Barry's "the wizard" Reminds Us of Repeated Mistakes

The characters of Barry have always tried to escape their actions. Whether through ignoring his past, good-spirited kidnapping, or catholicism, Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) can’t avoid the murderer that lies in his core. The same goes for Sally (Sarah Goldberg), who cannot shake her failed career and season three killing. NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) cannot shake his criminal past as the owner of LA real estate firm Nohobal, Fuches (Steven Root) destroys his skittish reputation through nail polish and tattoos, and while Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) tries to reinvent himself through an eight-year stint in Israel, he still takes a meeting with Warner Brothers. In the eighth episode of season four, we see these characters continue making the escapist mistakes we’ve seen before.

This is most apparent through the titular character, Barry. For the entire time audiences have known him, Barry has been desperately trying to convince himself that he’s a good person through different means. His current access to unearned forgiveness is through religion. But despite trying to live a peaceful life in hiding with Sally and their child, the announcement that Barry’s story will be turned into a movie brings violence back to the surface. Barry must kill Gene, but he doesn’t want to do it without the OK from God.

Barry’s target has also had a spiritual awakening since he spent his eight years in hiding at a kibbutz in Israel. No longer prioritizing attention for himself (or so he says), Gene (above) only met with the WB executive to try to stop production on the film. In a very meta line, Gene explains that this movie will glorify a killer instead of prioritizing Janice’s life. While this moment feels like a rare moment of selflessness, Gene waited until his return was noted in Variety to share that he disapproved of the adaptation, endangering himself and his family. Shockingly, Gene’s son Leo (Andrew Leeds) survived after being shot by his father in the fifth episode. It seems that forgiveness and reconciliation might be possible if Gene lives to mend their relationship.

“Tricky” family dynamics don’t stop with the Cousineaus in this episode, as Sally (above) continues to demonstrate her dissatisfaction with her child and surreal vacant life. While the episode sets up several bad-parenting tragedies to take place, from improper gun handling to quieting her child with vodka in his juice, director Bill Hader and writer Duffy Boudreau terrorize Sally with a hazy home invasion. While the aftermath proves that something destroyed the interior of the home, Sally’s dreamlike sedation in this environment is translated through the surreal experience of the invasion. Credits show that one of the invaders is Bevel, the man Sally got fired in the last episode, which gives a logical reason for the destruction to take place. However, the other intruder is voiced by Shane, the biker Sally killed in the season three finale. Hader has shared that this death will haunt Sally through the season, and Shane’s disconnected presence in the scene further adds to the unease of the unreliable event.

Perspective continues to be a theme of this episode through NoHo Hank, who has gone legitimate in the 8-year time gap per Cristobal’s wishes while quieting any notion that he was responsible for Cristobal’s death. Audiences see a return of the cheery, amicable Hank they were introduced to in the first season, but the deaths Hank caused loom over the swanky offices and mansions.

Fuches is unafraid to drunkenly call out Hank for Cristobal’s murder though, as he has a new and toughened personality after getting out of prison. As shocking as the reveal of the time jump was in “it takes a psycho,” Fuches’ new tatted appearance is arguably more jaw-dropping.

After earning the respect of his fellow inmates after not ratting out any info about Barry (not that he actually knew anything), Monroe Fuches appears to have had a good time in prison. He has a newfound confidence and one goal, revenge against Barry.

But as we’ve learned over the past seasons, revenge and violence cannot exist without consequences. After Bill Burr cameos as a Christian podcaster who approves of murder, Barry finally feels he’s worked up the courage and moral clarity to kill Gene. While he clearly still feels conflicted, Barry sees that Gene has left the front door to his home wide open, and takes it as a sign from God.

As I watched this scene unfold, I found myself in the rare position of questioning the show. Why would Gene leave the door open knowing he had endangered himself by returning to LA? It felt like a lazily convenient device for a show I usually trust so much. But when Barry breaks in, he discovers that the open door was a trap set by Jim Moss. Mirroring nearly identical circumstances of the season three finale in which Jim gets Barry caught by the police, somehow neither the character nor I as the viewer saw it coming.

How do these characters continue to make the same mistakes while expecting new outcomes? The ending of “the wizard” demonstrates how even audience members struggle to learn from the mistakes of the past. And with two episodes remaining, it’s anyone’s guess how these characters will find vengeance and/or forgiveness.

