She has a betrayal of her own to confess. We鈥檝e known since Adam Shapiro鈥檚 name lit up Carmy鈥檚 phone that he knows she almost jumped ship. Now he calls her on it, and she apologizes鈥攕ort of: 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry that I didn鈥檛 tell you, but you were being a f-cking maniac.鈥 Extremely fair! In the season鈥檚 most cathartic moment, she finally unloads on Carmy after quietly absorbing so much of his destructive behavior: 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry it even f-cking got to this. And I鈥檓 sorry for everything that you鈥檝e been through鈥 I鈥檓 so sorry that your family has had to go through this sh-t, and the fact that you and Nat and Richie have to come to work every day and f-cking work your way through this sh-t鈥 But when you take it out on the restaurant and the people who work here and the f-cking business and on me, it鈥檚 beyond the f-cking鈥︹
It鈥檚 a glorious monologue, in part because the things that frustrate Syd about Carmy鈥攈is self-absorption, his misery, his tendency to suck up all the oxygen in the kitchen鈥攁re also things that have made the show鈥檚 fixation on his character frustrating for viewers. To follow Carmen Berzatto through the stages of grief over his brother Mikey鈥檚 suicide, as we have now been doing for four seasons, is to feel stuck in a morass, repeating the same limited motions in a futile attempt to generate forward momentum. A far more dynamic protagonist would be Syd. Carmy says as much. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e everything I鈥檓 never gonna be,鈥 he tells her. 鈥淵ou are considerate. You allow yourself to feel things, right? You allow yourself to care. You are a natural leader and teacher. And you鈥檙e doing all this stuff for every right f-cking reason鈥 Any chance of any good in this building鈥攊t started when you walked in, and any possibility of it surviving, it鈥檚 with you鈥 You鈥檙e The Bear.鈥 She doesn鈥檛 seem ready to hear this yet. To my ears, though, it sounds exactly right. Carmy may be brilliant, but she鈥檚 the hero, the chef capable of greatness.