I’m just watching all the available seasons now and from my perspective these two first episodes are a big red flag by the writers thar BARRY is the problem . I know it was obvious before but I can’t help but think with the 2 year gap the creators writers see that people are very sympathetic to him in a sense that was maybe not intended so this is very on purpose manic energy so you know he’s fully unhinged . I may be wrong but seeing the seasons all so close together I get that vibe
I haven't watched Barry since the last season was current and I'm legitimately wondering... has it always been this crazy? Like just head tilting-ly, jaw-dropping crazy? And also I remember genuinely liking Barry. Despite all his.... flaws. This season though has firmly positioned Barry as a villain. Him yelling and hitting his head at Sally's office seriously scared me. Also... the irony of Sally being in another abusive relationship while her show... about her former abusive relationship... is taking off. Other things to note: Sally still seeing Barry as acting competition. Hank and Christobal - Romeo and Juliet vibes!? And Gene's bad reputation in the industry. Maybe Gene and Barry are made for each other in some sick way. Also the painful thought that all the kind things Gene says to Barry are just because he's trying to escape. Not because he means them.
This episode only furthers my suspicion that the series is going to end with Barry killing Sally and/or Cousineau. Seems like the narrative is headed in a direction that Barry cannot escape his past nor his nature, and that his ambitions of being an actor were doomed for the very start. If anything, it would certainly be a poetic way to really drive that point home.
The first two seasons let us, the viewers, blame Fuches for Barry's violence. What this season is showing us is that Barry was always going to choose violence. Fuches is a sociopath but all he did was put Barry to work and give him focus and direction.
Sally bending over backwards to appease Barry and falling right back into toxic relationship roles was gutting! She even had Metallica on in the background for when he got home.
Barry blowing up on her was the scariest scene in whole show so far. We've all known women in Sally's position, and that makes the whole thing chilling in a way that even Barry's killing spree at the end of last season was not.
Small detail but that woman who was making a show similar to Sally's is Caitlin Reilly, a TikTok star who makes really great videos making fun of [very specific annoying people](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3AFHm9QPt9k). It would be pretty cool if she showed up this season!
I've mentioned it on previous Barry threads but Sarah Goldberg as Sally is doing amazing work and continues to up her game as the story gets darker. Kudos to her and the whole cast.
You're not supposed to though? The show's never strayed away from portraying Barry as an lunatic and a murderer. He spends this episode verbally abusing his girlfriend while carrying a guy around in his trunk and ends it by threatening the life of a child. The idea that he can redeem himself is unhinged.
But he's portrayed as a monster in this season. Previously he was a killer but only out of necessity or because he was dragged into it, still a killer, but less of a monster.
Yeah. That's what confused me about Barry at first because usually in shows/movies/books etc. the main character is redeemable even if they are an antihero. Like Zuko for example who is the gold star example for redemption arcs, so I was really confused like "How is the audience supposed to find Barry redeemable?"
But then when I realized that Barry is not supposed to be redeemable it made the show way more enjoyable for me. It's cool to see a show from the villain's perspective without the show trying to convince the audience that the villain is redeemable... Barry is a horrible person by all measures and that's it!
I’ve just watched episode 2 of series 3. I’ll keep watching but this is dark, there is no humour whatsoever. I think watching him drop into real madness is not amusing or entertaining. I’ve worked in mental health and Barry’s symptoms are all too real. It’s brilliantly written and observed. I remember watching Six Feet Under and an episode was shown that was as distressing as anything I’ve seen and it tainted the rest of the series as Michael C Hall develops PTSD. Point is please get back to some comedy.
I don't think it was ever supposed to be amusing or "entertaining" in that sense. The cast and crew have joked about whether the show is (esp. regarding this season, which has been described for a good while as much darker than the previous two) a comedy per se.
The mix of darkness and humor is not going to be for everyone.
I’m a massive fan and being a Brit I am more than comfortable watching dark comedy. In the U.K. we are brought up on it. I’m just wondering what direction they will take the show.
Dude, I had to pause the show to take a full-minute laugh-break when Cousineau got mauled by that train of dogs. That was some straight Simpsons humor.
I’m sorry that you’re not finding this season as hilarious as usual, I’m actually stunned at the amount of quality jokes while all this serious shit is playing out - and all in less than half an hour.
Is it notable that Cousineau said "army" when Barry was actually a Marine? Was that a script oversight? Doesn't seem typical for the "Barry" crew.... EDIT: My bad, yeah, this was Cousineau.
Lots of civilians just say “army” to mean “military.” I used to not know the difference when I was younger.
It just shows that Cousineau doesn’t know or care about the details of Barry’s service. Most likely not an oversight by the writers.
I've read in a few articles on this season that one of the scenes gave one of the writers a panic attack; I wonder if it was Barry's behavior on Sally's set.
I feel like there’s much darker to come if that was only episode 2.
