Bill Hader is back with Barry! The only problem is, he’s behind bars.
Season 4 stars Bill Hader as Barry Berkman, Sarah Goldberg as Sally Reed, Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau, Stephen Root as Monroe Fuches, Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank, Michael Irby as Cristobal Sifuentes and Robert Wisdom as Jim Moss.
When we last left Barry and his ‘friends’ in season 3, Mr Gene Cousineau, Barry’s former acting teacher and mentor had just betrayed him and set him up, leading to him surpsingly being arrested by the police at the end of Season 4. Sally whose show was canceled, ends us killing one of the guys on the motocross crew who we see in episode 6 “710N”, Barry then agrees to take the blame for it. Sally secretly heads to Joplin, Missouri without telling him. Meanwhile Noho Hank and Christobal who were kidnapped by Christobal’s evil wife, escape thanks to Hank and Hank shoots Christobal’s wife in the head. That brings us to the final season of Barry.
In the first episode of the season premiere, Barry deals with his past in prison while finding Fuches with him. Sally returns home. Gene has a spark of new fame after his help with capturing Barry.
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BARRY SEASON 4 EPISODE 1
This episode picks up almost immediately after season 3 ended. The police are in the middle of making a statement about Barry’s arrest while he is being escorted into the very cell block where two guards are watching the news. Barry uses his phone call to speak to Mr Cousinea, he is still very confused, and still hasn’t accepted the gravity of where he is, he asks him, what happened, and if he was working with Jim Moss. He then goes on to say “Are you mad at me? Because I love you.” A very cold Mr Cousinea who is currently at the press conference which is on TV simply says, “Hey Barry, I gotcha.”
Meanwhile we see Sally land in her hometown of Joplin, when a completely oblivious Sally learns that Barry has been arrested, she assumes it was for what she did, when she learns he murdered Janice she starts hyperventilating in the car.
When we learned that Barry was going to jail one thing we couldnt wait for was the confrontation between Fuches and Barry. When Fuches learns he is in the same jail, he asks for FBI protection and offers to wear a wire to get more incriminating evidence on him. Meanwhile Gene is selected to be the key witness in Barry’s trial.
Courtesy of HBO
At least someone is doing well though. Hank and Christobal are living their best life in Santa Fe. Christobal starts to talk about how they can make money by using their underworld contacts to bring in high quality sand since construction prices are much higher now. Hank doesnt want to compromise their peaceful existence, but Cristobal assures him, “We can have both things”
Soon after we see a Sally receive a phone call from the prison, which she rejects, you can see the hurt on Barry’s face as she hangs up the phone on him, calling him a “f—king liar”. Back in Joplin she sits down to watch her TV show with her very unsupportive parents, you can imagine how that goes, her mother continues to critique everything about her show, then moves on to Sally’s love life saying “You sure can pick ’em.”Gene receives an interview offer from Vanity Fair, however Jim Moss and Gene agree that they shouldn’t speak to the press as it might hurt the case. But Gene who is basking in the fame of bringing Barry down is highly unlikely to listen.
When Barry and Fuches finally do come face to face, it was not what we expected at all . 
While Fuches who is wearing a wire makes a transparent attempt to try to get Barry to talk about his previous crimes, an emotional Barry apologizes to him for trusting Cousinea, full of regret for joining the acting class, he says “If I hadn’t tried to understand myself, we wouldn’t be here.” Fuches is completely speechless.
Hank is still having nightmares of his time held captive by the Bolivians, he even sees Barry in a dream. He wakes up from a nightmare and calls Barry, only to hear someone else answer the phone, sure to be a policeman monitoring Barry’s phone. He then sees the news about Barry’s arrest, he agrees to Cristobal’s sand plan… which will take them back to Los Angeles.
In what was Bill Hader’s best performance in the episode and the boiling point of the episode we see Barry alone in a bathroom, at first he is just staring into a mirror, but then he starts screaming and punching the wall until his hand is bloody. A kind guard tries to stop him saying “I’m sure you’re not a bad guy”, and gives him some advice, but after a few moments of silence Barry very coldly says to the guard, “I’m a cop killer”, he even goes so far as to he would kill the guard and his family without hesitation. The guard then closes the door, and beats Barry to a pulp.
Courtesy of HBO
It becomes obvious in that moment what this scene is about, last season Barry tried to redeem himself to Mr Cousinea, but he never accepted the things he did. Now, Barry is beginning to accept what he’s done, and he wants to punish himself for it, but at the same time, we know he wants revenge. It’s a never ending cycle of Barry trying to correct his mistakes, but making more on the way.
Later on we see a bloody and beaten Barry on the floor. Fuches finds him, he first rips off his wire, in tears we see him say “I took advantage of you… I’m so sorry.” he then lifts Barry off the floor and the two share a hug. It’s the first real moment the two share, one with no ulterior motives between the two and neither one trying to kill the other. In that moment we go back to a similar scene from the iconic “ronny and lilly” episode in season 2, and how Fuches is always the one who is there for him when everyone else has abandoned him.
At the very end of the episode we see someone place an anonymous call to a Vanity Fair writer, it’s Gene, offering to tell his story.
Read the Season 4 Episode 2 Recap here
Watch Barry now on MAX
Fangirl and Writer with a huge passion for entertainment.