In Barry's "it takes a psycho" and ""tricky legacies" : Nobody's a Hero

Barry has always succeeded with the difficult task of balancing humor and violence. As violence becomes more explicit and prominent in television, it would be easy to simply use murder as a cheap joke. However, in its fourth and final season, Barry is ready for its characters to face consequences.

“it takes a psycho”

An unseen helicopter looms over Los Angeles. Its presence highlights the absence of Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) after he escapes from prison. While Hank (Anthony Carrigan), Sally (Sarah Goldberg), and Jim Moss (Robert Wisdom) all have reason to believe the convict could be coming after them, no one is more petrified than Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler, above). After spilling everything he knew about Barry to the press, Gene retreats to his cabin in Big Bear to keep himself away from more reporters. However, when he learns that Barry has escaped from prison, Gene is convinced he’ll be the hitman’s first target. However, his son Leo (Andrew Leeds), convinces him to stay put. This ends up being a fatal mistake for Leo in what is potentially the most shocking scene in an incredibly shocking episode. Forget Chekov’s gun, as Rip Torn’s gun has shown up again in Barry. A gift from one actor to another, Gene has kept this gun for each season but doesn’t fire it until this episode. When a figure approaches his door, a terrified Gene shoots before asking any questions. However, it is not Barry that he has shot but his own son, who only stopped by to drop off his favorite meal.

While Gene spent most of the episode frozen with fear, Hank was moving at an unprecedented pace for power. Hank’s first action in this episode is drowning his new crew in their sand. It is a horrifying sequence for Cristobal (Michael Irby) and is one of two moments in this episode that demonstrates why Hader’s next project will probably be a horror film. When the Chechens return and Hank re-joins them, Cristobal doesn’t recognize the murderous brutality in the man he loves. After an excellently performed breakup scene by Carrigan and Irby, Cristobal is shot and killed by the Chechens. While Barry has drawn Breaking Bad comparisons in the past (Hader even sat in on the writing of Better Call Saul this season), Hank allowing Cristobal to be killed is the closest thing to a Heisenberg-like transformation yet.

As Hank grows into the crime boss he’s always wanted to be, Sally’s dreams of acting continue to be shattered. After taking on a model-turned-actress as an acting student (Ellyn Jameson) in the last episode, Sally is on the completely green scene-based set for Mega Girls. A very thinly veiled parody of MCU films, Kristen is the blonder and taller mirror of Sally starring in the film. While the movie represents everything Sally hates about Hollywood, when she meets the director of the Oscar-winning film CODA, Sian Heder (making an appearance as herself) Sally can’t help but deliver Kristen’s monologue to the director. It’s an incredible scene, from Heder’s blunt performance to Carl Herse’s camera choreography which blocks Kristen out of the frame as Sally tries to replace her. However, despite her best efforts, Sally will never get this part. A producer, Mark, tells her that with time she may act again, but Sally’s Hollywood dreams are officially dead.

So when Sally returns home that evening, she is not only completely unsurprised by Barry lurking in the shadows of her home (make that horror movie ASAP, Hader!), but she agrees to run off with him. Leaving both Barry and the audience with the same reaction of, “really?!”

After a series of dream sequences this season, we have revisited the same barren landscape. Only now, instead of a young Barry, we are met with his son. The child Barry and Sally have together in this desolate atmosphere is revealed to not be a hallucination, but a product of a time jump 8 years into the future.

“tricky legacies”

No, the photo above is not a random stock image of a father and son. And no, Abraham Lincon and Gandhi weren’t perfect. In Barry’s fifth episode “tricky legacies,” audiences are greeted with an 8-year time jump where Barry and Sally have run off together and raised a son in the middle of nowhere. Without access to friends, freedom, or video games (“Who doesn’t know Call of Duty?”), John (Zachary Golinger) silently knows that this idyllic suburban family has something strange hiding under the surface. In one of the few interactions he has with another child, he asks, “Does your mom wear hair on your hair?” While it’s a hilarious question, it’s all John knows since his mother “Emily” has to put on a brown wig each morning before going to work.

