CLARIFICATION: 14:42 onwards is not what Barry says during this scene. The subtitles for the scene were like this for me (ru-vid.com/show-UC1HmALsts8kw64GozF415vwcommunity?lb=UgkxAahNALnNYU-CT9YupPTtG2lnG8GUqFik ) BUT apparently they are not representative of what Barry says. So essentially that part of the analysis is inaccurate. However, my conclusions about that scene in particular don't really change even if the line was different. As I mention 16:28, it's not a big deal. Sorry for the confusion! I thought the English subtitles would be reliable. Relying on them to analyze the scene is mea culpa.
Yeah, it's unfortunate. At the end of season 3 Sally is talking to Barry on the phone and when he says "I love you." She responds "I love you too." but the subtitles read "Oh, you do?" Which totally changed the meaning of the scene.
I recommend you (or everyone) to watch/play the Hotline Miami videogame series. "Do you like to hurt other people" is the quote that settles the theme of It.
I think they purposely made Jim not as smart in the end because they didn't want to make him a hero. He's a guy who tortures people. No matter the ends, the means don't really justify them.
i got the feeling that Jim just didn't feel satisfied when he found a way to but barry in jail, back in the end of season 3, when he's just staring through the window, i remember a comment about "he sent barry to jail, but that didn't filled the void of his daughter death". So by season 4, he's just obsessed in finding the guilty one, so even tho he is smart, went for the wrong conclusion regarding Gene because of that void he felt does this shit make any sense? idk
I think too that Gene just didnt play the situation right at all, outside looking in, alot of the dots DO point to gene through either his ignorance (money in the theatre), stupidity (money from barry) or ego (when he wants a movie made about him) so thinking gene is guilty makes alot of sense, especially cause genes agent was talking to barry and barry is like “I want to confess” in which straight away is shot by gene so even his agent is like maybe gene has a secret he doesnt want out, he looks guilty to Jim, his son, the police and his agent and ironically he killed his only way to the truth
@@PP-bh4dl it makes sense. Barry is kind of dumb. He felt his way through a lot of situations and was great at killing people but he was so easily manipulated by Fuches and others that I feel like Jim just didn't imagine this pathetic idiot he had captured was the mastermind. I think he wanted a better story so he could feel like Janice's death had more weight to it.
The final scene with Barry saying "Oh wow" with a cut to black made me pause, laugh for about a minute straight, and then just contemplate for another minute. Fantastic ending.
This was not fantastic. It was absolutely stupid and ruined the whole show for me, then the movie was terrible and sally as usual is always terrible, shes the one who got barry killed by taking his son away from him which yes i say his son because she was a terrible mother. He deserved to live with and raise his son. Gene killing him is absolutely and insanely the worst possible ending a great show like this could have. It was lazy, everyone was so dumb, and I’m not the only one who was disappointed
Yeah but that was prior to the time-skip. Barry didn't kill anyone after. Also...although he did kill him he didn't murder him. It was self-defense which is both legal and moral.
@@criticalcoffee same . And the post-beheading conversation. Everything about that scene was perfect. When it pans over and it’s the whole gang. How matteroffact Fuches was. His input he gave to every idea was positive. That might be my favorite scene from the entire show. Aside from the Ryan Madison scene from the movie. That punchline landed so hard for me.
I have to strongly disagree as I saw all of the finale to be rushed, but it rushed to go nowhere & even worse is that you watch John watching an absolute farce of a biopic & you see tears as it gets to a part that includes a characterization of himself in something he had to have enough memory of to know that was also such bullshit. Worse of all is the writing on the blank screen stating Gene as rotting in jail & Barry buried in honours. Sally was a horrible person too & she gets a free slate. The worst person in the show really being Moss’ old partner whom was as insecure as he was incompetent & in complete denial of both. That series made a farce out of a good cop doing her job & anyone whom watched to the end hoping for any sollis or closure was not only robbed, but very uncomedically were slapped in the face in the least dramatic way. Good show that got pretty dark, but then ended on a farce & shouts a loud middle finger at any idea of justice or truth. I wasn’t seeing enough laughs after the first season to keep being considered a dramedy. All & all just skip the last episode & imagine literally anything - even if it isn’t great - at least you aren’t striking to make more than teachers for less than adequate writing & never forget offsetting the cost of living for all those that make less than them. Remember that the more those in the middle go up, the less available/affordable by those whom make minimum wage. Instead of 99% rising up against 1% in this unfair system we just all play along & fight for our ability to go up while having no regard for all the people not getting raises right now & directing no aggression at all to the very few whom make a person’s entire yearly salary in just one (often unexplained) bonus with no limit to how many (mysterious¿‽) bonuses they can receive. Sheldon Cooper was right .... The Flash was just nine seasons of Goatman waiting us wait ten years for him to eat a can & Barry is looking like four (much shorter) seasons just to lie about the can being eaten. For shame all involved, for shame.
@@agent3976 actually in the interview you are talking about it was Bill Hader who mentioned the Hitman idea, to which Alec berg said "I don't like hitmen stories" to which bill retorts by saying "yeah but what if i was the hitman". it was in fact Bill Hader's idea.
