Barry recap: NoHo Hank’s crime utopia has a quicksand problem
With Barry on the lam, Hank, Sally, and Gene hit new lows
TV Reviews Barry
The sound of helicopters makes up most of the background noise on this week’s stellar episode of Barry, a show without a titular character, at least for these 30 minutes. Yet, the whirling blades serve as a reminder that the one hitman at the center of everyone’s personality crises is out there, evading the cops and on the hunt, coming for one of his former friends. Well, everyone but Fuches, whose lips are sealed shut with bruises thanks to the batons of his prison guards.
At the start of the episode, when the rotors start turning, we see Fuches, purple and bloodied, listening to the dulcet tones of his Dustin Hoffman’s escape. It really is just like Rain Man. Guards pounding on his cell door overpowers the noise above, reminding Fuches that he’ll pay the price for trying to save the cops a monster headache and a few headshots from last week’s massacre. He’ll bear the brunt for his friend, making him a jailhouse martyr. Fuches is the one person that seems to still be on his side, just as he has been all his life. No wonder Barry’s such a mess.
For the other two men in Barry’s life, his escape is an alarming development. At the behest of Tom and his son Leo (Andrew Leeds), Cousineau holes up at his cabin at Big Bear, where he gets no cell reception and an inconclusive answer as to whether or not Coral Street Cafe will deliver out there. When Tom calls with the news of Barry’s escape, Cousineau declares himself a “sitting fucking duck” and sits and waits for Barry to arrive with Rip Torn’s gun pointed right at the door.
Hank’s also worried about Barry, but even more immediately, about the returning Chechens. When we catch up with him amid Dave Wingo’s pulsating electronic score, Hank watches the skies like Fuches, keenly aware that the choppers are looking for their old friend. Since Toro failed to kill Barry last week because this is what happens when you hire two guys with a podcast, Hank’s likely regretting calling him a narcissistic, self-centered, murdering piece of shit. Still, the Chechens may be closer than Barry, and they disapprove of crime utopia and will probably kill Cristobal.
As apprehensive as Hank seems, Cristobal is bubbling over with pride. The sand will make him legitimate, and he and Hank can live like two Dorthys in Oz. Nevertheless, it’s time for his team to relax and party with free drinks, casino games, and snacks. Hader and his production designers know how to throw a sad party—put it in a big open space that would be impossible to fill.
The only one ignoring the helicopters is Sally, who is, surprisingly, on set with her new acting student Kristen. Sally’s return to set feels similar to the one-shot mayhem of “limonada” until we’re reminded that she’s on the set of Mega Girls because of Kristen. Still, she meets Academy Award-winning CODA writer/director Sian Heder, the latest filmmaker who went from working with committed actors to tell a deeply personal story to a movie about models in Halloween costumes fighting over a blue glowy thing infinity orb. Regardless, when people see Mega Girls, they’re going to think whoever made this made CODA. It’s an astute parody of the indie-to-Marvel pipeline that swallowed Chloe Zhao whole—even though Mega Girls looks more fun than Eternals.
As Sally’s fate flutters overhead, she has an opportunity in front of her. Seated behind the cameras as Kristen flubs her Mega Girls lines, Sally watches as her only pupil blows the chance that Sally never got. When Kristen goes full breakdown, something we’ve seen Sally do time and again, Sally provides the comfort only a mentor can offer. She attempts to lead Kristen through sense memory exercises, hoping to trigger some of those sacrificial moments Kristen can’t access, despite having dated a guy who was 5’3", which is really short. Unfortunately, Kristen’s short-king trauma won’t cut it, and Sally uses Kristen as a sacrifice of her own, delivering Kristen’s lines directly to the camera and Heder, with some exquisite blocking that cuts Kristen out of the frame. Sally nails Kristen’s part. Now if only Heder could put those words in Kristen’s body.
