Summary: Sally comes to Barry to get revenge on Natalie. Barry is attacked by a biker who strangles Sally. Sally snaps and kills him. Barry gets her to leave and goes to bury the body but he is tracked down by Albert. Albert ultimately forgives a cowering Barry. Sally leaves for Joplin and Barry is called by Gene. Gene is interrogated by Jim. Barry goes to find him, thinking that Gene is going to kill Jim. Barry goes inside to kill Jim, but it was all a set-up. Barry is arrested. The Chechens are eaten by a panther while Hank is horrified in the next cell. He breaks free, gets a gun from a guard, and murders the panther. He kills Cristobal's wife and frees him from conversion therapy.
The Good: What worked best about this episode was how unexpectedly intense and stressful it was. As I've stated in previous reviews, the whole season has mixed comedy and drama so well that it has maintained an unexpectedly light tone overall, especially when compared to season 2. There is no tonal whiplash, and the season has been consistent in how it feels. Until this episode. This episode was a masterful shift to much darker storytelling as everyone is portrayed in difficult, anxiety-inducing situations that highlight the intensity and horror of what it means to do what Barry does. Almost every character is given their own exploration, and it works extremely well. Barry, being the main character, has the most expansive and interesting arc in this episode. We see the fallout of his hallucinations in the previous episode, and they ae pretty harrowing. Now more than ever, Barry accepts what a horrible person he is and that he has done terrible things that nobody should have to do. He has accepted that he is going to hell, and he feels shameful about this. This is explored beautifully in a magnificent scene between Barry and Albert (see: Best Moment), the best scene in the episode. I'll discuss that more later, but the rest of Barry's story sees him struggling to keep his influence away from those that he loves. At the start of the episode, Barry is startled to see Sally and Gene in that vision, suggesting that they will also be victims of his. While Barry doesn't kill them, this ends up being true symbolically. This episode forces Barry to contend with the reality that simply being exposed to him has taken Sally and Gene to much darker places that they would have gone to otherwise, and that's a fascinating idea to explore. Having lost everything, Sally concerningly goes to Barry for revenge, suddenly looking past the questionable morality of his actions. Of course she wants Barry to psychologically torture Natalie, and that's a pretty dark turn for the character. But what happens next is even more brutal. Out of nowhere, a biker knocks Barry out and strangles Sally. THis came right out of nowhere, and I love that we casually notice the biker standing in the background before the characters do, a creative way to make his arrival even more sudden and shocking. The strangling scene is brutally tense. For a while I thought Sally might die here, with Barry's actions being responsible for the loss of her life. Plus there is a horrible irony to Sally getting strangled to death, considering her past with abusive relationships. But what happens next is even more brutal as Sally refuses to give in and stabs the man in the neck before brutally beating him to death with a baseball bat. Having this whole thing happen just out of sight in the sound room with us unable to hear anything was an inspired choice, making the whole sequence feel even more brutal, disquieting, and shocking. This is a pivotal moment for Sally as she has crossed a boundary that will change the way she lives her life. The episode doesn't delve into the consequences very much, but we get a fantastic scene when Barry realizes what happened and tries to convince Sally that she did not do this, and Barry did it instead. A lovely touch is socially awkward Barry sending the wrong message at first, making Sally believe that she was responsible for what happened, repeating "I did this". Eventually he corrects it to "Barry did this", but the damage to Sally has been done, and no amount of denial from Barry can correct what has happened. On the other hand we have Gene, who is thrust away from his career revival by Jim. Jim is a fascinating character because everyone seems to be almost inexplicably afraid of him. But it quickly becomes apparent why he is so frightening in his interrogation scene with Gene. The scene is very well acted and Jim is imposing, terrifying, and intimidating in such a perfect way. I can totally understand Gene's fear of him, and it is sensible that he told Jim about Barry's guilt. This plays out beautifully in the episode as Gene ends up turning on Barry following a great bit of acting to finally get Barry arrested. The twist caught me off guard, and it was a gamechanging conclusion for this season, setting up for a very different fourth season (see: The Unknown). The emotional impact of this is evident. Barry is betrayed and heartbroken that Gene turned on him, and while Gene is certainly feeling triumphant about getting revenge, there does seem to be a hint of sadness in his eyes. Revenge is satisfying, but it does not resolve everything. More interestingly, I want to dive into Gene's con, making Barry think that he was going to kill Jim to keep him quiet. This hits Barry hard following what happened to Sally, and the possibility of Gene also succumbing to the same evils that Barry has succumbed to is too much for him to take. In his mind, Barry is killing to save others from having to face the same reality that he does. It's almost honourable in a way, but he should certainly still be condemned for his actions. Coming right off of Albert forgiving him, it is alarming how quick Barry is to turn back to murder. Short Hank/Cristobal paragraph. Fuches is the only character that doesn't have much to do here, but that's okay. What we learn is that Fuches is going to prison alongside Barry, and he will be embracing his new moniker of "The Raven". Even in such a serious episode, the show managed a few great jokes. My favourite has to be the police continuing to be complete idiots. Everything about the line "I haven't seen [Albert] since he stormed out of here and cocked his gun in front of us, he's probably out seeing the sights" is comedy gold. The biker thinking Sally put something in his eye is such a dark but effective joke to throw in the episode. The Bad: Nothing too bothersome, but there are a few flaws. There are a few conveniences as there have been all season, like Albert finding Barry inexplicably, Jim being almost cartoonishly terrifying, and Hank being able to get to Cristobal unbelievably easily in Bolivia. Hank's story in particular is absolutely unfeasible the moment you put even a modicum of thought into it. This show has never had a particularly compelling plot even though the characters are well written. This show is worse without Akhmal in it. I'm sad that he's dead. The Unknown: How long will Barry be in jail? How will the series continue with him in jail? Will he interact with Fuches who is also in jail? How will Gene's career change now that he has turned Barry in? What's next for Hank and Cristobal? Will they be okay after what they went through? How about Sally? How will she change now that she has murdered someone? What is she going to do in Joplin? How long will she be there? Will Jim play a role in the story going forwards? Or is his role done now that he has avenged Janice? What happened to Batir? He ran away a few episodes ago and never came back. Best Moment: Albert confronting Barry is fantastic television. Albert is understandably furious, realizing that the man who saved his life has become such a stone-cold murderer. It's in this moment where Barry locks eyes with the man whose life he saved that he understands that he deserves it all. As Albert brutally tears him down, Barry is unable to find any words. He's ashamed of all he's done and how he's let everyone down, and he can't do anything but scream in agony and fear, awaiting the inevitable. This is Bill Hader's best performance on the show yet, and Barry's piercing screams stuck with me even after the episode was over. This was a truly broken man who no longer knew what to do anymore. But Albert still stood up for him. Albert likely saw another traumatized war veteran in front of him, and he pitied Barry. He gave him that second chance that Barry had been craving since the first episode of the season, even calling back to the "starting now" line from season 1. It's a shame that Barry's inability to stop using murder to solve all of his problems prevents him from ever committing to proper rehabilitation. Character of the Episode: Barry. Conclusion: This was bleak, dark, and difficult to watch in all of the best ways. This was such a sharp change in tone, and it worked superbly as a season finale. One of the show's best episodes. Score: 78
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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