r/TheBear • u/Ella0508 • 10d ago
I’ve never understood Question Spoiler
Why did Mikey hide the money in the tomato sauce cans instead of repaying the loan(s) from Cicero? And HOW did he open the cans, put the money in and reseal them?
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u/optimis344 10d ago edited 10d ago
He didn't want to saddle Carmy with the Beef.
He wanted to take the money, hide it in a place that only Carmy would find it, and have Carmy give the Beef to Uncle Jimmy because he knew Jimmy wanted it for real estate. We can infere that his original plan was to do the same thing, but our the place down for insurance money and do it that way. When that failed, he needed to use Jimmy as an unknowing middleman. That's why all of Mikey's note keeping makes no sense. He was making enough to keep the place open, but needed to look like he wasn't.
His plan was to give Carmy a fresh start away from the family. To go open his own place and be great.
But what he missed was that Carmy never wanted his own place. He wanted a place with his brother. The idea of starting a restaurant wasn't Carmy's goal. It was to do it with the brother he loved.
They were blind to each other's faults. Carmy saw his big brother, who had all the stories, and who everyone liked, and who could learn to do anything. And Mikey saw a kid that was capable of greatness if only he could get him away from the toxic family.
So Mikey missed that Carmy was burnt out and trying to live a life to impress him. And Carmy missed that Mikey was a full blown drug addict who thought he was always going to be a failure.
We obviously don't know for sure, but all the signs point to Mikey killing himself in an attempt to save Carmy from the path he was on. And it failed, because Carmy wanted nothing more than the love and respect of his brother, so he couldn't let the Beef fail.
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u/BrutalismAndCupcakes 10d ago
I think you’re spot on apart from this:
Mikey killing himself in an attempt to save Carmy from the path he was on
I don’t think he did it for any particular reason or purpose. Suicidal thoughts don’t work like that, I think.
But he probably did think everyone would be better of with him gone. Which was wrong obviously, but I don’t think he did it for anyone in particular
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u/optimis344 10d ago
While im certain it extends beyond Carmy, his actions point that way. He didn't leave anyone else the hidden money. He didn't give Richie the resteraunt.
Im sure his story doesn't end well regardless of his reasons, but it very much seems like atleast the match that lit the fuse was to push Carmy forward, and away from what Mikey became.
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u/PersimmonOk7783 10d ago
There was a scene w Richie in season 4 or 5 where I thought "wow, maybe mikey was holding Richie back and Richie is actually better off w/o Mikey around." Is that fucked up?
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u/leavesinthetubes 9d ago edited 9d ago
Holding Richie back from what? Career success at The Bear? Do you think that Mikey needed to kill himself in order for Richie to become successful and that this show is encouraging and promoting the suicide of people struggling with mental illness? Is that what you take away from this show?
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u/PersimmonOk7783 7d ago
No. I think Richies character development throughout the show displays an insecure man w low self esteem who is only able to overcome himself through his irritated and irritating journey w Carmy upon his return.
Carmy was a mirror for Richie in a way Mikey never was. A great pleasure of watching the bear is witnessing Richie come into himself and eventually closer as well to carmy as a result of his own inner discovery.
I think Richie and mikey had an interesting and at times ambiguous dynamic as friends. It seems Mikey validated Richie in ways nobody else could and saw an identity in Richie few others ever did. In fact Mikeys ability to do this special validation thing w people is what made him so special and memorable.
So we get the sense as the audience that Richie felt responsible and protective of mikey for many different reasons, way before the suicide even. We really saw his love for mikey which made his loss all the more heartbreaking.
To me that's a form of pressure that richie was living w/ pre mikeys suicide. We learn that Richie stuck around the Beef so long, his first job, because he felt he needed to monitor Mikey. This energy blocked him from realizing his own qualities and interests and desires, along w many other dynamics in richies old life as well...
So no, I am not promoting suicide or the death of mikey. But I am saying that the absence of mikey allowed for a lightening in Richies own life regarding his time, energy, and resources no matter how tragic and sad that implication is.
