#careme

Carême (2025)

THE SYDCARMY FRENCH CONNECTION. THE BEAR CAREME

To anyone who thinks Careme only stayed with Agathe for the baby and not because he loves her: at the end of the day, he chose to stay and have a family with Agathe over protecting Henriette from Fouché. He chose Agathe’s wellbeing over Henriette’s wellbeing. It took him five minutes after finding out Agathe’s pregnant to tell her “I’m not letting you go” and then backing out of running away with Henriette FOR THE THIRD TIME. Notice how each time he isn’t enthusiastic about it but she is. Because he doesn’t want to leave behind the life that he’s built, and that includes Agathe. When she tells him about her goals and the life that she wants he realises that they both share the same dream. And he wants to continue building that life WITH AGATHE. It’s like he says, he needs her. He tells Henriette he loves her but never prioritises her. He never chases after her, meanwhile he chases Agathe down to work with him and becomes jealous and possessive when she works with anyone else. Let’s look at the way this love triangle is set up from the start: At the beginning of the show, Careme and Henriette are already romantically involved. We get no build-up or reason as to why they’re drawn to each other except for physical attraction. In the very first scene we see Henriette not understanding the difference between the whipped creams, but in that same episode Agathe can tell the difference. She’s more compatible with Careme and understands him from the get go. We see their first meeting, there’s attraction and flirtation but they’re also immediately supportive of one another. We get to see them develop a relationship of trust, honesty and emotional support over time. Even when there’s conflict and tension between them (episode 5), they always resolve it and become stronger together (episode 6, she helps him with his mission no questions asked and they’re later intimate with each other). Him and Henriette should make a great team on paper (both traumatised orphans who get involved in espionage against their will) but whenever they actually have to work as a team they end up betraying each other (Poland, burying the body). They’re constantly dishonest with each other and can’t communicate- whereas him and Agathe have excellent communication. In the finale, Henriette immediately suspects him of having slept with Agathe, and the writers include the line “as long as you don’t fall in love, it’s no big deal”, why include that line if it meant nothing? If he simply wanted to become a dad he could have given Agathe the herbs (it would have been convenient for both of them) and then later had kids with Henriette. But he wanted to stay. He wanted to continue being tied to Agathe. The finale literally ends with Henriette being turned into a villain. It’s one thing to be upset, it’s another to try and get Careme killed when he’s about to become a father, after he told her he wanted to present in his child’s life. And she wanted him to know she was responsible for that death sentence. She couldn’t let him go like someone who actually loved him would do, like Agathe was prepared to do. Had it not played out the way it did he would have never found out her true colours. Running away with her would have proven to be a mistake. It’s like Talleyrand told him in episode 6: don’t regret Henriette, she would have betrayed you. Looking back, you can see she’s a little unhinged. And I’m fine with Careme and Agathe not declaring their love for one another in season one, we need some drama for next season too.