Okay, okay. I’m afraid I might almost have to agree with Larry David on this one. The final season of BARRY is good and all but is really going out on an absurd limb, isn’t it? I mean we get it, Barry Berkman was at the top of his craft as hired killer, not an actor. He was able to dodge bullets and mobs with deftness for the run of the show but, now we have swallowed the plot line of his escaping prison, scrubbing his identity, living unnoticed for eight years and then waltzing back into L. A. like he owns the place. Only to be then followed by Sally and their son John; also undetected. Yes, after a half-dozen years or so, authorities let their guard down, but there are no Wanted posters, or surveillance squads eyeing up Cousineau, Hank or the just released Fuches for possible connections to Barry? Was Jim Moss the only one paying attention? Are we supposed to root for Barry here? Henry Winkler knows all about ‘jumping the shark’ here; did we just get close?
Having said that, I like the story we have going but it is stretching a bit, but the tale is the tale and we will see it out. We find our man Barry is now in the hands of Jim Moss. We knew from previous indications that what happens in Moss’s attached garage is never a good thing. Barry is being subjected to emotional torture via AI goggles but a tray of nasty devises at Jim’s disposal lies close at hand. He is distracted by using any of them when Barry, in the midst of his weeping, blurts out about the money Barry gave Gene a while back. Barry wakes up later being left alone and manages to escape the garage. He makes his way through the empty Moss residence only to pass out again. He’ll revive from that spell also, only to still be free to roam the house. See, what I mean, how many breaks does this guy get?
Hank effortlessly tries to call it off with Fuches. It ain’t happenin’. After attempts to kill Fuches, including a mortar launch upon the house he decides that the only option left is to give Fuches what he wants – which is Barry. That leads us to the image at the top of this piece. He learns that Sally Reed is back in town and kidnaps her and her son. Just call that NoHo Nasty.
Sally is in town because she could not just sit tight at home to wait for Barry’s safe return. She, with John in tow, gets to L. A.; the only person she knows to turn to once there is Gene C. He tells her to meet him at his house. That, of course, is what lures her to her kidnapping. But Mr. C. is being lured as well. He is tipped off by a Hollywood agent that Daniel Day-Lewis was willing to come out of retirement to play Gene in the Barry biography. He swallowed that hook, line & sinker as it was all a ruse. He was lured to a meeting with the DA and Moss instead.
Why? With the aid of Leo, Gene’s son, they are convinced that Gene was actually dealing with the Chechens and somehow duped Barry into killing Janice to stop her investigation. Ohhh, let’s almost jump that shark again, shall we? So, what then, Barry gets leniency and Gene goes down? Well, we are about to find out with the finale episode the last one left to go. We conclude this episode with Hank calling Barry to inform him that he has Sally and son and if he wants to see them alive then he better show himself.
So, will it all set up for Barry, his family, Cousineau, Hank and Fuches all coming together in the end for one last time? We wouldn’t have it any other way. Check back for our look at the series finale of BARRY. Find it on HBO and on Max Sunday, May 28.
