The final three episodes of ‘The Bear’ Season 2 shows the value of letting people love you

There are so many ways you can tell the loving what you do versus experiencing what life has to offer story. That’s because there’s a different choice depending on who you ask. We know you need a wealth of experiences to draw from to make great art. It’s challenging to create from a dry well, and the things, people, wins, and losses of everyday living add to those paint cans.

With that, there’s the need for repetition and focus – which comes in conflict with being away from whatever canvas you decide to partake in. To be great at your craft may mean you have to rid yourself of all perceived distractions. But why do you have to choose? Couldn’t a balance be thrown in where you are content within yourself and the external validation of your career or accomplishment? Season two of The Bear, up to the last three episodes, has shown how beautiful and chaotic the construction of food can be, the benefits of dialing into a team, and how the weight of trauma will tear down every promise in your future if you don’t address it.

Carmy’s character went to the side for the first few episodes, which was by design. He has this budding relationship with Claire, and for the first time, he’s experiencing personal gratification outside the kitchen. In the first moments of “Bolognese,” he’s talking to Claire in the apartment, and he’s in between two worlds – Carmy is worried about the fire suppression test as well as if this union with Claire was destined to fail (a self-fulfilling prophecy as we get to the last episode). Once again, Claire is there to assure him it isn’t joking – they have this specific language to themselves with loving sarcasm.

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But Carmy can’t let go of his discipline practice because it gives him some weird comfort. It’s all masked in trying to build this wall so that his previous despair (his mom Donna, the asshole chef in NYC, the pressure of creating The Beef) can’t penetrate it. However, the war inside him keeps ranging since Carmy can’t allow people to love him and receive love (much like Donna).

It didn’t help talking to Uncle Cicero during “Omelette,” where he expresses that the restaurant has to be number one, and the accompanying “uh-oh” when Carmy tells him about Claire. The simple story thread of Carmy forgetting about fixing the handle on the freezer was brilliant. It showed Carmy’s detachment and inability to lean on others for help.

On the other side, you have Richie and his new lease on life. He comes back to The Bear wearing the suit, apologizing to Natalie, and in a roundabout raw, Sydney. While repetition is unraveling Carmy, it’s invigorated Richie. He’s lost almost everything being stuck in his ways and can give specific insight into how that aftermath can feel. It’s poetic that Richie found his way to a place Carmy excelled and then took what he learned and steered the ship during the friends and family night. The theme of redemption also hits on a lesser note with Ebra returning to the restaurant – change can be scary, but you have to embrace it anyway.

With Sydney’s character arch, she’s caught in a particular conundrum. There’s the challenge of getting this new, scary thing up and running when her business partner and friend has been absent and working out personal difficulties through his work. Carmy is consulting with Claire on things that are all based primarily on reclaiming memories from his childhood. That might be great for him, but is that great for the restaurant? It’s not necessarily helping Sydney’s anxiety seeing all these restaurants close and wanting her father to be proud of her.

“Omelette” displays a terrific device of teamwork as Carmy and Sydney take turns setting up the table, expressing apologies, and saying they have each others’ back. With the argument last season and Sydney quitting, you first think they can’t do this without each other – in some ways, it’s true. However, it’s interesting that when Carmy is locked away, Syd and Richie come together to even out the first night. The two have accepted they need all the wheels and all the cogs together in calmness. When Carmy is in the kitchen, he’s yelling and aggressive. Perhaps you don’t need all that for The Bear to run like a well-oiled machine. Syd knows how to reach each of the employees differently than Carmy.

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The accumulation of Syd’s anxiety and sickness at the end is her father’s blessing. Now, hopefully, she can recognize Marcus likes her and, if she desires, allows herself to be in that. But it might be in the same vein of Carmy being too involved in the work to see that’s possible. Most of the themes come to a head in the final episode of the season, and it’s not lost on me that much of the heaviness comes from people on the outside looking into the restaurant. Donna does come to the event, but can’t bring herself to go inside.

To Natalie, this is her moment to show her mom that she had a hand in helping this thing with her brother out of the ashes of The Beef. Pete wants Natalie to know that someone is proud of her – for her to gain that fulfillment outside of her mom. It was fitting for him to see Donna outside and receive that message. There is a fair amount of healing to be done with the Berzatto family, and sadly, Donna feels like her mere presence would taint this victory. Hopefully, they can come together with the family left down the road – but it might be best if it’s on a lesser scale.

With Carmy getting locked in the freezer, many things are at play. First, it’s because he kept forgetting to get it fixed and took it the wrong way he should have. He should have delegated it to somebody else by the second time he apologized. Carmy has a great team around him – just look at what they accomplished. It could stem from him contemplating his usefulness on top of this excess of images he can’t run from. Because he hasn’t healed from any of that, Carmy has a lot of things that break Claire’s heart and make him get into it with Richie.

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If you noticed, Richie calls him Donna – because they neither allow people to love them nor voice what they need. They close themselves off just like Carmy accidentally does. Even with all the insults they hurl towards each other, Richie says over and over again, “I love you.” Claire ends her voicemail by telling Carmy that she loves him also. Carmy is excellent at his craft, but I don’t think that’s the person The Bear needs.

Everybody around Carmy has found some self-fulfillment outside of just making the restaurant what it is. If The Bear thrives in its current incarnation, Carmy must realize that the focus and drive come from allowing you to love yourself and be loved. Otherwise, he might have to get out of the way.