Claire Dunlap
Fictional character, The Bear TV series

Fictional character
Claire Dunlap
Portrayed byMolly Gordon
In-universe information
Full nameClaire Dunlap
NicknameClaire Bear
OccupationEmergency room physician

Claire Dunlap is a character on the American TV series The Bear. Often called Claire Bear, she works as an emergency room physician and was a childhood neighbor of the Berzattos. She and Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) had a six-week sexual relationship in season two. The character of Claire has appeared in 15 episodes of the show, beginning with the season two installment "Pasta," written by Joanna Calo. Claire Bear is played by Molly Gordon.

Biography

Dr. Claire Dunlap,[1] called Claire Bear, was a medical resident when she was introduced in the season two episode "Pasta" and has become "one of the show's most divisive characters."[2] Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) told Claire's friend and roommate Kelly (Mitra Jouhari) at the soft launch of the restaurant that he and Claire "grew up together."[3] Critics have argued that the extended backstory of Claire and Carmy feels like a "retcon" and that Claire is presented as a weakly characterized yet utterly flawless "Mary Sue" type.[4]

Richie and Mikey (Jon Bernthal) first tried to set up Carmy and Claire about five years ago, when Carmy came home from Copenhagen for Christmas.[5] Cousin Stevie (John Mulaney) told Carmy that Claire, who was back then still in medical school, that "this woman teaches CPR to differently abled college kids."[5] Jon Bernthal improvised the "all that and a basket of biscuits" in Mikey's description of Claire to Carmy.[6]

After reconnecting and hooking up in season two, Claire attended the May 2023 soft launch of the Bear restaurant at the invitation of Carmy, with Kelly as her plus one. After service was over, she was told Carmy had gotten locked inside the walk-in fridge, which had a broken door handle. She entered the kitchen just in time to overhear a Carmy rant intended for Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), and she said she was sorry to hear that and walked away, giving Richie a forlorn goodbye kiss on the way out of the kitchen. Carmy then ghosted Claire (never called or texted). As one BuzzFeed writer put it in the lead-up to season four, "Claire Bear, you better not forgive Carmy until he comes correct with an apology. After Carmy destroy[ed] their relationship with an accidental freezer room confession in season 2, Claire kind of fades to the background in season 3. However, we last saw her working at the hospital and being visited by Neil and [Ted] Fak, who try to convince her to get back with Carmy. Give it a rest guys!"[7] When interviewed after the release of season three, Ebon Moss-Bachrach suggested that Claire ought to leave the relationship in the past: "I would tell Claire to probably distance herself...Like, he has no personal life, and he lives and dies for the restaurant. He doesn't really seem like boyfriend material to me?"[8]

In September 2023, in the season four episode "Scallop," an after-midnight, front-step apology led to an apparent rapprochement. Substream magazine suggested that the apology might have been too little too late to restore the romance: "It was never going to be that easy for Carmy and Claire to come back together—months had gone by before he apologized. Even then, Carmy takes a long time actually to say the words."[9] Claire was working at the same hospital where Sydney's dad Emmanuel Adamu (Robert Townsend) was treated for a first-degree heart block in season four.[10] She listened while Syd (Ayo Edebiri) poured her heart out about her dad and her life circumstances generally.[10]

In "Green" and "Tonnato," Carmy visited the suburbs seeking "some place of peace with his mom but also somehow finding a 15-year-old hoodie" that Claire had accidentally left at his house as a consequence of a Donna-started fire that disrupted a kid's birthday party.[11] Following the release of season four, a Collider columnist wrote, "The Bear has been pushing Carmy and Claire's romance from her very first appearance, even though the relationship just doesn't have the spark that many of The Bear's other potential romantic pairings do. All that Carmy and Claire have going for them is off-camera history. On-camera, though, their conversations all feel surface-level, and the deeper moments of confession from Carmy don't feel earned...Carmy's relationship with Claire seems to represent the past, while his relationship with Sydney represents the future."[12]

Dunlap is played by Molly Gordon.[12] In 2023 she told The New York Times, "I feel so grateful that I'm able to have this role where I get to be a human woman and not just this sweet, sweet girl...She sees right through...to the core of Carmy...I've been with men [in my own personal life], and we were so happy together...But the happiness made them so angry and sad."[13] Christopher Storer cast Gordon in The Bear after having directed her in a 2019 episode of Ramy and told the Washington Post that, "She's one of those actors that can go from light to dark very quickly...She has these eyes that are so piercing that when you're talking to her, you sort of feel like not only do you have her undivided attention but also her undivided love."[14]

Casting

The casting of Molly Gordon as Claire was announced on Matty Matheson's Instagram and confirmed by Variety.[15][16] In a profile published six days after the season two episodes were released, New York Times feature writer Alexis Soloski described the newest addition to The Bear cast, writing, "I had also heard her described as a girl-next-door type. This rang less true. Gordon has too much savvy for that, too much drive. She is more like the girl who knows exactly where you hide your spare key and can break into your house at will."[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ admin (June 27, 2024). "The Bear - S03E09 - Apologies | Transcript". Scraps from the loft. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
  2. ^ Wigler, Josh (July 8, 2024). "Every Episode of 'The Bear,' Ranked". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
  3. ^ "s02e10 - The Bear script".
  4. ^ Richardson, Jennie (July 6, 2025). "It's Genuinely Hard to Like 'The Bear's Claire and Here's 5 Reasons Why". Collider. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
  5. ^ a b admin (June 23, 2023). "The Bear - S02E06 - Fishes | Transcript". Scraps from the loft. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
  6. ^ Longeretta, Emily (June 28, 2023). "'The Bear': Jon Bernthal Breaks Down 'F—ing Tense' Dinner Scene With Bob Odenkirk, That Improvised Table Flip and Mikey's 'Ugliness'". Variety. Retrieved 2025-12-16.
  7. ^ Jahmal, Karlton (June 19, 2025). "Before "The Bear" Season 4 Drops, Here's A Quick Character Recap". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2025-10-18.
  8. ^ Maitland, Hayley (July 9, 2024). "Making Sense of 'The Bear' Season 3 With Ebon Moss-Bachrach". Vogue. Retrieved 2026-01-04.
  9. ^ Rawls, Murjani (June 28, 2025). "'The Bear' S4E3 Review: It's Hard For Me To Say I'm Sorry". Substream Magazine. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
  10. ^ a b Eakin, Marah (June 26, 2025). "The Bear Recap: Family Business". Vulture. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
  11. ^ Eakin, Marah (June 26, 2025). "The Bear Recap: Leave It All on the Dance Floor". Vulture. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
  12. ^ a b Richardson, Jennie (July 2, 2025). "'The Bear' Is Good at Drama, but It Absolutely Fails When It Comes to Romance". Collider. Retrieved 2025-10-09.
  13. ^ a b Soloski, Alexis (June 28, 2023). "In 'The Bear,' Molly Gordon is More Than the Girl Next Door (Published 2023)". The New York Times.
  14. ^ Floyd, Thomas (July 12, 2023). "With 'Theater Camp,' Molly Gordon bets on herself. And doubles down". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
  15. ^ Matheson, Matty (May 5, 2023). "I can't believe..." Instagram. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
  16. ^ Hailu, Selome (May 5, 2023). "'The Bear' Season 2 Adds Molly Gordon to Cast". Variety. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
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