Critic Reviews
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.