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"the bear" - new series on fx

henrygandorf

By henrygandorf
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The whole point of the omelet scene with Sydney is the care she took with it, as expressed in the time and technique she was using when nobody was looking.  Sugar was pregnant and hungry and asked for

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Yes I have access to $500. I’m a 43 year old man. I’m going to give you the $500 because whatever you decide to do with it is going to be very interesting to me. Man, Mulany either wrote that or

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futureman

futureman 22554

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4 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:


Follow your instructions or you’ll get a dry socket and want someone to shoot you in the head. My DiL is a dentist and I’ve heard the screams from a dry socket.

No smoking. No vaping. No sucking on a straw. No eating until told to. Do your saline rinses.

when I had mine removed I was full of vicodin and kentucky deluxe and taking bong rips mere hours after getting out of the chair.  no dry sockets and had a blast. 

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kingkoopa6

kingkoopa6 8378

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19 minutes ago, mchookem said:

i'll be starting this show soon...i honestly had zero idea what it was even about before last night, i would never have guessed lol

just go in and enjoy.

let us know how it goes... 

i started episode 1.. next thing i know im on 5... haha..

a great quick binge 

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mchookem

mchookem 16411

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finished tonight. loved it. echo all the comments about the tension. incredible music and camera work. 

i only did about 6mos at Pizza Hut (Guadalupe and MLK haha) as a freshman before moving on so my experience isn't much...but I have heard nothing but horror stories from my sister who did about 10 years various places in Houston, and my niece who is a junior in college but has been in the industry since she was 15. holy crap, the stories are nuts, everything from sex to drugs to harassment and everything in between lol. im glad i just delivered pizzas 😄

 

i have a question, may have missed something... but why was Mikey stuffing money in cans and not paying bills? it seemed like he took the $300k loan from Cicero, then...stuffed the cash in cans?? like...why? Cicero said he was going to have to hold Carmy responsible for that, so won't he just have to pay that and everything else back with the newfound cash? 🤔 

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RPM

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10 minutes ago, mchookem said:

why was Mikey stuffing money in cans and not paying bills?

My opinion is he was ratholeing the cash for Carm to open a new restaurant. He knew he and Cuz didn't have what it took do do that and the only thing that would bring Carm back to Chicago was committing suicide. ymmv

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'stache

'stache 21892

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Binged recently and really liked it, but I also hope they explain the money better. Seems to me he'd owe it to Cicero and I doubt it's substantially more than $300K. The Richie character really grinds on me but mostly because I knew someone almost exactly like him in real life growing up and it was a real beating being around him, loud, obnoxious, overconfident, and a complete asshole most of the time. In context of the show though, I think it's good acting, assuming he's not like that in real life. 

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mdmost

mdmost 43059

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I said this before upthread. I think the idea is Carmy sells the existing spot to Cicero to make him whole. Cicero wanted the spot so he could get his money back and had been hounding Carmy to sell since other developers are buying up the area. So sell the spot to Cicero which makes him whole, use the cans to open the new spot without any of the baggage hanging over it. Cicero will probably wonder where the money came from but he got his money back so what does it matter.

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futureman

futureman 22554

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On 1/19/2023 at 10:29 AM, mdmost said:

I said this before upthread. I think the idea is Carmy sells the existing spot to Cicero to make him whole. Cicero wanted the spot so he could get his money back and had been hounding Carmy to sell since other developers are buying up the area. So sell the spot to Cicero which makes him whole, use the cans to open the new spot without any of the baggage hanging over it. Cicero will probably wonder where the money came from but he got his money back so what does it matter.

it’s an interesting thought but no, this isn’t how it will happen. 

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Mittens

Mittens 8312

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Watched this last year, and have popped into this thread every now and then to see what others are catching.  I worked in restaurants from 14-28, ranging from sub shops (not Subway - a solo/family type operation), to hospital kitchens, to Tex-Mex, to fine-ish dining w/ actual head chef/sous chef/baker etc.  My biggest issue w/ the show is there's no need for a chef structure at a hot beef spot and zero reason for Carmen to be making the extra recipes.  No reason for the stress going on - the place has like 3 things on the menu and seating for like 10? 15?  It should be easy as fuck to run it.  Chicken piccata?  Short ribs and risotto?  Chilean sea bass?  WTF?

