Summary: Fuches doesn't kill Gene but tells him something before leaving. Barry arrives and so do the cops. The cops arrest Gene under suspicion that he murdered Moss. Barry arrives for Sally's performance but is unnerved by what is happening to Gene, and repeatedly calls Fuches in frustration. Fuches contacts Hank at the monastery looking for help but is surprised when he sees that nobody is listening to Hank. Cristobal arrives to kill Hank but Fuches talks to him and gets everyone to make up. The three gangs celebrate their union. The theatre performance doesn't go as planned when Sally changes her scene at the last second to show her standing up to Barry. Sally is horrified by her actions but she is surprised when her performance is praised. Barry discovers that Gene has been released; the cops discovered a Chechen pin that Barry planted in the car and they blame them. Barry receives a text from Hank that Fuches is with him. Angry, Barry goes to the monastery and shoots down tons of people in an attempt to kill Fuches, including Mayrbeck. Fuches escapes. Batir arrives from Chechnya and finds Hank amidst the chaos. Gene remembers what Fuches told him before leaving: Barry is responsible for killing Moss.
The Good: Everybody starts off this episode in an awful place. Barry and Gene are in custody being eaten alive by what's happened. Gene is in a horrible way, overtaken by grief after finally learning what happened to Moss. He's a shell of himself and can hardly even listen to detective May. Barry on the other hand is frustrated. His mentor has been detained and it's looking increasingly likely that he will be arrested, and it's all Barry's fault. He deals with troubling emotions as he's put in a place where he has to choose between himself and Gene. Elsewhere, Hank's future is looking grim. He has no control over anything anymore and he receives news that Batir is coming to replace him. At the same time, Sally is a nervous wreck while preparing for her performance, as is Lindsay who tries (and fails) to calm Sally's nerves. I thought this episode worked outstandingly well on an emotional level. So much of what happened here had emotional weight to it and provided a fittingly conclusive end to the storylines that were explored this season. I'll start with Sally's arc. This whole season saw her faced with a similar dilemma to Barry: should she enact the truth and risk facing judgement, or enact a lie that makes her look better. Earlier in the season it seemed like Sally had accepted the truth and was going to use that. But there's a cruel twist in the story as Sally panics about showing hundreds of people how pathetic she used to be and changes the scene at the last second, creating a scene with less emotional power and less meaning. Horrified with herself, Sally tries to leave and her emotions are easy to sympathize with. Despite knowing what she had to do, she just wasn't strong enough to do it. But in what was yet another cruel twist, the audience loved her performance. They praise her and commend her acting skills, and it seems like this performance is about to launch Sally's acting career. And it was based off a lie. It's going to be very interesting to see how Sally deals with this development. Barry's internal conflict was also explored in a new, and powerful way this episode. Since the start of the show, Barry has only killed for self-preservation. He tries to prove that he is a good person by not killing, but he has still ended up in position's where he is forced to kill, like with Chris and with Moss. Each time Barry was given a choice. He could face the consequences for his actions, or he could go back to killing. Both times Barry chose to avoid the consequences and kept on killing. This episode put a slight spin on this conflict. This time Barry's choice isn't one with a selfish nature. This time he's forced between choosing between Gene's future and his own. The predicament this puts him in is fantastic to watch, and as usual, Bill Hader is terrific. Barry wrestles with the guilt of what has happened in realistic ways, seeming unfocused at Sally's performance while being utterly enraged whenever he sends voicemails to Fuches. As the episode progresses it seems more and more like Barry will need to make a decision soon. But he is saved in the end and all of his panic goes away in an instant. Barry is lucky and Gene will be okay. But one emotion still persisted inside of Barry. He still needed revenge against Fuches. This leads me into what Fuches was up to this episode. For the first time this season, Fuches turns to the Chechens and gets in touch with Hank. But Hank isn't in a promising place. His time as a leader is facing its end and he has nothing to offer Fuches. Fuches in exchange, doesn't have anything to ensure the loyalty of the Chechens. Both of them are desperate and need something to work out. So when Cristobal arrives, Fuches seizes his opportunity and gets the Bolivians and the Chechens to make peace. It's almost a fairy tale ending and it's surprising how perfectly everything works out. As such, this storyline ends up being the best place for the writers to squeeze in some comedy, and they do so with a resounding success. Moments like Hank ordering a "heroin table" and Fuches being too far away for Cristobal to hear him were hilarious. The strongest part of this storyline was the examination into the Barry/Fuches relationship. As Fuches gets Cristobal to reunite with Hank, he finds himself describing their situation in the same way as his relationship with Barry. Whether or not he realizes this, or even cares about it is difficult to discern, but either way it's powerful to see Fuches saving Cristobal and Hank's relationship when he can't even save his own relationship with Barry. While Fuches encourages Cristobal to change his methods to continue his bromance