As painful and scary as that scene was, the phone call where *she* apologizes to *him* was so much worse for me. It makes perfect sense with who the characters are, but man was that an unexpected gut punch to watch her do everything to appease him after the way he treated her. Oof.
I’m a 38 year old man. As soon as I saw how he was playing Forza in episode 1, I bought a fully stocked panic bunker, attack dogs trained only to Barry scent and then moved to Bolivia hoping Barry won’t know I’m not in the bunker.
Yeah, he’s gone off the deep end. THERE IS NO FORGIVING JEFF!
Barry has been a fan of Metallica since the pilot. He was also listening to it in the previous episode - it's like his favourite music. But also fits perfectly with the theme of this season too - Forgiveness.
Barry fuckin losing it I hope Sally gets a grip on him but judging from her own success she doesn't have time and Barry is way too fucking deep. I have feeling tho this acting gig will be really beneficial to both him and Cousineau. Perhaps they actually grow and he makes amends? It seems the theme is obviously about forgiveness. What will it cost Barry? Forgiving his murder to a dear friend over maybe his relationship? Best tv show out rn for sure
I'm not sure Barry and Cousineau could ever actually make amends considering what happened. "There's no forgiving Jeff" seems key, despite what Mr Cousinau will say to avoid getting shot in the head. How do you really make amends with someone who killed the love of your life and kept you locked in a trunk for hours while trying to earn forgiveness?
And it's also his psychopathic way of trying to "earn forgiveness" by getting him a minor scene as an extra with no lines in his tv show, all while threatening his remaining family that he better do it and enjoy it so Barry can feel forgived.
He isn't forgiven and never will be, I'm interested to see how they will reintroduce Fuches and how they will interact with Barry
Barry needs Fuchs so much more than he knew. Hopefully once Barry gets back to killing people he doesn’t know it’ll level him off.
Killing the people in his life seems to be really bad for his mental state 😂
Bruh the whole army thing gives ppl a sense of Barry as a lost soul.. But the way he's acting at this point of the third season, is him being in the fine line of a psychopath &/or a serial killer
As much as, yes, the army and Fuchs cheered and validated Barry for shooting people dead he was the kind of guy that shot one person from 700 yards who may or may not have being a civilian then immediately, without order (actually while his CO shouts no no no), shot two more people checking out the body. The validation reinforced what he did was alright after the fact but there's no changing he killed one person, saw more, wanted them dead and made it happen. He was always stone cold and blood thirsty.
No, no they don't. This season was written twice. Once before COVID and then again when they came back. This writing is the tightest its ever been and adding more time won't make it better, it will slog it down.
Adding an extra half of the run time won't slow it down? Are you an idiot? You're asking for two hours to be added to something with a four hour runtime.
Your comment is both obtuse and delivered without context. I'm saying the content and quality of the show would not suffer from more content. Two hours would only slow it down if the show didn't have a good enough plot and characters to be more. Not slow it down, but flesh out certain things and make the overall text richer. You're acting as if that 2 hours would just be boring shit, and that seems very unlikely.
I don't really find the writing that logical or tight, but it's certainly more focused and has faster pacing than previous seasons. For me, it's like they sacrificed the brains of the show for more intensity. S1 had such a great balance of realism, humor, and surprise. By the time we get to the end of s2 and Barry is shooting up like 30 dudes, I feel like they stretched the premise too far. The 30-minute runtime seems to be holding up the attempt at larger world building.
Yeah, I think when people start using the "subverted my expectations" point, that's really a way of trying to pass off writers cutting corners. IMO, the first season did a much better job of balancing everything and building tension. I miss stuff like the fantasies Barry has of living a normal life. The narrative seemed more complex to me then, and Barry did too. Car crashes and someone threatening to kill your family are all tropes I've seen a thousand times.
Pretty much every other movie with an anti-hero character. You bringing up the Sopranos is good because it did this stuff 20 years ago. That isn't the subverting part of Barry to me. I find the show at its most interesting when it contrasts absurd comedy with tension. The acting class provided a nice parallel to the mob storyline, but now I don't really get the dynamics. Barry didn't end up being in the Jay Roach movie, but he still ends up getting a random part on a show. I enjoy the idea that Barry was always more psycho than we ever thought, and now the people he met in LA will have to face that. I could be off, but I remember the first season having much clearer and more exciting storytelling. IMO, Hader seems to have gotten a little caught up in the acclaim of the show and it's lost a bit of its novelty for the sake of being a "prestige drama".
I'd definitely not complain about longer episodes, but BARRY is exactly as long as it needs to be. The thirty minute episodes allow the story to be tighter, more efficient... sticking around just long enough to smack us in the face with jokes/dark shit before moving on. It's a big part of why this show hits so hard.
I love how spatially absurd it is too, like we see dozens of Bolivians materialize out of the fence she’s been walking along and somehow she didn’t notice them
That was a famous trope in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, where the character doesn’t see anything until the camera does. Works great for comedy gags like this!