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29197

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On 1/19/2023 at 7:50 AM, 'stache said:

Binged recently and really liked it, but I also hope they explain the money better. Seems to me he'd owe it to Cicero and I doubt it's substantially more than $300K. The Richie character really grinds on me but mostly because I knew someone almost exactly like him in real life growing up and it was a real beating being around him, loud, obnoxious, overconfident, and a complete asshole most of the time. In context of the show though, I think it's good acting, assuming he's not like that in real life. 

he was great in the dropout and played a completely different type of role.

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RPM

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18 minutes ago, Mittens said:

My biggest issue w/ the show is there's no need for a chef structure at a hot beef spot and zero reason for Carmen to be making the extra recipes.  No reason for the stress going on - the place has like 3 things on the menu and seating for like 10? 15?  It should be easy as fuck to run it.  Chicken piccata?  Short ribs and risotto?  Chilean sea bass?  WTF?

Running a money losing, out of date South Side locals joint is easy. Transforming it into profitable Michelin dining without destroying the family and crew is very hard. (the bar next door closed and is prime for expansion)

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Mittens

Mittens 8312

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14 minutes ago, RPM said:

Running a money losing, out of date South Side locals joint is easy. Transforming it into profitable Michelin dining without destroying the family and crew is very hard. (the bar next door closed and is prime for expansion)

Fair enough, but you'll have to refresh my memory as it's been a minute...  That wasn't Carmen's plan all along, was it?  He was broke until the last 15 minutes of the show, yes?  I absolutely could have missed/forgotten that plot line, but I don't recall an overarching goal of turning The Beef into a high end eatery.  My recollection is that he was trying to keep it afloat, clean it up, make it more efficient so that it was profitable.  

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ATLLonghorn

ATLLonghorn 857

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8 hours ago, Mittens said:

Fair enough, but you'll have to refresh my memory as it's been a minute...  That wasn't Carmen's plan all along, was it?  He was broke until the last 15 minutes of the show, yes?  I absolutely could have missed/forgotten that plot line, but I don't recall an overarching goal of turning The Beef into a high end eatery.  My recollection is that he was trying to keep it afloat, clean it up, make it more efficient so that it was profitable.  

I watched the show for the first time this week and loved it. I think Carmy eventually wanted to make it a profitable, good restaurant. He's also in no spot to fully achieve what he wants to because he hasn't dealt with the trauma of his brother's death. He can very clearly compartmentalize things which is how achieved the greatness as a chef that he did, but he clearly struggles with a lot of things and it's likely due to the trauma he hasn't dealt with. Slowly he gets the restaurant from a beloved shithole to a functional joint, but I think the plan was always to make it something elevated.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31577

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On 1/20/2023 at 11:52 AM, Mittens said:

Watched this last year, and have popped into this thread every now and then to see what others are catching.  I worked in restaurants from 14-28, ranging from sub shops (not Subway - a solo/family type operation), to hospital kitchens, to Tex-Mex, to fine-ish dining w/ actual head chef/sous chef/baker etc.  My biggest issue w/ the show is there's no need for a chef structure at a hot beef spot and zero reason for Carmen to be making the extra recipes.  No reason for the stress going on - the place has like 3 things on the menu and seating for like 10? 15?  It should be easy as fuck to run it.  Chicken piccata?  Short ribs and risotto?  Chilean sea bass?  WTF?

No restaurant experience, minor foodie, very minor and I agree with this take.

It is plausible, I think, that a CdC like Carmy comes and makes a Chicago Beef place better/great and award-winning, but there really doesn't seem to be any call whatsoever to try to integrate haute cuisine.  There are a number of chef-run/influenced lowbrow cuisine places that are pretty damned successful, but I am unaware of anything that transitioned from burgers to haute cuisine, or even combined them to any degree.

It looks like "the Beef" plotline may have closed, so we won't have to deal with that little bit of weirdness in the future.

That said, a very good show.  White is just fantastic and I think will be a generational actor.  Edibiri is very good also, individually, as is the cast as an ensemble.  Good stuff.