Sally’s betrayal is light compared to what Hank has in store. Hank move the sand party to the silo where the crew check out the guest of honor. He leads Cristobal and the gaggle of doomed gangsters up the silo. The gangsters ignore Hank’s request to remove their shoes on the sand, and Cristobal ignores Hank’s other request—that his lover follow Hank out of the silo. After Hank leaves the room, we are left with a long shot of the gang and Cristobal in the center of the sand patch when the floor drops below them, burying Cristobal underneath his future fortune. No, Hank, he probably isn’t feeling like Scrooge McDuck.
The camera rushes over to Cristobal, stuck in the sand with his face and arm still exposed. As he calls for Hank, he sinks deeper with the sand muffling his cries for help. Hader’s clever use of sound here, raising and lowering the volume depending on where Cristobal and Hank are, puts the viewer in this experience and ratchets the tension. The darkness goes on forever as we ponder a world without Cristobal. Finally, when Hank begins pulling Cristobal out of the sand, the sound increases, and we can breathe a sigh of relief. However, there isn’t much respite on the other side of the silo.
When he comes to, Hank is surrounded by his old Chechen bosses, with Michael Ironside’s Andrei finally returning to the show. Through a series of powerful low-angle shots, Andrei towers over his old nemesis Cristobal as Hank shamefully lowers his head. No longer confined to a Zoom screen, Andrei’s appearance in Los Angeles cements Cristobal’s fate. It’s time to wake up now, Dorthy.
Hank’s betrayal begins one of the most heartwrenching scenes on the show. Michael Irby and Anthony Carrigan have such a strong foundation for their characters, playing both games (bloodthirsty warlord and fun, funky fresh couple) to perfection. But here, they’re human, in all their crying, imperfect glory. Hank pleads with Cristobal to accept the facts: The Chechens will wipe them out if they don’t fall in line, and to their credit, the Chechens welcome Cristobal, a former rival, with open arms. He’s Hank’s family, so he’s the Chechens’ family. But he still tries to lean into the reality of a lovers’ quarrel, saying they should sleep on it, take a beat, and hold off before doing anything too hasty.
Unlike, say, everyone else on the show, Cristobal finds Hank’s willingness to kill his new gang, men loyal to him and who would die for the promise of crime utopia, inhumane. Now who’s the narcissistic, self-centered, murdering piece of shit? Generally speaking, victims don’t matter to the people of Barry. They wait on the beach as Barry gives them a friendly wave. People commit murder regularly, and with such viciousness on the show, seeing someone consider the victim is rare. It’s something that Barry certainly tries to suppress—one of those things that he doesn’t want to be true. But in the bloodthirsty world of Hollywood and the cartels, to be a killer is a good thing. It makes men hard. But their dispute isn’t so different from all the conversations Barry had with Cousineau and Sally. If they don’t stay loyal to him, they’ll end up dead or in jail. Only he can keep them safe.
In the end, Cristobal walks out on Hank, sealing his fate. Hader reveals Cristobal’s corpse on the pavement outside Hank’s home with a Wes Anderson-level detachment—his body framed by the front door with a precise row of armed goons staring back at Hank. And like Anderson, the flat presentation and distant camera work only strengthen the emotion. Hank returns to the couch, begins breathing, and suppresses his pain. Carrigan is a raw nerve here, a man who has lost everything and has no one to blame it on but himself. It’s a beautiful and crushing scene for which Carrigan and Irby deserve all the praise in the world. It’s a brutal end to a lovely romance. But sandcastles aren’t meant to last forever.
The sacrifices didn’t end there. There’s still Gene Cousineau, seated in his rocker at Big Bear with Rip Torn’s gun pointed right at the door. Poor, stupid, trigger-happy Gene. When his son returns to deliver his old man some Coral Street Cafe, Cousineau fires a few rounds into the door, sending his son to the ground. Cousineau doesn’t even know. He leaves the scene with a very funny “fuck you” and rushes off. Leo is left gasping for breath in a situation eerily similar to the types of gun violence commonplace in the U.S. Domestic incidents make up most of the gun violence in this country.
