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Gastronomy, as a means of expression, acquires even greater depth and intensity in the second season of ‘The Bear’, which underlies a series of seemingly invisible meanings and messages.
The power of food can unite, but also separate; as happens in this culinary series in which it often channels feelings of love and affection, but also functions as an act of self-sabotage. An emotional catharsis that we can see reflected through the characters of the visual work: there is a collective passion for cooking that binds the team, but which, in turn, becomes an obstacle when it comes to connecting with other people outside the business.
If we zoom in on episode 3, we see Carmy in group therapy expressing that he had forgotten what fun was because he was so caught up in opening the restaurant. And that’s because, despite reuniting with Claire (Molly Gordon), as an outsider to the venue, food and the restaurant still play a key role in their relationship.
In this sense, love sequences persist, such as one in which Carmy prepares dinner for him after she reveals to him that no one has ever made it before. However, in the moments when he ends up in decadent situations in the restaurant, his first instinct leads him to sabotage the only thing that makes him happy outside of the kitchen.
The kitchen as a means of validation
In the series, we can also see how both Carmy and her mother use the kitchen as a channel of personal validation, which ends up revealing the fact that they have more in common with each other than the protagonist of the series is willing to acknowledge.
Both are thus driven by this shared need for validation. While Donna expresses it through acts such as her ostentatious annual Christmas meal, Carmy expresses it through her obsession with creating a globally renowned fine dining establishment that will ultimately leave her with a series of sentimental scars.