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TwiceHorn

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On 1/20/2023 at 9:05 PM, ATLLonghorn said:

I watched the show for the first time this week and loved it. I think Carmy eventually wanted to make it a profitable, good restaurant. He's also in no spot to fully achieve what he wants to because he hasn't dealt with the trauma of his brother's death. He can very clearly compartmentalize things which is how achieved the greatness as a chef that he did, but he clearly struggles with a lot of things and it's likely due to the trauma he hasn't dealt with. Slowly he gets the restaurant from a beloved shithole to a functional joint, but I think the plan was always to make it something elevated.

Just an add-on to this.  It's not just the trauma of his death.  Mikey was an addict doing addict things and wreaking havoc on his family.  Even if he were still alive, there's substantial trauma that needs to be worked through.  With his death, that gets raised a level and additional trauma piled on.

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NoName

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this answered some of the questions i had (Q&A with showrunner/creator)

spoilers below
 

Spoiler

The cash in the tomato cans was Uncle Jimmy’s (Oliver Platt) $300,000 loan, yes? (Minus the one can Carmy tossed in the pilot.)

Yes. We wanted to reveal that even though Michael was an addict, he was telling the truth when he told Uncle Jimmy he wanted to franchise, which in this case meant opening a restaurant with Carmy. Michael thought he could break the familial cycle and start something fresh and not “at fucked,” which may have been his way of processing his own disease, his own addiction, which he unfortunately didn’t get to see into fruition. I also think it was very beneficial at the time for Jimmy to have a way to clean some money.

How did the cash get in the sealed cans?

There is a semi-automatic electric can-seamer at the restaurant, which is a quick process and very easy to use. Michael was most likely instructed to not put the money in the bank for myriad tax reasons. In his scattered state, the processing of the tomato cans really felt like he was starting to build something, felt more like a real plan of action to him. A safe felt too safe, too obvious.

I know it sounds completely absurd, but in researching various kitchens, I was really shocked how many stories and articles I had come across or heard about where money or drugs were found in sealed aluminum tomato cans. I guess the police dogs can’t smell anything over the acidic tomatoes and I definitely think Michael had heard some version of that somewhere.

Trying to understand the windfall here: If it’s the $300,000 (minus one can), but Jimmy is holding Carmy to Michael’s loan (minus the credit from the two Season 1 parties), how is Carmy going to turn The Original Beef of Chicagoland into the Bear? There are also IRS and vendor issues. Is this more than $300,000? Or is the idea here that they’ll just keep the debts and use the money as seed money for The Bear, which will hopefully pay off the debts?

This is the question we wanted to end with and hopefully get to explore in a second season. Carmy gets some closure with his brother, but then how does he handle this going forward? How can he build something new and start from a more positive place?

There’s something beautiful in the idea that Carmy could have found this right off the bat if he would have made the spaghetti in the pilot, but then maybe he would have burnt out similarly to the way Michael did. I think by not discovering this immediately, he really learned the difficult lesson that not only was he sort of trying to “fix” this restaurant for all the wrong reasons, but that he also couldn’t do it himself. He finds in Sydney someone he had a shorthand with. They will definitely use this money as a seed, but Jimmy will be in the mix.

 

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11542

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I hope we see more Mikey flashbacks because Bernthal is a terrific actor, and the cameo was the best scene in Season 1. 

Cicero isn't a very good loan shark. He allowed Mikey to get into him for $300k. I get it, he loved Mikey and liked the restaurant, but at $50k, Cicero should have probably known he was never going to get his money back and walked away. The mob really doesn't kill debtors anymore, but a smart loan shark will cut off a debtor and make sure he can't go to another shylock. 

Maybe Cicero was laundering money through the restaurant? I'm probably focusing on the mob element of the show too, but it piqued my interest. 

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NoName

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On 5/8/2023 at 4:48 PM, billfromlaketravis said:

Cicero isn't a very good loan shark. He allowed Mikey to get into him for $300k. I get it, he loved Mikey and liked the restaurant, but at $50k, Cicero should have probably known he was never going to get his money back and walked away. The mob really doesn't kill debtors anymore, but a smart loan shark will cut off a debtor and make sure he can't go to another shylock. 

Maybe Cicero was laundering money through the restaurant? I'm probably focusing on the mob element of the show too, but it piqued my interest. 

from some stuff i read somewhere folks think he wants to take over the building/restaurant/location and sell it for development. that was his end goal.

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