Barry has long been a show about the ways violence and mayhem spread through society, often perpetrated by people who believe in their heart of hearts that they’re good. And yet, they still bury their employees in the sand, have their boyfriends killed, and shoot their sons. Heck, the only “good guy” in this episode is Fuches, who refuses to rat out Barry and earns Livewire and Groovetube’s respect in the process. At the end of the day, though, these characters commit their crimes and end up in the same place.
After attempting to steal Kristen’s role, Sally briefly chatted with Kristen’s agent about getting back in the game. She can work her way back in by being an acting coach for models. Unfortunately, Sally is back at square one and sees herself repeating patterns. When Kristen tells Sally that Barry escaped, she offers Sally a place to stay. It’s a nice offer, but it will only get Kristen killed. The longer people are near the “Entitled Vagina Woman,” the worse things become. So Sally heads home, confident Barry’s there. She’s right. Barry creeps from the shadows with an explanation, but Sally doesn’t need to hear him out. She’s ready to run off with him.
The last scene takes place in the fields where Barry grew up. Or so we thought. What was once the setting of a hallucination now indicates a time jump. In a house in the middle of some undeveloped plot of land lives Barry, Sally, and John, their son. Finally, it looks like Barry and Sally have outrun their problems and all the mayhem they have wrought. With four episodes left, we’ll see how it catches up with them.
Stray observations
- In an episode filled with harrowing moments, two line readings anchored me to the belief that this show is still a comedy above all else: The one gangster yelling “karaoke” and the CB radio in Moss’ car describing the Dave & Busters raid. “We ain’t finding any heats on these fools, mostly Powercards™. No sign of Hank or any gangsters at all. Just a bunch of Chargers fans and one guy in a Houston Oilers hat, which is confusing.”
- Another excellent line reading was Hader’s “Really.” This show jumps from comedy to drama with the ease of a Coen brothers movie. Bill Hader, please make a movie already.
- The raid on Dave & Busters beautifully paid off that bit of product placement.
- Does Gene know how to cut bread? Does he not buy sliced? Going right into the center of the loaf felt like such a choice.
- “Gene, I got to the bottom of the mountain and my cell just lept to life!”
“Can’t you just say, ‘I got service,’ like everybody else.” - I was hoping that we were seeing Barry and his brother arguing over Call Of Duty—though that was also the first sign that this is taking place now. Call Of Duty probably wasn’t around when Barry was a kid. Even more interesting, he’s never heard of Call Of Duty. Barry and Sally seem to be sheltering this kid far from society.
- It’s always a pleasure to see Michael Ironside, who is as menacing as ever when he assures Hank that Cristobal is family.
- I forgot to shout out Richard Riehle last week. Aside from playing a very threatening warden, Riehle also has a brief Office Space reunion opposite Stephen Root. This show is character-actor heaven.
- Seriously, how can we get Anthony Carrigan an Emmy?
131 Comments
So we’re all in now on pretending Chloe Zhao hated doing a Marvel film?
Well, yeah; how on earth could a true cinematic auteur possibly enjoy churning out homogenized audiovisual product that has to hit predetermined story beats without any hint of individual creativity? We all know that all superhero junk is literally indistinguishable from all other superhero junk, right?(I think this is an over-the-top parody of current critical thought regarding superhero movies, but to be honest, I can’t be sure anymore…)
Perhaps not at the time, but I’m sure she isn’t particularly proud of the result.
Bob Odenkirk did Hot Ones a month or so ago, and he “revealed” something obvious that a lot of people seem not to know: most people who make bad movies know they made a bad movie. Do they know if it will be successful or popular? No, generally not. But do they have an entire life in the industry and liking (and sometimes making) good movies to compare to their bad one? Generally, yes.
Chloe Zhao doesn’t have to hate Eternals to be aware of its quality, message, and purpose, or rather, its lack of those three things.