with Hank, Fuches himself is unwilling to change himself to suit Barry's needs. And Fuches never realizes this. He still thinks he is justified in what he did to Barry and is still feeling hateful. So when Barry shows up in a rage, Fuches leaves. He views himself as a victim and doesn't care how many other lives are lost as he secures an escape. Barry on the other hand, also doesn't care about all the lives he's taking. The show has spoken out many times about how a real killer is somebody without a soul. But Barry has worked hard to deny this and prove that he does in fact have a soul. Here he completely falls apart, murdering relentlessly and even killing his own protege Mayrbeck without hesitation. Before there was always hope that Barry could maybe be redeemed, difficult as it may seem. But this brutal killing spree proves that there is no turning back for Barry. Despite how much he has grown, he is still the same man that murdered innocents on Korengal, as he makes the exact same error in judgement in the monastery. And that error has cost the lives of dozens of people. Barry's conclusive walk into the darkness after seeing Mayrbeck's corpse was a brutally effective way of showcasing Barry's true nature. Barry may have told Gene that he was right about how people can change, but what Barry wants to believe is completely different from what the truth is. The Bad: Unfortunately, the tonal issues persisted in this episode as well. Some of the jokes in this episode were really well done (like the ones in the Chechens storyline and the sudden reveal of Sasha's dark past), but others didn't work at all. The fact that there were moments that were played for laughs during Barry's killing spree was a complete misjudgement. This is the darkest and most frightening scene of the entire show as Barry murders like a supernatural force. Yet for some reason, the show tries to make us laugh? It's very awkward and takes away from the seriousness and implications of Barry's murders. Unfortunately the comedy issue wasn't only present in the ending. There were numerous points throughout the episode where a very powerful character moment had a lessened impact due to an ill-timed joke. The Unknown: What will Gene do now that he knows the truth? He doesn't seem like the kind of man that would go for vengeance. What are his intentions? Will he try to turn Barry in? Will he try to help him? Will he try to get back in contact with Fuches? How will Sally be impacted by the audience loving her fake story? Will this catapult her into stardom? Will she be happy about this? Or will this only result in more inner conflict for her to resolve? Will Sam hear about this performance from Sally? What happens if he returns to confront her about it? Will Hank still be sent to Chechnya? With almost everyone dead, surely Batir won't be willing to send away the few men that are left. What happens to Cristobal now? How will Barry deal with his killing spree? How will it change his behaviour? What does this mean for his relationships with Gene and Fuches? Best Moment: There are so many moments to pick. I'll go with Barry murdering Mayrbeck. Mayrbeck is ready to defend his people and more than willing to pull the trigger. But when Barry is the one who enters the room, Mayrbeck is a mixture of surprised and glad to see him. He hesitates, but Barry does not. Seeing Barry kill mayrbeck without a second thought was horrifying, and it was made worse when you remember that Barry had previously warned Mayrbeck that hesitation could be the difference between life and death. In this case, it was. Character of the Episode: Barry. Conclusion: This was a terrific season finale. So much happened, plenty of things were resolved, and even more things were left open-ended to leave room for more exciting material in season 3. Had it not been for the tonal inconsistency, this could have been one of the best season finales I've ever seen. But unfortunately, the awkward tone detracted from my enjoyment of the episode. This finale was pretty representative of my feelings on this season as a whole. There was so much to love in this season. The writing, directing and editing was just as superb as season 1, if not better in a few places. I was especially pleased with how the show expanded on its supporting cast, turning Hank, Sally and Gene from solid side characters in a comedy into fully fleshed out characters that were given complete character arcs. And the performances were consistently awe-inspiring. I don't think there was anyone who didn't deliver in this season, and I was especially impressed by the entire main cast of Bill Hader, Henry Winkler, Sarah Goldberg, Stephen Root and Anthony Carrigan. This season could have been near-perfect television had there not been one major flaw: the tone. This show manages to be both an outstanding drama and an outstanding comedy. But the problems arise when you put both of those together. The story doesn't fit together as well when it tries to both make you laugh and make you think about morality. At times it's extremely awkward, and because of that I think this show is one where every individual piece is fantastic, but the overall product isn't as good as any of the individual pieces. Don't get me wrong, I've had a blast with this show so far, but looking back at the entire season as one entity isn't as impressive as looking at every individual scene or even every individual episode. It's difficult trying to make a black comedy. Balancing drama and comedy is never easy, and this show comes close but doesn't quite nail it. But thankfully, the show does nail everything else, and it's because of that that I'm still left thinking that this was a tremendous season of television. Score: 79
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
February 2024
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