The Bear viewers are divided about a potential continuity error in one of season three’s most powerful episodes.
Last week, the kitchen drama returned for its third season, with one episode – titled Napkins – focusing on Liza Colón-Zayas’ character, Tina.
The flashback episode, which was directed by Ayo Edebiri, tells the story of how Tina was fired from her previous job before securing a new gig working as a line cook at the Original Beef.
However, some fans have been airing their confusion about the timeline of Tina’s backstory, with one post on X sparking some debate.
“As much as I love the Tina episode, I also feel like it just did not make sense and ignored past seasons,” the post reads.
“Carmy and Tina seemed to have known each other for years back in season one. She told Syd she worked there since she was in diapers. Her resume says 2017.”
The same fan continued: “Carmy was already in Copenhagen when she met Mikey. How would Carmy have known T if he was never at The Beef or in Chicago in that time?
“It just makes no sense. I feel like the writers literally did not pay attention to any details about characters that they already wrote.”
Others agreed that something wasn’t quite adding up.
“The timeline wasn’t making sense,” one viewer replied, while another shared: “This is true, I was a little confused by her timeline but I couldn’t remember if I had just been headcanoning things.”
In particular, viewers on Reddit noted that her character had specifically insisted in season one that she’d been working at the restaurant since before Carmy was born, while these newer scenes suggest she’s only been at the restaurant for around five years.
But there’s a bit of debate regarding these specific details, with some maintaining her past comments were meant literally, while others have wondered if she was just exaggerating to undermine Carmy.
“Hyperbole… not that complicated,” said one viewer on Reddit.
“Surely she meant she’s been working in general,” another suggested, while a third wrote: ”I understand how it can be taken literally, but considering how her episode went I’m going with the assumption it was actually an expression of speech.”
At the same time, some have confessed they feel it’s more Tina’s character development that feels off rather than the actual storyline, based on their own own assumptions about the character.
“I just remember watching season one and getting the very strong impression that Tina was this jaded chef, who has been working at restaurants for decades,” shared one fan on Reddit.
However, others have suggested that there’s simply too much “nitpicking” going on in regards to Tina’s backstory.
While the jury is still out in regards to the fan response, the Napkins episode has gone down well with critics, with GQ calling it a “heartbreaking masterpiece”.
The Bear follows respected chef Carmy who takes over his family’s sandwich shop after his brother’s death.
Since debuting in 2022 it’s made household names of its cast, particularly Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri, landing 13 Emmys along with four Golden Globe awards, including Best Performance awards for its two leads.
The first three seasons of The Bear are available to stream on Disney+ now.