The Bear Recap: Bro Trip

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Here’s a special new episode of The Bear for those who can’t see Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach perform in Dog Day Afternoon! This episode, titled “Gary,” focuses on a road trip Richie and Mikey took to Gary, Indiana, a few years ago, arranged by Uncle Jimmy. While seemingly about the trip, it’s really a chance for Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach to explore the complex and intense friendship between their characters. However, like past flashbacks about Mikey, this episode is difficult to watch, and focuses on his struggles with mental health and how it affected his relationships.

Jon Bernthal excels at portraying Mikey’s intense emotions – his frustration, restlessness, pain, and outbursts of anger. His powerful bar scene is both difficult to watch and award-worthy, and his moment of honesty with Sherri hints at a newfound self-awareness. However, this portrayal largely feels familiar. Each return of Bernthal’s character feels like a challenge to the idea that his earlier, more hopeful moment was truly meaningful. The show continues to emphasize Mikey’s anger, and I wish they would allow Bernthal to showcase a wider emotional range. Both Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach deserve credit for their writing debut with this episode, but a more nuanced approach to the character would be beneficial.

This episode showcases a particularly strong performance from Ebon Moss-Bachrach, whose character, Richie, has undergone the most significant development throughout the series. By season four, Richie is a changed man – more personable, better at managing his anger, and successful at the restaurant despite ongoing friction with Carmy. He’s a good father to Eva (whose name Mikey actually suggested) and has rebuilt a stable, supportive relationship with his ex-wife, Tiffany. This flashback, however, reveals a Richie much closer to the raw, unfiltered character from the show’s beginning. He hasn’t yet become as hardened and pessimistic as he was immediately after Mikey’s death, but he’s still boisterous and prone to oversharing. We see how deeply Mikey’s struggles affected him – enduring both harsh criticism and fleeting moments of affection from his best friend, who is battling severe mental health issues. One moment Mikey is showing Richie affection, the next he’s cruelly suggesting he abandon his unborn child. Despite all of this, and whatever other pain Mikey inflicted over the years, Richie still grieves for his friend, missing the man he once considered family. The past continues to weigh heavily on the characters in The Bear, and this episode highlights just how much Richie carries with him.

The episode opens with Richie getting ready for a job, sporting a very 80s look with a leather jacket, sneakers, and sunglasses – a style choice that feels anachronistic given the show’s timeline. His home life seems happy; he and his pregnant wife, Tiffany, exchange loving words before he leaves. However, her request that he be home by 5:15 p.m. foreshadows he won’t make it. Meanwhile, Mikey is already being difficult. He impatiently honks the horn outside Richie’s house, berates him for being slow, and finds fault with everything Richie does. (He does have a point about stores unfairly adding credit card processing fees to customer purchases, though.) Actor Jay Duplass effectively portrays Mikey’s negativity, contrasting with Jon Bernthal’s portrayal of Richie, who initially responds with humor and playful banter, but shows moments of underlying uncertainty. It quickly becomes clear that Mikey is troubled as they head to see Gary. He claims to have spoken with a contact about their plans, but we don’t see the conversation. He mocks Tiffany’s worry about Richie being home before she goes into labor, and he even jumps into a basketball game to trash-talk the younger players. It’s a lot to take in.

Mikey only truly relaxes when he’s in a restaurant. During a visit to Koney King with Richie, Bernthal beautifully portrays Mikey’s growing curiosity and politeness as he interacts with the cashier and cook, Alicia. It’s after this that Mikey suggests the name Eva – the name he and Tiffany eventually choose for their daughter. However, the day takes a turn when Mikey buys cocaine, and after he and Richie use some, things begin to fall apart. At a local bar, they join a game of “Fact or Fiction,” where Richie shares a particularly embarrassing story. Mikey connects with Sherri, who challenges their claim about him being a backup goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks, but otherwise listens intently. Over drinks and cocaine, they have a deeply honest conversation, the kind you often have with a stranger – someone who doesn’t know your past but gives you space to share it. It’s hard to know how much of Sherri’s life story – her work as an arborist, her sisters – is true, but Mikey believes she’s being genuine. He has a similar moment of honesty in a crowded bathroom stall, admitting that people say he doesn’t follow through on things, that he feels abandoned by his mother, who is also struggling with her mental health, and that he’s confused by his own shifting feelings – sometimes finding comfort in the idea that nothing matters, and other times feeling overwhelmed by that same thought. This is a heartbreaking scene for Bernthal, filmed from a low angle in a long, continuous shot – a stylistic choice common to the show.

What causes Mikey to suddenly lash out at Richie? It starts when Richie gently points out that Mikey hasn’t actually done the things he claimed to have done in Gary – he didn’t call Uncle Jimmy, and his phone was off, leaving them both stuck waiting. It’s unclear what would have happened if Richie hadn’t even tried to reach Uncle Jimmy. Richie only briefly interrupted a kiss between Mikey and Sherri, and immediately apologized. Despite this, Mikey unleashes a harsh and unexpected attack, twisting a supposed compliment into a brutal condemnation. He accuses Richie of being destined to fail as a father, mirroring past mistakes. Mikey gets right in Richie’s face, mocks him, spits on him, and calls him a coward. The outburst feels completely out of the blue, and the chilling smile he gives while saying, “Kid’s gonna hate you, Rich,” is particularly disturbing. A close-up of a clock at 4:10 p.m. feels pointless, as it’s already clear Richie wouldn’t have made it back in time. The whole trip to Gary was simply to deliver a box of plastic parts because of a FedEx strike, and it seems Uncle Jimmy didn’t want to pay for another delivery service. This isn’t some important or dangerous operation, despite Richie’s attempts to portray it as such. It’s just Mikey and Richie running errands for Jimmy, and this incident is another painful break in their already strained friendship.

The episode ends with a shocking reveal: everything we just watched was a memory playing in Richie’s mind while he was stuck in traffic. He’s wearing his all-black Bear uniform, and actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach perfectly conveys the exhaustion and pain of reliving the terrible day with Mikey. Then, the memory is abruptly cut short when Richie is hit by another car running a red light. The song “Heart of the Sunrise” by Yes, with its lyrics about feeling lost, plays as the credits roll. Before the crash, Richie seemed deeply troubled, leading viewers to wonder if Carmy is truly gone, as hinted at in season four. We’re also left to question the financial health of The Bear and whether Richie had a disturbing thought about his ex-wife’s new husband. These mysteries will hopefully be solved when season five of The Bear returns this summer – and it’s unclear if this will be the show’s last season.

Small Bites

Interestingly, Hulu doesn’t show “Gary” as part of The Bear series. It appears as a separate title, and IMDb actually lists it as a TV movie.

• I love the amount that Richie loves Blade Runner. He’s right, the narration was a mistake.

Besides Eric B. and Rakim’s “Paid in Full,” which was a great choice, what other songs do we think were on Richie’s mixtape?

People are discussing what the scene with the burnt field means. Since Sherri cares deeply about trees, the barren landscape could symbolize Mikey’s internal struggles.

It’s such a small thing, but it really shows who Mikey is at his core. I love how he always takes her recycling bin to the curb – it’s clearly something they’ve done together for ages, a sweet little habit that speaks volumes about him and how considerate he is.

Richie’s self-description as someone who handles public relations and is good at presenting a public face is actually quite fitting.

Richie raved about Donna Barzetto’s lasagna, calling it amazing, and now I’m craving it! Any good recommendations for frozen lasagna?

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2026-05-06 06:55