The Bear's New Surprise Episode Teases A Major Death in Season 5
Still reeling from that ending...
Leave it to The Bear to go out with a bang. Ahead of the culinary drama’s fifth and final season — which will stream June 25 on Hulu and Disney+ — a surprise prequel episode was released, which set up a shocking (and potentially lethal) twist for the big farewell. At first, it seemed like the May 5 standalone special “Gary” was simply one last glance into Mikey Berzatto’s final days, but the cliffhanger ending made it clear this does have serious implications for the upcoming season.
Spoiler alert: This post will discusses the ending of The Bear’s standalone episode “Gary.”
“Gary” takes place about four years before the main events of The Bear, focusing on a trip that Richie and Mikey took to Gary, Indiana to deliver a mysterious package for Uncle Jimmy. At the beginning of the road trip, Richie is intent on getting his cousin out of a funk, playing an upbeat mixtape for him and then urging Mikey to bond with locals at a bar.
However, in the Gary bar, Mikey’s demeanor changes after using cocaine and describing how his mother’s mental health struggles left a lasting impact on him. When Richie urges Mikey to leave so he can get home to his pregnant wife Tiffany, Mikey mocks his best friend by claiming he will fail as a father.
In the tense aftermath, Richie silently sobs in the car as Mikey’s distractions have caused him to be late in getting back to Tiffany, who may have given birth without him present (the episode leaves this unclear).
The true shocker comes in the final moments of “Gary,” though, as the narrative fast-forwards to the present day. The final scenes seems to take place right after Season 4’s finale, where Carmy quits the restaurant and it over to Richie, Sydney, and Sugar.
Notably, Richie mentioned a memory he had of a great road trip he once took with Mikey during his Season 4 finale speech to Carmy, and in this new “Gary” scene, Richie reminisces on that trip while sitting in his car. Distracted by his memories, Richie doesn’t see another car ram into him. And with that car crash, the screen fades to black.
So, will Richie be in Season 5? The accident definitely means he’ll at least be severely injured, if he does manage to survive. And with Richie either incapacitated or dead, Sydney and Sugar will need a lot more help keeping The Bear running — plus, Carmy may feel guilted into coming back to the kitchen. As for right now, Richie’s fate is up in the air, but things don’t look great.
The Bear Season 5 will drop all of its episodes on Hulu, and on Disney+ via the Hulu bundle, on June 25 at 9 p.m. ET.
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