Image credit: Google Play
Dougie Storey
In March of 2018, HBO released Barry, a powerful Comedy-Drama series starring Bill Hader and Sarah Goldberg. Having recently finished the show, I wanted to share my thoughts about it with anyone looking for a new show to binge or a good plot to get sucked into.
Centered around an ex-marine from the Midwest (Barry Berkman) who finds work as a hitman after leaving the military, the series immediately takes on a very dark quality. Regardless, the writers do not fail to give the show its fair share of humor, utilizing countless comedic and lighthearted scenes to shine a protagonistic light on Barry and his troublesome line of work. Though Barry willingly profits off of murder, it is made clear from the start that he views his work as a service, as the people he is hired to kill are mostly criminals or otherwise “bad” people. This sets up a plethora of moral dilemmas in seasons to come. However, in the spirit of not giving spoilers for those who want to experience the full suspenseful nature of the series, I will only briefly cover said dilemmas more thematically later on.
The show begins when Barry, the series’s namesake and loveable protagonistic killer, takes a job in Los Angeles for the Chechen mob. Upon Barry’s arrival, the leader of the Chechens, Goran Pazar, informs him that he wants Barry to kill the man with which his wife is having an affair. Soon after taking the job, Barry finds out that his target is part of a local acting class. In an attempt to get closer to the young man, Barry finds himself enrolling in the same class, practically begging the instructor, Gene Coussineau, to let him join. After Gene agrees, Barry begins to fall in love with acting and simultaneously starts to feel internal resistance to his hitman lifestyle. Feeling heavily conflicted and strongly pressured by both the Chechens and his handler Monroe Fuches to keep up with his illicit profession, a tension is created between Barry’s past and his desire for a different future that sets the stage for the rest of the show.
Throughout the story that chronicles Barry’s increasingly complex situation, several themes and questions come up that are not only interesting in the context of the show itself, but in the world at large, particularly when it comes to morality and sense of self. These themes include:
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The past’s impact on the present and the future: To what extent should we let the past define us? Can we truly choose whether it does or not?
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The ability of people to change: Can people change their ways or are they constant?
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The defining characteristics of our actions: Are we our actions? Do our actions always inform our character as a whole?
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Perception’s role in morality: If someone perceives their actions to be beneficial, does that justify those actions?
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Trust: Can we ever truly trust those close to us? Is anyone ever really working for the benefit of others or only for themselves?
These themes are constantly explored throughout the entire series, with Barry and those close to him making decisions whose consequences help to answer some of the questions that I included.
As much as I absolutely loved the show as a whole, I would like to address a pet peeve of mine with any multi-season series, that being when the plot gets too complex and loses sight of the original ideas that inspired the first season. Without giving any spoilers, I will say that as Barry progressed through its four seasons, a few of the original plots that hooked me on the show in the first place became more minor as new plots took the series on a variety of tangents that did not always seem necessary to the effectiveness of the show. That said, seeing as many shows follow a similar trajectory, I would say that Barry is by no means an outrageous example of this general trend.
Overall, I highly recommend the show to anyone looking for a means of entertainment that will leave you wanting more and might even make you question the world around you. While the relatively complex plot and the artistic cinematography do make the series a bit of a head-scratcher at times, the twists and turns crafted by the writers, as well as the iconic character development and skilled acting, create a compelling piece of work that I believe many viewers can appreciate.