Why in god’s name they chose to do Eternals as a movie instead of a series will forever elude me.
I think they thought it could be another Guardians. Lesser known property, left field director, up and coming actors. They were coming off Endgame, and thought they could do no wrong. They had a hot director who wasn’t gonna do a TV series.
I guess they thought since they were able to make a successful movie out of the Guardians Of The Galaxy, they could do the same with The Eternals.
I think you’re right. But the sheer volume of new characters (not to mention entirely new race of beings, history, etc) ensured that even the faithful (me and my kid) were like “Who’s this guy again? What’s his deal?” on swivel for 3 hours.
obviously actors who make bad movie and know they are bad can still have a good time making them. If it’s once in a while and not their whole career which would be quite bad for their ego.
Whether or not it accurately reflects how Chloe Zhao felt about directing a Marvel movie, I think the episode did a good job portraying the whiplash of going from making an intimate and prestigious award-winning film to making a movie about models looking for the glowing blue thing.
I don’t know that it was “portraying” it so much as “having your representative character directly describe it in specific disparaging terms”.
yeah i saw a joke in a tv show and that’s how i decide how i feel about things.
Chloe zhao is interesting, because there were a lot of monied people in her corner. Her dad’s name was mixed in with dealings with very wealthy people some of which was in the Panama Papers.To which i say, i just feels like she was pushed on us more than her movies touched us. And she didn’t need to Make a marvel movie for the money. So less a singular talent and more a talented lady that went to film school and got to write her ticket to do what she wanted. That she wanted the Eternals is wild but she definitely wantes to do it.
on the lambLike mint jelly?
Another day, another prominently obvious error in copy.How many more sponsored links for Honey Boo Boo news would it take to pay a copy editor?
“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
― Mark Twain
Which was the style at the time.
You really lept at that glaring error!
Speaking of Gene’s bread adventures, I’m pretty sure he was also trying to cut through the plastic bag, instead of taking the loaf out first. That silo scene was horrifying, especially listening to Cristóbal’s breathing stop. Reminded me a bit of the digestion scene from Nope.
Yeah, the bread cutting was the most unnerving thing in a show filled with unnerving stuff. I am guessing we are to believe the man has lived off of restaurant and take out fare for so long he has no clue how to prepare food.
On top of that, I’m pretty sure with was sliced bread inside the plastic. He didn’t even need to cut it, just open up the additional plastic seal.
Eh, I took it like he was so scared he didn’t even realize what he was doing wrong.
That’s interesting. I’ll have to rewatch it with that in mind.
Totally what it reminded me of! That creepy scene from NOPE that terrified me!
The Cristobal/Silo scene was remarkably similar to the final scene in the original version of “The Fly.” Just a head and an arm screaming “Help me!”
I was almost expecting the convicts to start clapping once Fuches managed to finally take his seat for his meal. His refusal to talk to the Warden, despite the beating he took, has earned their respect and probably their loyalty.
Seems that way, by how they all stopped eating and waited until he started eating until they continued. That’s a huge sign of respect.
The Raven flies again!
He might end with his prison army after all.
CAW! CAW! (is that how ravens sound?)
Some ravens can talk.
lots of talk in the recent root interview about ‘the real fuches’ and his ‘true form’ and how he had to work hard to access that. makes me think he’s gonna be fucking nuclear in the flash forward.
Oh, he’s still Fuches. He can turn on you in a nanosecond.
What’s kind of funny to me about that is he really didn’t know anything about Barry to tell in the first place. Sure he knew about the hit, but that’s just because he was in touch with the Chechens (who also want Barry dead, and thus have no clue how to locate him). Fuches took that beating entirely for nothing.
Fuches took that beating entirely for nothing.Not at all, it helped cement his power and newfound respect amongst the other inmates.
True, and there’s also the fact that the guards wouldn’t have believed that he knew nothing and were going to lay into him regardless of what he said.