I think I had the answer to the part “Huh?” The answer is this show isn’t supposed to tie up loose ends because not all loose ends happened because of Barry. The cleverest part of this season is that Bill Hader kinda experimented with the audience and tested how much audience became like the supporting characters like Gene, Hank and Sally? What does it mean? It means that these characters love to overlook their own flaws and blame all of their misfortunes on Barry because they saw Barry as a boogeyman for all their problems. I know that Barry is an evil killing machine but he has his own problems and isn’t responsible for every bad thing that happened. Just look at season 4 objectively, Barry is probably the least active main character in season 4. Ep 1-3: He spent his time brooding in jail while started doing something when he shot the assassin to escape (which ended up being the last time ever he shot and killed someone because after that, he never pulled a trigger ever again.) Ep 4: He only popped up in the final scene. Ep 5: He’s a stay at home dad. Ep 6: He went to LA just to get caught by Jim. Ep 7: He only walked around in Jim’s house. Ep 8: He went to the scene after the action was over then went to Gene’s house just to get killed midway through the episode. Meanwhile, the other characters were more active in committing the atrocities this season and the finale made it clear that just because Barry died, the problems never goes away because these people are already awful by default with or without Barry. Barry was only the excuse for their awfulness. - Sally is still a self-centered emotionally distant mother to John years after Barry death. She only cares about her own play and refused to give John affection by saying “I love you” back to him. She’s also hypocritical by begging Barry to turn himself in because “responsibility” while never did the same thing herself. - The only thing Barry took away from Gene is Janice but the rest are all Gene and I can’t say that he didn’t deserve this ending. Barry didn’t compel him to sell Janice’s story to the reporter against the promise Gene made with Jim. Barry also didn’t make Gene omit the truth about 250k drug money from the cops or abandoning his son (for the second time) after shooting his son. Gene did it all himself and it made him look guilty af. And most importantly, Barry even tried to confess to help Gene out of prison but his inability to change made him kill Barry in an instant without listening to what he said. - Hank had Cristobal killed without Barry’s influence. This is a perfect anti-Breaking Bad/ Better Call Saul show because while the former loves to blame the protagonist to the absurd degree that they are the cause of all problems (pro-establishment sentiment), Barry did the inverse and told us that just because one bad guy is gone doesn’t mean the problem goes away because it’s a systematic issue. Janice never gets justice because of Gene’s flaws, the incompetency of the cops and greedy hollywood which are out of Barry’s controls. A very anti-establishment sentiment.
I think season 4 was more of a way of saying that everything comes around, Yes Barry is inactive and literally only killed one person but everything that happens in season 4 is a reaction from everything he done in season 1-3 I mean there is a literal 8 year time jump but everyone is still feeling the impact on what Barry did, Fauchs was in prison for those 8, gene was in Israel and Barry and Sally had to hop around the country, Then Barry comes back to LA for a day and look what happens edit: Not looking to debate, just add on, everyone becomes undone by those flaws but everyone might of been better off without meeting barry
@@heezythecasual Agree to disagree. Gene is already a spiteful narcissistic person before and after Barry. Sally remains a self-centered person before and after Barry (albeit it’s her coping mechanism from abuses, it still doesn’t justify her actions). And Hank is very happy with people getting murdered before Barry. The only person who changed and stop blaming everything on Barry and acknowledges his own evilness is Fuches. He finally realized that he took advantages from other people a lot and is a man with no heart (which caused him to save John because he felt like John is his grandson). Also, the what goes around, comes around thing already happened in season 3 when Barry got arrested. Now in season 4, Barry never got arrested again is because of systematic issue and the flaws of the other characters, which is not about Barry anymore.
Nice analysis, except I don't see how BB and BCS do the things you are saying. Especially them being proestablishment which I guess you mean in a political sense. Negative impulses of every character in the show are thoroughly explored and not one individual character is blamed for the mess in other characters life. Especially when talking about BCS Kim is totally an independent agent that makes plenty of her own bad decisions and in the end acknowledges them and decides to punish herself, never blaming Jimmy.
Nailed it! What Sallys play, the guy that asks her out, and her cold way with john i didnt even think about...i was still processing that oh wow moment. Thanks for your insight!!!!!
What I loved about the show is how it never gives off the impression that Barry was some invincible super-assassin like John Wick. He has an incredible amount of dumb luck and multiple times almost got himself killed. And this approach worked perfectly as a dark comedy because Hollywood is inundated with "Segal-Type" action movies where an assassin tries to move on with their life and always gets pulled back in to show what a badass they are. The show constantly reminds you that Barry is just a human and his constant gaffes as an "assassin" are hilariously written throughout the show. This theme reminded me a lot of John Lakeman from The Patriot (also an awesome series).
Season One: "This is interesting and hilarious. Season Two: hahaha...OMG! Season Three: WTF? I FEEL SICK TO MY STOMACH AND I CANNOT SHAKE THAT LAST THREE MINUTES. Season Four: Oh, Shit, I'm witnessing the greatest TV show ever made.
Kinda reminds me of the progression of better call Saul (I've also heard parallels with breaking bad)- we see stuck people try to build one career, but feeling stuck then having an epiphany into a different career path and falling down the rabbit holes of criminal enterprises along the ways. Flashforwards and back contextualise the present story arcs to keep the audience wondering how pieces fit and add depth to the characters economically. All three had some phenomenal comedians' dramatic performances too, of course.
More like seasons 1 and 2: wow, an interesting twist on a tired trope. Not quite Mr Inbetween, but it's leaning into comedy over drama with an emphasis on comedy is at least a very fun ride. Season 3: wtf did this show become? The nihilistic tone does not mesh well with the cartoon world they have created. But maybe they will pay it off in season 4. Season 4: wow so the end of season 3 is pointless as this season is in the same position as if the end of season 3 was simply him going on the run. Then they blatantly use the place beyond the pines last segment quite literally almost to the T as an ending, killing off likeable characters in a manner that elicits no response. This show really went from great to CW level trash.
