‘The Bear’ Fans Notice a Potential Continuity Error During Tina’s Backstory Episode in Season 3
The Bear fans might have just spotted a major continuity error during season 3.
The hit FX series released the third season on Hulu on Wednesday, June 26, which included an episode centered around Liza Colón-Zayas' character, Tina. The "Napkins" episode was directed by Ayo Edebiri and followed Tina as she lost her job, which led her to find work at the Original Beef.
Some viewers, however, questioned whether the insight into Tina's life before the show included a major mistake.
"As much as I love the Tina episode, I also feel like it just did not make sense and ignored past seasons," wrote a fan via X. "Carmy and Tina seemed to have known each other for years back in season 1. She told Syd she worked there since she was in diapers. Her resume says 2017."
During the season 3 episode, Tina is fired from a longtime office job amid a difficult financial period for her family. In addition to raising her son, Louie, with husband David (David Zayas, Colón-Zayas' real-life husband ), Tina spent every day traveling to different areas across Chicago in search of a job.
Tina started to lose hope after constant rejection, which led to her stopping at Mikey's sandwich shop (Jon Bernthal) before heading home. Tina shared an emotional conversation with Mikey that ended with her accepting a job as a line cook. Their chat included Mikey showing Tina a photo that his brother, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), sent him while overseas.
This was another red flag for fans who recalled Tina making references to a long friendship with the Berzatto family.
"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," the post continued. "I feel like the writers literally did not pay attention to any details about characters that they already wrote."
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Several people replied that they were also "confused" by the exchange. Meanwhile, another viewer argued that Tina probably didn't actually mean she knew Carmy since he was a child, writing, "I’m sure it was a figure of speech."
The Bear, which debuted in June 2022, follows chef Carmy as he takes over The Beef restaurant in Chicago after Mikey's death. The first season ended with Carmy closing the sandwich shop so he could open a more upscale spot called The Bear. Season 2 focused on the employees rushing to prepare The Bear while the third installment is centered on the success — and failures — that came with trying to keep the new business afloat.
Before the season 3 premiere, star and executive producer Matty Matheson reflected on the level of detail that went into the show. Matheson, 42, who is also a culinary consultant, specifically highlighted how food required continuity because of the large role it plays.
"Last season, I think doing the ‘Seven Fishes’ [episode] was a crazy thing," Matheson exclusively told Us Weekly in March. "Making all that [onscreen] food and executing that was really fun and really memorable. Making that house so chaotic was a really special moment."
Matheson praised the team behind the show for helping achieve the visual aspect of The Bear.
"[We spoke about], 'Do we use real shellfish? Is it going to look stupid? Can we get away with using fake food?’ A lot of TV shows use fake food. We do everything real. So it's always just such a learning experience,” he continued. "Sometimes you are doing 10, 15 [or] 20 takes sometimes. Then [you are] just resetting everything. You got to get everything to look messy, but then you got to [have] everything [look] normal because it gets messier in the scene. There's so much hard work [when] you are planning that out."
The actor pointed out that fans might not realize how important those details are for the show when watching the final product.
"There's a lot of things like that that people probably don't think about. But just as the room changes, the food is changing," Matheson explained. "We need to make sure that it's always at that same moment. Just continuity is the hardest thing, to be honest. ... We really work hard on trying to keep continuity and stuff like that in a good place."
The Bear is currently streaming on Hulu.