CNN
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“Barry” took risks from the start, which is certainly true for a fourth and final season that picks up where the third left off, with the arrest of its hitman-turned-aspiring actor. It sets the stage for an even darker season that emphasizes the holistic aspect of the show while relying a little too much on blurring the lines with flights of fancy.
Thanks to “Succession,” “Barry” won’t be HBO’s most high-profile sendoff this spring, but the Emmy-nominated series isn’t a flop, either. It’s fair to say, in fact, that while these episodes don’t live up to what came before, even a less deadly “Barry” is still very, very good.
Bill Hader’s role as director-producer-star remains one of the most unpredictable shows on television, and the new season has a strong “Better Call Saul” vibe, sparked by the fallout from the seemingly inevitable fact that Barry, played by Hader, couldn’t maintain his double life forever.
The fallout from his arrest is felt on both sides of the equation, from his drama teacher Gene Cousineau (played by Henry Winkler, always a towering mix of ego and neediness) and his girlfriend Sally (Sarah Goldberg) to the gallery of petty criminals who surround him, including Fuches (Stephen Root) and NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), who has found unlikely love during his travels while somehow turning “Barry” into a four-syllable name.
“Barry” has always struggled with the discomfort of having a protagonist who kills people, and the question of empathy for his namesake becomes particularly acute in those episodes where the character is in prison. When Barry asks “Are you mad at me?” with an almost childlike naivety, it’s easy to forget, at least momentarily, some of the horrible things he’s done, even if Jim Moss (Robert Wisdom), who is hungry for revenge, can’t.
Hader (who directed every episode) also excels at darkly comic visual gags, which are augmented in the new season by some hysterical cameos from real Hollywood personalities, including director Guillermo del Toro, made all the funnier by their seemingly random nature.
That said, the show’s surreal digressions and detours into the fantastical become more entertaining, in a way that sometimes feels a little too precious. The bright side is the strength of the actors, even if the prison creates obstacles to their interactions.
HBO has made most of the season available, but not all of it, and the show effectively keeps audiences guessing and uncertain about where the series will end and how (or if) its various plot threads will connect.
The likelihood of a happy ending for everyone in Barryland never seemed right, but Hader and co-creator Alec Berg seem determined to leave on their own terms, as good (mostly) and sometimes frustrating as that may be. Which is why it’s hard to get mad at a show that takes such invigorating creative risks, even with a season that isn’t quite the icy killer it once was.
“Barry” begins its fourth and final season April 14 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO, which, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.
