy. Carmy isn't nervous, he in withdrawal.

- In "Omelette" ...and this one broke my heart...

The table scene with Syd.

It's not the side effects of the cocaine

I'm thinking that it must be love

Station to Station (David Bowie)

Mood swings and erratic behavior

One thing we've all come to get used to is Carmy's volatile disposition. He has the tendency to erupt or spiral dramatically at anytime showing us how extreme it can get in episodes like Review and The Bear. Behavior like this can be exacerbated by alcoholism.

For Carmy, it's a recurring pattern in season 1, he's irritable and shitty during the day but gets nicer and friendlier after he's had a bottle and half later in the day. We see this pattern play out in Hands, Brigade and even Ceres in his interaction with Syd.

Neglecting responsibilities

Anyone who's watched Carmy would call him the hardest working chef. He's fast and always seems busy, but there has been many instances of him abandoning his responsibilities in S1 and S2. That whole bit about "dialing business" while Syd is everything else was just a bullshit way for Carmy to hole himself up in the office and get drunk and not have to also worry about the day to day. Not that he conciously intends for it to be that way, but because his head is messed up, it ends up that way. He does this in season 1 with the excuse of Al-Anon and he does same in season 2 with the excuse of Claire. He tells Sydney to care about everything more than anything because he doesn't trust himself to care enough.

Self isolation

We heard him describe to the Al-Anon crowd how he self isolates. We attribute this to him reacting to the heartbreak from Mickey's treatment of him, but should we believe him? Because self isolation is also another symptom of alcoholism. He found a station for himself were he could exist in a kind of bubble and the more people he cut out of his the quieter his life got. One thing with self isolation is that it gives you less people you care about to make you feel guilty about your substance abuse. You get to do without the extra work having to hide and constantly lie to people.

Carmy's family history of alcoholism:

We see this hinted with the Al-Anon pamphlet "Alcoholism, the family disease". This is a hereditary mental illness that has been passed down the Berzatto family.

In Fishes, apart from Donna being drunk and Stephen commenting that everyone had drunk too much, we briefly see an old woman passed out on the couch, shown between shots of red wine, that is never acknowledged. This suggests a family where being passed out drunk is a normal sight or maybe for that particular person. I'm thinking by the age of them, it's probably their Nonna. I remember Nat subtly informing us in Ice Chips that Donna's mum was worse than Donna.

Fairest creatures :

We always associated this with the poem, so interpreted it as his secret desire for kids. But maybe they really are referencing the wine house in California (I think it was @gingergofastboatsmojito that highlighted this wine house), as an indication of his wine drinking habit. It could also hold both meanings since The Bear does a lot of killing many birds with a stone.

Timeline of Carmy's present day substance abuse:

– Wakes up from a drunken slumber where he dreams of the bear at the bridge

– Tries and repeatedly fails to keep his drinking in check all of season 1. Culminates in the Review debacle.

– Attempts to quit again (I think) in "Pasta" by filling his time and trying to find fun. Getting closer to Syd. Meets and rejects Claire.

– His disposition seemed to have started changing in "Sundae" he's showing cracks in his mood. Looks like he's going through the motions cooking at the apartment. Tries to bump up the fun by doing a taste tour but abandons it when Claire calls him because in reality he was abandoning the idea that he could do it clean. So his sobriety probably lasts only about a week.

– In the beginning of Honeydew you can see him falling apart already. He looks like very stressed out and unable to concentrate. He's obviously been disappearing because he doesn't seem to be up to date on what's happening at the restaurant.

– By "Pop" he is fully hanging out with the party crowd. We see that he's been disappearing for a while now.

(On a side note: I wonder if the sign that says Ziggy on the calendar in Bolognese is referencing Ziggy Stardust, as in The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust.)

– Is in full withdrawal by friends and family. Probably contemplating giving sobriety "his full focus". Another version of Review happens again as he loses control mid service.

