DUBAI: It’s hard to know what to make of “Gary.” This hour-long “special” episode of the (initially, at least) critically acclaimed series “The Bear” dropped May 5 without fanfare and is presented as a standalone episode streaming separately from the rest of the show’s catalogue. It’s a flashback to early 2019, and shows Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Mikey (Jon Bernthal) taking a 40-mile road trip from Chicago to Gary, Indiana, to deliver a mystery package, which we’re led to believe contains something illegal. Richie’s wife Tiff (Gillian Jacobs) — who’s his ex-wife by the time “The Bear” episode one begins — is close to her due date and convinced she’ll go into labor at 5.15, so makes Richie promise he’ll be back by then. The best laid plans, etc…
On the one hand, this surprise drop could mean “We’ve got so much great stuff for the final season that we couldn’t fit this in.” Which would be good news. On the other hand, it could mean the creators have reverted to the worst excesses of the disappointing, meandering third season of the show, which would’ve benefited greatly from some heavy editing. This would not be good news. After watching “Gary,” I’m none the wiser. Parts of it are superb. About 10-15 minutes of it could probably have been cut without lessening its impact at all.
The episode hinges mostly on the chemistry between Moss-Bachrach and Bernthal as childhood friends. It does not disappoint. They are completely believable — displaying the unspoken bond that can only connect two people who grew up together and know almost everything about each other: the casual insults, the shared shorthand, the love. It’s all there.
It’s also overshadowed by the audience’s knowledge that Mikey will soon take his own life (not a spoiler, it’s the jumping-off point for the whole series). So Mikey’s moodiness, his revelations to Sherri — a woman he meets in a random Gary bar that Richie insists they have to go to — about his mental health, his initial unwillingness to socialize, are all filtered through that lens. And all of that is juxtaposed with Richie’s gregariousness, his ease with strangers, his heart-on-his-sleeve-ness. It’s a compelling mix.
The sting in the tail comes when a drunk, high Mikey insists on making a speech about Richie’s impending fatherhood before they leave the bar where Richie has established himself as everyone’s new best friend. It’s a vicious gut punch of unfiltered vitriol and betrayal delivered perfectly by Bernthal and received perfectly by Moss-Bachrach. It’s heartbreaking. Not least because we know just how good a father Richie actually is.
Oh, and there’s then a moment of almost-Shakespearean bathos when they actually deliver Jimmy’s goods to the customer. Combined, those two scenes remind us of what “The Bear” is capable of at its best. And the final scene, when we jump forward to the present day, makes us eager to get stuck into the main course of season five.