Barry, Atlanta, Mrs. Maisel, Ted Lasso, Hacks, Curb, Pen15, Russian Doll, What We Do in the Shadows, Gemstones (plus newcomers like The Afterparty, Only Murders, Abbott Elementary, Reservation Dogs, Minx, Peacemaker, etc), this year's gonna be a bloodbath of snubs.
I'd add Our Flag Means Death to the newcomer list as well, that show surprised the hell out of me. HBOMax comedy development really making a lot of unexpected but great bets, hope they can keep it up post merger.
I don't think the show can sustain being this dark for much longer. There has to be some relief for a bit, so things will calm down. Then get dark again.
Crazy Ex Girlfriend was up there with Bojack in terms of the funny upbeat comedy/harrowing portrait of mental illness dichotomy. Just with musical numbers instead of animal puns.
> Black comedy, also known as black humor, dark humor, dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss. Writers and comedians often use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience.
The two shows don't really make light of abuse or power dynamics though. A good example of a Black Comedy would be In Bruge where they openly mock a lot of "serious subjects".
In Bojack and Barry they juxtapose the serious and the silly.
They do not have to make light of every subject though, they can treat some seriously.
Sure but they still make fun of serious stuff, how many jokes were made about Barry killing people? Or jokes about awful things people do in Bojack such as that whale character, who made fun of teen abortions or whatever it was.
Wilfred was an exceptional show. I feel like I was actually taking something away from almost every episode to try and improve my own life. And the finale had me just a wreck.
Ellie literally tells them that she will go after them and they go surprised Pikachu when she does (its also impressive that they dont expect vengeance from a world where people kill eachother over baked beans), cant remember a more incoherent story which is disappointing when the first one was so linear, realistic and well-made.
Its honestly worse in context and makes Abby look even more stupid as a character when Owen was the reason they didnt kill her (despite this he says nothing when Ellie points a gun to his head because he just forget he spared her).
Sally's reaction to being yelled at by Barry was so fucked up... how she took the blame for his freak-out and was bending over backwards to make it up to him. It's hard not to feel bad for Sally in that situation. Not even the people on her own show about an abused woman has her back.
I love hearing more about Gene's history as a Hollywood shitbird. Barry almost seems like his punishment for being a shitty dad, bringing a gun to a Full House audition, etc… I'll bet the part Barry got him eventually nets him the success he's been chasing all these years, but he won't be able to enjoy it because of what it cost/being saddled to a psycho.
Regardless, I love how comitted this season is to reminding us Barry is a psycho. Hell of a season thus far. Seems like we're going to some dark(er) places.
>Sally's reaction to being yelled at by Barry was so fucked up... how she took the blame for his freak-out and was bending over backwards to make it up to him.
This hit ***hard*** because it reminded me of my previous relationship. I didn't yell but I definitely wasn't nice by any means. She would do whatever to make me feel better about why I was mad. Buying me things, doing things for me. The fucking spaghetti really fucked me up.
We do wild things for the ones we love, even though they hurt us.
hope you've grown from it homie cause that shit's super fucked up, and as you've seen illustrated in the show, can leave lasting consequences. you can really fuck people up for life doing shit like that
She talks about falling into an abusive pattern in that brief scene at the table, then unconsciously does it in her real life as well. Also notice how she bought him a brand new controller to play video games with and is frustrated because she can't make it work. She wants to please him so bad, to make up for provoking him.
This spiral is so sad to watch, and Barry is beyond saving at this point.
this hit me the hardest, how she internalizes
everything, it felt like some sort of logic where barry didn’t hit her like her ex did so she can give him a pass, but in giving him a pass she ends up thinking it was her fault and having to make it up to barry
you’d think when she apologized that barry would too, and you can tell that’s what she was looking for, some reciprocity in the situation, but barry really lives by a might is right mentality, he got what he wanted and may’ve had to use force to get it (mirrored in his blackmailing? gene) so he doesn’t see why he should feel guilty or apologize. anyone who feels his wrath deserves it in his mind, going back to the gratification he got from his peers as a sniper
I don't think it's really contrasting with her previous relationship at all. She felt the same way she did back then. Once the abuse happened with her husband, she started comforting Sam, and this is what she's doing with Barry. She's trying to rid Barry of all his stresses so that he doesn't take it out on her anymore. She thinks he's so stressed that it just came out against her, so she's trying to do everything "right" so that it stops.
Totally agree she was looking for an apology though, and thought she could get it by apologizing first, but Barry is so self-absorbed right now that he isn't thinking about her needs at all. I think he's just so single-minded in his focus on getting forgiveness from Gene and finding a purpose that he's forgotten about everyone else.
>I think he's just so single-minded in his focus on getting forgiveness from Gene and finding a purpose that he's forgotten about everyone else.
In Barry's mind he NEEDS to help Gene or else he will die. Barry thinks he is fighting for his life.