I don’t think it was entirely for nothing. He was getting the beat down whether he told what he knew about Barry and the Chechens or not. His only real choice was to hope he didn’t lose what little cred he had with the other inmates by keeping his mouth shut.
His smirk at the end of the scene really sealed it. He got what he wanted and he knows it.
Maaaan fuck this episode and fuck this show. I feel physically ill after watching this.
I really loved the first three seasons of this show, but this season up to this point really wasn’t doing it for me. Something felt off. This was the first episode where I thought, okay, Barry is good again, and it barely had the titular character in it.
It was a bit more serious/grim in tone up until the attempted assassination/escape at the end of Episode 3. Starting with that scene it has been zanier again.Based on what I read the starting tone shift was definitely intentional, but it will be interesting to see how it closes out.
I had mentioned Hader and Wes Anderson last week, those carefully composed shots. Heartbreaking scene with Leo lying out there—he, not Fuches is the most sympathetic character, otherwise most of the main bunch have blood on their hands. It always takes a minute to recognize Ironside, I tried to check myself and he wasn’t listed as cast yet this episode on IMDB, but I remembered he was on there previously.. He’s getting a lot of work, good on him.
Guaranteed Hader is a big Scanners fan.
You can tell he has a lot of influences, and uses them well in the show.
His “The Movies That Made Me” podcast appearance was a revelation in terms of who and what he loves in cinema. When my kid watched “ronnie/lily” for the first time he said “Wow. Big Coens fan, Bill?”
Hey thank you for the info! I will have to find the podcast—fascinated by someone who is a clearly a film nerd, teethed on numerous directors and showcases those influences in his own work. Also, good on your kid with his eclectic Cinematic awareness…
I definitely agree about how Hader’s framing compares to Anderson’s. What I can’t agree with is the writer’s opinion that it increases the emotional connection to characters. Never has for me, and probably never will.
Completely agree—not at all an emotional connection, rather, I always feel like the observer a distance away, watching from afar. I am a big Wes fan because I revel and find strange comfort in the odd little worlds he creates and I feel the same with the Barry bunch.
“Seated behind the cameras as Kristen flubs her Mega Girls lines, Sally watches as her only pupil blows the chance that Sally never got.”I mean she had her own TV show. She sabotaged herself.
If I cringed any harder at Sally trying to nab that role from her, I might have become a fossil.
“She sabotaged herself.”
I mean, the algorithm canceled her show the day after it premiered. Not sure you can pin that as “sabotage” on her part…
what? no she was ditched by the algorithm despite having critical acclaim; which is unbelievably cruel and would make anyone go absolutely bonkers.
Not sure that is a time jump. I took it as another one of Barry’s hallucinations similar to the wedding reception.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was a figment of Barry’s imagination.
Definitely not a hallucination. The twist works because we had been set up to assume we were seeing another flashback of Barry’s. This is a time jump.
I hope not. The entire show has been establishing that Barry is simply not capable of becoming that person or living that life.
100% hallucination.
But that would also make sense for it to be a hallucination, since Barry would use his own memories to imagine somebody else’s childhood.
Maybe
Not sure, but the fridge contents kind of tells me maybe. Only beer and a donut with a bite taken out of it (a reference to last season?). Like, of course Barry can’t bother to fantasize/hallucinate real food. It’s all just shopping aisles of soup and gum.
Ooh, good point. I was Team TimeJump until I just read this.
I think it’s very telling that when the kid opens the fridge all you see is beer, wine and donuts.Yeah, beer, wine and donuts. That tells you right there what kind of household it is (laughs). Episode 5 and the finale are my two favorite episodes of the season.
Agree. How could they pass Jim Moss waiting outside so easily?
Hader confirmed it was a legit time jump.https://www.thewrap.com/barry-season-4-episode-4-recap-bill-hader-interview/
Gutsy choice, but I am not sure why I am surprised at this point.
Its a time jump.
Barry has a deal with the feds for witness protection with Sally, set up earlier in the season. Pretty sure that’s what we’re seeing here.