Tomorrow:

The opening sequence of tomorrow was very interesting. He walks into the dark restaurant, death stares two glasses of wine and an ashtray of cigarettes. Clears and vigorously cleans the table, then kicks the bar cart in disgust. This is a dramatic summation of how he felt about alcohol, this thing that has upended his life. We also see him start his R&D process by dumping a bottle of red wine in a pot, repurposing his addiction. In a normal setting the alcoholic would dump all the alcohol in the sink to start the sobering process. He also tries to reorganize his life in an effort to cope with it.

We see him mentally go through his journey as a chef and his journey as an addict with markers made with the music alone. There are moments of flow, moments of drama and moments of crises. Each time the dissonant section of the music plays, I think, represents either a crisis that leads him back to another cycle of addiction, or his addiction coming to a head.

We see him stoop and look at four spots before the episode comes to a close. The spots are never shown. But if I had to guess, I'd say those spots were: the fridge, the locker room, the bar cart and the clock.

S3 is about getting it out of his system:

I think Carmy is yet again trying to beat his addictions. I think this is the first time we are actually witnessing him rawdog his depression in real time without his substance clutch and that is why he is so insufferable. Season 3 is Carmy in long-term withdrawal and detoxification and it's not an easy process. It's hard and it's ugly. The dramatic marker (substitute storyline) for this point in his life is his quitting cigarettes. The cigarettes, as well as representing itself, also represents his other addictions and so at his last count with Syd, Carmy has been sober for 41 days + the following days that count to the Ever funeral.

[fresaton]

:3

[fresaton]

Oh.

Oh.

And if you need me you can find me right here!!!!!!!

[fresaton]

Media References in The Bear

So last year, @freedelusionshere, myself and a few other folks started collating all the media references we could spot in The Bear. We've also (ambitiously) attempted to link any meta/analysis we've come across for each piece of media spotted so that the list can act as a handy reference point for the fandom.

This is the spreadsheet to date:

WIP: Media References in The Bear

As you can see, its not finished lol. Every episode of this show is a veritable treasure chest/time capsule of multimedia references...which means this project has taken much longer than we had originally anticipated!

Many hands make light work so if you're interested in contributing, either reply to this post or DM me. I know a lot of folks are doing a rewatch ahead of S4 dropping so this might be a fun way to focus your rewatches!

Tagging @tinfishlove and @ago0112 as you've both recently mentioned the movie references in the show!

[fresaton]

Groundhog day and The Bear :

every movie poster appeared in the bear , is giving hints about where the story is heading , and most importantly Groundhog day poster that appeared strangely behind syd and carmen in s1 :

phil = carmy , rita =syd

the places of the characters are really interesting .

phil is behind carm , rita is behind syd

the main story of groundhog day begins after phil get out of the car in snowy storm :

the policeman quote is really important .

the story of s3 of the bear , begins in the end of s2 when carm was stuck in the freezer : he get out of it but mentally he is still stuck in it.

phil get out from the snowy storm but since that day , his days is repeating itself .

this is what phil said about rita :

she´s fun but not my kind of fun : does it sound like someone , in the bear having struggles to have fun with someone else : maybe !

phil high school ´´friend´´ still remembers phil but phil didn´t remember him :

the same situation with carm and kyle :

now let´s get to the most important point :

in the movie , in order to change the day or make a difference and end the same cycle : phil gets informations from a woman named nancy , and guess what happened the next day :

phil pretended to know nancy , and her character was introduced as :

nancy ´´phil high school friend" , poor nancy didn´t remember phil but she pretend to know him because : he is phil connors , a famous meteorologist in the tv .

anyway , the two went for a date and end up making out but phil mind was thinking about rita , during the whole make out :

hhhhhh , I read some posts , here , that carmen during that sex was in truth thinking about sydney , and this is really funny if we will find out about it :

in the bear this cut is really important :

why after the first picture ,directly , we have syd dressing .