@@shanewaters2489 Oh aren't you just so much better than everyone who likes stuff regardless of the fact that literally everything has been done before.
I will miss Barry wholeheartedly. I loved some of the goofiness as well as the darkness. Hank dancing on a rooftop after avoiding death, Hanks shot soldier in agonising pain getting up to dance along. The TV show meeting with Sally, her agent and the show executive where they’re all like “YeeAHh. YeeaaH” absolute gold.
They should make a show called Larry about Barry's twin brother played by Bill Hader so they can keep going and he is like has dark urges and stuff and doesn't know why.
@@thatsreelcreative Dude I would be so damn up for that 😂 I just need more dark Bill Hader content tbh. Dude has definitely got more genius in that crazy mind of his!
@@hanyolo2041 I feel you man. But I’m sure I’ll find myself going back for rewatched for the rest of my life now. So at least we have what we got. I’m on season 2 of succession and although it’s massively different, it is hilarious at times, dark as fuck at times. Could give that a whirl if you haven’t already? I did not expect to be laughing as much as I do whilst watching Succession.
Gene's son knew that the money wasn't earned by legal means. It was all in cash, and left in a duffle bag on this kitchen table. And it appeared as Gene was telling him that they had to flee "now." All that coupled together made it pretty clear that the money wasn't obtained legally (such as an acting job).
That, and he barely knew his dad. Before they reunite on the show, it had been decades since they had seen each other. That, plus getting shot by gene and gene just running off for 8 whole years and suddenly showing back up, he was very suspicious and pretty much turned on him.
@@cynicaltheastrocreep4504 gene literally has a restraining order against him from someone else in the industry, too. he somehow used to be an even bigger piece of shit than what we're shown lmao
i love that the card in cousineaus gun says "dont shoot your dick off" and literally every time gene reaches for that gun he intentionally metaphorically shoots his own dick off.
I loved episode 5, it felt like some weird fever dream, and I was questioning if this was all happening in Barry's head or if it was real. Until he reverted back to his violent side and decided he was going to kill Gene. This show is actual genius, and the filmmaking and camera angles are godlike. If I was ever to produce something I wish it could be like this.
I think Albert is fine with Barry having a good legacy and being posthumously honored because of the sheer gratitude he feels for Barry saving his life.
I love barry and this season. In some way i think the show was trying to teach the audience about maturity for this season. Like when barry tell his son to not have a fight with that kid and instead let it go. But then ultimately showing barry did the exact opposite of it and it leads to his death. Showing that violence just leads to pain and suffering. which happened to every character on this season that choose violence like hank and cousineau. it's also interesting that the show been edging the audience with this "yeah barry will explode and shoot gun on this episode" but it never happened. It kinda like the writers telling the audience that "i know that's what you want but you're missing the point. Let me tell you why"
perfect comment, I didnt even realise cause i binged the series but yes, as soon as he flees to the country he doesnt fire a gun in violence at all and every season finale till this point ends with Barry doing something or intending to commit violence
50/50 With Cristobal Hank is probably my new favorite TV character. You could see how much fun Anthony had with the role. The way hank and Cristobal play off each other when proposing the sand deal was fucking amazing. Watched this show for the first time and finished it in like 2-3 days. My only wish is that the episodes were longer than 30min
9:59 In a show about a hit man wanting to become an actor with goofy mob bosses running around, the most unrealistic part is that Barry could walk into a gun store in LA of all places, buy three guns with no ID and just walk out carrying them.
I didn't find that part unrealistic, because that part takes place quite a few years after the present. I think after the time jump, getting a gun is just such a normalised and easy thing because everybody does it by then. This is even signified by how the woman at the cashier doesn't show him the image she was previously supposed to show.
I had the same initial reaction. I was scratching my head trying to figure out how he'd driven from LA to the state line and back that quickly. Although... it is a final season from an HBO show; maybe he used the "daenarys teleport". 🤔
I'll watch it again but I thought that scene implied some extra-legal purchasing, otherwise you're totally spot on, rofl. Cali even makes it hard for me as a LEO lol.
He says “I tried to fix things, I tried to give you that money”, which is confirmed by the subtitles, so he said neither I should or I shouldn’t have, and simply meant that he tried to give the money to fix things.
15:52 Barry is about acting and the characters we play. In this show, facing the truth about yourself is salvation and pretending to be someone you’re not is damnation. While Sally and Fuches become honest with themselves and survive, and Barry and Hank deny the truth about themselves and die, Cousineau is the middle ground. He nearly does confront himself multiple times, but the draw of fame always causes him to be half honest with himself. He can confront some truths but not all. That’s why he doesn’t die, but his fate becomes intertwined with that of Barry and Hank, living out the rest of his days portrayed in a half true depiction of himself. Part of him lives on in the media as a fictional character, while the other part of him has to live out the rest of his days in a jail cell of his own making.
Every time people blame Barry for Sally having to kill that biker, they forget, why she was in the room. She dumped him several times, and still wanted him to kill another woman
Either way, it’s Barry’s fault that the biker guy was even there and this isn’t the first time he’s out Sally in danger. Remember when Hank had some guy shooting into her apartment? Or when Hank himself showed up for he acting class. Barry is the one that brings violence to all of those around him. The situation with the biker guy would’ve happened sooner or later whether Sally sought Barry out or not.
