Earlier today, an odd thing showed up on the Hulu home screen: an image of Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bacharach, in character as Mikey and Cousin Richie from The Bear, in a standalone prequel special called "Gary." For Emmy purposes, it's being submitted alongside the rest of The Bear Season Four, and there is a tab labeled "Gary" when you go to The Bear page on the app. But it's presented as the first (maybe only?) episode of something else, and was released without any advance publicity.
Every now and then, TV will give us a surprise episode drop — a pre-scandal Louis C.K. once did a surprise series drop with Horace and Pete, which he distributed through his website — but it's a lot rarer than it is in music, and especially with a show as high-profile as The Bear.
What happens in "Gary"? Is it great? Why is it presented separately from the show and/or Season Four? Many thoughts on all of that — with spoilers — coming up just as soon as I'm an emergency back-up goalie...