phil quote about time :

in the bear we have : ´´every second counts´´

phil was shy to say his love confession to rita , so he said it when she was asleep :

that scene was wery very emotional , the soundtrack was amazing ,everything was amazing

but this words doesn´t describe someone feelings in the bear :

by the way phil voice tone was like carmen under the table

phil : ´´the first minute I looked at you .....´´

carm was stunned !

aha

phil finallove confession :

´´ just knowing you exist has kept me alive ´´

´´carm : you make me better at this / I wouldn´t do it without you ...´´

sydney calming carmen ......

sooooooooooooo , jeremy knows what he is saying , he just spoiled everything !!!

next topic will be ´´the true claire dunlap !´´

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Dick and Kory weren’t just a couple — they were narratively built for each other. Marv Wolfman and George Pérez crafted them with parallel arcs, emotionally and thematically. Dick, the disciplined human struggling with identity outside Batman’s shadow. Kory, the exiled alien princess learning humanity, freedom, love. They grew together. Their relationship was emotional, spiritual, ideological — not just romantic. They were equals who challenged and bettered each other.

And then editorial got messy.

Enter Babs, whose original purpose was not even romantic, but Batman's girl counterpart and suddenly she’s being wedged into a love triangle like it’s CW drama. Not only that, but they deaged her, rewrote her dynamic with Dick from “older mentor figure” to “quirky same-age love interest.” That’s not evolution, that’s surgery on continuity with no anesthesia.

They butchered Dick’s history with Kory just to make room for a status quo that’s more palatable to a Bat-centric branding. They erased an engagement, deep emotional growth, and cosmic-scale love just to reduce her to a “fling.” That’s not just disrespect to Starfire, that’s disrespect to decades of storytelling.

It’s no coincidence that Dick and Kory’s relationship flourished when they had autonomy outside the Bat office. The Titans gave them space to be messy, raw, radiant. And it’s telling that when creators have the chance to write them freely (like in Titans, DCeased, Injustice, Future State) they gravitate back to DickKory. Because it works.

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The Bear S4 Teaser #3

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The Bear S4 Teaser #2

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this scene.

lets talk about this… helloooo????

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Nat is wearing a scrunchie?...could the scrunchie be hers instead of Syd's?

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The Circle Of Life

og tweet | part one | part two | part three

Circles are a major factor in season three of The Bear. In my meta, “Carmy: Regression,” I discuss the possibility of the intent behind making characters go through the same arcs as before. I came to the conclusion that the purpose of this was about life going through full circle and season four could break the cycle.

The circle of life is represented as a circle because it’s a constant loop of birth, survival, and death. But it’s also deeply important to understand that it also states that some circumstances will be much smaller or larger than others.

As apart of their loop, Sydney ended up meeting an award-winning chef of fine dining all over again. Richie and Carmy are back at each others throats with Marcus and Sydney between them.

Carmy going through this dream-like state is apart of his journey. Sydney struggling with leaving The Beef/The Bear is apart of her journey. I suppose in a sense, it doesn’t really matter about how much repetition a person goes through. As long as they finally understand in the end and break their cycle, just the simple fact that you got there is what’s important.

Massive shoutout to @whenmemorydies for linking this video!

It’s probably also vital to note what that meant for television. If all of this is intentional, they would have to know what that meant for themselves. People would be saying they lost the magic and have a massive blow during award season.

The Lion King is a coming of an age film about a young lion named Simba who flees when his father is murdered. In my massive post about what their characters theme song was, Matty mentioned Hakuna Matata which means no worries in Swahili.

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

In the context of the film, Timon and Pumbaa could be represented with the Faks while Simba was Carmy.

Especially when in the film, Simba was essentially ‘running away from the responsibility of the accident’ which he believed he caused but in actuality didn’t. It’s worth noting that I don’t believe this is an exact and accurate depiction of the characters. Although, I do think that this is somewhat apart of Carmy’s dream-like state while going through his avoidance.

