Barry
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Barry
I really liked the first 2 episodes of Barry. It's tough to do what they're trying to accomplish with regards to the humor and the violence, but if that pair of shows was any indication they're doing a good job.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: TV of 2018
Barry renewed by HBO for a season 2. I'm going to have to do a remit on my earlier thoughts and say it's probably my new favorite comedy, and one I don't think I've loved this strong coming out of the gate since BoJack Horseman. Bill Hader and Stephen Root are tremendous together and it's really got potential to turn both the comedy and thriller genres on their heads.
- Murdoch
- Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:59 pm
- Location: Upstate NY
Re: TV of 2018
I've been enjoying Barry as well. It's struggling to balance the acting portion with the hitman parts but its premise and the talent involved are enough to keep me watching. I was also pleasantly surprised to see The Good Place's D'Arcy Carden (aka Janet) in a supporting role. I'm hoping after a few more episodes Barry's entry into acting will take more of the lead since the hitman parts of the show I've found to be kind of a drag.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: Barry
In the fourth episode I found both sides to be a bit of a drag, but I feel like this will be rewarded in the end somehow. The detective's date with the acting coach (Henry Winkler might be this show's MVP) was the funniest part of the whole episode, and did a good deal when it comes to humanizing Cousineau.
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: Barry
The show's fine, but I have a difficult time caring about any of it. Wish there were no investigation that was ongoing, because I know that within the universe of a show like this nothing is going to happen to the main character, or frankly to any of the show's other breakout stars. So why waste so much time on it? I'll need to see how it develops, but it seems to be taking on that signature Alec Berg circling of the plot wagons that has made Silicon Valley feel like such an unpleasant teacup ride for the last few years. Wake me up when there are actual stakes, or better yet, fade the stakes to the background altogether.
-
- Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:50 pm
Re: Barry
I had the same bad Silicon Valley vibes during the first episode before checking who Alec Berg was, and I haven't brought myself to watch past the second now. Both shows have this unsatisfying way of progressing the plot just enough every episode to bring things up to next weeks chunk, ending on a cliffhanger that gets resolved at the start of the next episode, and just sort of wasting time in between. I think it's the worst possible way to write for television. I don't think Barry is even particularly bad, I'm just reluctant to get fooled by Berg again.
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: Barry
Yeah, I know sitcoms are like, completely a dirty word at this point, but would it be so harmful post-Arrested Development to ever have a single camera show consist of standalone plotlines again? Maybe mix in a little bit of that Seinfeld fabric where there are recurring characters and settings but not feel the need to fully stir the pot every time you air a half hour of your program? Serialized TV is a great device in the bingewatch era, of course, but not every program has to employ this device just because they can.MongooseCmr wrote:I think it's the worst possible way to write for television.
- Murdoch
- Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:59 pm
- Location: Upstate NY
Re: Barry
Silicon Valley really does stretch its plot as far as possible, only to drag everything back to zero in a new season and start the cycle all over again (Richard starts a venture, outside force or internal team struggle complicates development, Richard gets idea for a work-around, everything falls into place only for the process to start over again next season). I'm willing to give Barry a pass for now given its infancy. Although after the latest episode I'm getting frustrated with the titular character, who the writers can't decide between making him out-of-touch, numb or just lacking personality.
I also think the Berg model of plotting is especially frustrating in the age of Netflix, but if I were to watch SV in bulk its flaws would likely become much more apparent. It's difficult to make a half-hour serial in comedy or drama, which is what makes a show like Search Party such a remarkable feat to me (I will plug this show until I'm blue in the face!).
Anyway, Barry might just be a season long series for me unless things pick up or I read some review down the line when it's in its third season that pulls me back.
I also think the Berg model of plotting is especially frustrating in the age of Netflix, but if I were to watch SV in bulk its flaws would likely become much more apparent. It's difficult to make a half-hour serial in comedy or drama, which is what makes a show like Search Party such a remarkable feat to me (I will plug this show until I'm blue in the face!).
Anyway, Barry might just be a season long series for me unless things pick up or I read some review down the line when it's in its third season that pulls me back.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: Barry
Last night's penultimate episode featured some pretty intense moments from Hader that for me has truly lifted the show to some of that potential I mentioned before.