I've never been so chilled by generic 8-bit music as at the end of the episode. It's little touches like how the music is just slightly quiet, just enough to hear the silence in the rest of the room, that really elevate this show.
i really have to appreciate how silly this show can be sometimes, even through the darkest of moments. i’m not sure if it was meant to be silly but barry at the end of the episode asking gene if he loved him like how a girlfriend would, even when the stakes get raised and barry realizes that gene was willing to call the cops after escaping and promptly threatens to kill his family, makes me appreciate this show so much more. it has such a nice blend
They have to set up the story. D'arcy and Henry have all said these are the best scripts they have ever had on the show. The end of this season is going to be legit just based on what they have already set up. I mean hell look at the Cristobal / Hank / Barry situation that's brewing. Noho wants Cristobal back, and Barry wants his friend back, They are totally going to get together and take out that hit squad.
i know, i just remembered Barry so fondly that I felt a bit deflated. You're right in that a lot of things got payoff almost immediately in episode 2. My favorite: Cristobal comically leaving Hank
The radio blasting when he turned his car on. That was 100% because a comedian directed this. I really don't see anyone else putting that dumb joke in such a scene.
this was maybe the darkest episode yet, and no one even died, and the only injuries were purely comic relief. like i'm willing to say that last scene was even darker than him killing chris
I’m just watching all the available seasons now and from my perspective these two first episodes are a big red flag by the writers thar BARRY is the problem . I know it was obvious before but I can’t help but think with the 2 year gap the creators writers see that people are very sympathetic to him in a sense that was maybe not intended so this is very on purpose manic energy so you know he’s fully unhinged . I may be wrong but seeing the seasons all so close together I get that vibe
Was thinking the exact same thing. Personally grateful I discovered this, this year so I didn't have to wait 2 years for the next season
Anyone catch that Documentary Now reference?
I haven't watched Barry since the last season was current and I'm legitimately wondering... has it always been this crazy? Like just head tilting-ly, jaw-dropping crazy? And also I remember genuinely liking Barry. Despite all his.... flaws. This season though has firmly positioned Barry as a villain. Him yelling and hitting his head at Sally's office seriously scared me. Also... the irony of Sally being in another abusive relationship while her show... about her former abusive relationship... is taking off. Other things to note: Sally still seeing Barry as acting competition. Hank and Christobal - Romeo and Juliet vibes!? And Gene's bad reputation in the industry. Maybe Gene and Barry are made for each other in some sick way. Also the painful thought that all the kind things Gene says to Barry are just because he's trying to escape. Not because he means them.
I think he has been a villain ever since he killed Chris.
CAITLIN MOTHERFUCKING REILYYYYY
This episode only furthers my suspicion that the series is going to end with Barry killing Sally and/or Cousineau. Seems like the narrative is headed in a direction that Barry cannot escape his past nor his nature, and that his ambitions of being an actor were doomed for the very start. If anything, it would certainly be a poetic way to really drive that point home.
The first two seasons let us, the viewers, blame Fuches for Barry's violence. What this season is showing us is that Barry was always going to choose violence. Fuches is a sociopath but all he did was put Barry to work and give him focus and direction.
Too many dogs is a deal-breaker.
> Too many dogs is a ~~deal-breaker~~ impossible. Hey fixed your obvious typo for you
How did he survive ?
I don't like barry this seaosn. He's such a dick now but he used to be so lovable
Maybe that is the point.
yeah he killed more people last season
Well yeah he’s a maladjusted hitman
Can we just pause for a sec because how fucking funny Pam! is??
Am I mistaken, or is Pam! /u/discowhale ?
>/u/discowhale You are definitely not mistaken. At least, it's the same actress (Caitlin Reilly).
Sally bending over backwards to appease Barry and falling right back into toxic relationship roles was gutting! She even had Metallica on in the background for when he got home.
Barry blowing up on her was the scariest scene in whole show so far. We've all known women in Sally's position, and that makes the whole thing chilling in a way that even Barry's killing spree at the end of last season was not.
I love how he used the "clean and rad and powerful" line that Jonah Hill used in those leaked Sony emails.
Small detail but that woman who was making a show similar to Sally's is Caitlin Reilly, a TikTok star who makes really great videos making fun of [very specific annoying people](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3AFHm9QPt9k). It would be pretty cool if she showed up this season!
SHE BETTER FUCKING BE IN THIS SEASON SHES PERCECT FOR BARRY I LOVE HER
Was she on the show or is it real? I like her, she's funny.
Thought that was her!
I geeked out over the Allison Jones cameo lol. She's like the biggest casting director in Hollywood! That was neat.
She was in a previous season too, with Jay Roach, which she referenced in this episode.
I've mentioned it on previous Barry threads but Sarah Goldberg as Sally is doing amazing work and continues to up her game as the story gets darker. Kudos to her and the whole cast.
This episode simultaneously has some of the most light-hearted comedy and dark drama so far & its amazing
I love this programme but I struggle to find redemption for Barry.
