Critic Reviews

The episode works perfectly well on its own, because Moss-Bachrach and Bernthal’s performances are so rich and complete.

It’s one of the increasingly uneven hit’s best episodes in ages, a standalone that fleshes out a crucial relationship and suggests how much better the show could be with Carmy on the sidelines.

The hour plays as a kind of shaggy dog story, through lighter and darker territory on its way to a droll punchline involving the contents of the box, before it jumps forward into its brief present-day coda. .... Both [Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach] are phenomenal.

Gary does a good job of reminding fans of The Bear why the show was so compelling when it first blasted onto our screens, and we hope it’s a harbinger of a good final season.

Richie and Mikey wind up in a bar, where we’re treated to lots and lots (and lots) of sequences of Richie being gregarious and Mikey being soulfully depressive. Things soon pick up, but it leaves the sense that Gary is a great 30-minute episode of television trapped inside a fitfully mediocre 60-minute one. One scene, though, just about makes up for this. .... You have to weather a fair amount of self-indulgence to get there, but it’s a wonderful scene that should go down as one of The Bear’s greatest moments.

It’s another challenging, sometimes sluggish episode about Mikey’s deteriorating mental health and his attacks on the people he loved. Bernthal is very good at this. .... The more nuanced work in this episode belongs to Moss-Bachrach, whose character has had the greatest growth arc throughout the series.

As affecting as Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach’s performances are, “Gary” doubles down on some of The Bear‘s self-indulgent storytelling impulses: characters yelling at or over each other constantly, lazily written interactions (why in the world is Ireland’s Sherri waxing poetic about trees to Mikey?), and a visual aesthetic that has gone from gritty to gimmicky with its close-up shots. Crucially, the show doesn’t seem to trust its audience’s intelligence.