@@romancandleofthewild Sally was a horrible person too & she gets a free slate. The worst person in the show really being Moss’ old partner whom was as insecure as he was incompetent & in complete denial of both. That series made a farce out of a good cop doing her job & anyone whom watched to the end hoping for any sollis or closure was not only robbed, but very uncomedically were slapped in the face in the least dramatic way. Good show that got pretty dark, but then ended on a farce & shouts a loud middle finger at any idea of justice or truth. I wasn’t seeing enough laughs after the first season to keep being considered a dramedy. All & all just skip the last episode & imagine literally anything - even if it isn’t great - at least you aren’t striking to make more than teachers for less than adequate writing & never forget offsetting the cost of living for all those that make less than them. Remember that the more those in the middle go up, the less available/affordable by those whom make minimum wage. Instead of 99% rising up against 1% in this unfair system we just all play along & fight for our ability to go up while having no regard for all the people not getting raises right now & directing no aggression at all to the very few whom make a person’s entire yearly salary in just one (often unexplained) bonus with no limit to how many (mysterious¿‽) bonuses they can receive. Sheldon Cooper was right .... The Flash was just nine seasons of Goatman making us wait ten years for him to eat a can & Barry is looking like four (much shorter) seasons just to lie about the can being eaten. For shame all involved, for shame.
@@Nichole-440HP sure if you want to live in a world where cornering someone & screaming obscenities directed at them a mere inch from their face isn’t abusive & repeatedly slapping your scene partner to get your desired performance is totally acceptable. Lest you not forget the majority of the class calling her out on not caring about the other people in the class. Murdering or ordering a murder aren’t the only ways to be horrible.
Mr Robot is hands down the best show I’ve ever seen. If you liked Barry, Mr Robot has a similar dark style tho less comedic. It’s also got more twists and turns than a mountain trail
Was going to make the same suggestion for 'Mr. Robot' based on the shows you've named (and/or edited in clips from) throughout your different uploads. Seems like the shows that run for 4 to 6 seasons that have already mapped out their main themes and plotted the writing toward a finite conclusion have proven to be the best way to present a TV series, rather than starting strong and eventually turning into a soap opera by the 7th/8th season simply because the studio heads and executives want to milk the cash cow until the udders are puffing out dust, (looking at you, "Walking Dead"). I didn't learn of "Mr. Robot" until season 3 had ended and I was really starting to binge on it; when I read that the 4th season would be the final season when it airs, I was extremely happy because I knew it meant the writers had an actual plan.
I think season 4 was the best way this show couldve wrapped up, EVERYONE had the opportunity to change, but whether it was ego, or just old habits, is everyones downfall, Fuachs literally had like 3-4 moments to let go of Barry but become so absorbed by it that he couldnt let it go, Gene couldve just kept his mouth shut or been against the movie but his ego got the better of him, Hank who in my opinion didn’t deserve his death just couldnt admit to fuachs that he ultimately killed his partner and died cause of his denial, and of course Barry couldve just stayed out in the country but his old habits of tying loose ends brought him back to LA, literally using religion to justify coming back to kill Gene It just showcases that everyone has the chance to change but u do have to make that effort no matter how hard it is cause if u dont then u will be worse off and also showing how easy it is to fall back into habits that controlled most of ur life
One of my favorite the things in the show goes unnoticed by ALOT of people, and that is the the military accuracy… the depiction of Marines and their mentality/culture all the way to the way he clears buildings and handles combat is incredibly accurate. So many movies and TV shows blow it off and have soooo many things fucked up with military aspects in it. Bill Hader did insanely well with it
This is a story about struggling with honesty with self and struggling with doing the right thing. It presents several case studies, with only a few making it long enough to decide to do a right thing, and only a couple getting out alive.
7:13 I just realized that despite this being the darkest season this is the only time in season 4 where Barry kills someone, and it's in self-defense. Season 4 somehow has the lowest kill count out of the whole show.
Barry brought everyone he touched down into the depths. But, in reality, he stayed winning throughout the show. He was at rock bottom and ended up with a family and a son, everything he wanted. Its just that he pushed the people around him over the cliff to get over the edge
Sad thing is he could of just kept his mouth shut and let them make the movie, they had the secluded life, granted not as if Sally was happy about it. Though it is interesting to consider that in terms of Barry, the only difference would of been the timeframe of Sally telling Barry to turn himself in since the events of Gene being blamed for the crime would of still occured. The only thing that would of still been left untied would of been the gangsters in a sense, Hank and them might of died and The Raven's group might of still been alive most likely do all they could to hunt for Barry.
@@airget John would have suffered irreparably if Barry kept raising him in secret. He didn’t even want John to play baseball, or make friends. John is better off with Barry dead. Now he can at least have a normal life and live publicly.
I haven't heard anyone draw the comparison between Barry's death and Tony Soprano's death. It seems like Hader was making an obvious allusion to the most famous HBO death, and slightly adjusting the moment to give the audience what they didn't get with Tony's - while still making the point that no one dies with a heroic monologue.
I never watched The Sopranos. But have heard about it so much that I never want to watch it. Although, now I am curious what you mean. I thought the Soprano's just ended. Like nothing spectacular happened at the end, right? That's what everyone was saying when it ended. Tony dies? I thought he was in a restaurant at the end and it just ends?? Again...I never saw it but I didn't know he dies. Hmm. I still don't think I'm gonna watch it.
