Written by Ronnie Gorham
Three episodes in, and Barry Season 3 has already stacked the deck against our assassin turned actor Barry Berkman (Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live). Last season left us on one helluva cliffhanger as Barry’s ex-partner Fuches (Stephen Root, The Book of Boba Fett) revealed to Barry’s acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler, Happy Days) that Barry was the culprit behind the death of his detective girlfriend, Janice. This season dives deeper into the repercussions of Janice’s death and emphasizes its strain on Barry and Gene’s relationship going forward. The season thus far has been a tight-gripped and humorously engaging thrill ride of violence, speculation, and increasingly tense moments, leaving most viewers left with the question, does everyone make it out of this season alive?
Bill Hader and company have done an incredible job with Barry as a series, and this season’s stakes couldn’t be any higher. This season sees Barry, more than anything, try to keep his mental state intact and make up for the mistakes he’s made in his past, like killing his acting coach’s girlfriend and lying about being a hitman. But as we’ve seen in the previous seasons, trying to bury the past is not an easy task. While season one established Bill Hader as a believable hitman, it also laid the foundation for a lot of room for character growth, not just for Barry Berkman but for all the wonderfully unique people we’ve been introduced to throughout the seasons.
Barry Season 3 shines the spotlight on many of those other characters and the cutthroat challenges they face this season, like hiding secret love affairs and actress Elsie Fisher’s character, Katie. She has a watchful eye over Barry. In addition, Barry’s girlfriend Sally (Sarah Goldberg, The Report) has created her own show called Joplin and struggles to deal with the everyday demands of running a TV series. Meanwhile, villains of previous seasons like Noho Hank, played brilliantly by Anthony Carrigan and Michael Irby, who plays the charismatic Christobal Sifuentes, find themselves in the middle of a war between the Bolivians and the Chechens. All while the police have an ongoing investigation involving the monastery shooting during season two, a factor that will come into play at some point during the season for sure.
Bill Hader and Alec Berg have created a relatable, realistic masterpiece that not only pokes fun at Hollywood but talks about the conversation of challenges and sacrifices in life. Of course, your average citizen isn’t a hitman or woman trying to become an actor. Still, the relativeness that comes into play with things not working out in our favor or when you think you have everything in life in order ultimately falls apart. That’s what makes Barry a special show that the audience can get behind. That and the creative ways Hader and Berg used to make violence fun in a TV show.
Going forward, it’s tough to call if we’ll ever see Barry be able to put his troubled past behind him for good. In the meantime, the stellar cast performances, good directing, and writing fantastic levels of violence, humor, and unpredictability of what happens next should keep viewers happy for the foreseeable future. Barry has become one of the best TV shows to watch, and if you like hysterically violent crime dramas and you’re not watching, you’re missing out. Catch all the fun and intensely exciting moments on HBO MAX now.
Barry Season 3 airs Sundays on HBO and HBO MAX.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx6AS0zzfGM
