"The Bear" Season 3's funniest bit is also its thesis statement

The past is the present in a season that's largely introspective and, it seems, going over a lot of peoples' heads.

“Anybody seen a ghost?”

The line marks the entrance of Sammy Fak, played by John Cena, in Season 3 Episode 5 of The Bear, entitled “Children.”

It’s also an apt introduction to a bit — the most consistent this season — the Fak brothers have: haunting.

“What’s haunting?” Carmy asks a moment later after Sammy Fak declares to his brothers, Neil Fak and Teddy Fak, that he’s still haunting the latter.

“…Someday when he least expects it, I’ll do something weird,” Sammy Fak replies.

It’s a silly bit (and a lot of the Internet is wah-wahing about it because they suck) but it speaks to the thesis statement of this season: Your past is always around to haunt you, and it could make life hell at any time (if you let it).

Credit: FX Networks

Season 3 of the FX hit The Bear is the most introspective yet, placing heavy emphasis on the past, prioritizing the explorations of relationships over the running of the restaurant — though there’s still plenty of that — and letting us inside its characters hurts and hardships more than the previous two seasons.

Every character is haunted, just not exactly in the way Neil and Teddy Fak believe they are.

It’s why we start the season with primarily flashbacks, both short-term and long-term, in an episode that just absolutely blew me away (S3E1, “Tomorrow”). That episode was an even better table setting than the literal table Richie sets for the photos accompanying the Chicago Tribune review in “Children.”

Most of that episode (“Tomorrow”) is focused on Carmy, the show’s most overt example of someone haunted by their past, as he’s haunted both personally and professionally by his time working in New York and the feeling of inadequacy it created in him.

But pieces of everyone’s past are present in this season and impacting the decisions they do or don’t make.

Marcus is haunted by his mother’s death. Richie is haunted by his loneliness caused by his failed marriage. Sugar is haunted by the chaos of her upbringing and the fear she’ll pass it on to her daughter. Ebra is haunted by his failed baseball career (I need an episode on this next season).

True introspection, especially done in a realistic, authentic way, is not often tackled in the TV realm, I’d argue, especially for full seasons. I think that’s a large reason the reactions to this season have been such a mixed bag.

Now, is it the best season of the show? My gut says no.

But The Bear has always been praised for its commitment to the craft (both the craft of good television and good food) and its pushing of the boundaries of that craft.

I’m unsure why at least portions of the critic community and general public aren’t treating this season with the same regard.

And an aside: Yes, The Bear is a comedy you weirdos. We’re not even gonna get into that here. See me next awards season.

Carmy’s arc: Growth isn’t linear

One of the biggest complaints I’ve seen about this season is that Carmy doesn’t grow at all.

And to some extent, that’s true. There is certainly no big growth. He maybe even regresses in some ways.

Credit: Fox-LA

But if that’s a complaint you have, you’re looking for a TV show that isn’t The Bear, in my opinion. Because The Bear deals in realism, and the reality is growth isn’t linear.

Carmy starts this season just a night or two removed from what’s likely one of the biggest panic attacks of his life and one that ruined not one, but two of his closest relationships at the time in Richie and Claire.

Richie doesn’t accept his apology, which leads to a new level of tension between them we haven’t seen before and that I’ll dig into a bit more later. From what we see, Carmy doesn’t even reach out to Claire himself; he’s embarrassed, ashamed, and eventually it’s the Faks that go talk to her on his behalf (but without his permission).

While dealing with those personal fallouts, he’s also dealing with the biggest professional undertaking of his career in a high-stress, high-stakes environment. Oh, and that professional undertaking is, even if in a backgrounded way, a constant reminder of the brother he lost and who he wasn’t there for in his final moments because of his career.

Those are normal things to struggle with. Those things take time to get over and learn to cope with on a day-to-day basis.

This season covers maybe 2-3 months at best as far as we know (I believe the description for S3E3, “Doors,” says it takes place over a month; the other episodes seem to come day after day or within a week of each other.) It would be completely unrealistic for Carmy, a person we know also struggles with perfectionism, addictive behavior, PTSD, etc., to grow through those things while having to face them head-on every single day.

Can’t it be enough that he quits smoking this season? That is growth, if small.

Can’t it be enough that he confronts his horrible old boss, finally tells him the hurt he caused, even if he maybe doesn’t get the response he thought he would?

I get that’s not the glamorous, hit-you-over-the-head growth that a lot of people prefer in media because it’s easy.

But it’s making for great character development and a great story arc! Especially tied in with Sydney’s storyline.