@@derekcarney in a previous episode Tony discusses how when you get wacked you probably don't even know it's coming or even that it happened. It made a point, but left fans feeling unsatisfied. (Watch Sopranos tho)
@@derekcarney You should watch it. I mean, think of it this way. Do you rewatch anything? Even though you know what happens in it, the experience is still valuable. The experience of The Sopranos is one worth having, and simply knowing things about it won't change the fact that you haven't experienced it for yourself.
@@derekcarney Then yeah, The Sopranos is definitely worth watching. It's the kinda thing where you'll continuously find new things about it on each watch, which does change the emotions of the experience sometimes.
I would love if Bill Hader somehow kept the cast and made a completely new show. Maybe similar style? But I think it would be hilarious if Anthony Carrigan and Bill were some kind of partners/agents, similar to True Detective S01. I wouldn't be mad if he kept the dark humor aspect of the show.
Mr. In Between is the only other show I can say is similar to and on par with Barry. I actually think it may have partly inspired elements of Barry, but feels much more grounded in reality. It's also extremely well made and has great acting, especially Ray and his disabled brother. They are both undoubtedly 2 of the best dark comedic dramas you will ever watch. Scott Ryan (Ray) is also the creator and this is his first legit writing credit as well as acting role, making Mr. In Between that much more remarkable. I felt that void of wanting much more of both of these shows when I finished them, but it's a testament to their greatness that the shows don't overstay their welcome and tell their stories without dragging out unnecessary seasons.
Mr Inbetween was a vastly superior show. Barry was a cartoon version of that, that had the opportunity to surpass it, but squandered it in a mediocre 3rd and 4th season.
Totally agree about the ending. I think thematically it's a very appropriate finale, but the means of getting there were very convenient. I had also wondered myself how Albert might factor in and was disappointed that he never showed up again, he clearly could have contributed a lot to this plot of Jim trying to solve what happened. Maybe a different conclusion they could've drawn in that case is that Cousineau was working with Barry but Barry still killed of his own volition, but since Barry is now dead (and a former Marine, Military Worship in the Media and all that), the only one the media wants to paint as the "villain" is Cousineau. Fuches also gave so much information to the police both in seasons 3 and 4 about Barry to save his own skin, so the fact that there are records of Barry's other involvements that are then entirely dismissed in favor of just focusing on Janice's case and pinning it on Cousineau is quite the disappointment as well. I feel like the final beats of the finale could still have been achieved nearly exactly how they played out, but with some tighter means of getting there. Great video btw thank you for sharing!!! I love hearing others' thoughts on Barry.
I trust the screenwriters and go with their decisions. You have to. You don't really have a choice as the digester of the media. So I don't get where people think they have the right to argue with what happens in someone else's story. That's up to them. If you want to decide things like that then sit down and write your own story. Albert said his peace and decided to let Barry be free, so why would he change his mind and come back to go against what he had told Barry??? He obviously knew Barry got caught. Albert doesn't seem like the kind of guy to not keep his word. And Barry saved his life. So he let Barry cash in on that favor by not turning him in...so then why would Albert suddenly betray the man that saved his life???
@@derekcarney I agree that we shouldn't judge stories on the basis of "it didn't go the way I wanted it to go", but there has to be room for critique about "how things went". If we take that away, then there's no critiquing anything--ever.
Thanks for watching! Honestly having struggled for years, i'm very happy even with the 1300 subs that I have currently. Ofc hope that the number will grow, but I'm just happy that I'm not shouting into a void anymore.
I wasn’t expecting a lifetime movie. Brilliant end. I felt a bunch of different emotions and had so many thoughts throughout the finale. I couldn’t imagine what the finale would bring leading up to it and thought they ended it perfectly. Quite a journey for all the characters. Top notch entertainment. Thanks Bill, Alec and everyone involved. Bravo!
a part that always stuck with me is when barry says “lord im gonna die tonight “ like just the thought of knowing ok well im not making it to tomorrow and him accepting that idk always felt some way about that probably just overthinking 😭
The money Moss found in the ceiling of the bathroom at the acting class...made them connect Chechen money with Cousineau. It makes sense. It isn't a plot hole.
Did I call it a plothole? This is an aspect of the ending for sure, but I'm still hung up on what Cousineau was actually doing for the Chechens. It's a tad too convenient for me personally, but we can agree to disagree.
The only surprising choice that my wife and I were unhappy with, was the resolution for Sally. Sally continues to be a pretty horrible person, really narcissistic and self-absorbed. She tries to convince Barry to turn himself him in to the police in order to help jean, says it's the right thing to do... but the events after the time jump tell us that she stayed silent, let Jean go to prison for crimes he didn't commit, even lets a movie get made that perpetuates the lies. Her voice could have made a difference, but she did nothing. The story feels a little bit like it isn't holding her accountable for that.
To be fair, Sally had quite a bit of PTSD and lived a distorted reality too. I can believe she may not have truly known what was true and what was fiction. Maybe she just knew Barry killed a lot of people and her focus was on protecting & shielding John, hence not going to trial, etc etc
Came back to say that although flawed I want to give the character of Sally credit for not being phased at the praise offered by the teacher who complimented her play and tried to ask her out. And instead she only cared about what her son John thought. I think this was intentionally written to show her growth. She was formerly a people pleasing codependent person who ended up with violent men. Now her priorities are straight. Sure, John said “I love you” and she didn’t return the affection in words, but I took that as a display of her imperfection. She still has intimacy issues.
