Tina's Origin Story on "The Bear" #FeelingFriday

Source: FX Networks Shop

I’m a big fan of the tv series “The Bear,” partially because of the lessons learned we can absorb in terms of leadership, teamwork, perseverance, and overcoming barriers … and partially because of the character development. Those two things, along with a really good storyline, make for great television.

“The Bear” is great television as a result of yes its storyline and yes its lessons learned but also its character development. And I LOVE how there have been a few episodes through the seasons where we get an “origin story” where we go deep into the background of a character to see what makes them tick, see how they got to where they are, and see what factors/forces have gotten into their head. It’s fascinating.

I think one of the best origin stories so far as been about the character Tina. And dare I say that Tina’s origin story could be the origin story of any one of us. Yes, perhaps the details and the surroundings and the cultural foundations would/could be different, but the origin story may very well be any one of us.

Tina is a line cook in the storyline. She’s not one of the main characters, and perhaps that’s the point. But her story is perhaps one of the most important IMO. She’s a line cook who didn’t know her craft when she came into the restaurant but she is working hard to be the best line cook she can be. She makes mistakes, lots of them. But she bounces back, takes advice, falls down again, and picks herself back up. She doesn’t always know what’s she’s doing, but she’s always going to make it.

Tina just wants to make it. She just wants to make it for herself and for her family. She will do whatever it takes, she will learn what ever she needs to learn, she will put in all the hard work, she will pay her dues … what ever it is she has to do … she will make it. But the path hasn’t always been clear. She hasn’t always had all the tools. Help hasn’t always been readily available.

But she always keeps trying. And she will fake it until she makes it. And even if she has never done it before, she will try to do it if it means she will make it. For herself and for her family. No matter what it takes.

I get that, I feel that, in many ways I have been that at many times in my life. Struggling, learning, making my way through it. Not exactly in Tina’s exact situation(s), but in my own with some of the same very real emotions with my own “origin” story coming from a place where I didn’t know how to begin or where to start or how to get on to the path to where I am now. Many of us have been there. But we figured it out, with some help along the way. Help that we are eternally grateful for.

I’m betting a lot of us see a lot of similarities and I find that quite inspiring TTYTT.

And how ironic that the actress that plays Tina on “The Bear” (Liza Colon-Zayas) just won an Emmy Award for her performance on the show and not only is it her first nomination and win but she is also the first Latina to win in this category. I guess even she is playing out her own origin story, right now right in this moment.

Fiction meet reality.

How about you? What’s your origin story? What’s your experience? JIM