FX's The Bear has an interesting title in that it gives away little about the show, but it makes sense once considering its multiple meanings.
Summary
- The nickname "Bear" is a Berzatto family nickname, with Carmy being called "Bear" and other family members having variations of the same nickname.
- The title of The Bear not only refers to the restaurant but also symbolizes the complex dynamics of the Berzatto family and represents Carmy's personal journey of self-acceptance.
While the title of FX’s The Bear may seem odd for a comedy-drama series about transforming a Chicago sandwich show into a high-end restaurant, there are multiple meanings behind it. The Bear season 2 saw The Beef turn into The Bear, revealing even more about the show’s title, its characters, and the restaurant’s backstory. The Bear season 3 has yet to be confirmed, though its past success makes a renewal very likely. This opens up the possibility for even more meanings behind the title of both the series and restaurant to be uncovered, adding greater depth to The Bear, which is already much more than just another workplace comedy-drama.
The Bear season 1 was a great success for FX and Hulu both critically and in viewership, earning Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe Award wins for Jeremy Allan White (Carmy) and an Independent Spirit Award for Ayo Edebiri (Sydney). While White was already a well-known actor through his work on Shameless, The Bear helped make Edebiri one of the most successful actresses of 2023 with her television and movie roles. The Bear season 2 lived up to the hype, drawing in even more viewers and expanding on the story set up by The Bear season 1’s ending, which introduced The Bear as a restaurant.
5 Bear Is A Berzatto Family Nickname
The initial premise of The Bear was of young, award-winning chef de cuisine, Carmy Berzatto, leaving his job at a Michelin star restaurant in New York City to return to his hometown of Chicago and take over the Italian beef sandwich shop his late brother, Mikey, had left him when he committed suicide. Accordingly, the original meaning of the title that The Bear gave to audiences was that “Bear” was a Berzatto family nickname. Berzatto is pronounced “bear-zatto,” so it’s easy to see where they got their nickname from, but it applies differently to different family members.
On occasion, Mikey was referred to as “Mikey Bear” and their sister, Natalie, better known as Sugar, is sometimes called “Sugar Bear.” However, the nickname mostly belongs to Carmy, who was simply called “Bear.” The Berzatto family has complex dynamics caused by troubled childhoods that were further explored in The Bear season 2, but the title of the series is proof that family, blood or otherwise, is at the heart of the show.
4 The Berzatto Family Compare Themselves To Bears
One of The Bear’s most memorable and celebrated episodes is season 2, episode 6, “Fishes,” which centers around a Berzatto family Christmas five years before the present events of the series. The Bear season 2 included many major cameos, with multiple being featured in the Christmas episode as Berzatto family members and friends. In the episode, Michelle (Sarah Paulson)–a cousin of the Berzatto siblings–told a story about how she got into an argument with another woman about her last name, which somehow ended with the woman telling her about bears and their characteristics.
The woman in the story had described bears as “kind … sensitive … devoted ... altruistic and empathetic and very commonly known to be adept at grieving.” Richie, despite not being an official Berzatto, responded by saying that “checks out” and that “bears are incredibly, incredibly aggressive.” This can be seen in multiple members of the Berzatto family, especially Carmy who holds the nickname “Bear.” Yet, Carmy frequently struggles with the grief he feels over his older brother’s death, especially given the fact that their relationship had deteriorated over the years leading up to it. The Bear title helps explain Carmy and his family through their animalistic counterpart.
3 The Bear Is Set In Chicago
A more subtle meaning behind The Bear’s title is related to its location. The Bear is set in Chicago, where it also films and the River North neighborhood plays a major role in the show’s identity. The Bear has multiple scenes featuring beautiful exterior shots of the city, which almost serves as its own character, comparable to New York City in Sex and the City. This is exemplified in The Bear season 1, episode 7, which opens with the song “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens and serves as a visual tribute to the city of the same name.
Chicago sports teams are also casually mentioned and referenced throughout The Bear, including the legendary football team, Chicago Bears. In one flashback scene in The Bear season 1, episode 6, Sugar is shown wearing a Bears shirt as Mikey tells a story about the city. With how integral the Chicago setting is to the series, it’s no surprise that The Bear’s title is also its own little tribute to the city.
2 Why Carmy & Michael Wanted To Call Their Restaurant "The Bear"
At the end of The Bear season 1, Carmy decided to make the dreams he and his late brother had a reality by turning The Beef into The Bear. In The Bear season 2’s Christmas episode, viewers get to see the origins behind the restaurant Carmy, Sydney, and company spent all season trying to create. In a touching flashback moment, a younger Carmy gifted Mikey framed plans of the dream restaurant he one day wanted to run with his brother. Drawn on the door of the restaurant was a bear, representing not only the eventual title of the restaurant but their relationship as brothers as well.
Mikey told Carmy to “let it rip,” a phrase he used to let his brother know he believed in him and his dream. Mikey used the same phrase in his final letter to Carmy, which inspired him to finally turn The Beef into The Bear as they’d previously dreamed about. Privately, Mikey broke down into tears upon receiving the gift, showing early signs that he knew that his presence around Carmy could only hurt him, which is why he felt he had to keep his distance. Ultimately, all Carmy wanted was his brother’s support and love, and he got it through that letter in The Bear.
1 What The Bear Carmy Sees Really Means
The opening scene in The Bear’s first episode is of Carmy approaching a caged bear on an empty bridge. He opened the cage to release the bear, quietly hushed it, and said, “I know” before the bear rushed him, and he woke up in a backroom in The Beef. This dream is not just the first introduction to Carmy, but the series as a whole, providing a meaning to the show’s title that is explored throughout The Bear with its main character. The bear that Carmy sees doesn’t just represent the restaurant or his dreams or his family, but himself, as Carmy “Bear” Barzotto.
At the start of The Bear, Carmy lets the bear out of its cage on the very same bridge that Mikey killed himself. It was because of Mikey’s death that Carmy returned to Chicago after years away. Though Carmy’s tattoos in The Bear show that his hometown is extremely important to him, there is a clear resentment in him from having to return under the circumstances he did, which could be why the bear is angry as well.
This is the literal meaning of letting the bear out, but it also alludes to the fact that Mikey’s death forced him to make peace with, and perhaps even once again become, the person he had left behind when he moved away from Chicago. To survive in the culinary world, Carmy had to push certain parts of him down, but they were unleashed again when he came back to run The Beef, for better or for worse. By the end of The Bear season 1, Carmy has finally started to accept the bear within him, giving a double meaning to the sign he put up that reads “THE BEAR IS COMING.”