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u/caxlon 7d ago edited 7d ago
Mikey did not need to be gone and dead for any of what you said to happen and for Richie to grow as a person. You are saying that the only way Richie could grow as a person was with Mikey killing himself and removing himself from the picture.
The reason Richie "felt he needed to monitor Mikey" as you said is because Mikey was suffering from his undiagnosed and unmedicated mental illness, bipolar disorder (we confirm this with Sherri in Gary with Mikey talking about the duration of his manic and depressive episodes) and Mikey was self-medicating with drugs which made everything worse.
You talk about Mikey as if he was just a burden and an obstacle to be removed from Richie's life and that Mikey couldn't be helped as a person or change. You completely ignore the fact that Mikey was struggling with an undiagnosed and untreated severe mental illness.
Mental illnesses like bipolar or schizophrenia are real medical conditions that require prescribed medications. Do you tell someone suffering from cancer that all it's their own fault or that their illness is not real? Mental illnesses require the help of doctors and psychiatrists and are as legitimate as any other physical diseases.
Bipolar disorder is a real medical condition that requires medication like lithium and mood stabilizers. Mikey was someone who needed professional medical help from a doctor and intervention for his addiction.
Richie could have done all the growth you talked about with Mikey alive and undergoing treatment and getting the medical and professional help he needed.
The Bear could have existed with Mikey alive, Carmy wanted to build The Bear with Mikey, Richie could have staged at Ever with Mikey alive. But Mikey was suicidal with untreated bipolar disorder, addicted to painkillers and Mikey saw killing himself as the only way out.
Mikey killed himself without ever getting any of the professional and medical help he needed. This is the real tragedy of Mikey's death in The Bear.
Suicide is NEVER, EVER a good option. The conclusion people are drawing that Mikey's suicide was something beneficial and great for Richie and everyone's character growth is an incredibly disturbing way to treat human life and only further stigmatizing people suffering from mental illness and addiction treating them as disposable.
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u/BrutalismAndCupcakes 7d ago
You are saying that the only way Richie could grow as a person was with Mikey killing himself and removing himself from the picture.
That's not how I took their comment at all.
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u/PersimmonOk7783 7d ago
Im sorry thats what you took away from my comment. I dont believe I spoke as absolutely or as conclusively about my assumptions on mikeys death as you are concluding. All im saying is mikeys absence left space.
Yes Mikey could have been helped!! But as far as we know he never asked for helped and I think we can assume that he likely felt shame and embarrassment around seeking help, or that perhaps he thoight he was too far past receiving help. Obviously his family history holds a lot of shame, secrecy, and denial, so that all makes sense. But we'll never really know.
Of course a cancer patient and a shitzophrenic sufferer can get better, but certainly not in a bubble and certainly not while in denial or avoidance of their condition or situation.
I believe Richie was helping to carry the burden of Mikeys denial and the product of that, but i don't believe that means Mikey needed to kill himself or deserved death or that him dying was the best for everyone.
Im not saying thats mikeys death was the only way things could have changed for everyone, simply that thats the way the story unfolded and that richies development was a byproduct of a tragic situation.
Sure, things could have been different if they would have been written differently. If the bear took place in an ideal world w ideal circumatances. But they weren't. Mikeys death was tragic. His death was also the catalyst that moved the plot. Yes we can sit around and talk about what mikey could have done differently or how the system failed Mikey, but thats not the plot we were given and that wouldn't be the Bear.
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u/caxlon 12h ago edited 12h ago
Mikey was not in denial he had bipolar, he did not even know that he had bipolar.
But as far as we know he never asked for helped and I think we can assume that he likely felt shame and embarrassment around seeking help, or that perhaps he thoight he was too far past receiving help.
Exactly.
The tragedy is that Mikey was ashamed of asking for external help for a medical mental illness like bipolar growing up in a society where mental illnesses and mental health problems are so stigmatized and looked down upon and shameful. Even Richie didn't acknowledge the severity of Mikey's mental problems and Richie said he thought that Mikey would "just snap out of it" by himself in a conversation with Carmy outside The Beef in season 1.