People got “brought down” to Barry’s level not because of Barry wholly but because they are capable to go to that level in the first place and used Barry as their justification to do so, just like how Walter White used his cancer as an excuse to cook meth. The part you got curious about how Gene got arrested that way, I think it’s simply because you saw him from Barry’s eyes as Barry’s moral compass in season 1 and 2. Gene is already a bad person by default. He harassed his ex gf and got her blacklisted from the industry just because she dumped him and he neglected his son to pursue acting career. All that happened before Barry even got in the picture. Then he decided to be good to build a relationship with Barry because he saw Barry as a way to start fresh and keep in mind that Barry is a mentally-deranged serial killer so any shred of kindness from Gene is a big deal for him, even though Gene isn’t that good of a person. Now once he found out Barry killed Janice, his spiteful behavior came back. You can blame Barry to some extent but the rest is Gene’s own doing. The whole Mark Wahlberg thing are about Jim testing if Gene will maintain integrity by not selling Janice’s story (because he did it before) and Gene failed, without Barry’s influences. So Jim being suspicious of Gene and got Gene in jail are all Gene’s fault. Thanks to his own flaws and inability to see what he did wrong (and constant blaming everything on Barry), Gene ended up creating evidences to make him look as guilty as possible and killing Barry was a nail in the coffin. Also, you are right. Sally only told Barry to turn himself in just to get rid of Barry. She won’t go in jail herself or help Gene because she didn’t want to lose her acting career.
Its so weird in every community like breaking bad or barry theres large majority that absolutely hate one of the lead female roles. Like skylar in breaking bad and sally in barry. The whole show barry will kill, manipulate and destroy peoples lives, but hes still seen as a "complex" person, which he is. im not saying he isn't. But people are so quick to call another complex charcter like Sally evil and doesnt deserve a happy ending. Its not that simple. This show is about bad people, and she doesn't get a happy ending shes broken and probably won't love anyone or be truly happy again. The person that got the "good" ending is Fuches. And the only reason they got a good ending in my opinion is beacuse they both admitted and accepted who they truley are deep down, everyone else in the main cast just couldnt accept themselves so they got a bad ending.
The entire show Sally was a narcissistic user who didn't show much concern for anything that didn't directly benefit her, everyone (except Gene) may have been worse, but she was a shitty person for pretty much the whole series. The Skyler hate was a bit unwarranted...but Sally hate is understandable.
@@RagnarokMic Yeah but what they're saying is that people still sympathize with all the flawed male characters on this show, but if a female is flawed, she's just unlikable. Why?
There's a lot of similarity between Barry and Bojack Horseman. Both shows about terrible characters who do deplorable things but we root for them anyway due to them being main characters. We know both of them didn't start bad but circumstances in their pasts are what made them into what they are. They refuse to examine their issues that time and time again drive them to made decisions that actively hurt others. Every season has them attempt to pour their attention into an idea/project they're convinced will make their lives better or them better people, only for their emotional deficiencies to show back up with nothing having changed. Both shows force the audience to examine how the public can be swayed by how events are depicted by Hollywood and how the Hollywood machine just chews people up with little care about facts or morality. And both have the show named after them.
Im with you on the money bit. I felt pretty lost but just came to the conclusion "im just dumb or forgetful" as to not ruin the show while watching lmao
Keep in mind that he was in a panic and being psychologically tortured by the father of the cop that he murdered. You cannot expect anything he said in that scene to make sense or be coherent.
I think the part about Barry saying he should have given him the money is clever because the whole thing with torture is that it really isn't necessarily effective, you are just as likely to get truth as you are to drive someone insane and make them question reality itself. In that moment Barry is going crazy and hallucinating so saying something untrue isn't out of the realms of possibility. Moss maybe was so worried about who he considered the real criminal that he left Barry less secured
4:07 Podcasters are people too, so technically speaking, he kills in season 4 (Fred Armisen's character's brother). Also, the show is perfect: as comedy recedes, drama increases. 15:35 I see the money problem as a tragic error, the way Barry confesses to Janice's father about the money, made said father arrive to the wrong conclusion and provokes Gene's downfall, and ultimately, Barry's death. All because he said the wrong thing, to the wrong person, in the worst time. Gene's ultimate downfall is that he fell in the police's trap designed to make him confess (wrongly) that he and Barry are partners in crime.
But don't forget that the cops found that other money hidden in the ceiling of the acting class ALSO in a duffle bag if I recall. So they could have connected that money to Cousineau/Barry... as well.That solidifies the supposed "plot hole." We don't need to see every single minute detail of things like that in a half hour tv show.
The Hollywood movie was so ducking funny when they made Barry look like a hero. It was the perfect wrap to just laugh and look back at how dark and funny the show was
idk if anyone else said this, most of the "Huh?" section stuff was covered, but at 15:40 you asked why they would say in the film that Gene was working with the mob. I think its because everyone thought Ryan was working for the mob after he died, and there was drug money hidden in the theatre by Barry after the military guy planted it on him. I dont remember if that was ever corrected in-world to say that Ryan was innocent, but it would make sense that if the story ended up so twisted, people would go back to believing that he was a criminal. I think thats a big staple of why that plot hole about the money is easy to not miss, second to the subtitle error, we forgot about Ryan's false connection to the mob.
