‘Buy your back brace now’: The Bear sidesteps the grueling physical costs of restaurant work

The hit show shows how kitchens are pressure cookers of stress, but not how professional cooking ravages the body

The opening scene of the popular F/X drama The Bear's latest season opens with troubled chef Carmen Carmy" Berzatto gazing at a deep scar in his hand. He vaguely explains its origin to his doctor girlfriend, Claire; the now-healed injury seems like nothing much to him. Attuned to what Carmy leaves unsaid, she asks if the wound hurt so much that he couldn't feel it at the time.

That delayed pain applies to Carmy's other wounds: the mental health damage sustained in an abusive kitchen and a harsh upbringing. But now he's passing his trauma on to his own restaurant staff as he pushes them toward their breaking points.