That excitement was not always justified.
Creators Bill Hader and Alec Berg couldn’t quite pin down the second season of their hitman-goes-to-Hollywood curio.
It was a frame job.
Credit: Isabella Vosmikova/HBO
Then Fuches held a gun up to the acting coach’s head.
Okay, I thought.If they’re both still alive at the end of the season, thenBarryhas lost me.
A TV show obviously doesn’t have to kill main characters to be good.
So, Gene and Fuches both survived.
A lack of narrative nerve, maybe, and I didn’t buy some of the the plot mechanics.
Barry achieved murder-god status killing multiple mobs of henchmen, but couldn’t ever quite catch up to Fuches.
Winkler’s great on this show, no doubt, and so is Root.
But season 2 didn’t make a solid argument foreitherof their characters having separate subplots.
The show hasn’t lost me, though.
Enough with the damning, time for the not-so-faint praise!
Barryat its best is funny, scary, moving, and strange.
Tae Kwon Do fights.
(Hader directed that episode, too.)
And then one of season 2’s weird successes was the rising prominence of Sally (Sarah Goldberg).
It’s a tricky role.
Sally is a necessarily egotistical struggling actress, almost anEntouragey parody of hanger-on striving.
She had to get something everything off her chest.
She was worried about confessing to her passive reaction to domestic abuse.
She was frustrated that Barry was getting bigger chances than her.
The finale built towards Sally’s showcase, and even nudged you to expect an onstage blow out.
Before their scene, Sally slapped Barry, trying to get him into the zone.
I worried Barry might wind up strangling Sally breathless, to resounding applause.
Instead, Sally flipped the script, performing virtuous revenge for the audience.
Was this, like, another s male idea of what strong women are?
The crowd flocked her thankfully, menandwomen.
The finale decided, in gory detail, that Barry couldn’t leave his past behind.
Season 2 had its problems, but astounding sequences like that suggest new evolutions ahead.
Barry can’t change, but I hopeBarrydoes.
Finale Grade: B
Season Grade: B+
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