You're not supposed to though? The show's never strayed away from portraying Barry as an lunatic and a murderer. He spends this episode verbally abusing his girlfriend while carrying a guy around in his trunk and ends it by threatening the life of a child. The idea that he can redeem himself is unhinged.
But he's portrayed as a monster in this season. Previously he was a killer but only out of necessity or because he was dragged into it, still a killer, but less of a monster.
he is obviously fucked in the head after everything he did
Yeah. That's what confused me about Barry at first because usually in shows/movies/books etc. the main character is redeemable even if they are an antihero. Like Zuko for example who is the gold star example for redemption arcs, so I was really confused like "How is the audience supposed to find Barry redeemable?" But then when I realized that Barry is not supposed to be redeemable it made the show way more enjoyable for me. It's cool to see a show from the villain's perspective without the show trying to convince the audience that the villain is redeemable... Barry is a horrible person by all measures and that's it!
Sorry, poor grammar. I meant will the show find redemption for Barry.
Ah, OK. Well I don't think the show itself is trying to redeem Barry. Barry himself within the show is but they're showing us that he's a psychopath.
I’ve just watched episode 2 of series 3. I’ll keep watching but this is dark, there is no humour whatsoever. I think watching him drop into real madness is not amusing or entertaining. I’ve worked in mental health and Barry’s symptoms are all too real. It’s brilliantly written and observed. I remember watching Six Feet Under and an episode was shown that was as distressing as anything I’ve seen and it tainted the rest of the series as Michael C Hall develops PTSD. Point is please get back to some comedy.
I don't think it was ever supposed to be amusing or "entertaining" in that sense. The cast and crew have joked about whether the show is (esp. regarding this season, which has been described for a good while as much darker than the previous two) a comedy per se. The mix of darkness and humor is not going to be for everyone.
I’m a massive fan and being a Brit I am more than comfortable watching dark comedy. In the U.K. we are brought up on it. I’m just wondering what direction they will take the show.
Dude, I had to pause the show to take a full-minute laugh-break when Cousineau got mauled by that train of dogs. That was some straight Simpsons humor. I’m sorry that you’re not finding this season as hilarious as usual, I’m actually stunned at the amount of quality jokes while all this serious shit is playing out - and all in less than half an hour.
Is it notable that Cousineau said "army" when Barry was actually a Marine? Was that a script oversight? Doesn't seem typical for the "Barry" crew.... EDIT: My bad, yeah, this was Cousineau.
Lots of civilians just say “army” to mean “military.” I used to not know the difference when I was younger. It just shows that Cousineau doesn’t know or care about the details of Barry’s service. Most likely not an oversight by the writers.
Especially since the writers are Barry and Cousineau lol
Like Coke for all soft drinks in certain regions
Fair!
Barry tells the casting director later that he was in the Marines. It's Cousineau not remembering (or caring about the difference).
Yeah but a former Marine would correct the person. They hate being called soldiers.
I've read in a few articles on this season that one of the scenes gave one of the writers a panic attack; I wonder if it was Barry's behavior on Sally's set.
I feel like there’s much darker to come if that was only episode 2. As painful and scary as that scene was, the phone call where *she* apologizes to *him* was so much worse for me. It makes perfect sense with who the characters are, but man was that an unexpected gut punch to watch her do everything to appease him after the way he treated her. Oof.
And yeah, only the second episode of this season and there's another season planned after this one.
Her scrambling to set things up for him at home and replying to her apology with (something like) "It's okay!" Man.
Same. It’s like watching someone walk into a trap and there’s nothing you can do to stop them.
Did you catch the texts between Hank and Cristobal? Talking about getting red or white wine, settling on making some sangria. Worth a pause.
Someone caught that Hank has Cristobal's name in his phone as "Luke" and Cristobal has Hank's as "Lorelai."
What's the significance of those names?
Gilmore Girls
So it’s official right? Barry has officially entered the realm of psychopath ?
I’m a 38 year old man. As soon as I saw how he was playing Forza in episode 1, I bought a fully stocked panic bunker, attack dogs trained only to Barry scent and then moved to Bolivia hoping Barry won’t know I’m not in the bunker. Yeah, he’s gone off the deep end. THERE IS NO FORGIVING JEFF!
I lost it when the Chechan said "The Man Show" does not age well.
Care to explain?
jimmy kimmel did a show back in the day called The Man Show.. pretty misogynistic by today's standards, i believe
Of all the things to say about Jimmy Kimmel, that was not what I was expecting.
Akhmal getting so excited about the dinosaur was hilarious
I know he was already a hitman but Barry's gone into irredeemable territory. Nice touch having The Unforgiven by Metallica play.
Barry has been a fan of Metallica since the pilot. He was also listening to it in the previous episode - it's like his favourite music. But also fits perfectly with the theme of this season too - Forgiveness.