Yeah I get the money connection, but I'm just puzzled about Cousineau's "job" for the mob. Like according to Moss & Gang what was Cousineau doing for them so that he would have that stack of money?
@@criticalcoffee honestly I think the cops were also scraping for an explanation in the show so I wouldn't be surprised if they just assumed he was working for the mob. My best guess is they though he was bringing in consumers of the drugs they were selling with the theatre or something similar.
Barry was in California. He would have had to done a background check, a firearm safety test, and then would have had to wait 10 days to pick up 1 firearm. Then he would have to wait to get another one. It’s not that easy.
Absolutely, there no way an experienced hitman would have contacts that would dare break the laws regulating gun sales in the state. Truly took me out of my state of suspended disbelief
There’s no way Barry would have been able to pass a background check to purchase the guns. Especially in California with some of the strictest gum laws in the US
One, Barry exists in a slightly more absurd version of reality, where cold blooded killers get excited like children because of a game room, but also...he'd be using a fake identity. Either way, can't look at it wholly realistically.
It's fiction. It's not a true story. IT's a comment on the state of the USA today. It's a statement on how ridiculous it is that most people (if not Barry) CAN purchase high powered weapons so easily and quickly. Everything on TV and in movies needs to be BIGGER than real life. The problems the characters face need to be BIGGER, the stakes need to be BIGGER. That's the most important thing they taught us in screenwriting class.
I was also confused by the ending logic but the way I see it was that Jim Moss though that Barry was given 250,000 by Couisneou, and Barry was saying he wish he could have rejected it. Like he had made 500,000 on some job and offered Barry half for the job. Or that Couisenou was laundering his money through his students and made them accomplices or something.
Throughout the series, I found myself saying "holy sh*t". More so within the last season. The final season perfect. The show was perfect. When Barry meets his fate, it was poetic. All in all, the series was an incredible and wild ride. Incredibly memorable.
Barry said "I tried to give you that money" not "I should've given you that money." Whatever the subtitles say, don't go off that. The production crew doesn't make them. They're made by someone who watched the episode after it was done so there's always errors wit subtitles.
I tried to give you the money. He doesn’t say “I should have given you the money” because we know he gave Gene the money. The son AND Jim Miss know Barry gave him the money. That’s why they’re interrogating him about having the money and Gene saying “I only spent a little bit of it”
Thank you for this. I have been trying to figure out how I feel about the finale since I watched it! As for something else to watch, Mrs. Davis? It's a Peacock show over here in the US so I'm not sure where it might be for you. The season finale aired here a few weeks ago.
The last season was losing me for a sec in the middle of nowhere scenes but the way they wrapped it and it all came together was the funniest and greatest thing ever. The finale made everything work and it was just perfect
Barry’s death at the end was not surprising in the slightest. It couldn’t have ended any other way and it very much foreshadowed exactly when he was going to die.
I just watch the ending...this show is a masterpiece (the writing, the amazing performances, the awkward action, etc.), i want to watch it all over again right now.
Not only was the ending a blatant rip off of A Place Beyond the Pines, it failed in virtually every aspect to get any emotion out of me for a character I otherwise rooted for for 2 seasons. It was an improvement on the appalling season 3, but this show stopped being excellent at the end of season 2 when they decided to go for a darker nihilistic tone. It meshed about as well with the cartoon aesthetic world they created as sugar does with gasoline.
The comparison to A Place Beyond the Pines is very interesting and something I hadn't considered. It's similar (father dies early and thus the son has an incomplete perspective about their father's actions), but other than that, I don't think the two have much in common. I think where Barry left off was far more open-ended in the sense that we don't know what John's future will hold. John also was there when Barry didn't save them and therefore he should know that the dramatization is a lie. Feel free to specify more if I missed something from your comparison.
@criticalcoffee I mean there is a shot for shot scene virtually of the son crying watching an old tape about his father so yeah I'd say it's almost a scene identical robbery.
I guess "I should've given you the money" is the thing you're talking about. Things are supposed to be random, things happen randomly. He just said that line for some random reason, maybe slip of tongue, maybe the glasses did it to him etc.
Didn’t mind the tonal shifts and i wouldn’t go so far as to say it was perfect but definitely in my most loved of shows. I really appreciate it sticking the landing for me and while ludicrous at times you can still make sense of how everyone ended up where they are by the end. Sometimes life can be stranger than fiction. Bill Hader has really evolved as a artist and I can’t wait to see what he does with the horror genre. Would be curious what he could do with a good sci-fi script.
And really, the tonal shift was just the natural progression as things got worse and worse, it was always a dark comedy, but as everything got darker...so did the comedy.
Great video essay. It might clear things up to know that native English speakers in America often say “shouldnt’ve” very quickly, and it could easily sound like “should’ve”. That section of dialogue that confused you was “I was just trying to fix things. I shouldnt’ve given you that money.” Hope that helps!
Thanks for the correction! I went by the English subtitles (which were erroneous) in that point because I couldn't make out what Barry said in that scene.
Love the show, great vid, you had a bit about how easy it is to buy a gun irl, the cops would be at the store before he could leave if he was in prison and tried to buy a gun. Also in California literally every gun in the show is illegal
Give Severance a watch! Derry Girls is so fun too. When it comes to video essays, especially Barry video essays, those things could be an hour long and id watch the whole thing in one sitting
11:30 About this, once in a video John Green said that writing real stuff is easier than writing fiction because in fiction, things have to make sense. In real life, things can just be truth
Another thing I really like about the movie at the end that I see as another subtle critique of Hollywood is how much more conventionally attractive Barry and Cousineau's actors are than Hader and Winkler. Don't get me wrong I think Bill Hader is an adorable little dork of a man, but there's this thing of like "Hollywood Pretty" that has always got to me.
