Barry on HBO Has Become A Depressing Slog As The Series Concludes
Alberto E. Rodriguez. Getty Images.For the first two seasons of Barry, this was my favorite show on television. It blended comedy and horrific violence as well as any show I can recall since The Sopranos. Breaking Bad did a better job with suspense and comedic moments but Barry could go places in regards to extreme brutality that a show on AMC could never reach.
I found the third season to be a drop-off from the previous seasons. I think we are seeing some of those narrative issues bleed into this season. That third season led the characters to such depressing places that it made the comedy difficult to mine moving forward. We've now seen five episodes this season and only the third one was enjoyable. No coincidence that it was also the funniest.
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Sunday's episode (and I assume the remaining episodes) exist in a flash forward eight years in the future. This almost never works. The last season of Parks and Rec were abysmal. This is where Breaking Bad was especially so successful. By staying in the moment, it ratcheted up the urgency with each episode and season. You'd have montages where time would move ahead but we are talking months, not two presidential terms. I think Bill Hader is an absolute genius but I'd be more excited in seeing him do a movie rather than television show for his next project. I think a shorter time frame could really help.
The other issue is it isolated Barry and Sally (Sarah Goldberg who was very good and believable). By the halfway mark, I wanted to shake the tv and scream "We get it! Sally is depressed and Barry is in denial." It just kept hammering these points over and over. Since it was just Barry and Sally in this town, we couldn't get away from them and see how anyone else was doing until the very end of the episode. It was such a relief when we saw Gene in the Warner Brothers office building.
It's not like the episode was all bad. Barry and his son watching YouTubes of little leaguers getting killed was exactly the best kind of dark comedy you expect from this show. I did love the set decoration of that depressing house. It was so sad in there but still had a cheesy sign that said "courage". I also loved how the gun was stashed in a hole in a wall that was likely from Barry freaking out and punching the wall in the past.
My Sunday nights at ten have gone from excitement to cautious optimism. Yet, there are obvious pieces in play for the final three episodes to be exciting. Gene making a movie about Barry will clearly bring the action back to L.A. Another thing that could be interesting is that critics were only allowed to see the first six episodes of this season. Perhaps the last two are incredible and filled with wild twists and turns. I'm obviously in this for the rest of the run and if you are reading this blog, you likely are too. We made it this far, there's only three episodes left. Let's hope it can stick the landing.