The obvious pop culture comparison to this episode is Jaws. Every scene had the dread of “Barry shows up and kills the people in this scene.” I thought he even wouldn’t have showed up at Sally’s but instead the end of the episode we’d see him drive to that desert place to find his family (I think last episode mentioned he had a brother). The episode’s actual ending shocked me with its ballsiness, if it’s not a hallucination.Cristobal sinking in the sand was absolutely brutal, and his survival was an excellent fake-out of comfort: we didn’t expect him to actually die in this episode. The breakup scene with Hank was so well written and shot. I did think that perhaps Michael Irby had gotten a better offer on TV and that’s why he was leaving the show, my denial that the murder of Cristobal, a well-liked character, was always planned.I think (hope) that Gene didn’t kill his son but just wounded him. We see him on the ground with a bloody arm? I recall. This show is plenty dark, but a dad accidentally killing his own son, in a fit of justifiable panic, seems too much.
“why he’s leaving the show”This is the final season of the show; there’s only 4 episodes left after this.
I got the sense that his son isn’t dead. I think that would break Gene as a character. You just can’t come back from that. He’s already come back from one bout of grief. I hope he doesn’t get sidelined in another.
I could also see the show intentionally subverting your expectations based on the stereotype that shoulder/arm wounds are not life threatening in film and television. You can absolutely bleed out and die from being “winged”.
the fact Gene didn’t even check and that he will probably die because of this too is the icing on the cake; and it’s really fitting with the show
Yeah I was thinking exposure too. If he loses blood + the temperature drops, he could absolutely die out there.
Last season the show portrayed a mom accidentally killing her own son.
I had forgotten that.
That might’ve been the darkest moment in the show so far.
Fuck you, Bill Hader.
This episode brings up a recurring theme of the show: leave the killing to the professionals. Most of the show’s civilians never seem to successfully kill their intended target. The sad-sack detective from Season 2, for example, or every family member of Barry’s past victims in Season 3. Maybe the podcasters from last week. And now paranoid Gene. (Interestingly, NoHo Hank and Sally are the exceptions to this rule, registering their first kills at the end of last season.)
I think NoHo Hank qualifies as a professional
“I think NoHo Hank qualifies as a professional”A professional killer? I don’t think so. NoHo Hank did not like to get his hands dirty. That’s one of the reasons the Chechens hire Barry in the first place. He’s a professional criminal, sure, but he didn’t personally kill anyone until the end of season 3, when he escaped capture and shot Elena and the male dancer to save Cristobal. Until then, NoHo Hank was an interesting parallel to Fuches, who also does not like to get his hands dirty, at least in his post-military career (if he was in the military at all).
“What was once the setting of a hallucination now indicates a time jump.”
Time Jump?
You…thought that was real life?I mean………come on!
As someone who owns a Houston Oilers hat and lives no where close to Texas, I feel targeted.
At leasrt you don’t own a Dallas Cowboys hate and live nowhere close to Texas like 99.9% of Cowboys “fans”.
She attempts to lead Kristen through sense memory exercises, hoping to trigger some of those sacrificial moments Kristen can’t access, despite having dated a guy who was 5’3″, which is really short.I lol’d at that part. The sacrifice!
Between the death of Cristobal, the eager sand crew, and Gene shooting his own son, this episode was just crushing. I have all the admiration in the world for Mr. Irby, who did such an excellent job in his role. Not only was the relationship between Hank and Cristobal one of the most delightful parts of the show (which is why this episode is so difficult), but I still think his introduction via The Four Agreements is the funniest thing the show has ever done. Cristobal is going to be missed.That Dave and Busters bit was inspired. My oldest son and I have a little tradition of going there on the opening day of the NFL to watch football and play games. A few times we have seen Oilers hats and have looked at each other and gone “WHAAAAAAT???” , so I cracked up when the police were confused too. And because they all had Power Cards-I must have 50 0f those scattered randomly around my house.This episode earned its A, but I don’t think I will be able to watch it again any time soon.
