Cousin! The Bear’s surprise episode will leave you desperate for season five

The Bear has served up a new standalone episode ahead of its fifth – and final – season next month. And just like the past two seasons of this award-winning show, it’s likely to divide viewers.

If you’d like to go in completely blind, the one-hour instalment is available to watch now on Disney+ under the title Gary (it’s not listed with the other episodes of The Bear). Otherwise, read on to get a sense of what to expect and what this means for the upcoming season of the show. No spoilers until the final section, I promise!

What’s it about?

As you might suspect given the inclusion of Jon Bernthal’s character Mikey, whose death by suicide triggers the events of the first season, Gary is a prequel to the events of The Bear. The episode is essentially a mini road movie, following a trip Mikey and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) took shortly before the birth of Richie’s daughter to Gary, Indiana.

This pair of “wired and worried travellers” are visiting the hometown of Michael Jackson – it’s mentioned more than once, in case you didn’t know this is a show about family trauma – to run a “mission” for Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt). The episode has all the hallmarks of a buddy film, with Mikey and Richie killing time before the mysterious dropoff, drinking beers, doing coke, dancing to old soul music, talking about impending fatherhood and aggressively challenging local kids to a game of pick-up at the basketball courts.

But because this is The Bear and, of course, we know how things turn out, the entire episode (directed by The Bear creator Christopher Storer) is steeped in tension and darkness – to the point it features multiple shots of literal scorched earth. Bernthal’s Mikey is “f—ing drowning” and Richie is not yet the self-assured man and father he becomes singing Taylor Swift in his car at the end of season two’s standout episode Forks.

This is a snapshot of a loving but dysfunctional relationship on the precipice of change.

Why are we getting this now?

Well, it’s certainly good marketing! The fifth season of The Bear – which actor Jamie Lee Curtis has stated is the show’s last, but FX is yet to confirm – is set to drop in June and this little taster is a good way to get people talking about the show again.

Bernthal, who co-wrote the episode with Moss-Bachrach, has been building hype, posting a behind-the-scenes selfie of the duo on social media this week. And the pair are also acting together on stage right now, in Dog Day Afternoon on Broadway. The fact it dropped on the same day that the Tony nominations were announced is probably not a coincidence, but unfortunately both actors missed out on any nods.

The release date for this episode, however, does sneak it in to the Emmys’ eligibility period where they’ll have a better shot (likely as a television movie).

Gary will also make fans especially eager to tune in for this upcoming season because it has an unexpected cliffhanger ending. How is that even possible in a prequel story? Let’s get into it.

That wild ending (warning: spoilers)

For all its quiet introspection and long, lingering shots, Gary goes out with a bang. In its final minute, we jump to present-day Richie in his car, alone, notably with no seatbelt on, wistfully looking over at the empty passenger seat before being T-boned by another car in the rain. Cut to black.

It’s a big swing. Especially for a series that’s beloved for its introspection and quiet character development rather than clever twists or dramatic stunts. Season three ended on a cliffhanger of whether Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) would get a good or bad review from the Chicago Tribune. Hardly life or death.

This new scene, which will presumably have real consequence for Richie in the upcoming season, is also a strange inclusion for an episode that’s being deliberately billed as a standalone story. A prequel makes total sense for something like this – it’s a smart way to build out the world of this show and deepen our understanding of a character we’ve grown to love. But this? It’s very Grey’s Anatomy.

There are a few dramatic headlines going around about Richie potentially being dead. I would be very, very surprised if that was the case. But my love for Cousin Richie runs so deep, I am now hanging out for these final episodes. After tuning out of the show’s painfully slow fourth season, I now have no choice but to see this story through to its end.

Gary is streaming on Disney+ now.

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