Warning: This review contains spoilers for season 3, episode 7 ofBarry.
After last week’s bombshell cliffhanger ending, the penultimate episode ofBarry’s third season had a lot to live up to. But against all odds, “candy a**es,” directed by Bill Hader and written by Liz Sarnoff, manages it. Following on from Barry’s unexpected poisoning, this episode bombards viewers with one wholly unpredictable plot turn after another. The only predictable thing about this episode is that the writers wouldn’t let the title character die. Everything else comes as a total shock.
James Hiroyuki Liao’s return as Albert is being paid off spectacularly. Albert’s reappearance has beautifully upended the running gag of the LAPD’s uselessness. The cops’ inefficiency has been used to hilarious effect to allow Barry to stay out on the streets for three seasons, but much like the late Janice Moss, Albert is a competent law enforcer who’s out for justice. Just in time for next week’s finale, Albert has figured out what the LAPD couldn’t:Barry Berkman is the cold-blooded killerat the heart of all this Los Angeles-based carnage.
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TheLynchian surrealnesshinted at in the early episodes of season 3 (and previously featured in seasons 1 and 2) comes back in full force in this week’s episode. As Barry is rushed to hospital, his guilt manifests itself in a series of haunting dream sequences. Once again, editing is one of the show’s greatest strengths (which is hardly surprising, since Hader got his start in the industry as an editor). The cutting between the reality of Barry’s near-death experience and the bizarre hallucinations taking place inside his mind is seamless. These unsettling fantasies perfectly visualize all the dirty deeds that Barry has spent this season trying to earn forgiveness for. Barry stands on a beach with the souls of all the people he’s killed. In one particularly powerful moment, the hitman-turned-actor smiles fondly at Chris and Chris returns a look that conveys the pain ofeverything Barry took from him.
Sarah Goldberg Is A Shoo-In For A Shelf-Load Of Acting Awards
After Sally’s emotional impromptu speech at theJoplinpremiere and the look of horror in her eyes as Barry revealed his true colors, Sarah Goldberg is a shoo-in for a shelf-load of awards for her performance as Sally this season. In this week’s episode, she nails not one, but two vitriolic outbursts. She screams at her ex-assistant Natalie for moving up in the world as she falls behind, then screams at her agent for criticizing her self-absorbed public apology after footage of the first rant is leaked online. Sally’s outbursts in this episode are reminiscent ofBarry’s own outburst directed at herearlier in the season. Sally might not be a murderer, but she has more in common with Barry than she’d like to admit – particularly, in the words of NoHo Hank, “massive, massive rage issues.”
It’s a very promising sign that Hader will be directing every episode ofthe next season, because he’s been knocking hisBarrydirecting gigs out of the park this year. The mind-blowing twists and turns in “candy a**es” are brought to life with equally striking imagery. As Sally singlehandedly sabotages her own career by yelling at the only industry type who ever believed in her talent, she backs out of the room until she’s standing in pitch-blackness, completely alone.
Moss’ Dad Is Out For Barry’s Blood
Barry’s poisoning isn’t the only stunning twist fromlast week’s episodethat gets paid off in “candy a**es.” Robert Ray Wisdom is back as Moss’ father, Jim, and his backstory is as mysterious and disturbing as fans had hoped. He’s a military profiler who discovered in the Vietnam War that he has a gift for convincing people to take their own lives, starting with his overseer at a P.O.W. camp. Thanks to some sweat on Gene Cousineau’s forehead, that man is now coming for the delicate, fractured mind of Barry Berkman. The running thread of psychological warfare calls back to Barry’s rambling list of “super non-violent” methods to torture Sally’s boss from a couple of episodes ago. Back then, Barry justified this psychological torment, but he might change his tune when a government-sanctioned mental torturer sinks his hooks into his already-fragile psyche.
The episode culminates in a tense standoff between Fuches and Albert in an interrogation room, bringing together Fuches’ quest for revenge against Barry and Albert’s determination to get to the bottom of “The Raven” case. Albert has Fuches in a corner, but Fuches manages to turn it around and get Albert to doexactly what he wants: kill Barry. After Stephen Root has crushed this monologue and Albert has grabbed a loaded gun from his desk drawer, the stage is set for a thrilling season finale next week.