I love the parallel between Hank pleading with Cristobal that he can’t leave because he knows too much and he’ll have to be killed, and Barry pleading in Season 1 with Chris that he can’t let him go because Chris said he would go turn himself in. It really shows that Hank has finally become Barry, which is what he thought he wanted all along. Great stuff.
Yeah, one of the themes of the show seems to be “be careful what you wish for.” Hank is tough and miserable. Sally is famous and miserable. Fuches has his prison crew now but had to be beaten nearly to death to get it. It’ll be interesting to see how Barry fucks up his ideal life with Sally and son. It probably won’t be hard.
Don’t forget Gene. He got the fame he wanted, too; and he can’t enjoy it because he’s got a psychopath looking for him and has to lay low. Two if you count Jim Moss.
I love the parallel between Hank pleading with Cristobal that he can’t leave because he knows too muchI don’t understand how Christobal doesn’t get it, and why Hank isn’t more explicit about what’s going on here (even if they’re probably listening to everything).
Yeah, it felt a little out character for Cristobal, like he somehow forgot that they’ve actually been in organized crime this whole time.
Hader said that Cristobal absolutely gets it, he just tries to call Hank’s bluff, as if this situation wasn’t tragic enough.
But if Cristobal thought the decisions was Hank’s, then he didn’t get it. It still speaks to the earlier point that he should know how organized crime works, or Hank should say, “Not me, those guys will kill you.”
The writing on this show is fantastic, but it has its faults and regardless of what Hader says, I think he’s just trying to explain a minor dip in the script.
the death of Cristobal’s men and his and hank’s relationsip was so brutal and affecting. the cute bear henchman with the face tattoo who was showing Cristobal a photo on his phone, was my fave.i’d forgotten i use to find Robert Romano in ER, hot, growing up lol.
Never hotter than with his face melting off in Robocop.
Dr. Robert Romano in an episode with a recurring motif of HELICOPTER sounds!!!!
So funny to see this other side of the henchman. He was on Good Girls as a more straightforward henchman
Wow despite being a big E.R. fan I totally did not recognize him!!
The CODA director stuff reminded me of what it must have been like for Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden doing Captain Marvel.
“Now if only Heder could put those words in Kristen’s body.”I think you meant “…if only Sally could put those words…”
The director of Coda, the woman who Sally was doing the line to, is named Sian Heder.
Ah, I got Hader and Heder mixed up!
Like lamb and lam
This show has gone from a good show I enjoyed watching to a good show I am miserable watching. I won’t argue it’s bad – it’s clearly good, but it is a grinding, miserable experience to watch now.
It reminds me a bit of Breaking Bad, although Barry is obviously more of a comedy than Breaking Bad ever was. But Breaking Bad had a lot of comedic moments and levity in the first few seasons and became increasingly bleak throughout the years. I remember doing my first rewatch of that show and and couldn’t believe how much lighter the tone was in the beginning.
Good point, though I feel opposite about the shows though, prefer later BB and earlier Barry
as much as I love Better Call Saul (and Breaking Bad to a lesser extent); I really place Barry way above those. this show is really a masterpiece (and I’d put Atlanta to the same level btw). Surreal and dark comedy is a winning combination.
i think similarly they (vince gilligan and bill hader) kind of learned how to direct and take more chances as they made the show. it was also more glaring on BB because that show only takes place over like 18 months.i wonder what season 1 of either show would look like if the directors they are now took a stab at them.
The thing that most struck me this episode in terms of comparing Barry and Breaking Bad– particularly with Hank/Cristobal and Gene/Leo– is that getting involved with Barry Berkman, or Walter White, inevitably brings his brand of violence and destruction down on or around you, even when he’s not around.
well it’s a dark comedy; I still laugh quite a bit
Yeah I feel this, I come out of every episode just feeling awful now which I get is probably the point but yeesh.
