In episode 7, the penultimate episode of Barry, the storyline was split into 4 main parts. Barry trying to escape Moss, Noho Hank VS Fuches, Gene accidentally setting himself up and Sally and John getting themselves into a world of trouble. So much going on and yet the stories melded together so well, all coming together for an epic ending that will lead in to one hell of a series finale. Hader’s special creative and humorous directing was on display in this episode, and we got to see the entire Barry cast take center stage as each character and actor shined in their respective plot.
Read the Season 4 Episode 6 Recap Here
In episode 6 we see Barry set out on a mission to Kill Gene after learning about the Barry Berkman biopic, Sally is left at home to watch h John, while back in LA Fuches gets out of prison and meets up with Hank for a job, but things soon go sideways when he says Hank killed Christobal. In a thrilling ending, we see Barry about to enter Gene’s house as he is taken by someone, only to wake up tied to a chair… across Jim Moss.
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BARRY SEASON 4 EPISODE 7
As the episode begins, we hear Barry praying desperately for his son, and for Sally to be able to take care of him (if only he knew), we see a scenic view of a field as the sun rises “Lord, please watch over me and fill me with your courage and grace… please watch over my son and fill him with his daddy’s love,” Barry says. We hear Jim Moss’s voice say “So, you’re a man of god now? You think because you’ve repented you get to choose where you’ll go when you die… you know where you’re going, and you’re afraid.” he says. We then see the shot change to a beach, but not just any beach, the same beach Barry dreamt of in season 3 when he saw all his
victims. Barry then asks “Why can’t I feel my arms and legs?” and Moss replies “I cut them off… I wanna watch you experience seeing the people you love for the last time.” In that moment Barry sees his son John, but it’s not all as it seems, all that time Barry had been bound to a chair, wearing what looks like VR (virtual reality) or blackout goggles and been hooked upto different types of hallucinogenic drugs. A very advanced method of torture, of the mind. Suddenly Barry sees Gene in his head and apologizes, but what catches Moss’s attention is when Barry accidentally mentions the 250,000$ he gave him. The money he got from the Chechen mob. Suddenly, Jim has a new goal in mind.
Courtesy of HBO
We then see Gene and Tom read an article by Gene about Boycotting Warner Bros. Production of Barry’s story and how it exploit’s Janice’s Death. Meanwhile NoHo Hank is planning to deploy a group of Four Ultimate Badass Killers (FUBAKs) to assassinate Fuches and his crew, whom he was dining with just a few hours ago. He makes sure to say “Before you kill him, tell him NoHo Hank did this.” However as it always is with Hank, things do not go according to plan, later on he receives 4 boxes from Fuches, they are the heads of his 4 FUBAKs. After that, Hank decides he’s going to take out Fuches himself. As always, Anthony Carrigan really brought the humor in these scenes, Hader and Carrigan somehow always manage to take the most deadliest subject matter and make it hilarious.
Gene receives a phone call from an agent named Matt who claims to be representing Daniel Day-Lewis. He says DDL is interested in playing Gene in the Barry Berkman film. Of course this immediately strokes Gene’s ego and he starts to shy away from his stance against the Barry Berkman feature, especially after being told DDL wants to come out of retirement to play Gene. Matt asks to meet Gene, and he suggests a place they can meet in secret. To add to the drama, Sally calls him and reveals that she is now in LA with John. Considering her husband was on his way to kill him, she’s releived to hear he’s alive, Gene tells Sally they can meet at her house, so she begins to head there. Matt meets Gene in an outdoor area in a park, where he pretends not to know him. Matt informs Gene that Mark Wahlberg is also about to be attached to the film as Barry, which only deepens his interest in the film. Matt tells Gene that Mark does not want to play a cop killer. Gene appears to defend Barry’s actions to try and get Mark to join the film. Matt asks Gene to come speak to Mark at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills.
Hank who decided to take on Fuches on his own has now arrived at his house, now taken over by Fuches with his driver, the two launch a rocket aiming at the compound, unfortunately, it simply zooms past it, alerting everyone of their location. Fuches and his men start shooting at Hank and his driver as they speed away, not very far though, Hank calls Fuches and you can hear him tell Fuches you killed my driver, and as for Hank, well it sounded like Hank fell down a cliff. This scene was filmed in an extremely entertaining and creative way, by giving the audience a look at what is going on from one perspective with an eagle eyed view and Hank’s phone call but never really letting us know what happened.
