This week, The Bear announced the release date for its final season, but not before dropping a surprise prequel episode titled ‘Gary’, and the internet is thrilled.
The episode is set a few months after the events of season two’s flashback episode ‘Fishes’, which centres around Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Mikey (Jon Bernthal) on a road trip from Chicago to Gary, Indiana, that is anecdotally referred to in the season three episode ‘Legacy’. And it’s entirely Carmy-free. As much as I love The Bear, four seasons of Carmy’s culinary-tortured-artist routine have worn me out, making the surprise episode a welcome amuse bouche ahead of the fifth and final course of the series.
'Gary’ is also co-written by Moss-Bachrach and Bernthal. We’ve been getting glimpses into Mikey and Richie’s relationship through the series, through flashbacks that make us feel the history and love between the characters. This chemistry is largely indebted to the history between the two actors.
In fact, Moss-Bachrach played a major role in getting Bernthal cast in the series. The story is that he called him on the phone about the part, and when Bernthal wasn’t able to make it to Chicago, they moved production to LA for a day and shot his first scenes for The Bear in a producer’s kitchen.
The pair first met in 2003, where Bernthal’s first professional gig was playing Moss-Bachrach’s understudy in Landford Wilson’s Fifth of July off-Broadway. Since then, they have appeared in Marvel’s The Punisher, Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick, The Bear, of course, and this March they made their Broadway debuts together in the stage adaptation of Dog Day Afternoon.
To watch the most recent instalment in their creative tie-up, search ‘Gary’ in JioHotstar. It is not available in The Bear’s series tab, which makes sense because it takes us away from the stress-riddled world of the show while reminding us why it hits home.
The Bear season 5 is available to stream on JioHotstar starting June 25; Gary is currently streaming on JioHotstar
