Let's Talk About Season Three of HBO's "Barry"
Breaking down the newest year of TV's best series
Hello again. I have some new thoughts for you. This is going to be a two-topic post, and if you haven’t seen HBO’s “Barry” yet, or you haven’t seen the new season of the series, it’s best to come back to this post once you do. Spoilers abound!
– Song of the Day: “Coax Me”, Sloan.
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One of the very best from one of Canada’s very best bands. Urgent. Smart. Killer hook.
– So, yes, “Barry”’s third season ended this past Sunday, and it was a breathtaking season finale that left us with – last chance to avoid spoilers! – Barry (Bill Hader) getting busted by Gene Cousineau (the amazing Henry Winkler, in some of his finest-ever work) and the father of police detective (and Gene’s love interest) Janice Moss, whom Barry murdered at the end of Season One. The series, up until now, has been in large part about Barry managing to get away with many murders, but Hader (who directed the Season Three finale) chose to leave audiences stunned by Hader’s luck running out.
The same can be said for some of the other central characters in the series: The devil on Barry’s shoulder, “business” partner Monroe Fuches (the always-memorable Stephen Root) has also been caught, and makes his Season Three exit trying to boost his reputation in prison as an elite murdered named “The Raven”; and Sally Reed (Sarah Goldberg), who just finished murdering someone in Barry’s apartment, has left Hollywood for her hometown of Joplin, MO. This season has been about attempts at redemption for Barry, Fuches and Reed, but this is not a happy-endings-for-everyone type of show.
Indeed, there’s a slow rot that started in Season One that is accelerating tenfold by the end of Season Three. Hader is not clean-shaven in any one of Season Three’s eight episodes, and by the end of it, he’s filmed very much like a vampire. And in one scene, Fuches is bathed in red light, like Satan himself. Hader and co-creator Alec Berg have crafted a story that always goes above and beyond where you think it’s going, and the entire cast shines with the superb material they’re given.
That goes especially for the now-immortal NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), who rescued his true love, Bolivian crime-lord Cristobel Sifuentes (Michael Irby) from being tortured by Sifuentes’ vicious wife, Elena (Krizia Bajos). But to do so, Hank has to murder a slew of people as well – and by the time he reaches Cristobal, Hank isn’t sure how much of him is left. Again, if you’re looking for a pot of gold, or even a rainbow in this show, you’re probably going to come away disappointed.
However, if you’re a fan of nuanced, challenging storylines and episodes with not so much as a single wasted scene, you’re going to love Season Three. Even the more peripheral characters serve a purpose, and you never know what you’ll get next from this show; in some ways, it’s a black comedy; in other ways, it’s a satire on modern-day Hollywood; in other ways, it’s a thrill-a-minute action project – the motorcycle chase sequence in Episode Six of Season Three is a master class in inventive, effective storytelling – and in other ways, it’s a full-on tragedy.
“Barry” has been renewed for a fourth, and likely final season, but we’ll have to wait about a year to get it. But who cares – we know the wait will be worth it. Hader & Co. should and will earn a slew of Emmy Awards for their work this season, and now that Barry has been caught, it will be fascinating to see how Hader and Berg push the series through its final steps. Highest recommendation.
–That’s it for today. Take care of yourself.
Big fan of "Barry" and also Sloan's "Coax Me." So I thoroughly enjoyed this column. Hope you are well, Adam.