Carmy definitely needs to put the past behind him but only after he’s confronted it. Within the film, Timon and Pumbaa probably weren’t the best influences for Simba but that was all he had. Sometimes avoidance is a way to survive in fear that the reality of it all will cripple you.

In the season three finale, Carmy finally confronted his boss, the man who contributed to his panic attacks, nightmares, and ulcers. Carmy’s urge to ensure that David understood what negative influences he caused was for naught because of David’s inability to see nothing but the ‘excellent’ chef he created from it all. Even though this was brutal, it might have been necessary for Carmy to understand what he needs to do to let go of the trauma.

While the conversation between them didn’t end well, the conversation between Chef Terry and him did. And I wonder if Terry managed to really get through to him because he managed to confront one of his main issues in the kitchen.

It’s so interesting that after his confrontation with Chef David and his refusal to see the issues with what Carmy said, Chef Terry’s advice right after was that not knowing what she’s doing is what makes them invincible.

Venn diagrams are overlapping circles to illustrate relationships between two or more sets. They typically highlight the differences and similarities between one and another. What was so fun about researching this topic was figuring out that Venn diagrams could also used as tools for navigating life.

“It’s like making a Venn diagram, but out of a thousand circles. That’s why those moments when you get something, or you get it right, it does feel so special — because it’s like, that’s insane. That’s insane that there’s a thousand circles but found the one overlapping point.” Ayo Edebiri in IndieWire’s Ayo Edebiri Says Directing ‘The Bear’ Was Like ‘Making a Venn Diagram Out of a Thousand Circles

All of The Bear characters are like these circles within circles that intersect endlessly, showcasing how they’re all connected and bonded forever. And in those circles are the challenges that we have to face whether they failed and succeeded.

Hardships are what makes our successes more special and valuable. Typically the gradual change in life or back and forth isn’t necessarily suited for television. But they definitely had a vision for where these characters will go. If season four is its last, it will be a very beautiful and realistic depiction of the less stagnant version of the characters we love, acknowledging we wouldn’t have gotten there without the isolated emotional turmoil in season three.

Before, I recommended that season three might have been an unconscious defense mechanism because of Carmy’s regression that manifests as a way to communicate distress.

I’d argue that Carmy felt a bit immature this season. I’d even go as far as to say, with Carmy as the catalyst, the rest of the characters had also went through some form of a stagnant state as well.

This season had been assumed to be the blue period before it aired and we truly got it. We just didn’t anticipate it being throughout all the episodes. In the season finales, we end off on some form of a positive note with some characters. But I think it’s been since season one, that they all truly felt united. And it will be a great full circle moment if we get that in season four. (After seeing the s4 trailer, we might actually see it!)

@thoughtfulchaos773, you mentioned to me once this is all a flat circle on my meta and how Carl Jung might have been the inspiration for the writers pertaining the negative aspect of the Anima in the male psyche. You couldn’t have been more right! I don’t think it’s a coincidence his name popped up while researching about regression.

An aspect of the life we live, is the surprises and spontaneous moments we experience along the way. And I believe Carmy hasn’t understood that because of his toxic learning and traumatic experience with Chef David. Not to mention his strained relationships with some of his family. Carmy finally experiencing amusement and enjoyment all while being embraced by his family will be really beautiful character development to watch for the closing of this series. And with that love, it will transcend to the food.

“People don’t remember the food. It’s the people that we remember.”

“… regression is not necessarily a retrograde step in the sense of a backwards development or degeneration, but rather represents a necessary phase of development.”

The circle of life is us. It’s an ideology that we’re all connected and every living thing—plants, animals, and humans exist as part of a fragile and delicate balance.

Feel Free To Disagree With Me. See Y’all In Season Four!

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It feels like a goodbye, the short hair, wearing black.

Maybe it doesn't necessarily mean the restaurant is closing, maybe in this scene, Carmy refuses to enter the Walk-in.

