Review: Barry, "the wizard" | Season 4, Episode 6
Barry's back in LA, and he has some friends to see...
[Myles here to apologize that this didn’t go out last night. Not Zack’s fault. Thanks, as always, for being patient]
The major reason I’ve been struggling with this season of Barry is that the show has lost something that can’t quite be pinned down. Call it a constantly shifting status quo. Part of what’s made Barry so good right from the start is the writers’ refusal to ever rest too comfortably on any one idea, but even with the changing goal posts and unexpected deaths, there was still a central dynamic that remained strong throughout, a throughline to provide context and a certain foundation: Barry Berkman was a hitman who wanted to be an actor, and everything he did was in service of that goal. You could argue that this concept was already pretty much out the window by season three, which had Barry less interested in his career than he was in making sure Gene Cousineau still liked him, but that the story of a deeply damaged murderer doing whatever it took to keep the two…