Last week, FX stunned fans of The Bear by dropping a brand new episode, Gary. The hour-long installment was set mostly in the past, following the now-deceased Michael “Mikey” Berzatto (Jon Bernthal) and his best friend Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they journey to the nearby town of Gary, Indiana on an important errand for Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt). What follows is a testament to the pair’s friendship and a deeply dramatic peek at the mental illness that dogged Mikey until his death by suicide.

**Spoilers for The Bear: Gary, now streaming on Hulu**

Gary is set in the days leading up to little Eva Jerimovich’s (Annabelle Toomey) birth. So we once again see Richie still happily married to now ex-wife Tiff (Gillian Jacobs), although there is tension running throughout the entire episode about whether or not he can make it home by 5:15 PM, the exact hour Tiff has convinced herself she will go into labor. At first, it seems that shouldn’t be an issue, as Gary is only a 45-minute-long drive from Chicago. However, as the day wears on — without word about where they’re supposed to drop off a mysterious box in Gary — the episode becomes more about the tight, tender bond Mikey and Richie share, as well as the darkness surging beneath.

After bouncing around Gary, the two indulge in liquor and cocaine, and wind up bonding with a group of locals at dive bar. While Richie holds court, Mikey bonds with the mysterious “Sherri from Gary” (Marin Ireland). Their almost magical connection is cut short, though, when Richie discovers that Mikey has lied about being in touch with Uncle Jimmy. In fact, Uncle Jimmy and his contact have been waiting around all day for them to reach out.

As Richie attempts to make their drop off, Mikey turns on his friend. He gives a speech praising his love for Richie that soon turns sour as he lists all the reasons why Richie is fated to be a failure as a father. The two friends soon scuffle and the “important” errand they were dispatched to Gary to run is revealed to be utterly mundane. The episode ends with what appears to be a flash forward to Richie winding up in a brutal car accident in The Bear Season 5.

Gary was co-written by stars Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bacharach and directed by The Bear creator and showrunner Christopher Storer. Last week, Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach took a break from their current gig — co-starring in Dog Day Afternoon on Broadway — to chat all things Gary and The Bear…

DECIDER: I’m really curious about conceiving and writing this episode because there are scenes that feel very improvised and raw and some that have these beautiful lines. Like I wrote down the line that Marin Ireland’s character says: “I like a ghost town, you know what I mean?” It felt very atmospheric and poetic for the whole piece. Can you tell me if it was mostly improvised? Take me through writing it. 

EBON MOSS-BACHARACH: I think it was probably a lot more written than you think. You know, within different takes, things shifted like a little bit, but all the conversations in the car, the speeches in the bar, the scene with Marin, scenes on the phone back to Gillian [were all written]. The Bear always has a feeling of improvisation and I think that’s part of the naturalism of the writing and hopefully the truthfulness of the acting. But a lot of it, I think, is how it’s shot, which gives it a kind of verité feel, which ends up people assuming that it’s improvised. But it’s pretty scripted. 

JON BERNTHAL: Also, I’ve said it before, sort of as a visitor to the set, I love being there so much because there is a real — it does feel alive and it is fluid. I will say, through the course of this, Ebon and I would drive out to Gary like every single day together. So there were surely times where, “Hey, in this scene here, what if we try this? What if we say this?” But what you saw on the page is pretty much what you got. But you always know that there’s this ability to talk things through or change things. And it’s very rare, I think, for something that’s so personal and so deeply felt that it also can be that alive and fluid and up for sort of discussion. 

Ebon, I am really, really worried about Richie after the very end of the episode because it felt like it was set in the present day, and we might see him in dire straits next season. Can you tease anything about that and why you wanted to end it? Not potentially in the past, but in a different timeline?

EM-B: Again, today’s what May 8th? 9th? Where are we at, guys? What’s the date? May 8th. [The Bear Season 2 comes out] June 25th. You can do it. You can do it. I believe in you!

Okay. So we’re staying mum on that. Got it, got it.

Jon, one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the episode is towards the end in the bar, where your character starts praising Richie and then kind of tearing into him. It was awful to watch, but beautifully acted. I’m curious where you think that turn comes from, because up until that, he seems to be very loving towards Ritchie. And then it’s almost as if he’s trying to deflect his own failures. 

