Season One of Barry was one of the best TV debuts of 2018, and for their work, Henry Winkler and Bill Hader cleaned up at the Emmy awards. Its eight-episode second act was often just as strong, despite a significant hiccup close to the midpoint. Barry Berkman's (Hader) story continues to get darker, as we learn more about the demons he's been fighting as he tries (often fruitlessly) to put his past behind him. He no longer wants anything to do with his life as a hired killer, including his inconsiderate handler, Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root) and his former Chechen mob connection NoHo Hank (a brilliant Anthony Carrigan). Both men inevitably re-insert themselves into Barry's life and he's once again forced to try to push forward in his acting class with Gene Cousineau (Winkler) and his romantic life with Sally Reed (Sarah Goldberg).
Sally's been a strange character since her introduction, and while her behavior would be extremely bothersome to be around, the show does a good job of drawing her as a self-centered mess. Her behavior can be absurd, but she feels real enough for her to come off as sympathetic when she needs to. The show digs into her past relationship with an abusive boyfriend, Sam, and we learn where a great deal of her insecurities come from.
In fact, Sally's so focused on herself that she remains completely oblivious to who her boyfriend Barry really is. Nearly all the time that Barry's around her, he's trying to deal with his recent awful deeds he commits, and she only notices that something's wrong when he needs to rehearse a scene or otherwise do something for her. Given Barry's journey in Season Two, the dissonance between their focus grows increasingly stronger.
That's because NoHo Hank approaches Barry early in the season and despite his usually-polite demeanor, he blackmails Barry into getting re-involved with the Chechen mob. Carrigan only has a scene or two when he has to get serious and isn't bubbly and upbeat, but he sells those critical ones enough to remind us that the Chechens are, in fact, dangerous. As a result of the events of the Season One finale, the local police push further into their investigation and when the cop leading the investigation eventually confronts Barry, it results in the most effective (and thanks to Hader's delivery) twists in the series to-date.
Unfortunately, that excellent episode is followed up by easily the weakest installment of Barry to-date. I hate it when highly realistic shows take a dive into the surreal (exception: The Sopranos), unbelievable, or supernatural when they've been making their bones on gritty drama. There's a particularly strange sequence in episode 5, "ronny/lily" in which Barry encounters the titular father who has what feels like nine lives and the titular daughter who, in addition to seeming unrealistically feral, seems to have the ability to climb trees, fall from great distances unharmed, and hover a little bit in the air. The whole thing was weird and didn't work at all for me. I've got no problem with a show trying to flex its creative muscle, but it felt like it would have worked better as a dream sequence or something.
The other storyline that didn't do much for me this season was Gene's attempts to reconnect with his estranged son. It just seemed like something that the writers forced in there, and it seemed pretty inconsequential. I'm guessing that they're laying the groundwork for something in the third season, but I wasn't invested in this story at all, and the payoff is uncertain for now.
Fortunately, Barry picked up right where it left off right after "ronny/lily" and this turned out to be just a one-off blip. The remainder of the episodes packed plenty of the tense drama that the show's becoming known for, along with a good dose of hilarity from NoHo Hank (the conversation he has over the phone with a furniture store regarding buying a table on which to put a cocaine shipment is comedic gold). I had read mixed reviews on Barry prior to watching this season, and my opinion is that it's certainly held up to its Season One strength.
Episode Grades
- "The Show Must Go On, Probably?": B+
- "The Power of No" A-
- "Past Equals Present x Future Over Yesterday: B-
- "What?!": A
- "ronny/lily": D
- "The Truth Has a Ring to It": A-
- "The Audition": A
- "berkman/block": B+
Season Grade: B+
