The Bear Fans Are Completely Split On Whether Carmy & Sydney Should Date

It’s a pretty tried-and-true rule: Every popular show is bound to spawn at least one ship fans are extremely passionate about. Whether your Tumblr was cluttered with Supernatural Destiel GIFs or your FYP is currently full of Stranger Things Stancy edits, you probably already know just how hard fandoms will go for the two characters they need to end up together. Usually, shipping is just a fun, lighthearted way for fans to connect, but not when it comes to The Bear. After Season 2 of Hulu’s restaurant drama dropped, the ultimate ship war was waged on social media, as battle lines were drawn between the people who think Carmy and Sydney belong in a romantic relationship, and those who believe they should remain strictly platonic.

Spoiler alert: This post includes light spoilers from The Bear Season 2, including video clips. In the show’s first season, cuisine chef Carmy took the aspiring culinary student Sydney under his wing as his mentee while they ran his Chicago sandwich shop together. Their often prickly relationship was underscored by a deep mutual respect, and that only deepened in Season 2. While building up a brand-new restaurant together, Carmy and Syd grew closer than ever, sharing emotional moments as they realized just how many connections they have in common. However, despite these scenes, the two chefs never get romantic in any sense.

It’s something The Bear’s cast and crew has spoken about publicly. “We wanted to make something that was about friendship and a partnership,” co-creator Chris Storer told Variety. “From the beginning, it was like, we should just show people being really good at their jobs and pushing each other.” In the same interview, both Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri said they don’t see Carmy and Sydney as a romantic pairing. “I know there are people who are very invested in that, and I understand and I appreciate it, but it was not that for me,” Edebiri said.

But the romantic signs are just too much for shippers to ignore. Especially in Season 2, which includes scenes of Carmy thinking about Syd to calm him down during an anxiety attack, and the two chefs developing a special sign to give each other to communicate without even speaking. Like never before, the SydCarmy ship has exploded all over social media.

But just as fast as the ship blew up, so did the opposition to it. Along with pointing out the cast and crew’s intention to keep Carmy and Sydney platonic, fans also argued that The Bear isn’t meant to be a romance, and it shouldn’t become one.

So, can Carmy and Syd remain platonic soulmates forever, or has it become too impossible to deny any romantic spark between them? Now’s the time to pick your side, because the ship war is in full swing.