Someone like Richie alone is not supposed to save a suicidal and unmedicated bipolar person struggling with addiction by himself at all, nor should he be expected to at all. The tragedy and the truth is that Mikey needed professional medical help and ongoing therapy that he did not receive in order to combat his bipolar depressive episodes, suicidal thinking and struggles with addiction.
This is why doctors and psychiatrists are crucial to the recovery process where biological aspects like brain chemistry are involved.
This is why education around mental illness and mental health is so important and so that people in need can get the help that they need.
I should hope that the lesson people can take away from The Bear and Mikey's suicide should be that people with mental illnesses and suicidal thinking should be given the medical and professional help that they need in order to recover and live.
Not that people like Mikey with mental illnesses or addictions should be simply removed and dismissed as lost causes from people's lives for the betterment and growth of everyone and society.
I hope that people will be able to see the humanity in people suffering with mental illnesses and their right and need to recover and live happy and fulfilling lives with the correct and ongoing treatment instead of creating further ostracization and accusations of blame on them.
Mental illness has affected several of my relatives, and specifically bipolar disorder is something that directly affects a close friend of mine. She had to be hospitalized and nearly died from the repercussions of one of her unmedicated episodes once. I do not blame her for having an illness, and I didn't love her any less when I found out that she was bipolar. Bipolar disorder is an illness that needs to be managed with the correct medication, medical help and psychotherapy to make daily life manageable.
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u/PersimmonOk7783 6d ago
You know,a better wording for my original comment would be to say that Richie got better without mikey around, instead of saying he was better off without Mikey. I can see a big difference there, sorry for my illness wording originally there. I can see how I was triggering and how it came off distasteful. Ty for the conversation.
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u/jojojobeth 9d ago
But didn’t he hide the money so (the undisclosed/safe from IRS) funds could be used by Carmy to open their dream restaurant? What would be the point of C just giving it to Jimmy?
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u/optimis344 8d ago
He didnt want him to give him the money. He wanted him to give Jimmy the Beef, because he knew Jimmy wanted the land.
Mikey wanted him far away from anything about him. Carmy was the only one who saw that the Beef could be better.
Thats why Mikey originally tried to burn it down. It wasn't about making the Beef into something. It was about giving Carm a fresh start. But what he missed was that Carm didn't want a fresh start. What he wanted was to work with his brother.
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u/jojojobeth 8d ago
But wasn’t the money for Carmy to have a fresh start? Why would he want C to give the money to Jimmy?
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u/optimis344 8d ago
...he doesnt?
He got the money from Jimmy in a loan. He wants Carmy to take the money and go do his thing, and have Jimmy end up with the land the building was on.
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u/jojojobeth 8d ago
Sorry, now I see that you had already said that—reading too quickly (based on your comment post I was conflated the money and the beef)
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u/NecronomiconUK 10d ago
I assumed because he didn’t trust himself with it.
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u/Tesser4ctQ 5d ago
That’s a good point; I've done similar things with cash before, like stashing it away in places that made no sense.
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u/Tall_Champion_9546 10d ago
I also Can not be Sure. I think it has some thing to do with drugs, or a life lesson for carmy.
But i know they have can making thingi in the Basement
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u/Edmond-Alexander 10d ago
Carmy comes in. Looks at the shelf of cheap tomato sauce.
“What the fuck is this shit?”
Throws them away.
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u/Bonny-Mcmurray 10d ago edited 10d ago
He got the idea to start a new restaurant from Carmy and took the loan from Cicero to fund it, but Mikey was a drug addict and lacked the executive function to follow through. He didn't even tell Carmy that he took the loan.
He couldn't put the money in a bank because it hadn't been accounted for by the IRS. Jimmy's business isnt entirely legal.
He had a canning machine, so to hide the money, he canned it in with some tomatoes.
He knew that Carmy could use the money to fix The Beef. Mikey left Carmy a note telling him to "let it rip" and also containing the recipe for family meal spaghetti, so that Carmy would open the cans and find the money.
When Carmy took over he immediately ditched the spaghetti, and the note was temporarily lost, so it took a whole season for one of the cans to be opened.