The Bear S4 Trailer

I'm still betting on Carmy being a guest at Tiffany's wedding, there was some discourse on this the previous season, but- Donna is wearing the same dress when she sees carmy, carmy has on a suit, Richie didn't know Donna would be at the wedding last season and Carmy looks just as shocked to see Donna.

Carmy seems to be in a clearer headspace. He wants things to be calm, and it sounds like he's trying to get Sydney to understand that he's not in that chaotic headspace anymore.

I don't believe that Carmy opening the walk-in this time is related to his breakup with Claire; it's always been about Donna. Richie mentioned her in the freezer, and that's another area Carmy has been avoiding. He needs to confront that and find a way to make peace; that's when the chaos will end.

But the show also says, like Syd tells Carmy in this trailer, that their family is chaotic. It won't all be peaceful, and as Carmy tells Mikey in what looks to be a flashback, he knows how hard it can be. It's something Sydney understands, too; it can't all be peaceful for their family, but they will try to find happiness ever after, stay positive, and breathe. What's their family version of happy?

But that won't come without challenges! I know people are jaded by season 3, which I don't understand; it's part of the journey, it wasn't the writer's personal agenda to break up Sydcarmy because of the fans.

He wasn't in the headspace to communicate with Sydney and have an under-the-table moment. This trailer is funny, as he tells her he wants things to be different. They're cleaning off the table, while Sydney looks like, "I'll believe it when I see it."

We shall see.

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Season 4 trailer dropped.

Ok. Trailer for season 4 dropped and shâm meta is back metaING so yk the drill, this risks to be very long.

Season 1 was all about te lack of money.

Season 2 was all about the lack of time and how every second counts.

Season 3 was all about the lack of passion and love.

Now it feels like season 4 is bringing back all those ideas up to the surface.

A clock telling them how much money they've got left before The Bear closes down. A run after time, money, all in the hope to find back their respective passion, love and we can see that for each characters.

We see Tina practising pasta on her own. We witness Lionel getting inspiration for a dessert through a movie. We assist to Richie calling his Ever family to help and make his Bear family, meaning the front house team, better. We see bits of Carmy moving away from it's hard, it's brutal and that's what makes it special kinda mindset to going back to some crucial basic ideas we heard Sydney share all throughout the series.

Taking care of people, making them happy with delicious food, with service, trying to be calm and creative and collaborative, because they do not need chaos for success, they don't need to prove anything, to chase after something, they do not need the screams and disorder. They can make it a different way and for that they shall stop hiding, they need to talk and ofc they need to listen.

Now, for Sydney. I think she's the one who's gonna roil this season and a few tibits from the teaser comforted me with this idea.

First when we hear Tina saying she's fired up and ready to go and Syd replies with such an unconvicing yeah same. She is not ready to go.

Second, when we see her miss the basketball hoop right when we hear the we need to not miss, guys. Syd is going to miss.

Third, when we see her with Carmy in the back cleaning the table (?) and he tries to talk to her, saying he tries not to make their kitchen chaos and Syd does not seem convinced at all. She lost all trust, she lost all her inner power and light, that beautiful strenght that characterised her so much. It seems to be dying and I get her, especially after season 3. There is no trust left between Sydcarmy. He scared her and so there are so many broken things. There are endless words left unsaid and it is all gonna unleash this season, I fear. It is going to explode and they will need to built everything back from scracth from the menu, to the team, the trust and the love, and ofc the passion.

But I have hope. I have humongous hope because they seem to be trying to raise back their system, because it feels like the one for Syd, because they will never leave her alone.

Because the Bear is her family.

Thank you for reading until the end. These are just a few of the thoughts I had after the teaser and needed to put somewhere. Ngl, i am excited. Very excited. The trailer is giving season finale and regardless of the fact that it is or not (i want to say it is not), I believe we are up to an icredible ride.

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I knew something was bothering me. They're reusing Richie's scene from the S3 trailer and the menu from episode 3x03.

I don't remember if they did the same with previous trailers, but it definitely puts me off.

The Bear S4 Trailer