As fans all wait for the fifth and final season of The Bear to drop on June 25, actors Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Richie Jerimovich) and Jon Bernthal (Mikey Berzatto) decided to write a one-off prequel episode called "Gary," which was directed by series creator Christopher Storer.
The show dropped the special episode on May 5, and just be forewarned, it's bleak.
Not that this would be a surprise to fans of the series, of course. Episodes like "Fishes" are basically a family arguing among themselves in the same way that Saving Private Ryan's opening beach scene is anything but pleasant. The Bear isn't always fun, but it is nonetheless must-watch viewing.
The episode is set long before season 1, and Mikey and Richie take a trip to Gary, Indiana, to deliver a box on behalf of Jimmy, a recurring character on the series who is played wonderfully by Oliver Platt. We don't see Jimmy in the episode, but his presence is certainly felt.
The Bear's Mikey and Richie take a day trip
The issue is that while Mikey and Richie know what their task is, there is no certain time for the box handoff to take place. They simply have left their homes, take a drive (one for which Richie has made a mix CD), and head to Indiana, about 35 minutes away from Chicago, where the series is set. This is when chaos ensues, but sets up an ending in which fans might not be ready for.
The whole time the boys are playing around in Gary, though, Richie's wife, Tiff (played by Gillian Jacobs, a part-time character on the series), is nine months pregnant and due at any point. Because of this, Richie has requirements at home, and needs to return from Gary by 5:15 pm.
Part of the magic of the episode is that viewers are aware of that timeline, and that simply adds to the mounting tension.
After arriving in Gary and waiting for Jimmy to call with the drop location, Mikey and Richie find time to buy drugs, play basketball with some teenagers (if anyone needed tips on how to trash-talk during the game, Mikey will deliver that), and eventually find their way to a bar that just appears while the two are parked in their car.
Richie goes inside first, as Mikey is reticent to do so. After a while, a woman goes to the vehicle and talks Mikey into coming inside, where Richie has already become the life of the party. The woman, we come to know, is Sherri from Gary, and she and Mikey become fast friends. The sexual tension is deeply felt but never acted upon.
Richie has set up at a table with a bunch of other day-drinkers, and games have commenced. The dialogue is sharp, biting, and often funny. Moss-Bachrach and Bernthal, who are appearing together currently in a Broadway production of Dog Day Afternoon, clearly learned from Christopher Storer's talent how to create a nearly perfect Bear episode of their own.
Mikey and Richie begin to bicker
Mikey and Richie also showcase all of the parts of their personalities that fans of the series have long understood. They care for each other, sure, but there is inward anger that works itself out toward the other person. Feelings are hurt late in the episode in the bar when Mikey tells Richie that Richie knows he will screw up his relationship with his unborn daughter eventually.
Finally, the call from Jimmy comes, and the two, without uttering much of a word to each other, still upset at what the other had to say, meet a person to deliver the box. Inside is quite a few plastic pump impellers, but Richie and Mikey are told that a FedEx strike is finally over, implying the two will never need to meet for a box drop again.
As they begin their drive back to Chicago, viewers can see a clock that reads 4:10 pm. The two have already been told that they might get stuck waiting on a train, and viewers know the unseen outcome: Richie isn't going to make it home by 5:15 pm.
Is Richie dead?
That's about when the most unexpected and shocking part of the episode occurs. We see Richie sitting in his car at an intersection, with an empty seat beside him. Did he just leave Mikey and is finally heading home? That couldn't be for two reasons.
Mikey is the one who drove and would have dropped Richie off at home. More importantly, while Richie sits in his car, he is dressed in his Maître D'hôtel uniform for the restaurant that he works at in The Bear.
The viewer becomes aware that this part of the episode is in the current time, and Mikey has long passed. Was the episode all Richie's memory of what occurred that day in Gary?
As Richie begins to move his car forward, his light turns green, he enters the intersection, and screams "No, no, no, no!" Another car ran the red light and T-boned Richie's car violently. The episode cuts to black, all a setup for the premiere of season 5.
What we don't yet know is whether "Gary" killed off Richie, and whether the new season will be a reflection of life without one of the show's most beloved characters. Why kill Richie in a one-off episode? What is clear is that the first episode of the last season of The Bear had better deliver some answers when it comes back on June 25 on FX and Hulu, or fans might revolt.
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