Last edited by flyonthewall2983 on Fri May 11, 2018 8:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: Barry
The preview for next week's episode said it was the finale, and IMDB has no listings for a 9th episode.
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- Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:27 pm
Re: Barry
The main Barry page on IMDB says 9 episodes because its including episode one of season 2.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: Barry
Last night's finale ended on such a perfect note with knowledge that they plan on going for a darker route for next season. It's going to be a very thin rope the creators will walk, between keeping the show funny yet serious when it needs to.
- Roger Ryan
- Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
- Location: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city
Re: Barry
Having just watched the last episode of Season 1, I have to think...flyonthewall2983 wrote:Last night's finale ended on such a perfect note with knowledge that they plan on going for a darker route for next season. It's going to be a very thin rope the creators will walk, between keeping the show funny yet serious when it needs to.
SpoilerShow
...the long final scene was one of Barry's fantasies. An "Inside the Episode" segment featured in the On Demand version acknowledged that the intent was to make the scene feel like a fantasy, then to stretch it out and turn it unexpectedly darker...but neither Bill Hader nor producer Alec Berg came out and said the scene takes place in the reality of Barry's life. The idea that Gene, the drama teacher who auditions for "man at the back of the line" roles, could afford a house on a lake, or to even rent one for a week or two, seems too far-fetched to fit into the reality of the show. My prediction is the first episode of the second season will reveal that this scene was a paranoid fantasy where Barry imagined how he could be exposed as the hit man. Either way, the scene was effective and the change from dark comedy to Breaking Bad-style drama with comedic overtones made the final three episodes particularly exciting.
- mfunk9786
- Under Chris' Protection
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: Barry
Would be so irritating that I would stop watching the show immediately. So let's hope not!Roger Ryan wrote:SpoilerShow...the long final scene was one of Barry's fantasies. An "Inside the Episode" segment featured in the On Demand version acknowledged that the intent was to make the scene feel like a fantasy, then to stretch it out and turn it unexpectedly darker...but neither Bill Hader nor producer Alec Berg came out and said the scene takes place in the reality of Barry's life. The idea that Gene, the drama teacher who auditions for "man at the back of the line" roles, could afford a house on a lake, or to even rent one for a week or two, seems too far-fetched to fit into the reality of the show. My prediction is the first episode of the second season will reveal that this scene was a paranoid fantasy where Barry imagined how he could be exposed as the hit man. Either way, the scene was effective and the change from dark comedy to Breaking Bad-style drama with comedic overtones made the final three episodes particularly exciting.
- Murdoch
- Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:59 pm
- Location: Upstate NY
Re: Barry
It would certainly fit Berg's MO with Silicon Valley - whatever can be drawn out, will be drawn out.
I wasn't too pleased with the finale. A lot of the resolutions felt too clean and it seemed like the show just wanted to move on from most of the events of season 1.
I wasn't too pleased with the finale. A lot of the resolutions felt too clean and it seemed like the show just wanted to move on from most of the events of season 1.
SpoilerShow
This is a small detail to get worked up over but the cop at the airport was very concerned with Fuches and Barry being illegally parked, so much that he completely ignored Fuches' bloody and bruised face! This was played really straight so it just had me and my friend scratching our heads.
The final part at the cabin took way too long for the shoe to drop with the monologue callback and the Facebook findings, and neither felt like that "oh shit" moment the writers seemed to want.
My guess is the second season will pick up with Barry inventing a story that Det. Moss left early and the rest of the season will deal with her body being found and Barry stressing over the investigation as he pursues his acting. I didn't get the sense from the behind the scenes extra that Hader and Berg intended the final act as a fantasy, but rather they wanted it too feel like one until Gene brought up the monologue and caused everything around Barry to come crashing down.
And like mfunk I would be so done with this show if it was all fake.
The final part at the cabin took way too long for the shoe to drop with the monologue callback and the Facebook findings, and neither felt like that "oh shit" moment the writers seemed to want.
My guess is the second season will pick up with Barry inventing a story that Det. Moss left early and the rest of the season will deal with her body being found and Barry stressing over the investigation as he pursues his acting. I didn't get the sense from the behind the scenes extra that Hader and Berg intended the final act as a fantasy, but rather they wanted it too feel like one until Gene brought up the monologue and caused everything around Barry to come crashing down.
