The Bear’s Secret Prequel Ending Twist Might Change Everything For Season 5

Out of nowhere, FX on Hulu has dropped a surprise one-hour prequel to The Bear. Titled “Gary,” and written by and starring Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, the episode takes place a few years before the main events of the series, and a few months after the Season 2 episode “Fishes.” It follows Mikey and Richie on a road trip to Gary, Indiana, where they’re delivering a package for Uncle Jimmy, and it uses that setup to unpack some of their relationship and issues. Warning: Contains SPOILERS from this point on.

“Gary” mostly plays like a standalone episode of The Bear, not too dissimilar to some of its other flashback episodes. The focus is squarely on the dynamic between Mike and Rich: they play basketball and trash-talk some local youths, they do drugs and get drunk, they love one another, they hate one another, and somehow they do actually manage to deliver the parcel. Adding some of The Bear‘s usual stress and anxiety to this is that Richie has promised Tiff (Gillian Jacobs, who briefly appears) he’ll be back by 5:15 pm, because she’s close to giving birth.

The episode ends with them heading home, with Mikey driving and Richie in the passenger seat, as they wait at a crossing for a train to go past. However, the episode then cuts to a different point in time – noticeable as Rich looks different from the previous scene – where Richie is the one driving a car, and he’s looking sadly at the empty passenger seat next to him. He pulls forward and is hit by an oncoming van, which smashes into his car right before the credits roll.

Was Richie’s Car Crash In “Gary” Actually From The Bear Season 5?

There’s very little to date the ending of Gary, except for the fact that it’s clearly sometime later, and he looks to be wearing his now customary black shirt and tie. I think there’s a pretty good chance that this is supposed to be from either during or just before The Bear Season 5. It looks like a very bad car crash, rather than one that’s only going to cause minor injuries, and there’s never been any mention of such an event happening before on the show. Plus, if it did take place at some other point in time, there’d be no reason to include it in the prequel, and certainly not in the way it does, where it’s purposefully unclear when it takes place and what happens next.

If correct, then this will have major consequences on the fifth and final season of The Bear. Presumably, Richie will not actually die in the car accident, though that possibility certainly has to be raised, but what state he is left in and how the characters respond to that should be a major driving force for the show’s story. He’s set to become a partner in the restaurant with Sydney, and it could impact that partnership, how the restaurant operates, and what Carmy decides to do next.

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Even if nothing else, seeing Richie injured like this is a shocking way for Gary to end, and there’ll no doubt be concern about him as we wait for Season 5’s release. That could continue through the episodes, depending on when it happens, and just how bad it is, since it could mean Richie is in hospital for large parts of the season, which would alter the dynamics of the series quite a bit. Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious, but all bets are now seemingly off.

Richie’s Ending In “Gary” Makes The Bear’s Story & Mikey’s Death Even More Tragic

For the most part, “Gary” isn’t quite as intense as some other episodes of The Bear, but it does wring a lot of drama out of Richie and Mikey’s trip, as it showcases both of them at their worst. Despite (or rather, because of) having to get back home for the birth of his child, Rich is doing drugs, getting absolutely wasted, and telling stories about s**tting himself to a bunch of people in a bar he insists on going in. Mikey goes a little too far with the insults to the local kids, and then definitely goes way too far at the end with his insults to Richie, telling him he’ll be a terrible father, that he’s going to “f**k it up,” and that the best thing he could do for the child is leave.

It’s really brutal, and is where “Gary” is every bit as discomforting as the rest of the show, and perhaps even more so. Of course, Mikey doesn’t mean what he’s saying: the mix of drugs, and his own mental health and trauma from his childhood – notably, this comes after he tells a story about his own mother and how she flipped in an instant – are driving what he’s saying here. There’s clearly a part of Richie that believes him, highlighting his own insecurities, which are ongoing into the main show (we know he’s a great parent, but has to contend with another man in his daughter’s life).

And yet, despite this, they were able to make it through it and patch up their friendship. Mikey’s death still weighs heavily upon Richie, and as he stares at the empty passenger seat, suggesting he’s been reminiscing on this day, we can feel every ounce of that as viewers. It’s compounded by the fact that his daughter’s name, Eva, came from Mikey himself, meaning she’s both a reminder of him, and of the worst things he heard him say (and his own darkest fears). Like so much of The Bear, it shows the complicated, often devastating nature of family and friendships, and it’ll continue to be explored in Season 5.

The Bear Season 5 is expected to release on FX on Hulu in June. “Gary” is now available to stream.

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