no you're absolutely right it was extremely romantic (might be the most romantic thing said in the show) but the only thing i disagree with you here is that carmy is also failing. if anything he had some of the most quiet growth in the show. carmy, professionally, has reached peaks most chefs could only dream of. we see this in the first ep with how sydney idolized him and goes how he is the "most excellent cdc in the most excellent restaurant in the united states of america." but on a personal basis, he's struggling. he's struggling personally throughout the show tbfh. him quitting the restaurant business because he's so burnt out and depressed is one of the first times we see him do something for himself and not something he does because of mikey haunting the narrative. he finally stops running away and starts to look inward and decides there needs to be a change. that is incredible growth, even if it isn't professionally speaking, and i'd argue that it's not a failure at all. just a pivot... and if anything once he finally figures out his source of inspiration, he can go back to right where he wants. and tbh any restaurant would take him in a heartbeat if we're being honest.

i also enjoyed and was tuned in weekly for the pitt!! but that’s not what’s being talked about here lmfao

the pitt format works for the pitt because it shows and works around a typical 15 hour shift for the doctors and residents. so all the character development (from the start!!) is written so that whatever happens is also resolved within the same 15 hours. the audience gets around the same amount time of content where they see the highs and lows of these characters.

again this is a personal opinion!! but i don’t see how this could work for the bear. the actors have said that season 5 takes place around the time after season 4 left us so even if we get flashbacks throughout (which is what i had thought would originally happen), it still does not give the characters time to resolve the plot that’s been going on for the past 4 seasons.

we also won’t see everything that’s happening. it’s not like the pitt where every ep is like 50 minutes long… half the eps are under 25 minutes for us so we get about half the content. i hope this makes sense 😭