{"id":654417,"date":"2026-05-07T00:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/654417\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T00:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:36:13","slug":"what-does-the-ending-of-gary-mean-for-cousin-richie-in-season-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/654417\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the ending of Gary mean for Cousin Richie in season five?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Bear <\/a>has served up a new standalone episode ahead of its fifth \u2013 and final \u2013 season next month. And just like the past two seasons of this award-winning show, it\u2019s likely to divide viewers.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to go in completely blind, the one-hour instalment is available to watch now on Disney+ under the title Gary (it\u2019s 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!<\/p>\n

\"JonJon Bernthal as Michael Berzatto, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richard \u201cRichie\u201d Jerimovich in a surprise standalone episode of The Bear.FX\/Disney+What\u2019s it about?<\/p>\n

As you might suspect given the inclusion of Jon Bernthal\u2019s 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<\/a>) took shortly before the birth of Richie\u2019s daughter to Gary, Indiana.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Matthew<\/a><\/p>\n

This pair of \u201cwired and worried travellers\u201d are visiting the hometown of Michael Jackson<\/a> \u2013 it\u2019s mentioned more than once, in case you didn\u2019t know this is a show about family trauma \u2013 to run a \u201cmission\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 to the point it features multiple shots of literal scorched earth. Bernthal\u2019s Mikey is \u201cf—ing drowning\u201d 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\u2019s standout episode Forks. <\/p>\n

This is a snapshot of a loving but dysfunctional relationship on the precipice of change.<\/p>\n

\"EbonEbon Moss-Bachrach as Richard \u201cRichie\u201d Jerimovich, Jon Bernthal as Michael Berzatto in Gary.FX\/Disney+Why are we getting this now?<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s certainly good marketing! The final season of The Bear is set to drop in June and this little taster is a good way to get people talking about the show again.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The release date for this episode, however, does sneak it in to the Emmys\u2019 eligibility period where they\u2019ll have a better shot (likely as a television movie).<\/p>\n

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\u2019s get into it.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"From<\/a>That wild ending (warning: spoilers)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big swing. Especially for a series that\u2019s beloved for its quiet character development rather than clever twists or dramatic stunts. Season three ended on a cliffhanger<\/a> of whether Carmy (Jeremy Allen White<\/a>) would get a good or bad review from the Chicago Tribune. Hardly life or death.<\/p>\n

This new scene, which will presumably have real consequence for Richie in the upcoming season, is also a strange inclusion for an episode that\u2019s being deliberately billed as a standalone story. A prequel makes total sense for something like this \u2013 it\u2019s a smart way to build out the world of this show and deepen our understanding of a character we\u2019ve grown to love. But this? It\u2019s very Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s painfully slow fourth season<\/a>, I now have no choice but to see this story through to its end.<\/p>\n

Gary is streaming on Disney+ now. The Bear (season five) will premiere June 26.<\/p>\n

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\"MegMeg Watson<\/a> is deputy TV editor at The Age and Sydney Morning HeraldConnect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-654417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}