#the bears

Uncle Jimmy: Had a dream about him once, your dad. We were up in, um... like Lake Geneva... or someplace, and we-we're going along. We're driving along in this car, a big SUV. He's in the passenger seat, and we're driving fast, like, really fast. And I can't get control. You know, it's like bumpy cars flying all over the place. He wouldn't put on his seatbelt. Suddenly, this little kid... a little boy, he walks right out in the middle of the road. I jam on the brakes really hard. Car stops like a millimeter away from him. But, your dad, he goes flying through the windshield, but he never lands. He keeps on flying. ( sighs ) Carmy: What happened to the kid? Jimmy: I stood there waving at him.

This is coming from a traditional family perspective where family legacies continue through the sons.

I think Carmy is a Jr. BTW so you'll see Carmen Sr written here. Now regarding this mysterious father, upon rewatching the show, I notice that Carmy doesn't show any resentment toward his father, Mr. Berzatto Sr.

And based on some things about Carmy we can assume about Father Berzatto.

1. I assume Carmy is named after Berzatto Sr., and I assume this is because Berzatto Sr. was present only at his birth, Carmy has a unique connection to his dad that his siblings lack and he holds similarities.

Carmy feels a mixture of empathy and curiosity for a man he never knew. He also harbors a lot of anger toward his mother, who stayed behind. While she contributed to some damage, a child must eventually recognize their parents as human beings. His mother was left to pick up the pieces after his father had abandoned them, which creates a sense of idealization and sympathy where his anger falls short.

Other Things we can gather about Carmy Berzatto Sr.:

His chaotic nature and coping mechanisms, including gambling, alcohol, and frequent career changes, mirror Mikey's.

Mr. Berzatto, although absent most times, left behind evidence of prosperity in the form of the beautiful Berzatto home and the long business ventures he had with Lee and Jimmy. He made some wise business decisions, on some days, such as investing in a successful restaurant in Illinois called Ed Debevic's.

From that love and investment alone, I've gathered that the concept of Ed Debevic's appealed to him greatly; it's a restaurant where the staff is known for being rude and witty, often responding to customers with clever comebacks.

Thus far, Carmen Sr. could have had a way with words and would verbally spar back and forth, more than likely enjoying the teasing and confrontation, like his son, who loves chaos.

So maybe he enjoyed a good sparring session, and, as Donna mentioned, Mr. Berzatto (Carmen Sr.) and she often engaged in fights.

Listening to their relationship, Mr. Berzatto at least stayed when it was time to fight with his wife, while she would be the one to storm off. I imagine that he, like his son, would probably enjoy Donna giving him a piece of her mind much like Carmy does with Sydney. So the smile at Sydney telling him to shove acid up his ass is a male Berzatto thing.

More about him: Carmy Berzatto Sr. valued restaurants not just for the food, but for the people and relationships they created. Mr. Berzatto found connection and love there and saw something good in restaurants that he wanted for the Berzatto lineage; it was a semblance of happiness.

Carmy can only remember that when Berzatto Sr. was even remotely happy, it was in a restaurant. What does Carmy tell Marcus? “With restaurants, you’re never alone.” So, not knowing his father, he still has this resonance with someone he more than likely got the same brain chemistry from, minus the self-medication his father used he understands that passion and spark for the restaurant business that Natalie, Mikey, and Donna could never understand.

We learn that Berzatto Sr.’s absence coincided with difficult times and high bills, but he also seemed absent from the good things. He wasn't there for Natalie or Mikey's birth. Now, he sounds like Carmy, who even forgot his sister had a baby.

So there's a love of maybe verbally back and forth, a love for chaos, but also connection, and family, would tend to run away and be absent for the important things in family.

It sounds like Carmy. He might see this and understand why his father was drawn to the restaurant business. It wasn't just the food or the atmosphere that attracted Mr. Berzatto; it was the connection he felt and the vibrant life he saw only existed in restaurants—like a spark and a life that Mr. Berzatto wanted for his lineage. He envisioned something good and alive, filled with love, care, and even chaos. Mr. Berzatto chose a restaurant because it could sustain and reflect his vision of family. However, he couldn’t maintain that vision because of his unresolved trauma. Essentially right?

I assume that, though everyone voices disdain for their father's abandonment, Carmy knows something they don’t necessarily know. He, like Carmy, probably left in his way of breaking a pattern, of changing his constant running away, but he never came back.

Carmy seems to be cursed with the same kind of fear and panic as his father, yet no one talks about it. This truth lingers in the air, and Carmy intuitively understands it; he is determined to confront it. Just like his father, he shares a fear of the good, may self-sabotage, and runs away. But he also inherits his father's dream of creating a lasting legacy.

Carmy is his father, and he knows it, so he wants a family tree that's better than what his father left.

