Barry Season 4 Episode 7 Review: Desperate Situations And Measures

It’s hard to imagine, but the HBO comedy “Barry,” which has always had a comedic side despite its gloomy premise, has only two episodes left. However, the transition to nighttime has been completed.

Even though the title promises “a nice meal,” the tone is gloomy. When we left off last week, Jim Moss (Robert Wisdom) had just captured Barry Berkman (Bill Hader), who was on a mission to return to Los Angeles and kill his old acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) for possibly consulting on a biopic of his life and was bringing him to his garage, where we know weaker men have barely withstood the terror of this grieving father/ex-cop.

Oh, and Sally (Sarah Goldberg) is being harassed by demons and former coworkers because she is neglecting their son John (Zachary Golinger).

We had only heard rumours about Jim Moss and his scary talents until now. However, “a nice meal” does not waste time demonstrating his abilities to interrogate male subjects.

Jim mocks Barry, saying that he wants Barry to see his loved ones one last time before he dies, while Barry prays for salvation with a blackout mask over his eyes and his arms and legs strapped to a chair.

Before we cut to the title card, Barry’s thoughts jump from the sunset over his remote property to the beach where he thinks the people he killed are, to a picture of his son John.

Later, Gene and his agent Tom (Fred Melamed) reviewed a social media post Gene made to gain support in his effort to halt the Barry Berkman biopic production. Although the piece’s presentation may use some work, it has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from readers.

Tom praises Gene’s strategy, but something about Gene’s agreement makes you wonder how fully he buys into it.

To assassinate Fuches (Stephen Root), Hank (Anthony Carrigan) has recruited some very tough-looking men, and he’s back at his NoHoBal headquarters, staring at the copper statue of Cristobal (Michael Irby) and thinking deeply.

(Fuchs worked for Hank for a day last week, but he still feels tremendous remorse over the fact that he complimented Hank on how Cristobal was killed.) More precisely, Hank has dubbed them the “four ultimate badass killers,” he is highly impressed by their different violent backgrounds before ordering them to kill Fuches before the day ends. (Given the show’s history, we can predict the outcome.)

Barry’s hallucinations continue in the garage, where he first imagines a silent John before picturing a well-groomed Gene at a fancy dinner and apologizing to him for his rudeness.

As Jim reads his old notebook and the notes he collected, he becomes intrigued for the first time when he hears about the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars he plans to send Gene. And Jim’s visage seems to hold the key to a great mystery…

Meanwhile, Gene looks less than shaven when he gets a call from United Talent Agency agent Matt (Nate Corddry), whose client wants to cast Daniel Day-Lewis as him in the Barry biography. Gene shows any sign of interest for the first time, which should serve as a huge red flag to the rest of us.

To paraphrase Tony Danza: “This is not Tony Danza trying to f**k with me, is it?” Gene asks, then agrees to meet Matt later that day at a hidden spot to find the answer. A split second later, Gene gets another phone… from Sally, who has taken John and flown to Los Angeles.

This is the clearest indicator that Gene has given in to his instincts yet. Since Gene can’t pick them up right now, he tells them to go to his house and that they’ll meet soon. Sadly, Gene. (And, oh, Sally, who tries desperately to reassure a bewildered John about their purpose in California.)

Kind of a villain

The episode’s title comes from a discussion between Fuchs and his men about how to keep the women from hearing about future murders; one suggestion is to take the women out for supper while the murders occur at the house. However, they are still no closer to a solution.

Meanwhile, Gene is holding a face-to-face discussion with Matt in a quiet corner of a nearby garden. Matt tells Gene that even if they got Daniel Day-Lewis to star in the film, they’d still need another of his clients to portray Barry to make the project a reality. Gene reverts to type, remarking that Barry is actually “a sympathetic soul” despite his deeds, about a client named Mark Wahlberg who is reluctant to play a cop killer.

Sadly, Gene. Now, now. If you ask Matt, “Mark is concerned that he’s a villain,” he’ll tell you. Gene tries to smooth things over by suggesting that Barry is just looking for a father figure, which may be true but come on.

When Matt tells Gene that Mark wants to see him at the Four Seasons, Gene gives in to temptation even more—warning signs, once more, my friends. A few of Fuches’ guys chase away his lover and her daughter from his house because, well, maybe they shouldn’t be there.

Fuches watches helplessly. As the vehicle pulls away, we can see that Fuches’ intuition is correct; Hank and his men have a rocket launcher aimed at the home and are ready to fire. Hank is as hopeless as ever, missing the rocket and learning that his troops brought only… one rocket, despite what appears to be a clear shot.

As in, “You thought we were going to get this on the first f***ing try?” Hank remarks just as Fuches’s troop’s open fire. Although Hank’s driver is slain instantly, it appears that Hank has escaped death (after receiving a mocking phone call from Fuches). They’re all as tireless as the Energizer Bunny.

One last twist

Over at the Four Seasons, Matt plays up Mark Wahlberg’s enthusiasm for the Barry Berkman project to Gene, urging him not to be apprehensive since “he doesn’t like nervous.” Upon entering, Gene is ushered in by Matt, and while Bill Hader has managed to bring in some notable guests this year, Mark Wahlberg is not one of them.

Instead, Gene is greeted by the district attorney (Andrew Leeds), Leo (Andrew Leeds), and Jim Moss (Charles Parnell). To wit: “You want to tell us why Barry Berkman gave you $250,000, Gene?” Jim and the DA believe Gene shot his son because Leo lived in a house bought with drug money from Chechnya, which is why Leo is present.

The district attorney also believes Gene ordered Barry to kill Janice to prevent her from learning about his possible ties to the Chechen mob. (This is ludicrous in an inappropriate manner, and it goes along with the things about Jim abandoning Barry.

It all feels a little too neat, even though we know Gene accidentally shot Leo and had nothing to do with Janice’s murder. To be clear, Gene is not without flaws in this series. For this particular offense, we know he is innocent.

Meanwhile, NoHo Hank enters the supply closet where Sally and John are being held, removes her wig, and realizes who his guys have taken. It’s Sally Reed. Great,” he answers with little enthusiasm, allowing John to ponder the identity of his mother.

Meanwhile, his father is at Jim Moss’ house, where he wakes up after an unplanned nap later that day. (Once more: I can’t believe Jim abandoned Barry all day. Get real. Jim’s phone rings, and he staggers into the living room.

It’s a phony Hank on the other end, but he thinks it’s Sally. Even though Hank doesn’t yet have Barry, he correctly assumes that by holding up his phone to Sally and John, who shows little emotion as they tell Barry they need aid.

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John practically yells for it and will stir Barry into action and give Fuches what he wants. After hearing Sally and John cry for aid and Hank hanging up the phone, the camera pans to a close-up of the back of Barry’s head, suggesting that this will awaken Barry into action. We may assume he is fuming.

Only one more episode to go, huh? What “A nice meal” does well, and what this season of “Barry” has done well overall, is to balance an inescapable bleakness with some solid inside-baseball humour and some visually compelling gags (such as Hank’s desperation to escape Fuches’ counterattack outside his house, all captured via a wide shot courtesy of Hader as director).

It seems fitting that Fuches vs. Barry is the final episode of this series, or at least it appears to be the last episode, with Hank having to manipulate things from the sidelines. However, the thought that Jim Moss’s capture of Barry accomplished very little is disheartening.

Unless, of course, the last minutes of the show reveals that all or part of what happens in the next four episodes is a deathbed fantasy for Barry. Have we jumped forward in time? How far did Barry get from Jim’s garage, if at all? You’ll have a week more to speculate.