JB: Yeah, I mean, I think that’s it. I think we’ve seen traces of it in Mikey in the past. You definitely see it in Donna. What he lays out with Sherri, with Marin, in the bathroom is really how his mind works. The whole kind of arc for the story, for the episode, was pretty simple. You got these two friends making this trip. One guy is in a great mood and optimistic; the other guy’s in a really dark and kind of crappy place. He lifts the other guy up and then they’re in this sort of place in bliss. But there is all this stuff going on underneath: these feelings of jealousy, these feelings of resentment, these feelings of uncontrollable doubt and hopelessness, these feelings of darkness. We really wanted to get at this really specific thing that sometimes it takes an absolute stranger for you to actually be honest and for you to actually express what’s really going on inside of you, then you mix in drugs and alcohol.

It’s been so interesting to play this character one scene at a time over the years. Ebon, you know, first made that phone call and said, “Hey, man, I’m working on this show and, I don’t know, it feels really good. I love these people. It’s a really, really healthy set. Would you come over and do this thing for me?” I mean, what a call to get from a friend who you trust so much. And [the role] was this guy that was supposed to be larger than life, and had this magnetic smile, and was an incredible storyteller, and the kind of guy who’s loss would have such a huge impact. That’s really all I knew. Then becoming a fan of the show and being able to see it from afar, from really another realm, and realizing the impact that this guy has on these unbelievable characters, these unbelievably beautiful performances, and this pristine writing that’s going on, and be the best show on television. But to be able to show these other sides. And then this, it’s like we’ve seen his ugliness, we’ve seen it pop up, we’ve seen the damage. We’ve seen the depth of his love, we’ve seen the depth of his despair. But in this — this relationship here — this was a real opportunity to really dig into the wound. And I’m just really grateful that that that Chris let us do it. 

EM-B: I just want to add to that. You know, Mike’s talking about fatherhood in that moment and about Richie’s ability as a father. We know so much about Sugar and Carmy and Mike and Donna and Uncle Jimmy and the whole street. It’s like we know the whole neighborhood that The Bear takes place in, except for one. There’s this one black box and that’s their father, you know? We don’t know much about him at all, but you can imagine.

Yeah, this might be a strange question, but throughout the episode, there’s just tension over what’s in the box, and then it’s just plastic pump impellers. I had to Google it because I’d never heard of them before. How did you guys come up with plastic pump impellers?

EM-B: That was Christopher. That was Chris, right?

JB: Yeah. I think Chris wanted the most completely unnecessary… You know, like the whole idea was like this whole thing was stupid. And once the UPS strike was over, they wouldn’t be ever doing it again anyway. This whole idea that this was such an important thing for Richie and that he felt this was really a special day and the sort of apex of his career and that it was just completely for naught. It was a memorable and impactful and life-changing day, but for totally different reasons.

I guess before I go, was there a certain scene that you guys really loved the most? Because there’s so many layers to this episode. There was the basketball game or Marin in the bathroom or even just what happens with the CD being tossed out the window.

EM-B: I mean, I always love the scenes that are like not the capital “D” drama scenes. I love people just behaving and being together. I love the scene in the Koney King. I love when they’re getting the 40s. I love outside, like the kick demonstration. I really love that. I love just watching two people, like, stare at a weird, controlled fire on the side of the road. I feel like so much human behavior is revealed through nonevent moments and I those are, for me, more fun to act to. 

JB: I will really give — that’s really Ebon, man. Like the thing that he said from the beginning is it is so important here to not forget joy and to see these guys as best friends like they were 12-year-olds. That’s why, you know, like the basketball scene, like these things, to really have this center part of the story where it’s really bliss. We ended up not using some of it in the cut, but there’s like a lot of like hugging and kissing and just really seeing joy with these guys. You know, you can’t have one without the other. You can’t have the pain and the despair unless you see the grace that they’re falling from. It was really, really important to him from the beginning when we were designing it and I’m really glad it was because I think it really makes it. 

The Bear “Gary” is now streaming on Hulu. The Bear Season 5 comes out on FX and Hulu on June 25.

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.