Definitely getting darker but there’s still lots of laugh out loud moments for me.
Jim Moss’ sigh and reply as he sees Sally come home to her apartment (and he knowing Barry is in there) felt like a “Now I guess I’m going to have to kill her as well…”
Honestly, I’m curious how we get from that shot to Barry and Sally living anonymously (it really better not be some cheap hallucination).
Don’t forget the witness protection deal he made with the feds.
genuinely love how mad and despondent this show is making everyone. cannot wait to see what happens.
Damn, Barry LOVES Bud and donuts. And Sally LOVES wine. Makes sense that John wouldn’t know about Call of Duty. Barry would likely want to protect his son from the world of violence. I’m so pissed about Cristobal. 🙁
Well, that completely sucked. I can’t believe Hank saved Cristobal from torture and death only to have to kill him (by proxy) in the end. Their relationship mirrors the Barry/Sally dynamic so much now that I’m nervous about how Sally is going to exit the picture.Cousineau shooting his own son was…depressing. Fear and violence radiate out in a wider and wider circle on this show with Barry right at the center.I’m definitely watching the rest of the season, but only while I’m working out or something else that will combat the bleakness. Also, time jumps are dumb. But what am I going to do, stop now?
Dorthy -> Dorothy.
How to get Anthony Carrigan an Emmy – set Barry after Brett Goldstein
What was Cousineau’s son thinking showing up in the middle of the night without notifying his father that he was coming when he knew he was already terrified?
Yeah, that felt really off for me, like they wanted the shock and tragedy of Gene shooting his own son but didn’t really care about whether they made it plausible.
No cell reception at cabin.
There’s a land line at the cabin, though. Tom called Gene on it to tell him Barry broke out of prison.
What a gut punch of an episode. I’m surprised my audible gasps didn’t wake my wife up. I love when shows commit to big choices and changes and I can’t wait to see what they have for us next. We’re only halfway through the season!
Man, Gene really sabotaged his big comeback. He went from that sweet Masterclass gig to holing up in a cabin with no Internet just because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and had to talk to Vanity Fair. And, he took someone else down with him by shooting his own son. Classic Gene Cousineau.
when people see Mega Girls, they’re going to think whoever made this made CODA. It’s an astute parody of the indie-to-Marvel pipeline that swallowed Chloe Zhao wholeThis will be one of my favorite jokes from the show ever. Loved this episode. The questionable morals and series of unfortunate events, especially the tragedy between Hank and Cristobal, was almost Breaking Bad-esque. Was it ever established that Sally is actually a good actor? I always got the impression she was driven, but not necessarily talented. One of those “great-in-her-own-mind” kind of characters.
I think she way she nailed that speech of Kristen’s in her spur of the moment audition showed she’s good [she just wasn’t “appropriate for the role].Has everyone already forgotten what a terrible film CODA is? More of a Lifetime movie of the week than a “masterpiece” that had any business at the Oscars.
My favorite joke from the show was the quick throwaway “you have too many dogs!” line between the two women in the house when Gene is running away from Barry and you see him get chased through the yard by about 35 dogs of various sizes. That shit killed me. This show, though, just has so many of these quick, hilarious gags sprinkled into some pretty serious moments that make them hit so perfectly (like the police raid on the D&B this episode). It’s just phenomenal.
I wonder if it was Barry’s escape which triggered or solidified Hank choice to betray; maybe he thought this was the only way to protect him. not sure because it happens quite fast. That would mean both Gene and Hank have lost their loved one just because they’re so afraid of Barry (who absolutely doesn’t care about them).
“Gene, I got to the bottom of the mountain and my cell just lept to life!” “Can’t you just say, ‘I got service,’ like everybody else.”I love this show, and I binged the four available episodes last night, but this had me cracking up for a different reason. Phone service in and around Big Bear isn’t that bad and he would have easily had service during his drive down the mountain.
I think Cristobal’s death would have being more efective in the sand castle. At least that should be a funny moment.