The familial relationships in The Bear make it easy for the comedy-drama to showcase unresolved pain and regret, and this takes the form of somber and less serious “haunting” throughout season 3 – here’s what it means on the surface and for The Bear’s characters’ stories. After the explosive The Bear season 2 finale caused various relationships to sour, season 3 had many difficult situations for their characters to navigate or choose to avoid. However, the more they were avoided – and Carmy was a master at that throughout The Bear season 3 – the more they festered, haunting the series’ key characters.

The concept of haunting persisted throughout the season, first appearing in The Bear season 3 premiere through Carmy’s flashbacks of his career in New York and Chicago’s kitchens where chefs stressfully encouraged him to become better, even when they weren’t as abusive as Chef David. Other characters were also haunted by the pressure of complicated familial relationships and their life’s impending changes, as Sugar’s arc proved. At the same time, three members of the Fak family introduced a less intense type of “haunting” reappearing multiple times, counterbalancing the heavier subjects tormenting Carmy, Sugar or Richie in The Bear season 3.

Sammy Fak’s “Haunting” Punishment Explained

Sammy Haunting Ted Was Unnerving For Him & Neal In Season 3, Episode 5

Haunting as an official concept was introduced in The Bear season 3, episode 5. After Neal and Ted Fak recruited their brother Sammy to help clean the floor for the photoshoot accompanying the restaurant review, Sammy insisted that Ted borrowing his SD cards without permission warranted his “haunting” him as a result. Pressure was already mounting because of the photographer’s impending arrival and the fact nobody knew what the Chicago Tribune review said about The Bear, but it was increased by Sammy’s unpredictable behavior toward Ted, and Ted and Neal’s unease knowing Sammy was haunting Ted.

John Cena’s cameo as Sammy in The Bear season 3 hilariously explained what the haunt was, and how the threat of it happening already worked without Sammy having to do anything, as Ted and Neal felt stressed before Sammy started to haunt them actively. Sammy hovering by Ted or scaring him with loud sounds was the punishment Ted had to endure for stealing Sammy’s SD cards, as Sammy would have stopped only when Ted admitted his faults. Neal reminding Ted how their father put Uncle Gary through the longest haunt established this punishment form as considered real among the Faks.

The “haunting” punishment was first introduced by Sammy Faks in The Bear season 3, episode 5 as revenge for Ted borrowing his SD cards without permission, but it took different, heavier forms for other characters.

How Carmy & Chef David’s The Bear Season 3 Story Connects To The Haunting Punishment

Chef David’s Past Behavior Remained With Carmy For Years, Giving Him Nightmares

While the haunt was something actively done by one person to another according to Neal and Ted Fak, The Bear season 3 subtly adapted the Faks’ haunting punishment to Carmy’s recurrent nightmares and haunts. The Bear season 3 premiere detailed Chef David’s abuse of Carmy, and the season showed how that period of Carmy’s life still haunted him with recurrent nightmares, and the inability to move on, to the point that Carmy embodied Chef David’s worst attributes without meaning to, becoming The Bear season 3’s villain.

The “haunting” involved someone actively trying to make someone else’s life worse because they needed to be punished, and Chef David’s psychological abuse worked similarly, as a punishment for not being good enough according to his standards. However, The Bear season 3 finale also revealed Chef David never thought about Carmy, because he treated all chefs that way to make them improve, while Carmy was haunted by his memories. This effectively turned Chef David’s actions when Carmy worked under him into the beginning of his “haunting” of Carmy, even if he wasn’t actively continuing to haunt Carmy.

However, Carmy wasn’t only haunted by Chef David, but by Claire too. Ted hypothesized someone haunted them to punish Carmy in The Bear season 3, episode 9, and while his conjecture aimed to justify his and Neal’s laziness with flattening cardboards, Ted’s suggestion Claire might have wanted to haunt Carmy because of his actions in season 2’s finale hit a raw nerve. After all, although Carmy was sure Claire would never do something so chaotic, he was haunted by their memories together and a wish to apologize without knowing how to, transforming Carmy’s guilt into Claire’s “haunting” of him.

Sugar Finally Tries To End Donna Haunting Her In The Bear Season 3

Sugar Avoided Anything Relating To Donna, But Going Into Labor Helped Her Move Past Her Haunting

Plenty of characters succumbed to one or another type of haunting in The Bear season 3, but Sugar tried to move on from Donna haunting her. Natalie had been preoccupied ever since realizing she was pregnant and The Bear season 3 explained why after her water broke as she ran errands for the restaurant, forcing her to call Donna, given that nobody else was answering her calls. Their relationship was so strained that Donna wasn’t seen on The Bear until its season 2 flashback episode, making her unaware of her daughter being pregnant, as Sugar didn’t want her to know.

Although Donna’s exuberance was the focus of The Bear season 3, episode 8’s beginning, Sugar was able to end Donna’s haunting by finally calling her out on her behavior that made Sugar scared during her childhood. Cleaning the air about that and admitting she was afraid of repeating Donna’s mistakes with her daughter not only freed Sugar from her haunting but also made it possible for Donna to help her while Sugar was in labor. Sugar’s bravery in facing Donna and her fears even brought them closer, proving that moving past their history effectively canceled out the haunting.

Richie Is Haunted By His Failed Marriage With Tiff In The Bear

Richie Has Yet To Accept Being There For Tiff On Her Wedding Day, But He’s Getting There

Richie’s complicated feelings for the end of his marriage were already introduced in The Bear season 2, as he frantically tried to keep his family together before learning that Tiff had become engaged to someone new. While losing his relationship with his ex-wife and trying to keep the one with his daughter Eva alive repeatedly haunted him in season 2, The Bear season 3 showed Richie more accepting of his path. Still, their new situation haunted Richie, as Tiff wanted him at the wedding as his family, but Richie wasn’t sure he would have been able to face it.

Richie avoiding giving a definitive answer to either Tiff or Frank showed he still struggled with the change. His new approach nonetheless showed Richie was on the path to overcoming his family’s past haunting him, and it was visible from his choice to be positive and not angered by cancellations at the restaurant, looking for peace at home, work, and even Ever. The Bear season 4 will likely reveal whether Richie will attend Tiff and Frank’s wedding, but season 3 already showed him on the right path to move past what tormented him.