Andrew Grevas
Barry’s penultimate episode was one of the series finest. Hysterical yet full of drama, action and twists and turns, all of which have become hallmarks of the show. It’s astonishing how much Bill Hader and team packs into 30 minutes. A tightly compacted story that is still funny in ways unlike any other show on television. I’m going to miss Barry. If you haven’t seen Barry S4E7, “A Nice Meal” yet, we’re about to get into heavy spoiler territory here. You’ve been warned.
A Family Divided
Barry wakes up in Barry S4E7 tied to a chair in Jim Moss’ house wearing a VR headset. I’ve now officially seen everything. Kudos to Bill Hader for getting over the absurdity of the situation while at the same time getting across Barry’s genuine fear of dying and not seeing his son again. I’d like to point out no mentions of Sally during the VR torture scene. Make of that what you will.
Sally and John have flown to LA and honestly, good for her. Sally needed to snap out of her funk and take action and here in Barry S4E7, she did. She turned to Gene for help, which is so ironic considering that her husband was on his way to kill him. I think it speaks to how alone in this world Sally truly is more than anything else.
When Gene didn’t answer his door, Sally’s fight or flight response was to run to a cop down the street. Which shows that on the inside, she’s starting to fight again. Just the fact that she was willing to speak to a cop with all her legal baggage is an indicator that she knows she’s in bad trouble and needs help. Plus, she has a child to look out for. It was equally as encouraging to see her be more proactive with John this week, unlike how hands off she’s previously been.
Of course the cop wasn’t a cop after all. It was a hallucination of the man she killed, lending further credibility to the theory that last week, the attack on her home was in her head. It should be noted that in the attack scene from last week, it was the dialogue from the scene where Sally killed the man that she was hearing. Perhaps her subconscious is guiding her through this life or death situation while she’s battling crippling depression, all while forcing her to look at the things that have brought her some of the pain she faces today?
Although Barry was able to free himself at Jim’s house, Sally and John were captured by Hank’s men. Hank is ready to give Fuches whatever he wants and what he wants is Barry. Hank taking Barry’s family hostage sets up what should be quite the dramatic finale.
Same Old Gene
The final season—more specifically the last few episodes—have posed the question of whether or not Gene can change. Much like the show has shown us that Barry is not capable of change, neither is Gene. Heading into Barry S4E7, Gene was on a crusade to have the film telling Barry’s story shut down. But his ego was used against him.
The subplot about Daniel Day Lewis’ agent reaching out to Gene resulted in hilarious scenes and one of the best twists the show has had to offer. Gene’s over the top instructions during the meeting in the woods warrant the viewer to pause the show so they can laugh at Gene barking out orders such as “Act like you’re speaking on your phone” only to rush up to the man, completely dropping the act when Mark Wahlberg was mentioned as being interested in also being in the film.
To watch Gene tell the agent that Barry wasn’t all bad and was misunderstood and sympathetic hurt. We as viewers wanted Gene to turn this corner. We wanted him to put Janice’s death in front of his own selfish desires. But he didn’t. The idea of two Hollywood leading men playing himself and Barry was all it took for Gene to give up his quest for justice for Janice and try to take an offer.
Seeing the final scene of Gene’s in Barry S4E7, when he’s led into what he thinks is a meeting with Mark Wahlberg, but is really being arrested for Janice’s murder, was a twist I didn’t see coming. The connection the DA and Jim Miss came to, believing that Gene was working with the Czech mob and had Barry kill Janice because she was onto him feels far fetched. It almost reads like the setup to a bigger twist, like they need Gene in jail for a purpose rather than crimes they believe he’s committed. Gene has done a lot of shady things but he doesn’t deserve to go down for Barry’s crimes.
The Fast and the Furious
Hank vs Fuches was the feud I didn’t know that I needed in my life. Barry S4E7 gave us many gifts, including heads in boxes, the best family meeting of all time and Hank flexing on Barry big time. He was talking about office supplies!
Hank hiring FUBK—four ultimate badass killers—was funny enough. The FUBK were supposed to kill Fuches and his men and “tell him NoHo Hank did this.” Instead, The Raven’s Flock as they’re now known not only killed FUBK, they sent four boxes, one head in each, back to Hank’s office.
What came next was perhaps my favorite scene in any television show in a long, long time. Fuches asking his new girlfriend and her adult daughter about their feelings after seeing four men decapitated. Just the sight of Fuches as this criminal leader was funny enough. Then seeing him talking to these women who he’s known for days was almost too much. Toss in Fuches’ men and their hilarious ideas on how to prevent these women from seeing future killings…chef’s kiss.
The End?
Gene has been arrested for Janice’s murder. Sally and John are being held hostage by Hank. Fuches has beaten Hank into submission. Barry is free and is on his way to save his family, all while being hunted himself.
Next week’s finale has a lot of moving parts. It’s hard to predict how it will all wind up. With Barry being equal parts comedy and drama, you know there will be laughs but there’s a lot of narrative ground to cover too.
Leaving Barry S4E7 and heading into the series finale, I find myself thinking of Sally and John. The innocents of the show in many ways. I don’t have any firm hopes for the series finale but I do hope those two wind up OK. Especially John after he finds out the truth about who his parents are. In this series about whether or not people can change, we’ve mostly been given our answers. John and Sally, though, they deserve something better.