And like mfunk I would be so done with this show if it was all fake.
Last edited by Murdoch on Fri May 18, 2018 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- mfunk9786
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- Location: Philadelphia, PA
Re: Barry
You all make great points. I know that praising premium cable/streaming TV is the default at this point, but I'm not particularly convinced that this is a good show, let alone a great one. It's pretty middling through one season, but the amount of swooning around it makes me wonder if they are going to make some much-needed changes and improvements headed into the second season and it'll be doomed to series-long mediocrity.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
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Re: Barry
Really good season 2 opener. The balance between funny and dark continues to hold strong.
SpoilerShow
Fortunately everyone's prediction that the shooting was a fantasy sequence was not true. I have to think we'll see less of the dream sequences as the show goes on. As evidenced during the scene where he's mimicking the mannerisms of his class-partner/now fellow employee, I think we'll see what drove those dreams manifest itself more with other members of his class.
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Barry
Hader in the NYT on last night's episode. Absolutely bonkers storytelling for 30 straight minutes.
- jazzo
- Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:02 am
Re: Barry
In many ways it was just as, if not more exhausting as the 80 minutes Game of Thrones episode that preceded it.
It had a very Coen Bros. vibe to it, referencing, at least to my mind, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing and Blood Simple, or those episodes of Netflix’s Daredevil where the lead character battles a horde of bad guys in a single 10 minute shot until, in the end, its just two battered pieces of meat trying to outlast the other.
And then it pivots once Lily enters the episode into a horror gong show, recalling not just films with demonically possessed children at their core, but also Cronenberg’s The Brood and the Richard Matheson novel, I Am Legend, as she runs around her suburban neighborhood like a feral animal.
I was very impressed with it, and with Hader's direction.
It's funny. I think Hiro Murai's direction in this and, more specifically, in Atlanta, has been exemplary. He has a very distinct voice that is quite often absent from even the best of modern television’s direction, which can still be somewhat flat even when the writing is incredible. Murai’s work is cinematic and engaging, and he brings a real consistency to the feel of his shows. But in both cases, specific episodes directed by the stars/creators of their respective shows have been even more impressive. I almost feel bad for him that they get more attention!
And did anyone else, for a half-a-second there, think they were looking at a slyly disguised Jon Hamm as Ronny? It’s just the type of thing he would do for fun.
It had a very Coen Bros. vibe to it, referencing, at least to my mind, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing and Blood Simple, or those episodes of Netflix’s Daredevil where the lead character battles a horde of bad guys in a single 10 minute shot until, in the end, its just two battered pieces of meat trying to outlast the other.
And then it pivots once Lily enters the episode into a horror gong show, recalling not just films with demonically possessed children at their core, but also Cronenberg’s The Brood and the Richard Matheson novel, I Am Legend, as she runs around her suburban neighborhood like a feral animal.
I was very impressed with it, and with Hader's direction.
It's funny. I think Hiro Murai's direction in this and, more specifically, in Atlanta, has been exemplary. He has a very distinct voice that is quite often absent from even the best of modern television’s direction, which can still be somewhat flat even when the writing is incredible. Murai’s work is cinematic and engaging, and he brings a real consistency to the feel of his shows. But in both cases, specific episodes directed by the stars/creators of their respective shows have been even more impressive. I almost feel bad for him that they get more attention!
And did anyone else, for a half-a-second there, think they were looking at a slyly disguised Jon Hamm as Ronny? It’s just the type of thing he would do for fun.
- flyonthewall2983
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
- Location: Indiana
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Re: Barry
To me he reminded me a little of the guy who played Harold in S2 of Twin Peaks. And the Fuches in Barry's dream looked like James Lipton.
SpoilerShow
As impressive as it all was, the most impressive story detail is that it did manage to tie up loose ends with the cop, and thus likely the whole S1 climax.
- thirtyframesasecond
- Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:48 pm
Re: Barry
I liked the first series of this, and I don't know Hader's stuff at all besides the odd SNL clip (that said, his Vincent Price Halloween special with Wiig as Gloria Swanson and Hamm as James Mason is great fun).
And speaking of Hamm, he's great in Toast of London (UK cult comedy - he plays himself).
And speaking of Hamm, he's great in Toast of London (UK cult comedy - he plays himself).