Courtesy of HBO
Now back to Barry. As Barry wakes, tied up in his chair, he realises Jim is gone and that this might be his one chance to escape. He sees a knife on the edge of Jim’s table. Barry lifts the chair and moves it to the table, then using the knife he cuts his restraints and then uses the same knife to pick the lock, accidentally cutting his hand open while doing so. While in the kitchen, trying to stop the bleeding with some paper towels, he passes out. This is yet another example of Hader’s skills with tension building, as discussed in the previous episode, as we have to watch each storyline unfold until we finally get the answer to the question, what is going to happen to Barry Berkman? Trust me, the end result is well worth the wait.
We then see a man knock at the door of a woman’s house looking for his friend, it’s one of Hank’s employees, we see him appear from the back of the house where he’s no doubt been hiding. He’s okay after that tumble down the mountain, just a little scuffed up and he’s thirsty for revenge. After deciding what his next move will be he asks his employee to track down Barry by going to Gene’s house and bringing Gene to him. Slight problem though. It’s not Gene who’s at his house.
Sally and John have made it to Gene’s house, but obviously, he’s not home so they wait outside. Sally spots a police officer, she tells John to stay in one place and heads towards the cop. Sally’s intention is to turn herself in, you can even hear her say I’d like to turn myself in, but then Sally notices one of the officers eyes is bleeding. Yet another side effect of her trauma from stabbing that motorcross riders eye out and killing him in season 3. The blood trickles down his face, Distracted by it, Sally forgets about it and heads back to John. As she does Sally notices some strange men putting John in their vehicle, and then they head towards her.
Courtesy of HBO
Matt leads Gene into a Hotel room. What Gene does not realize however is that all of that was just an elaborate set up, which he fell right into. As he sets foot into the room at the Four Seasons he sees Jim, his son, the district attorney and the agent who apparently was just an actor. They confront him about the $250,000 Barry gave him in season 3, and as his son pointed out, he could never come up with a straight answer. “Nobody was listening to me, and I already spent some of it,” he says, but even his son isn’t on his side. Following this revelation the DA now has a new theory, after Janice killed a Chechen gangster at his acting school in Season 1, the police found money stashed in a bathroom, (that money belonged to Barry). Soon after, she was murdered at his cabin by Barry, “a guy he claimed would do whatever he’d say.” When they found her body stashed in the trunk of a car (Again, by Barry), he was at the scene with the “Chechen criminal assassin known as The Raven.” Gene says the allegations are “disgusting” and “insane”, they even think he shot his son on purpose, he denies it all, but the verdict of the room is clear: he’s a “very good actor” who’s played everyone this whole time. Mr Cousinea is in it deep this time.
Courtesy of HBO
Now we’ve come to the conclusion of this action packed episode, what could possibly happen next? We see Sally and John sitting in a room, Hank then appears and removes Sally’s brunette wig. He already knows who she is and what she means to Barry, and he knew exactly what to do with that. Meanwhile Barry finally wakes in Jim’s kitchen. He hears his phone ring, he immediately thinks it’s Sally, but Hank is on the other end, this is when things get intense, he threatens to kill John and Sally if Barry does not meet him. The episode ends with a classic back shot of Barry’s head, he is clearly furious, but that’s not it. All this time he’s been living raising his son, far away from LA he’s been resisting the darkness and the murderer inside him, and now with one phone call from Hank, threatening his family, we are about to see the old Barry unleashed.
After episode 6, it goes without saying that fans were expecting a lot from this episode, and Bill Hader delivered. This episode was written by Elizabeth Sarnoff who has written the 7th episode of every season of “Barry”, and every one has been one to remember. We have well established that Bill Hader has a penchant for building tension in his episodes and throwing completely unexpected plot twists our way. Which always keeps the “Barry” fans interested and on their toes. A perfect example of that would be Episode 6 and 7.
Now with only one episode left, the question remains, how does Bill Hader plan on going out?
Barry streams new episodes every Sunday at 10 pm on HBO and HBO Max.
Fangirl and Writer with a huge passion for entertainment.