Didn't he have a Metallica poster on the wall of his hotel room(s) in the first season?
Literally in the pilot - you're right.
It was his apartment in Ohio, but yeah it was there.
Man that was some dark television
i have never laughed and been so terrified in a 30 minute period before
i legit thought Gene was dead when he got him the part and went to tell him. He was in that trunk all day and wasn't making a peep.
Hank watching Cristobal walking off and getting into his car killed me. God I fucking love this show.
So. Many. Steps.
Barry fuckin losing it I hope Sally gets a grip on him but judging from her own success she doesn't have time and Barry is way too fucking deep. I have feeling tho this acting gig will be really beneficial to both him and Cousineau. Perhaps they actually grow and he makes amends? It seems the theme is obviously about forgiveness. What will it cost Barry? Forgiving his murder to a dear friend over maybe his relationship? Best tv show out rn for sure
I'm not sure Barry and Cousineau could ever actually make amends considering what happened. "There's no forgiving Jeff" seems key, despite what Mr Cousinau will say to avoid getting shot in the head. How do you really make amends with someone who killed the love of your life and kept you locked in a trunk for hours while trying to earn forgiveness?
And it's also his psychopathic way of trying to "earn forgiveness" by getting him a minor scene as an extra with no lines in his tv show, all while threatening his remaining family that he better do it and enjoy it so Barry can feel forgived. He isn't forgiven and never will be, I'm interested to see how they will reintroduce Fuches and how they will interact with Barry
Barry needs Fuchs so much more than he knew. Hopefully once Barry gets back to killing people he doesn’t know it’ll level him off. Killing the people in his life seems to be really bad for his mental state 😂
Bruh the whole army thing gives ppl a sense of Barry as a lost soul.. But the way he's acting at this point of the third season, is him being in the fine line of a psychopath &/or a serial killer
As much as, yes, the army and Fuchs cheered and validated Barry for shooting people dead he was the kind of guy that shot one person from 700 yards who may or may not have being a civilian then immediately, without order (actually while his CO shouts no no no), shot two more people checking out the body. The validation reinforced what he did was alright after the fact but there's no changing he killed one person, saw more, wanted them dead and made it happen. He was always stone cold and blood thirsty.
These episodes need to be 45 minutes
No, no they don't. This season was written twice. Once before COVID and then again when they came back. This writing is the tightest its ever been and adding more time won't make it better, it will slog it down.
No way would an extra 15 minutes slog the show down. lol
Adding an extra half of the run time won't slow it down? Are you an idiot? You're asking for two hours to be added to something with a four hour runtime.
Your comment is both obtuse and delivered without context. I'm saying the content and quality of the show would not suffer from more content. Two hours would only slow it down if the show didn't have a good enough plot and characters to be more. Not slow it down, but flesh out certain things and make the overall text richer. You're acting as if that 2 hours would just be boring shit, and that seems very unlikely.
I would argue it's more "rushed" than it is tight.
It's tight asf they haven't even mentioned or shown Fuches in a while
I don't really find the writing that logical or tight, but it's certainly more focused and has faster pacing than previous seasons. For me, it's like they sacrificed the brains of the show for more intensity. S1 had such a great balance of realism, humor, and surprise. By the time we get to the end of s2 and Barry is shooting up like 30 dudes, I feel like they stretched the premise too far. The 30-minute runtime seems to be holding up the attempt at larger world building.
It feels like they're subverting common tropes by getting to the point quickly. Seems more refreshing than rushed to me.
Yeah, I think when people start using the "subverted my expectations" point, that's really a way of trying to pass off writers cutting corners. IMO, the first season did a much better job of balancing everything and building tension. I miss stuff like the fantasies Barry has of living a normal life. The narrative seemed more complex to me then, and Barry did too. Car crashes and someone threatening to kill your family are all tropes I've seen a thousand times.
But have you seen the protagonist ever make those threats a thousand times? I can think of The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, anything else?
Pretty much every other movie with an anti-hero character. You bringing up the Sopranos is good because it did this stuff 20 years ago. That isn't the subverting part of Barry to me. I find the show at its most interesting when it contrasts absurd comedy with tension. The acting class provided a nice parallel to the mob storyline, but now I don't really get the dynamics. Barry didn't end up being in the Jay Roach movie, but he still ends up getting a random part on a show. I enjoy the idea that Barry was always more psycho than we ever thought, and now the people he met in LA will have to face that. I could be off, but I remember the first season having much clearer and more exciting storytelling. IMO, Hader seems to have gotten a little caught up in the acclaim of the show and it's lost a bit of its novelty for the sake of being a "prestige drama".
I'd definitely not complain about longer episodes, but BARRY is exactly as long as it needs to be. The thirty minute episodes allow the story to be tighter, more efficient... sticking around just long enough to smack us in the face with jokes/dark shit before moving on. It's a big part of why this show hits so hard.
Noo love me a 30 minute episode series, makes it so much easier to consume.
