Thought this would be easy. Hated Season 3 of Barry. Yes, really.
And Season 4 didn't get off to the best start through most of the first episode. Then the showrunner, or Bill Hader, or Alec Berg, or all the above, flipped the switch.
There is a pitch-black aura around Barry: Season 3. There are some genuinely funny moments reminiscent of Seasons 1 & 2. In particular, the hiring of the two podcasters, Garcia and Chuy Flores, to bump off Barry in prison, is hilarious from the set-up through the signaled demise of the assassins.
Moving the series to a Must Watch is partly due to Sarah Goldberg who has reinvented her character. Sally Reed is scarred by the affair with a paid hitman, but not to the point of losing her sense of humor. She's brilliant in her effort to purloin a part from a drop-dead gorgeous Amazonian actress. Sally is the superior performer, but her competition is a twenty-year-old blond (Ellyn Jameson) with a body that just doesn't give up. It's a No Go for Ms. Goldberg.
And speaking of NoHo. Hank is changing too, and not in a good way. He has reformed himself as an idiot savant who is in charge of the gang. Cristobal is not long for the series . . . or is he?
A funny moment appears from nowhere with NoHo, as he gives the boys in the mixed gang of Chechens and Columbians, a day out at Dave & Busters. It's just great comedy, and vintage Hader.
But the viciousness which defines Chechen mobsters has insinuated itself into NoHo Hank. There will be a denouement like no other for the talented Andrew Carrigan in the final three episodes. Guaranteed.
This ambiguous review is intentional. Looking to see what my readers think of the series, especially for those who have watched the first five installments.
Or, is Barry: Season 4 even on the Watch List?
Please advise.
HBO