Carmy expresses his desire to lead a restaurant and family legacy that is devoid of panic. This isn’t just about the restaurant; it encompasses the family legacy that Carmy is tasked with guiding and preserving. He must embrace the roles of father and husband within the framework of patriarch. Ultimately, although it was Mikey’s restaurant, it was rooted in their father’s vision for their family and lineage—a vision that Carmy also shares. Carmen Berzatto is the last remaining patriarch, carrying forward that ideal of ensuring something good endures within the Berzatto family.

Uncle Jimmy has held this role for some time, trying to create ways for the Berzatto family to survive and continue its lineage. However, he is waiting for someone to take the wheel.

And that’s what Jimmy's dream about.

The car is the Berzattos, its line of family — that Jimmy has been steering even while Carmen Sr. was alive. Carmen Sr. was already off the path of leading this family; he was without a seat belt, ready to get off the path and the responsibility and vision he had for his legacy. When he ejects from the car, it’s because this young boy is on the road now. Unharmed, but the status of the father since he is off the road is unknown. Carmy is the boy who stopped the path while Uncle Jimmy’s eyes are on the kid.

Carmy has been assigned to lead the legacy, not just the restaurant, but the family, and though Carmy is giving reigns for others to be in charge of the family while he is away isn't sustainable. Richie isn’t exactly a Berzatto, a true-blood Berzatto to take on the legacy, nor is Sydney.

That’s all on Carmy. Richie can hold space for it, but you can tell Richie wants Carmy to lead the family. And it’s what Uncle Jimmy has voiced to Carmy: it’s all him. Richie expresses that the restaurant led with strength and honor. A masculine, traditional male approach to leading a family. He reminds us and the audience that the Berzatto family recipe has always been treating the guests like family, something Mr. Berzatto started and loved about the restaurant industry. If you think that's why the Berzatto family is so big and full of guests aka faks and dunlaps, it was Father Berzatto who would accept everyone as family and wanted to keep that going. Something Carmy is now assigned to do with his family tree.

But we also need a literal family, which is the foreshadowing of Carmy holding Sophia. She’s not the Berzatto throne; she's taken on Pete's family tree. It's the son. It’s Carmy who will have a child who’s going to carry the Berzatto name.

So I think Carmy has some understanding of the role that he’s taking on: the patriarch and leading the Berzatto family to continue what his father wanted, something good, panic-less, not lonely, but filled with love and more than just work. He wanted something to carry and something good to surround the Berzattos that his father or Mikey couldn't accomplish.

So, canonically speaking, ending-wise it needs to be suggested that Carmy has successfully continued the Berzatto line and kept the family tree going and also healed the patriarchal side of the Berzattos.

Like, Carmy is literally taking on the patriarchy of an old traditional Italian family. He’s going to be an actual partner to the matriarch of the family (Sydney). He’s going to lead his family with honor, tradition, and calm. He’s not leaving like his father, not with old habits like we assume is classic male Berzatto patterns of chaos and absence.

But who will Carmy look to when it comes to leading and being the head of a functional family tree? What other male figure can give him guidance? This is where Emmanuel comes in and why Carmy has yet to meet his father-in-law. Carmy isn’t the family man yet, the man of his family, the family he wants Sydney to be part of. He has yet to fully take on the role of patriarch. He doesn’t have the model or challenge to do it, and that challenge lies in seeing the love of his life’s father, Emmanuel, and how he leads a family. A father who is reliable, steady, and spreads good as part of his legacy.

My other theory with Emmanuel is that he could mirror Carmy in terms of father relationships. I wonder if Emmanuel had anyone to look to in being the man for Sydney’s mother and leading her family. From all we can gather, Emmanuel didn’t know the traditional male role of learning to navigate a car, something men typically learn from their fathers. Sydney’s mother knew it because, unlike Emmanuel, she had a strong father presence. Emmanuel eventually had to live up to that and lead long after the matriarch passed, becoming the ultimate father figure, creating good in his family and leading without a model or help, something Carmy will soon do.

Chicagoans are to blame for their voting habits, keeping Democrats in power for decades. This is their fault, the fault of the mayor, the fault of the State legislation, and the fault of Governor Pritzker.

If you vote Democrat then you are to blame, and no one else.

Please learn how to play the first 30 to 45 minutes (25 points in the 4th is insane)

"These are the Bears"

The take is not open enough to see who is there; we only see Carmy and Tina, but if the camera shot was more open, we could see that Syd is also there, right? This is total speculation because we don´t know if she is in that scene, but she very well might be there in the BOH with the rest of the team that Sugar is introducing her baby to, for the first time. So... Syd is part of the family.

Also:

And we already know Syd is the lucky one because that has already been established in S3:

So now that we have canonical confirmation that she´s his "Lucky person" and that she´s a Berzatto, my question is: