Barry Season 4 Episode 4 Review: Making A Jump
... Well then! If you've just watched tonight's episode of HBO's "Barry," entitled "it takes a psycho" (and boy, does it), then you know that for a show that is rarely screwing around, this episode really and truly did not screw around. If you haven't watched, just be warned (even more than usual) that surprises are plenty this week, so spoilers ahoy.
As you'll likely recall, last week's installment wrapped with Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) escaping prison thanks to a botched hit job (involving a hitman/podcaster played by Fred Armisen). So it's no surprise that this week starts in prison, as the grumpy warden (Richard Riehle) instigates a beatdown of Barry's old friend Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root), presuming the latter let the would-be assassins inside. Though Fuches did know about the attempt on Barry's life and tried to warn the now-infuriated guards, he of course has no idea where Barry might be at the moment. Shoulda listened to the Raven, you guys.
Barry's old acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) is — by sheer coincidence — up at his old cabin at Big Bear where his girlfriend Janice was once killed by Barry. It's not because he knows that Barry's out of jail, of course; because he came clean about talking to the press, Gene's agent Tom (Fred Melamed) and his son Leo (Andrew Leeds) both want him as far removed from the media as possible. Considering how angry Barry was getting about the prospect of Gene telling his life story, it's a wise move. That makes it all the more frustrating for Leo to have to tell his father no to requests like having someone stay with him or ordering meal delivery. But it turns out that Gene going to Big Bear isn't just his family's idea; in fact, it's the idea of Janice's taciturn but terrifying father Jim (Robert Wisdom), who's waiting outside Gene's house to inform the cops that the acting teacher's not there. "If you find Berkman before we do ... please don't kill him," the lead cop begs him, but Jim says he can't promise that, which ... well, frankly, that tracks.
The cops also know about NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) and his current whereabouts, which explains how tense he is. "This is what happens when you hire two guys with a podcast," Cristobal (Michael Irby) notes, while being relatively relaxed about the whole situation in spite of knowing that Barry is likely out for revenge. Cristobal's also relaxed because he's in the spirit of the given moment: he and Hank are giving their combined crews in the sand operation time to relax with karaoke, drinks, and some gambling. (It's a step up from Dave and Buster's, but only just.)
Models in Halloween costumes
Though the cops are apparently tracking Sally (Sarah Goldberg), she's largely unaware. We first see her on the set of a big new movie, in the vein of something like "Wonder Woman," where she's helping out Kristen (Ellyn James), the one acting student who took her rough approach in the right spirit. Though Sally tries to maintain a businesslike air, she's quickly in awe at two things: the size and scope of the production, and the director. We're now at two straight weeks of "Barry" featuring directors of recent Best Picture winners: last week, it was Guillermo del Toro of "The Shape of Water." This week, it's Sian Heder of "CODA", playing herself as she deadpans about how she's "switching gears with this one. On 'CODA,' I worked with committed actors on a deeply personal story. Now I'm working with models in Halloween costumes." (This whole scene — dryly funny as it is — may end up being awkward if she ever ... does make the jump to superhero movies. You never know.) Sally also meets Kristen's agent Mark (Paul McCrea), who quickly recognizes Sally from her accidental viral meltdown from last season. When Kristen's scene begins, she starts strong but is unable to finish her monologue, having a slight nervous breakdown. (Sally has to go coach Kristen at the same moment that her ex-agent Lindsay calls her, likely to tell her about Barry's escape.)
Gene, meanwhile, gets a call from Tom right as soon as the latter gets to the bottom of Big Bear, finding out that Barry's out of prison. "I am a sitting f***ing duck, Tom!" Gene shouts when he learns that he's not meant to leave his little cottage. Gene is often wrong, but this time, he's got a point. Later that night, Gene sits sleeping in his chair before the light turns on outside and we hear someone outside trying to get in. Gene is roused and springs into action: he grabs a revolver and shoots through the door, hissing "F*** you!" afterwards. But was it Barry on the other side of the door? As we find out (before Gene does, apparently), the answer is no: it's Gene's very surprised son, Leo. Welp!
Back in prison, we only hear more of Fuches being attacked by the guards and warden, as their attack is overseen by the same two inmates who mocked Fuches for his propensity for nicknames in the past. This time, though, acknowledging that Fuches isn't going to tell the cops about Barry any further only raises their respect for the man. When Fuches is able to join the rest of general population, he does so with intense bruising and obvious pain as he sits down to eat. Fuches notices that everyone stares at him initially, but seems to take it with grim satisfaction (or just plain grimness).
On the set, Sally tries to connect with the hyperventilating Kristen by encouraging her to do a sense-memory routine to get into the monologue. (That doesn't work, as Kristen's only example of pain is dating a short guy.) Sally instead reads the monologue aloud, facing Heder, using the same level of passion and emotion that the younger actress needs to bring to the part. The director is impressed, though she says that "that" has to come out of "that" (the latter "that" being Kristen).
Meet in flesh
At the sand-operation party, Cristobal encourages Hank to take his energy towards celebrating their dream coming true as opposed to being stressed about Hank. It's a good thing he's focusing on the party, because the cops are ... well, kind of onto him. They're a little late, since they first swarm the Dave and Buster's from a past episode and attack the guests wantonly (in spite of them ... not being criminals). Hank takes his fellow criminals on a tour of the big sand silo, or "the whole kit and the poodle," encouraging them to make sand angels in the center of the sand itself. "Who else feels like Scrooge McDuck right now?" Hank asks before having them all take a selfie. Then, Hank all but dashes out while encouraging Cristobal to follow him on some mysterious errand.
But Cristobal stays behind to check on a photo, which is arguably not a wise choice. Why's that? Well, within a few seconds, the silo springs to life and all the men sink to the bottom of the sand, including the horrified Cristobal. (The extended pitch-black shot as Cristobal screams for Hank's help recalls the queasy scene inside Jean Jacket in Jordan Peele's "Nope," at least to me.) Hank is equally horrified — he had no intention of letting Cristobal get hurt and saves him in the nick of time. But Cristobal has one more thing to learn: Hank did engineer it so the other men would be killed, as one last twist of the knife from his fellow Chechens Batir (JB Blanc) and Andrei (Michael Ironside). "We finally meet in flesh." Uh-oh.
Later, Sally rides on a golf cart with Mark, who lauds her acting-teacher abilities and offers her a gig working as an acting teacher on major films. "I can get you the best roles that you are ... uh ... appropriate for," he says. It's a bit of a hedge — he says it's "commendable" how Sally tried to scoop the role on the Heder film, but you can tell he's not that flattering. When Sally meets back up with Kristen, the latter has the unfortunate duty of messenger regarding Barry having escaped from prison. Sally — once again courtesy of Sarah Goldberg's remarkable performance — deflates in a way as we hear police helicopters overhead, drowning everything else out. Should she go home? Should she find somewhere safe? Can she make the smart choice? "I'll be OK. Don't worry," she says flatly. Not convincing, Sally!
The only way that makes sense
Andrei and Batir commend Hank, promising him plenty of riches now that the Chechens are re-established in Los Angeles. "He'll come around," Batir says, regarding the still-not-willing Cristobal. Hank tries to get Cristobal to act in a hospitable fashion, but it's not working. "As long as you are part of Hank's family, you are part of ours," Andrei says. When he leaves, Hank tries to convince Cristobal that this is the "only way that makes sense" so they can control Los Angeles. Cristobal is primarily horrified at how Hank killed all the other men, having abused their trust. "The man I love wouldn't have done something so cold-blooded," Cristobal says. This entire scene is a standout, as it becomes clearer and clearer to Cristobal that the man he fell in love with is long gone — Hank is, as much as anyone else on this show, out for himself and unwilling to look back at the terrible deeds he's done to get there. When Cristobal decides to leave, though, Hank says he "can't leave" in such a way that implies Cristobal leaving would be Cristobal signing his death certificate. "It's done. Go," Cristobal says as Hank tearfully walks back into his house. And indeed, that is Cristobal signing his death certificate: a few seconds after Hank composes himself, one of the other Chechens opens the door, revealing that Hank's lover lies dead by his car. A good time for us to be nostalgic for when Hank was a lot more fun, because that guy definitely is no more.
That evening, Jim Moss is staking out Sally's apartment, but is currently napping. Though he wakes up when he hears her car pull into her apartment complex, Jim decides to give up the ghost when he realizes she's on her own and heading back home, starting his engine to presumably leave. That is, I must say, not a wise move on Jim's part. See, presumably while he was napping, Barry snuck by Jim. Who knows how or why Sally knows it, but she just does: when she enters her apartment, she calls out our title character's name, and Barry does indeed appear, roughly as worse for wear as when we saw him last week. "Sally, I know this is crazy, but if I could just stay here–" Barry starts, before she cuts him off and says they should go. "...really?" he asks, and ... yes, I think that's a fair question, Barry.
But before we can get an answer, the screen cuts to black as we jump to a fight between two young boys in the middle of a field somewhere in the heartland of America, recalling an earlier flashback this season to when a young Barry met a younger Fuches for the first time. But neither of these boys is Barry — one, John, is angry for having been called a freak for not knowing "Call of Duty," and is ordered by the other boy's father to go home. And so John does go home, angrily grabbing a cold can of beer to soften the wound on his face, while his parents watch, a bit confused. Who are his parents?
Well, funny you should ask: it's Barry and Sally.
Jump!
So ..."Barry" has entered the pantheon of TV shows that make a big time-jump! As noted at the top, "it takes a psycho" is a very event-heavy episode of "Barry" in spite of being the halfway mark of the final season. There are a number of surprising details that get glossed over here — while Barry had been offered Witness Protection by the FBI in the past episodes, we don't get to find out how the deal is reinstated (since everyone who had been involved was killed last week). Perhaps the most surprising, and the one I hope is explored in some capacity, is ... why Sally would want to go with Barry to Witness Protection.
We know very much why Barry wants Sally with her, and the extremely brief glimpse we get here does not imply that Barry and Sally are in the middle of the most blissful wedded life. It's also easy to see that Sally is not thrilled with the prospect of getting paid to teach other actors how to take on roles she sees as being manna for herself. But spending time with a man she knows to be a ruthless killer (when he's not acting childish) is a choice that feels too rushed considering the long-term ramifications. Even Hank's decision to go all-in with his fellow Chechens tracks a little bit more, in part because Hank does not seem to think too long-term with his strategic choices. (To note, this is not a commentary on the performances. Bill Hader only showing up for about two minutes means that the lion's share of the burden is on Carrigan and Goldberg, who are typically brilliant here as they are each week.)
"it takes a psycho" does an excellent job of creating a mid-season cliffhanger of sorts for many of its characters, and one that we're presumably going to get resolved with whatever future state is the case for them all. (Here's a question I imagine is not fully closed: is Gene's son Leo dead? He got shot, yes, but Gene can't be that good a shot, can he?) As such, it's almost unfair to judge this whole episode as just an episode. Next week, whenever we see what's going on with these characters, we may get some further clarity into choices that seem baffling now. Here's hoping, at least, for something more than just the initial shock of the final moments.