Even though it's a much more uneven show, the only other show I know to blend all the same elements as Barry is Big Time In Hollywood, FL. It's worth a watch to scratch the Barry itch
To me, that last issue is to highlight that even Moss makes dumb and rash decisions because of his own fatal flaw, as in, he is constantly suspicious of everyone, and especially Gene. and he's also stubbornly confident that he is always right. Barry's nonsensical admission reconnected his suspicion of Gene. By the time we got to the trap scene, it's reasonable to believe that Gene's son has already bought the narrative that Moss has sold to the DA and the cops. I mean, consider that the show has also made it a point to show cops are dumb. lol. anyway, love this show., love you take!
Huh? I can also say that it is quite strange that Gene did not mention his son once in the first season. A, when his girlfriend was killed and he got a little easier. He suddenly began to want to reconnect with his son.
I love the finale, though there were a few things that definitely bugged me. For one what happened to Albert, Albert knew everything and then walked away for some reason. He was a big part of the season 3 finale and yet he just kind of disappeared in season 4. I feel like as soon as news came out that the DA suspected cousineau was Janice's murderer, Albert would have come forward and mentioned that Barry was a contract killer. It also seemed a little strange that cousineau was straight up sent to jail for life, I feel like a decent lawyer would have been able to argue that there was no physical evidence to connect him to Janice's murder and I also can guarantee that a lawyer would be able to argue Barry's murder down to manslaughter. I'm not sure if California has it, but most states have the castle law. I do suppose that cousineau wouldn't really care one way or the other given that his arc kind of leaves him a broken man by the end. I think one thing that they didn't really highlight very well in the ending was how the DA started to suspect Gene over Barry. One thing you really have to keep in mind, it's the fact that the media will take even the most vague accusations and run with them pretty hard. And since gene is this actor that has a pretty bad reputation of course a lot of media outlets want to get in on that story. Gene left almost immediately after shooting his son and obviously that looked very suspicious to everybody. Barry also left around the same time because he had escaped jail and then suddenly gene comes back to supposedly kill this movie which Leo doesn't believe (I'm sure most of the people don't believe it either). I think the whole "should have given you the money" line is just a continuity error and barry really was probably supposed to say "I gave you that money.". What sold the scene for me was how pathetic Barry was. I think Moss saw this person and just couldn't believe that he was the murderer that gene made him out to be. And the money, which Leo did see when Barry gave it to gene, is something that cousineau didn't mention to Moss during their original garage scene and when Leo asked about it, he kept saying "it doesn't matter". I could certainly see the DA starting to question Gene against the official narrative that they already have given this new information. And when he kills Barry, it makes the case against him more concrete because to these guys it looks like Gene killed him to try to silence his side of the story. As for how Gene is connected to the mafia, who knows how they made that connection but it really doesn't matter. Gene was pegged as connected to Janet's murder and that was enough. Another thing that you have to remember, Leo isn't saying that he suspected his father got the money from a shady source, what they are saying is that Gene himself suspected that his son was getting close to revealing the "truth" of where that money came from and that's why he shot him. All this breaks down though when you get a good lawyer involved or if Albert was involved. Or If the cops from the prison who were going to take Barry into protective custody had actually written something down somewhere about barry's story; that one really boggles my mind though I guess it's in line with how stupid the LAPD has been throughout the entire show. But honestly it's just a small little detail and it doesn't bother me all that much. The other thing that was a little strange was how Fuches was in jail for 8 years. I have no idea what he was even charged with. Originally he was the fall guy for the mob but he was supposed to be the fall guy for Janice's murder. And yet by the time Barry escapes jail, the DA has already questioning whether or not the mafia had anything to do with her murder. From what we know, he didn't talk about NoHo Hank or his involvement with Barry outside what he said to the agents who were killed by NoHo Hanks hitters. So what exactly was he in jail for? I don't know it was a bit of a weird little detail though it was funny to see the weird guy from office space covered in full body tattoos and looking like a total badass. The fourth season was definitely the shakiest of all of the seasons of Barry but it was still really good in some very specific ways. You can definitely tell that Bill hader had a singular vision for how he wanted to direct and write this final season but I also get the feeling that If they had four to five more episodes they could have fleshed out some of these things a bit more. I guess it's hard to wrap up a show as complex as this in one final eight episode season. By the way, I also thought the Barry didn't kill anybody else after the season 3 finale but he kills that one guy who's in the ceiling before he escapes the prison. I'm pretty sure that's his last on-screen kill for the entire series. Given the guy was trying to kill him, I suppose you could argue that it's not really like his other kills.
Albert would not betray Barry, who saved his life. Did you miss the war scenes in the first three seasons and the Albert/Barry confrontation in the desert????
@@derekcarney sure but that only goes so far. What I'm saying here is that Albert probably would have stepped in after Barry died. Do you really think he would have rationalized saving Barry's legacy over letting a man go down for his crimes? Like forget Janice's death, Barry did so many terrible things and Albert kind of knew about them all. I mean it's not as though he couldn't have pieced together the puzzle based off of what he knew. Sure Barry saved his life but it's a big stretch to think that an FBI agent would ignore a mass murder who killed at least 100 people.