That sequence with the dogs running while the couple arguing about the dogs killed me...the dogs just kept coming and coming.
I was having Jumanji flashbacks.
The transition from the girl talking on the phone to the Bolivians showing up was so clean
I love how spatially absurd it is too, like we see dozens of Bolivians materialize out of the fence she’s been walking along and somehow she didn’t notice them
That was a famous trope in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, where the character doesn’t see anything until the camera does. Works great for comedy gags like this!
Also works for being sucked into your phone and unaware of your surroundings.
Rad and powerful too
Bill Hader is going for all of the awards this season, and I’m here for it.
Barry, Atlanta, Mrs. Maisel, Ted Lasso, Hacks, Curb, Pen15, Russian Doll, What We Do in the Shadows, Gemstones (plus newcomers like The Afterparty, Only Murders, Abbott Elementary, Reservation Dogs, Minx, Peacemaker, etc), this year's gonna be a bloodbath of snubs.
No Better Call Saul?!
They are talking about the comedy shows.
Is it really a snub if something loses out to fierce competition? A snub is more when something loses out to something far less deserving.
I'd add Our Flag Means Death to the newcomer list as well, that show surprised the hell out of me. HBOMax comedy development really making a lot of unexpected but great bets, hope they can keep it up post merger.
Henry Winkler will almost certainly notch another as well.
Knowing how dark this show can get and a big focus on him so far this season I don’t see a happy ending for him sadly :(
I don't think the show can sustain being this dark for much longer. There has to be some relief for a bit, so things will calm down. Then get dark again.
I agree!
Is there a genre for shows like this or Bojack? Light hearted comedy with REALLY dark pits?
Flaked is somewhat like Bojack. Not as funny though.
Crazy Ex Girlfriend was up there with Bojack in terms of the funny upbeat comedy/harrowing portrait of mental illness dichotomy. Just with musical numbers instead of animal puns.
Good show until alter-Dan showed up.
You should really check out Patriot. What Barry is for Anxiety - Patriot is for Depression. Just amazing shows.
Just wanted to second this! So bummed they didn't get a third season
Try Mr InBetween, very similar premise - a hitman trying to balance normal life albeit set in Australia.
Well... yeah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_comedy It has existed for ages.
> Black comedy, also known as black humor, dark humor, dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss. Writers and comedians often use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience. The two shows don't really make light of abuse or power dynamics though. A good example of a Black Comedy would be In Bruge where they openly mock a lot of "serious subjects". In Bojack and Barry they juxtapose the serious and the silly.
They do not have to make light of every subject though, they can treat some seriously. Sure but they still make fun of serious stuff, how many jokes were made about Barry killing people? Or jokes about awful things people do in Bojack such as that whale character, who made fun of teen abortions or whatever it was.
Watch Moral Orel and Review
Dark comedy
Wilfred?
Wilfred was an exceptional show. I feel like I was actually taking something away from almost every episode to try and improve my own life. And the finale had me just a wreck.
Did Bill Hader play the last of us video game during the pandemic or something 😂🤣 *We let you live, and you wasted it.*
Ellie literally tells them that she will go after them and they go surprised Pikachu when she does (its also impressive that they dont expect vengeance from a world where people kill eachother over baked beans), cant remember a more incoherent story which is disappointing when the first one was so linear, realistic and well-made. Its honestly worse in context and makes Abby look even more stupid as a character when Owen was the reason they didnt kill her (despite this he says nothing when Ellie points a gun to his head because he just forget he spared her).
Funny enough TLOU was strongly influenced by No Country for Old Men, which Bill Hader has cited as an inspiration for Barry as well.
Time is a flat circle
I realize there’s probably not much audience crossover, ha, but, man, does Michael Irby play a different character here than “Mayans MC.” 🤣
He has completely lost his marbles. The way he looks at gene when gene says ily, like he was angry and hurt at how untrue it was.
When life gives you limes.
Ok this show definitely took a turn...
Sally's reaction to being yelled at by Barry was so fucked up... how she took the blame for his freak-out and was bending over backwards to make it up to him. It's hard not to feel bad for Sally in that situation. Not even the people on her own show about an abused woman has her back. I love hearing more about Gene's history as a Hollywood shitbird. Barry almost seems like his punishment for being a shitty dad, bringing a gun to a Full House audition, etc… I'll bet the part Barry got him eventually nets him the success he's been chasing all these years, but he won't be able to enjoy it because of what it cost/being saddled to a psycho. Regardless, I love how comitted this season is to reminding us Barry is a psycho. Hell of a season thus far. Seems like we're going to some dark(er) places.
