While FX’s The Bear has no shortage of enticing characters with complex relationships, at the heart of the award-winning culinary dramedy is the connection between its two leads, chefs Carmy and Sydney.
From The Bear’s inception in 2022, Sydney and Carmy’s dynamic has been integral to the show, so much so that the pilot episode literally starts the day Sydney first walks into Carmy’s life and his late brother Mikey’s sandwich shop, The Beef. Sydney, an up-and-coming chef who admires Carmy’s prowess, is dying for the chance to work with and learn from him. Thankfully, The Beef is hiring.
Over the next four seasons, as the restaurant evolves from a humble sandwich shop into a fine dining establishment renamed The Bear, so does Sydney and Carmy’s professional relationship. As their dynamic transitions from mentor-mentee to that of a true partnership, one consistent throughline is their respective views on the idea of perfection. This theme is revisited each season, particularly when it comes to Sydney and Carmy’s culinary aspirations. With the Season 4 premiere and the Season 5 renewal, a look back on the episodes reveals how this theme manifests each season, directly reflecting the current state of Sydney and Carmy’s relationship.
In Season 1, the quest for perfection is explored in the episode “Ceres,” where an eager but impatient Sydney repeatedly tries to solicit Carmy’s opinion on her new menu idea, cola-braised short ribs with risotto. When Carmy finally samples the dish, he tells her it’s “tremendous,” which sounds like glowing praise to Sydney, who then wants to know if it means it can be added to the menu.
Not yet, according to Carmy, but it is “getting closer.” How close, Sydney wonders. “I told you it was great,” Carmy reiterates, but this doesn’t feel like an answer to Sydney. She reminds him that he actually used the adjective “tremendous,” which prompts Carmy to interrupt with a simple but cutting, “I didn’t tell you it was perfect.”
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And that’s just it, isn’t it? Sydney in Season 1 may be confident in her abilities, but she also values Carmy’s opinion above all else, and when he tells her the dish isn’t perfect, it’s quite the blow. Defeated, she pawns off the experimental risotto to a random customer at The Beef, who actually turns out to be a food critic—and guess what? He loves the dish, and his glowing review of it serves as the impetus for the sheer chaos that consumes the subsequent episode, aptly titled “Review.”
This addendum to Sydney and Carmy’s interaction in “Ceres” matters because it’s the first indication that her pursuit of his professional approval may not actually be necessary. Maybe she’s already closer to so-called “perfection” than either she or Carmy realizes. Maybe “perfection” is more subjective than she thought. Regardless, at this point, Sydney’s not ready to learn any of those lessons.
We revisit this desire for perfection the following season. In Season 2’s “Sundae,” Sydney and Carmy develop menu ideas for their new restaurant. They try Sydney’s radicchio and grapefruit creation…and immediately spit it out. The dish is over-marinated, much to Sydney’s dismay. Carmy reminds her that mistakes are part of the menu development process, but Sydney remains dissatisfied. They make a plan to reset their palates with a food tour of the city, but before they part ways, Carmy attempts to reassure her: “It was really, it was almost perfect,” he tells her. “Almost,” Sydney echoes, grimacing.
At this point in their relationship, Sydney is unimpressed with herself, not Carmy, which is a notable shift from Season 1. She still wants to be perfect, but now, instead of resenting her boss for being too critical, she resents herself for not being able to reach the level of perfection she aspires to.
With Season 3, the theme of perfection first reveals itself in the episode “Next,” where Sydney is displeased to discover that Carmy has changed their entire tasting menu overnight. What was once a dish featuring seven different types of fish has been whittled down to just scallop because, according to Carmy, “The scallop is perfect. We don’t need the six other fishes.” There’s that word again, “perfect.”
Within almost the same breath, Carmy informs Sydney that he plans to change the entire menu again tomorrow, and then again every day after that, in the hopes of impressing Michelin inspectors and obtaining a coveted Michelin star. Oh, and he’s also sent her a partnership agreement that he needs her to sign, a document that would make official what they’ve been building towards over the past two seasons.
If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is. Carmy, for his part, does at least acknowledge this, but he also remains firm in the new standard he wants to set for the restaurant. The response he gives Sydney when she questions his motives is simply, “So that I can push you and you can push me. That’s what you wanted, right?”
What the Carmy of Season 3 fails to realize, though, is that at this point, Sydney actually doesn’t want to be perfect, at least, not nearly to the same maniacal extent as Carmy. The Sydney of Season 3 is more concerned with tending to the restaurant and its staff and creating a harmonious work environment.
This disconnect is hinted at in the following episode, “Doors,” when Carmy refuses to let an already tardy wagyu dish go out to a customer because “the cook is off.” This baffles front-of-house lead Richie, who believes the wagyu is, you guessed it, “perfect.” Carmy’s interference here especially infuriates Richie because he’s not the one who has to face the unhappy patrons—Richie is.
Nearby, Sydney observes this tense exchange, entirely exasperated. When Carmy doubles down—”If it’s not perfect, it doesn’t go out, okay?”—we can tell from Sydney’s face that she feels his obsession with perfection is interfering with her and everyone else’s ability to maintain a functional restaurant. As a result, this season she’s back to resenting Carmy, but for an entirely different reason than in Season 1. The girl who once craved perfection—and Carmy’s validation—now understands that perfection isn’t always the priority.
