Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Bear Season 2.From start to finish,The BearSeason 2 was filled with questions that it had to answer just as fast as Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), and the others had to open up their restaurant. Would The Bear prove itself to be a viable business operation? Or would Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) take over the whole thing? Would Carmy find some semblance of peace and happiness with his childhood love, Claire (Molly Gordon)? Or would the stress of running a restaurant prove too much for their relationship? Would Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) find his purpose? What is up between Sydney and Carmy? The list goes on and on.
Most of these questions were answered over the course of the season. Yes, despite some bumps on the road, The Bear managed to open its doors successfully. Likewise, Richie found a place for himself in the restaurant and purpose in his line of work. Carmy and Claire’s relationship, on the other hand, did not have a happy ending: after a particularly difficult friends and family night, Carmy put his foot in his mouth and broke poor Claire’s heart. As for Sydney and Carmy… Well, we still don’t know what is going on there. This is one of the many questions that we will have to wait for a third season ofThe Bearto answer. From shipping matters to family drama, here are our biggest unanswered questions afterThe Bear’s Season 2 finale.
Related:‘The Bear’ Season 2 Ending Explained: What Happens at the Restaurant Opening?
Will Carmy and Claire Get Back Together?
The final episode ofThe BearSeason 2 saw Carmy getting himself locked inside the restaurant’s walk-in freezer in the middle of the much-awaited friends and family night. Unable to get himself out and extremely nervous due to the stress of opening up a restaurant to the public for the first time, he found some solace in venting toTina (Liza Colón-Zayas)about everything currently going wrong in his life. One of those things was apparently his relationship with Claire.
According to Carmy, even though things with Claire had been going great, having a girlfriend got in the way of his commitment to the restaurant, to the point where he forgot to call the freezer guy to fix the broken door that eventually got him trapped. As Carmy was going on and on about how awful it is to have a significant other in his life, Claire walked into the kitchen, having just heard that her boyfriend was locked inside a walk-in. Upon overhearing Carmy less than favorable opinions about their relationship, she told him that she was sorry he felt that way and left the restaurant with tears in her eyes.
After such a mishap, it sure seems that things are over for Carmy and Claire. But a third season could possibly see the couple patching things up. This would certainly be in Carmy’s best interest since Claire is definitely the best thing he had going in his life in a very long time. Having Claire back in the game could also mean some additional drama for the show, especially depending on the answer to our next question.
Is ‘The Bear’ Going for a Carmy and Sydney Romance?
While thefirst season ofThe Beartreated the relationship between Carmy and Sydney as a simple partnership between like-minded individuals, Season 2 began to indicate that there might be something else between the two chefs. The Sydney and Marcus (Lionel Boyce) ship has apparently sunk, with Sydney turning down Marcus in a very awkward scene.
Meanwhile, the show has started to lay the groundwork for a romantic relationship between Sydney and Carmy. Season 2 was full of scenes that implied at least some one-sided affection on Sydney’s part, from small bouts of jealousy regarding Claire to a very emotionally charged conversation under a table. It’s still early to say for certain, but if we had to place a bet right now, we’d put all of our chips onThe Bearkicking off a romance between its two leads.
Will Tina and Ebra Confess Their Feelings for One Another?
While we’re on the topic of romance and unspoken feelings, let’s talk about the one pairing that everybody is rooting for. Ever sinceThe Bearfirst started, it has been clear to viewers that Tina and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) share a special bond that might eventually go beyond friendship. Season 2 saw the two cooks sharing parallel journeys: having both been sent to culinary school, Tina found herself in the middle of making her dreams come true, while Ebra ran away out of fear of change.
In the end, the two reunited in an extremely charming scene in which Tina offered Ebra a new position at the restaurant. So far, however, their relationship remains strictly platonic — at least, as far as we know. Will Season 3 finally see this change? Here’s hoping for only the best for the two MVPs of The Bear.
What Happened to Marcus' Mom?
Season 2 ofThe Beargave us some insight into the lives of members of the restaurant staff that were merely in the background of Season 1. One of the characters that benefited from this approach was Marcus, the world’s most adorable pastry chef. In Season 2, we learned that he has a sick mother at home and that his commitment to the restaurant sometimes gets in the way of him caring for her as much as he needs to. Traveling to Copenhagen to stage underchef Luca (Will Poulter)was a big decision for him not because of what it meant to his career, but because he had to leave his mother behind. Coming back to Chicago to find her alive and cared for was certainly a relief for him.
But things don’t seem to be going all that well for Marcus and his mom anymore. During friends and family night, the pastry chef accidentally dropped his phone and missed a bunch of calls and messages from his mother’s nurse. Did she pass away? We still don’t know for sure. Still, it’s pretty clear that something serious has happened to her - something that will certainly devastate Marcus and make him question his devotion to the restaurant.
Will the Restaurant Survive Its Initial Run?
Though The Bear had a successful opening night and has an entire week’s worth of reservations, things aren’t necessarily looking up. Natalie (Abby Elliott) and Richie were shown to be very concerned with the fact that they have no reservations for their second week of business. At the same time, Season 2 ofThe Bearhas gone out of its way to make it clear to us that restaurants aren’t exactly having an easy time in the post-covid economy. Places are closing left and right, not to mention the ordeal that finding staff has become. With everything stacked against it, will The Bear survive its initial run or will a third season of the show culminate in the place closing for good?
Will Richie Continue Working at the Restaurant?
Apparently, getting locked inside a freezer has a way of making people talk more than they should. Carmy, at least, can’t seem to keep his mouth shut. After accidentally spilling his most intimate and ugliest feelings about their relationship to Claire, he also had a pretty ugly fight with his cousin Richie. Suffice it to say that words like “you’re nothing” were thrown around, in a clear parallel with the Berzatto family’s dysfunctional dynamic that seems to have contributed toMichael’s (Jon Bernthal)downfall.
Now, Richie eventually learned that Carmy has a lot of faith in him, but, during his stage, he did show signs that he was not happy at The Bear. The clearest of them all was when he asked Garrett (Andrew Lopez) if they had a spot for him. Will Season 3 still feature Richie as part of The Bear’s staff — or will he move on to another restaurant, in which he feels more valued?
Will Natalie and Carmy Patch Things Up with Their Mother?
Finally, there are the Berzattos. Carmy and Natalie’s family seems to have fallen apart after Michael’s death, but even before that things weren’t going so great. In Episode 6 —The Bear’s version of a Christmas episode — we witnessed the complicated relationships of the Berzatto family unfolding in a single, stressful night. More specifically, we witnessed the toll that this dynamic takes on Donna Berzatto (Jamie Lee Curtis), Carmy and Natalie’s mom, as well as the toll Donna’s mental instability takes on the family as a whole.
By the end of Season 2, we learn that Donna has drifted away from her two remaining children, and that, while Carmy seems to have accepted this fate, Natalie still strives to bring her into their lives. Trying to get her to partake in the joy of the restaurant’s opening, as well as looking for an opportunity to tell her about the pregnancy, Natalie invited Donna to friends and family night. Though Donna did show up, she couldn’t bring herself to enter the restaurant, telling Pete (Chris Witaske) that she doesn’t deserve to be a part of all this. It is pretty clear that she’s still seriously depressed, but it is also clear that her children can’t quite grasp what goes on in her mind. Will this situation change in Season 3, particularly after the arrival of Natalie’s baby? Well, considering just howgreat Jamie Lee Curtis was in the role, we sure hope to see more of Donna in a not-so-distant future.
