Violet

S5e7 "Caramel" is a direct mirror of S1e7 "Review." The Beef faced the same issues The Bear faced: overwhelmed with orders to fill, lack of ingredients to complete all the dishes, the tablet (that was initially introduced by Sydney in S1e7) bugging out, tensions tight between two members of the crew that inevitably leads to a confrontation. Unlike season 1, The Bear crew in season 7 is level-headed and calm in the face of adversity. No one is blaming anyone for shortcomings, they all buckle down and move through a service that would have decimated The Beef crew. Through the trials and strife and utter lack of faith they at one point had in the future, The Bear moved as a unit in love with their passion, in love with serving a good meal instead of just getting through the day.

I know my thoughts aren't exactly coherent but I needed to point out how the mirror between these two episodes is one of the best and most well-handled portrayals of growth I have ever seen in television.

Each character is able to meet these essentially similar challenges differently, and the way they handle it distinctly highlights their own individual struggles within the crew. Sydney does not falter and flail under pressure, she is now calm and clearly vocalizes what she needs. She leads the team with poise and precision, never backing down when others tried to overstep. She is now able to command the crew and they listen and collaborate as a team.

Carmy breathes through the chaos. He is no longer a whirlwind of anxiety that lashes out at anyone within striking distance. He listens to the needs of others and provides unwavering support. When emotions are running high, he's regulated enough to pivot and find solutions to de-escalate disaster.

Expanding on this post I made about the blocking of the final birthday party scene in The Original Beef of Chicagoland, another very interesting thing was brought to my attention.

As I noted, Carmy is facing away from the camera and towards Claire during this scene:

Facing backwards, facing his past.

However, @beuck_ on twitter pointed out (to @ambeauty who passed it along to me...thank you again!) that at the very end of this shot, you can actually see someone standing at Carmy's right side, with braids and the same gold earring Syd is wearing in other shots. So Carmy isn't talking to Claire by himself, he's talking to Claire with Syd at his side.

And then, of course, the rest of the scene follows and we see Carmy, facing forward making extreme anime heart eyes at Syd as she cuts the cake, in his last shot of the show:

Facing forwards, facing his future (Syd).

Also highly recommend watching this, which is the same scene scrubbed of music so you can hear the dialogue, almost entirely between Syd and Carmy, much more easily.

let the light in - sydcarmy

Gabriella: Lestat recounts Gabi taking him to the witch burning. "that's what mom's did with their kids (before LEGO and Peppa Pig lol)." Immediately after she leaves to fuck Lestat-doppelgänger.

Gabi's triggered by being reminded she's "mom." (she HATES this)

Her response: having screechingly loud sex to punish her son.

Being a mother is her victimhood experience (married to an abuser, forced to have children until she bribes a doctor to knick her reproductive organs). She doesn't want to see herself as a victim, so she lashes out at Lestat.

louis’ inability to see the way he treats (primarily black female sex workers) as predatory because he is paying them for emotional instead of sexual labor, and views that as an inherently less exploitive behavior, even as he utilizes his money and power to keep them there

truly is the vampire capitalist

whatever you say pretty doe eyed man…

This is Haolong dongi, a new species of iguanodontian ornithopod found covered in what is basically,,, hedgehog quills??

The fossil is a stunningly preserved skeleton from China that includes evidence of hard armour scales on the tail (like in the much smaller Kulindadromeus), and a coat of spines along its neck and back! The name appropriately means "spiky dragon".

Not only is a spiny iguanodont wild on its own (this individual is over 2 metres long and is a juvenile, other ornithopods with quill-like structures are much smaller), these spines also appear to be an entirely new skin structure? They're apparently not feathers or scales, but a secret third thing.