If only Carmy understood this, too.
This brings us to Season 4 and The Bear’s most recent interpretation of perfection and how it pertains to Sydney and Carmy. In the second episode, “Soubise,” we see sous chef Tina repeatedly struggle to assemble a pasta dish within the allotted three minutes. Carmy, to his credit, consoles Tina by admitting that he also hasn’t been able to meet the time limit. If even the executive chef is having a hard time, clearly the task is no easy feat.
However, the end of the episode reveals that someone can accomplish this task, and it’s Sydney, who casually plates the pasta with 21 seconds to spare while lending Tina a hand during dinner service. The final shot of “Soubise” is a close-up on a digital timer that boldly declares the truth to Carmy: Sydney is better than him. She isn’t even explicitly trying to be in this moment, but she is.
With this realization in mind, the next episode, “Scallop,” opens with a three-minute montage of Sydney preparing—what else?—a scallop dish. In lieu of any dialogue, the scene is set to St. Vincent’s “Slow Disco,” the unofficial anthem of the season, with its uptempo version “Fast Slow Disco” appearing in the Season 4 trailers and during the final episode’s credits.
Instead of the kitchen’s usual cool tones, Sydney is colorfully illuminated by a shifting array of vibrant blues, pinks, and purples, a combination sometimes dubbed “bisexual lighting.” (In this case, I suspect the lighting was purely an aesthetic choice, because while it could be hinting at something for Sydney’s love life, we just don’t have enough indicators from The Bear to definitively classify Sydney’s sexuality.)
The music, lighting, and blocking choices combine to create an overall atmosphere of peace and tranquility. As Sydney works on her dish, moving through the kitchen with equal parts grace and skill, we can’t help but be drawn into a sort of trance as we watch her doing exactly what she does best.
Sydney remains the sole focus of the scene until the song ends. The music and colorful lighting fade away, only to reveal that she’s not alone in the kitchen—Carmy has been there the entire time, waiting to try Sydney’s upgraded dish.
Suddenly, the montage takes on a whole new meaning. Instead of just being artistic for the sake of it, something showrunner and episode director Christopher Storer has been known to do, the scene can now be interpreted as a look at Sydney from Carmy’s perspective.
Sydney cooking is presented in this beautiful fashion because in Carmy’s eyes, watching her in her element is a privilege, akin to witnessing something truly remarkable transpire, something almost magical and otherworldly. The show effectively utilizes the aforementioned filmmaking techniques to give us a glimpse of Sydney the way Carmy sees her in this moment, and it’s a rare indulgence for us as the audience.
Once the scene returns to a more neutral point of view, it becomes a direct parallel to the moment in “Ceres” where Carmy samples a dish and Sydney awaits his assessment. The premise is nearly the same, but the duo’s development over the last three seasons distinguishes the current scene from its predecessor.
In “Scallop,” Carmy offers to try the dish, instead of Sydney chasing him down in “Ceres.” Here he takes his first bite, pauses for a prolonged moment to properly contemplate the flavors, and then finally gives Sydney his verdict. “It’s perfect,” he tells her with a single nod.
Wait. Hold on. Did he just say it was perfect?
Perfect?
Is that even possible?
Apparently so, but Sydney shares our collective disbelief at this moment. “It’s…So, it’s all right?” she stutters, stunned by the unexpectedly high praise. Carmy, meanwhile, takes it a step further. “It’s better than perfect,” he amends. “Put it [on the menu].”
Better than perfect?
Woah.
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This unprecedented declaration has a profound effect on Sydney, particularly in light of the past three seasons. In the span of 14 seconds, thanks to an acting masterclass by Ayo Edebiri, we see the weight of Carmy’s words wash over her. The moment demonstrates how, even though she is far beyond relying on Carmy’s approval, Sydney still very much respects his opinion. To have him bestow such remarkable praise upon one of her creations is certainly still meaningful.
It’s especially significant that she makes what Carmy considers a perfect dish here in Season 4, and not in any of the preceding seasons. In “Scallop,” Sydney and Carmy have entered yet another era of their relationship. Unlike the first three seasons, Sydney no longer harbors resentment—not towards Carmy, and not towards herself. Having also previously moved past needing to be Carmy’s definition of perfect, she’s focused on improving her dishes and the restaurant as a whole, but in a sustainable way.
Carmy, meanwhile, is working to be more collaborative and patient and understanding, all attributes that fell to the wayside during his deranged and misguided pursuit of perfection in Season 3.
For the first time, neither Sydney nor Carmy is prioritizing perfection, so it’s fitting that this is when they both find it. Sydney achieves perfection in Carmy’s eyes long after she stopped striving for it, just like how she beat the clock when she wasn’t trying to in “Soubise.” Meanwhile, Carmy realizes Sydney is “better than perfect” right after having received definitive proof that her abilities as a chef eclipse his own.
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The montage in “Scallop” and the subsequent perfect taste test herald the latest phase of Sydney and Carmy’s professional relationship, one that will ideally be explored in more detail next season.
For now, though, one thing is clear: after four seasons, the student has become the master.
The Bear Season 4 is now streaming on Hulu. What are your thoughts on the montage in “Scallop?” Let us know in the comments below.
First Featured Image Credit: ©FX