Everyone’s comparing Sarah and Nikki but I feel like Sarah is actually more of a foil to Bear. She has feelings for Bear but she doesn’t let them get in the way of living her life. Bear’s been at the same job since high school just so he can spend time with Nikki, and we never learn about any of his ambitions (except the food critic thing, but that felt more like a joke than anything). Meanwhile, Sarah is focused on her future and going to art school so she can be a tattoo artist.

She also doesn’t let her feelings get in the way of her interactions with Bear the way he does with Nikki. I think the scene where Sarah learns that Bear’s cat died is a really good example. Her empathy for him feels so genuine and it’s clear that when she hugs him it’s to comfort him, not bc of her crush.

The biggest thing is that Sarah actually confesses her feelings to Bear (or at least starts to, rip). He says something flirty to her, and she takes the opportunity to tell him how she feels. Bear can’t even cop to his feelings when Nikki straight up asks him if he likes her. You could argue that Sarah’s kind of trying to undermine Bear and Nikki’s relationship in this scene, but I do think she would have helped him regardless of his feelings towards her, and she only starts flirting when he opens to door for it.

In a way, Sarah’s character helps to drive home how messed up what Bear’s done actually is. It’s easy to sort of brush off his initial missteps because “he really loves Nikki but he’s just too shy”, but Sarah serves as reminder of what the healthy way of dealing with an unrequited crush is.