This surreal, desolate, and domestic wasteland is a waking nightmare for Sally (above). She chugs booze on the drive home from work, steals money from the cash register, and hates-watches the show her former acting classmate and assistant Natalie stars in (yay for the return of D’arcy Carden!). While completely unsatisfying to her, it is a strange combination of the life she could’ve had if she stayed in Joplin with her abusive ex-husband while simultaneously being the role of a lifetime. Adopting a southern accent, a new name, and a new identity is something Sally has been spending her whole life training for, yet she’s playing to an audience of zero.

While Sally grows bitter and defeated, Barry is having the time of his life as a father, who now goes by the name Clark. We’ve seen Barry imagine himself as a father in dream sequences since season one. While his reality doesn’t include John Hamm like his season one self-imagined, Barry is leaping at the opportunity to teach his son about math and Abe Lincoln (which was something he knew about before). This delusional enjoyment of a crime-free life mirrors his behavior in season two, where he also tried to live a normal, murder-free existence.

However, in this episode written and directed by Bill Hader, he wastes no time reminding the audience of the violence Barry is trying to ignore. When Barry finds a baseball glove in John’s room, he wastes no time showing his son clickbait-y snuff videos on youtube of kids being killed at little league games (with excellent titles like, “7 Year Old Boy Gets Grisly Injury in Outfield - TERRIFYING”). As committed to being a father as Barry seems, he prioritizes buying himself a Lincoln biography over a blanket for his son’s freezing bedroom. Sally is a completely inattentive mother who “scary cries” and detests the thought of cuddling John. When a mysterious doorbell ditcher arrives one night, Barry stands outside with a gun all night while Sally and John sleep in the bathtub.

This entire episode feels eerily detached from reality and while this season has already drawn Lynch comparisons from some, this deserted vision of suburbia feels like a spiritual successor to Blue Velvet.

But as audiences have repeatedly learned, delusion can never last long in Barry. After spending eight years in hiding, Gene Cousineau returned to Hollywood as soon as he gets the opportunity for more attention. While the Warner Brothers staff can’t tell if the man in the lobby is the real Cousineau (they’re both old!), he eventually works his way into meeting an executive.

Which brings the Berkman familial facade to a screeching halt. When we return to the empty house, Sally is screaming for Barry (no longer Clark, but Barry. “They’re making a movie about us,” she says, and Gene is consulting on the bio-pic. The idyllic family scene is over and a new goal takes precedence, Barry is going to kill Gene.

Will Gene please cut his hair? Does NoHo Hank finally have control over the LA crime he’s always wanted? How will this Bonnie and Clyde duo operate now that they have a child? What quote from Natalie’s sitcom did they reference at the White House correspondent's dinner? Regardless of how these questions are answered, the rest of Barry’s final season is sure to be a wild ride.

Written by Mary Leer

I Watched Queen Charlotte With my Mom (and you Probably Shouldn’t)

After the success of Bridgerton, fans of all ages have been awaiting the new prequel about the eccentric Queen Charlotte. This prequel explores two timelines, both revolving around the older characters in the show, including Viscountess Bridgerton, Lady Danbury, and of course, Queen Charlotte. It gives the audience insight into the lives of these characters, both in the time that Bridgerton is set and in their younger days.

The show is just as well produced as the main series, with massive, beautiful sets, stunning camerawork, and the most intricate costumes that I have ever seen. The dialogue has a great rhythm that keeps it engaging despite the use of much older language. The plot was excellent, filled with dynamic characters that were given storylines even more complex than those of the characters featured in the original series. All around, the show was excellent and I missed it when it ended.

My only regret? Watching it with my mother.

As huge Bridgerton fans, we were so excited to hear about a new show in this cinematic universe that we both adore and don’t get me wrong, she enjoyed the show just as much as I did. However, when moving to watch it together, we mistakenly went in with the idea that Queen Charlotte wouldn’t be nearly as raunchy as the original series.

This was a wildly incorrect assumption. Queen Charlotte is beyond PG13, markedly more obscene than even the original series- I mean, come on, there's a reason that the Queen had 13 children.

I would call Queen Charlotte a must-watch for all Bridgerton fans, but as much as my mom and I loved the show, we would both recommend that you and your mother watch this one separately and spare yourselves some pretty awkward moments, especially in episode 3.

Written by Lily Greenberg