I thought it was established from some of the dialogue that one of Carmy's only hobbies outside of cooking is collecting vintage denim. There was a line this season about him drawing new designs for jeans in high school and then later meeting one of his favorite denim designers at his restaurant in NY.
Something occurred to me about Carmy's character: having a difficult time showing emotions and developing personal relationships, having rigid obsessive niche interests, stims when upset, everyone who knows him well describes his as being "weird". I do not think it is intentional, but the character definitely comes off as autistic-coded.
i thought the pants drawing was just to establish he is good at art, for when they bring that around a few episodes later showing his drawings of the plating. outside of him selling the denim in s1 to buy beef, it isn't mentioned that he's a collector or anything.
He pulls all the pants out of the oven too, but I guess that could just mean he has limited storage space in his apartment.
Episode seven was great and a nice quiet one after the chaos of six. The smash cut of Richie in the car singing T-Swift was fantastic.
Rewatching the pilot and noticed Carmy's concept drawing of The Bear that he gives Michael for Christmas in episode 6 is hanging on the wall of The Beef in the very first episode. The detail in this show is insane.
Also there is a line in 1x5 where Tina tells Carmy she was at his mom's for Christmas, and he asks of she was being a psycho. Tina says "she wasn't calm but the food was great"
I also really liked that this season was a love letter to fine dining and wasn't something like the menu where it was mocking it as something for the pompous, rich and elitist and that those people that consume it are inherently self centered and borderline pyschos (not that it's not mainly for the rich, but it's not 100% - and I'd also argue that there's nothing wrong with 'elite' experiences that cost a lot of money). I don't know, I liked that it kept fine dining portrayed in a positive light from the customers perspective (even with all the crazy toxicity going on behind the scenes at times in the kitchen), and it really tried to show that these places care about crafting an amazing experience for anyone and everyone that walks in. Having been to a few michelin star restaurants and thoroughly enjoying the experience, it was nice to see it not used a punching bag (which I feel is rare with how everything is politicized and having money / spending money is seen as a bad thing and out of touch).
I got strong Sopranos vibes in episode six. JLC's portrayal of a manic-depressive mother will stick with me for a while. the way Carm stares at the cannolis and all the sound washes out... just impeccable stuff.
In case anyone didn't know, Christopher Storer's own sister Coco who is a chef is the culinary consultant on the show.
Incredible season. Easily surpasses the first for me. It may not have the came-out-of-nowhere factor the first season had, but it’s just as surprising that it exceeded my expectations. Carm/Syd moment under the table, expanding the Tina and Marcus storylines, Sugar joining the restaurant, Richie being the best character on TV now. So much good stuff. Feels like they’re setting up The Mikey Episode in season three, which I’m kind of dreading. Hopefully this strike ends soon and we can get some more by next summer.
I feel like season 3 might get into the backstory on Carmy's dad and whatever dealings he had with Cicero and Uncle Lee. I would like to know the background on why these shady Chicago businessmen are so close to that family. Also is Cicero mobbed up? I feel like that has been implied but not explicitly stated.