Syd going solo?

Mark my words: Even if Sydney goes solo for a bit next season and tries out the new restaurant with the male chef from Ever, it’s not going to last.

The reason? Syd’s been solo her whole life. She’s an only child, she’s the only woman in her household, she ran her own catering company by herself out of culinary school instead of staging somewhere.

She’s stayed at The Bear for as long as she has, whether she realizes it or not, because she’s found the type of big family there she didn’t have growing up.

The issue Syd has with Carmy this season isn’t that he’s being aggressive in the kitchen, yelling and screaming and micromanaging. We see her talk him down from that a handful of times.

What causes Syd to spiral is the lack of collaboration. She likes working on a team, creating with someone, specifically Carmy, who we know is one of her main culinary inspirations.

Even the dishes we see Syd make on her own are reflections and acts of love for the family she’s found at The Bear, like that drool-worthy omelet she whips up for Sugar in S2.

I read two good threads on Twitter, some of the only good commentary I’ve seen on the app from this season, one about the significance of Syd eating Carmy’s first dish, which is a reflection of his family, and the other about how Syd and Carmy are mirrors of each other.

I’d recommend reading both in full, as they both more eloquently and more in-depthly dictate the points I’m about trying to make here.

Syd and Carmy are the yin to the other’s yang. They complement and, when working well together, neutralize each other in so many ways.

Credit: FX Networks

Remember that S2 moment when Carmy calms down from a panic attack* by thinking about Syd? Yeah, exactly. Notice how Syd lights up every time Carmy gives her a compliment this season? YEAH, EXACTLY.

This show cannot keep them in separate places for long. If it’s aiming for let’s say six seasons (I have no clue), with two seasons for each traditional act of a three act structure, reflecting the fact that it has dual leads (I think I’m on to something here), then next season could be Syd-heavy and yeah, maybe we see her go out on her own for a bit.

But I think she’ll come back to The Bear. To Carmy.

*Note that in the post linked here about The Bear’s S2, I write that I don’t ship Carmy and Syd. While I don’t think it will make or break the show if they get together, I do lean more towards shipping them now. There’s so much soulmatism!!! Throw your tomatoes at me if you want!!!

The Cousin vs. Cousin Conflict

Ok, we’re almost to the end of service. Here’s one last dish.

The Richie vs. Carmy conflict that we see mostly play out in S3E2 “Next” and S3E3 “Doors” but that permeates throughout was maybe one of the most fascinating and frustrating parts of S3 to me.

I really wanted the two of them to share a moment in the finale while both at the Ever funeral. I wouldn’t have expected it to solve everything, but something more than the moment when Richie sees Carmy looking at the photos in the hall felt necessary to me.

Their conflict is a personal one, based on the mean things Carmy said while trapped in the walk-in at the end of S2. But the way it seeps into the professional I think holds the key to how it will eventually be resolved.

I was debriefing the season with my dad, who’s worked in or around kitchens my entire life, and he made this professional point: As a manager, which to some degree Carmy is here, it’s always easier to explain why a customer has to wait longer for a food item than it is why the food item is bad or not up to the value the customer paid for.

Carmy is coming from the professional side here. He is showing his care for the diners by refiring dish after dish until perfection, by innovating each night to create a reason for diners to return.

Richie is coming from the personal side. He shows care by bringing in piñata’s for birthdays, by planning the “Thursday surprise.”

Like Carmy and Syd, Carmy and Richie must find the balance here. They must see that they each have the same goal in mind, and each of their ways of achieving that goal has merit.

Credit: FX

I think once they do that professionally, it will unlock a deeper conversation that resolves their personal conflict. A conversation about Mikey that will help them understand each other better and set the whole show towards peace and resolution.

We know from S3E1 “Tomorrow” that one of Carmy’s last in-person conversations with Mikey, if not THE last, is the one he has at Christmas (S2E6 “Fishes”) about wanting to start the restaurant. Carmy leaving to go stage in New York, to better his culinary skills, is a love letter to his brother. He wants their restaurant to be great.

We also know from “Tomorrow,” or at least this is how I interpreted it, that Richie was the one who found Mikey when he died. He was there, boots on the ground, loving and interacting with Mikey face-to-face. Dealing with his ups and downs until the very end.

When Carmy and Richie finally discuss how to balance their approaches to pleasing each of The Bear’s customers (likely in response to the bad review we know has been logged), I think it will open their eyes, and hopefully a dialogue, to how the other views the trauma and the loved one who’s at the very center of this show.