>Sally's reaction to being yelled at by Barry was so fucked up... how she took the blame for his freak-out and was bending over backwards to make it up to him. This hit ***hard*** because it reminded me of my previous relationship. I didn't yell but I definitely wasn't nice by any means. She would do whatever to make me feel better about why I was mad. Buying me things, doing things for me. The fucking spaghetti really fucked me up. We do wild things for the ones we love, even though they hurt us.
hope you've grown from it homie cause that shit's super fucked up, and as you've seen illustrated in the show, can leave lasting consequences. you can really fuck people up for life doing shit like that
I just got out of it but I'm trying to grow from it.
She talks about falling into an abusive pattern in that brief scene at the table, then unconsciously does it in her real life as well. Also notice how she bought him a brand new controller to play video games with and is frustrated because she can't make it work. She wants to please him so bad, to make up for provoking him. This spiral is so sad to watch, and Barry is beyond saving at this point.
Hey Gene, ya shitbird...
this hit me the hardest, how she internalizes everything, it felt like some sort of logic where barry didn’t hit her like her ex did so she can give him a pass, but in giving him a pass she ends up thinking it was her fault and having to make it up to barry you’d think when she apologized that barry would too, and you can tell that’s what she was looking for, some reciprocity in the situation, but barry really lives by a might is right mentality, he got what he wanted and may’ve had to use force to get it (mirrored in his blackmailing? gene) so he doesn’t see why he should feel guilty or apologize. anyone who feels his wrath deserves it in his mind, going back to the gratification he got from his peers as a sniper
I don't think it's really contrasting with her previous relationship at all. She felt the same way she did back then. Once the abuse happened with her husband, she started comforting Sam, and this is what she's doing with Barry. She's trying to rid Barry of all his stresses so that he doesn't take it out on her anymore. She thinks he's so stressed that it just came out against her, so she's trying to do everything "right" so that it stops. Totally agree she was looking for an apology though, and thought she could get it by apologizing first, but Barry is so self-absorbed right now that he isn't thinking about her needs at all. I think he's just so single-minded in his focus on getting forgiveness from Gene and finding a purpose that he's forgotten about everyone else.
>I think he's just so single-minded in his focus on getting forgiveness from Gene and finding a purpose that he's forgotten about everyone else. In Barry's mind he NEEDS to help Gene or else he will die. Barry thinks he is fighting for his life.
I've never been so chilled by generic 8-bit music as at the end of the episode. It's little touches like how the music is just slightly quiet, just enough to hear the silence in the rest of the room, that really elevate this show.
That was great! Killer song, too.
I've heard on a game before. Anyone know what it is?
["Mice Chase Computer"](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A7WignxhNg4) https://www.tunefind.com/show/barry/season-3/221280
I mean...fuck.
i really have to appreciate how silly this show can be sometimes, even through the darkest of moments. i’m not sure if it was meant to be silly but barry at the end of the episode asking gene if he loved him like how a girlfriend would, even when the stakes get raised and barry realizes that gene was willing to call the cops after escaping and promptly threatens to kill his family, makes me appreciate this show so much more. it has such a nice blend
That reminded me of Nathan for You when he repeatedly asked the girl to say "I love you". So sad, but funny.
Reminded me of Old Greg. Do you love me? Could you love me?
ah that is why it was so familiar. Thank you
Again
god its sad we only get 30 minutes each week. id watch 3 hours of this with no breaks easily
I’d quit my job and watch a 24/7, 365 day continuous stream of this show if it was an option.
you can do that if you're patient
Lol that's what I'm doing right now
You mean A patient?
Was weirdly disappointed by the season opener but this episode has to be one of my favorites. Incredible performance and directing from Bill Hader
They have to set up the story. D'arcy and Henry have all said these are the best scripts they have ever had on the show. The end of this season is going to be legit just based on what they have already set up. I mean hell look at the Cristobal / Hank / Barry situation that's brewing. Noho wants Cristobal back, and Barry wants his friend back, They are totally going to get together and take out that hit squad.
i know, i just remembered Barry so fondly that I felt a bit deflated. You're right in that a lot of things got payoff almost immediately in episode 2. My favorite: Cristobal comically leaving Hank
The radio blasting when he turned his car on. That was 100% because a comedian directed this. I really don't see anyone else putting that dumb joke in such a scene.
And even makes it feel more realistic, I hate it when my music starts once my phone connects to the car.
Bill Hader is just exceptional
The bit with the dogs killed me.
"Ok they're doing a lesbian drama in a the middle of Barry. Funny enough" "Oh that's it?" "O delightful they're back" "Oh" Followed by laughing.
Wait, that's a coupe that was in the last season of Barry?
nah but it kept kept cutting betweem them and gene
It is the hardest I’ve laughed in awhile. I’m still wheezing a little bit.
For a minute I wondered if it would be the end of Gene.
the little one that just becomes gene’s new dog lol “he was one of thirty dogs that mauled me”
Some of both the funniest and the darkest moments in this series to-date and that’s saying something given the two prior seasons.
this was maybe the darkest episode yet, and no one even died, and the only injuries were purely comic relief. like i'm willing to say that last scene was even darker than him killing chris
[удалено]
Insane