The Bear season 1 has a throwaway Carmy line that foreshadowed season 2’s tragic Christmas dinner episode. Paving the way for season 2’s events, The Bear season 1 portrayed how Carmy struggled to keep his brother’s small restaurant business afloat. Despite having a grim start that showed how Carmy grieved over his brother’s demise and was also troubled by his past traumas, The Bear season 1 ended on a high note when Carmy and his kitchen crew found his brother’s hidden money stashed in tomato cans.
Contrasting season 1’s narrative structure, The Bear season 2 started on a hopeful note, where Carmy, Sydney, and the crew set out on a journey to begin a new restaurant business. However, as the growing anxieties of the new business endeavor started weighing Carmy down, The Bear season 2 grew darker in tone. The show became terrifyingly bleak in episode 6, “Fishes,” which highlighted the turbulent dynamic between the members of The Bear‘s central Berzatto family. However, as sudden and loud as this episode may have seemed, The Bear foreshadowed its events in season 1 itself.
Carmy & Tina’s Christmas Conversation In The Bear Season 1 Foreshadowed The “Seven Fishes” Chaos
In The Bear season 1, episode 5, Tina asks Carmy to check the color of the onions she had baked. After giving her some valuable feedback, Carmy recognizes that she is making one of her brother’s recipes and asks when Mikey made the dish for her. When Tina responds that he made it on Christmas, Carmy instantly appears anxious and asks her if Mikey made it at their mom’s place. While fiddling with a spoon, Carmy asks if his mother “was full psycho?” Tina affirms that although she was not calm, her “food was great.” This scene perfectly foreshadows the Christmas dinner episode from The Bear season 2.
Without spoiling the details of season 2’s Christmas dinner, it gives away that the show will visit a disastrous Christmas involving Carmy’s mother, Donna. Delivering season 1’s promise, The Bear season 2 dedicated an entire episode to portraying how Donna Berzatto made the most incredible dinner for the Berzatto family during a Christmas family gathering but lost all control over her emotions towards the end of the evening. This little detail shows that even though Donna was not a part of The Bear season 1’s overarching storyline, her Christmas appearance in season 2 had already been planned by the show’s creators.
Tina’s Christmas Memory Makes Season 2’s Flashback Episode Aftermath Even More Tragic
In many ways, Tina’s Christmas memory of Donna’s place makes the season 2 flashback episode all the more tragic. It confirms that all the chaos that ensued in The Bear season 2’s Christmas episode was not a one-time thing but probably happened every Christmas. Additionally, it also explains why all the members of the family, especially Carmy and Sugar, were on edge throughout the evening, waiting for lightning to strike. Tina’s recollection of her Christmas with the Berzatto family in The Bear also shows that Carmy and Mikey got their cooking skills from their mother, but that could never change how she emotionally scarred the whole family.
