HBO’s pitch-black comedy aims straight for the soul in its final season.
The season premiere, “yikes,” picks up shortly after last summer’s finale.
“I always liked that.
Bill Hader on ‘Barry’.Merrick Morton/HBO
It gave me hope.”
Barry and his mentor-turned-tormentor, Fuches (Stephen Root), reunite in prison and have a brief rapprochement.
“If I hadn’t tried to understand myself, we wouldn’t be here,” Barry laments.
Michael Dempsey, Sarah Goldberg, and Romy Rosemont on ‘Barry’.Merrick Morton/HBO
She finds herself back in Cousineau’s studio, this time as the disgraced actor leading the class.
This season’s first two episodes feel tame by comparison.
(HBOmade seven episodes available for review.)
Anthony Carrigan and Michael Irby on ‘Barry’.Merrick Morton/HBO
Spoiler sensitivity precludes much explanation, but everyone is forced to confront old challenges in new ways.
Hader continues to astonish.
For Barry Berkman, the true violence is internal.
Barrybreaks up the bleakness with regular bursts of playful absurdity.
At one point in the season, Barry becomes fascinated with Abraham Lincoln.
“He had this beautiful combination of pragmatism, optimism, and compromise,” he marvels.
But additional internet research unearths some less-than-savory facts about Honest Abe.
“Turns out, hehad a bunch of Native Americans killed.
He also proposed to Black people that theygo back to Africa,” Barry says with a sigh.
“News to me.”
