THE PERFORMER | Jon Bernthal

THE SHOW | Hulu's "Gary"

THE EPISODE | "Gary" (May 5, 2026)

THE PERFORMANCE | Hulu's acclaimed restaurant dramedy "The Bear" took an unexpected detour this week, surprise-dropping a standalone episode titled "Gary" that flashed back to a road trip taken by Richie and Carmy's late brother Mikey. We haven't seen much of Mikey on "The Bear," since he sadly passed away before the series began, but "Gary" helped fill in the blanks on the enigmatic character, with Bernthal masterfully mixing rage and vulnerability to show us how Mikey could be the life of the party one minute... and devastatingly cruel the next.

Richie and Mikey drove to Gary, Indiana to run a business errand for Uncle Jimmy, and it was a lighthearted amble at first, with Bernthal flashing his natural charms as Mikey playfully bickered with Richie and trash-talked a bunch of teenagers during a pick-up basketball game. But when Richie wandered off to a bar, leaving Mikey alone in the car, Bernthal let a subtle sadness fall over Mikey's eyes, hinting at the profoundly troubled soul underneath all the laughs. Mikey eventually joined Richie at the bar and opened up to a woman named Sherri, baring his soul about his messed-up childhood on the dirty floor of a bathroom stall, and Bernthal was heart-wrenchingly earnest as Mikey dipped his toe into the choppy waters of self-awareness in a drug-fueled epiphany.

But when Richie told Mikey it was time to leave, Mikey exploded, violently elbowing the wall of the bathroom stall and screaming back at him. Then Mikey lashed out at his supposed "best friend" Richie, belittling him and humiliating him in front of the whole bar, with Bernthal barreling through his lines like a runaway pickup truck with no brakes. (It's sad to see how much Mikey had in common with his emotionally erratic mother Donna.) Mikey later tried to make amends, and we don't blame Richie for giving him the cold shoulder, because the guy is a mess. But he's an endlessly compelling mess, thanks to Bernthal's perceptive, audacious work. — Dave Nemetz

Scroll down to see who got an Honorable Mention shout-out this week...