TV: HBO: Barry

[Malloy]

The biggest problem is how totally oblivious Barry seems to be:

1. Doesn’t realize he looks like a monster after screaming at his gf on set
2. Doesn’t realize his whole plan with Gene is bound to fail
3. Doesn’t see the irony in the line reading with Gene, nor sense Gene’s discomfort
4. Doesn’t seem to think Fuches is a problem anymore

It’s like he became a moron during Covid. It just doesn’t track.

the extent of barry’s denial has gotten much worse. his behavior i think is a continuation of what we’ve seen in previous seasons. the difference between this season and earlier ones is comedy. this isn’t funny, this is an endless fucking bummer

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Biff Pocoroba]

There are definitely things you’re asked to just go with, such as the Chechens okay with hiring Barry.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Mickey]

The biggest problem is how totally oblivious Barry seems to be:

1. Doesn’t realize he looks like a monster after screaming at his gf on set
2. Doesn’t realize his whole plan with Gene is bound to fail
3. Doesn’t see the irony in the line reading with Gene, nor sense Gene’s discomfort
4. Doesn’t seem to think Fuches is a problem anymore

It’s like he became a moron during Covid. It just doesn’t track.

Worth noting--again, just rewatched the entire show--that Barry has *always* been a bit of a moron about everything other than killing. Pretty consistent throughout the show. Remember him excitedly going to Fuches' hotel room to be like "I can be a new man! It doesn't matter that I murdered Moss?" Even if he hadn't been caught on the wire, his understanding of himself and his life is relatively naive and superficial.

I'm fine with the show not being as funny anymore, feels like a necessary shift. I do think there's some narrative inconsistency here though. Kidnapping Gene feels particularly stupid, and why is Barry still alive in LA but Fuches is in Chechnya as a stooge?

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Malloy]

The biggest problem is how totally oblivious Barry seems to be:

1. Doesn’t realize he looks like a monster after screaming at his gf on set
2. Doesn’t realize his whole plan with Gene is bound to fail
3. Doesn’t see the irony in the line reading with Gene, nor sense Gene’s discomfort
4. Doesn’t seem to think Fuches is a problem anymore

It’s like he became a moron during Covid. It just doesn’t track.

Worth noting--again, just rewatched the entire show--that Barry has *always* been a bit of a moron about everything other than killing. Pretty consistent throughout the show. Remember him excitedly going to Fuches' hotel room to be like "I can be a new man! It doesn't matter that I murdered Moss?" Even if he hadn't been caught on the wire, his understanding of himself and his life is relatively naive and superficial.

I'm fine with the show not being as funny anymore, feels like a necessary shift. I do think there's some narrative inconsistency here though. Kidnapping Gene feels particularly stupid, and why is Barry still alive in LA but Fuches is in Chechnya as a stooge?

agree 100 percent on your first graph.

re: lack of comedy — i didn’t mean it as a criticism, per se.

[Malloy]

that “starting now!” moment at the end of series 1 or 2 is one of my favorite moments in the series and is emblematic of barry’s deal

[Mickey]

The biggest problem is how totally oblivious Barry seems to be:

1. Doesn’t realize he looks like a monster after screaming at his gf on set
2. Doesn’t realize his whole plan with Gene is bound to fail
3. Doesn’t see the irony in the line reading with Gene, nor sense Gene’s discomfort
4. Doesn’t seem to think Fuches is a problem anymore

It’s like he became a moron during Covid. It just doesn’t track.

Worth noting--again, just rewatched the entire show--that Barry has *always* been a bit of a moron about everything other than killing. Pretty consistent throughout the show. Remember him excitedly going to Fuches' hotel room to be like "I can be a new man! It doesn't matter that I murdered Moss?" Even if he hadn't been caught on the wire, his understanding of himself and his life is relatively naive and superficial.

I shall reflect on this.

I'd honestly kinda forgotten about it, but another example is when he gets that audition in S2 and he's running lines with Sally, and all of a sudden she breaks into this unhinged monologue--about how everything is coming easy for him and she had to work so hard and it's not fair but she loves him so she wants him to be happy, etc. She finishes, the camera goes right back to Barry, he takes a beat, and then he just does his little line again. In my brain it was like "Sally is a narcissist" and she is! But rewatching it underscored that Barry is a pretty huge narcissist too.

[Mickey]

re: lack of comedy — i didn’t mean it as a criticism, per se.

On a plot level I don't think it's really possible for the show to be funny, exactly. You get great lines like "I have no buddies" and tons of formal gags like Gene's gun falling apart, but a fuckton of people are dead. But the show has had this tension for a long time--"ronny/lily" is an extremely dark episode of tv--and I think ultimately this is part of its power/appeal in a way that is unique. It's not the same tension of broad comedy and pathos that you get on something like Dexter.

[Whitey McTeeth]

Barry is a man ready to explode. Loved the phone call he had with Fuches.

[Ensign9]

Just started this. Solid first episode.

[Mecca]

The biggest problem is how totally oblivious Barry seems to be:

1. Doesn’t realize he looks like a monster after screaming at his gf on set
2. Doesn’t realize his whole plan with Gene is bound to fail
3. Doesn’t see the irony in the line reading with Gene, nor sense Gene’s discomfort
4. Doesn’t seem to think Fuches is a problem anymore

It’s like he became a moron during Covid. It just doesn’t track.

Worth noting--again, just rewatched the entire show--that Barry has *always* been a bit of a moron about everything other than killing. Pretty consistent throughout the show. Remember him excitedly going to Fuches' hotel room to be like "I can be a new man! It doesn't matter that I murdered Moss?" Even if he hadn't been caught on the wire, his understanding of himself and his life is relatively naive and superficial.

I shall reflect on this.

I'd honestly kinda forgotten about it, but another example is when he gets that audition in S2 and he's running lines with Sally, and all of a sudden she breaks into this unhinged monologue--about how everything is coming easy for him and she had to work so hard and it's not fair but she loves him so she wants him to be happy, etc. She finishes, the camera goes right back to Barry, he takes a beat, and then he just does his little line again. In my brain it was like "Sally is a narcissist" and she is! But rewatching it underscored that Barry is a pretty huge narcissist too.

I wouldn’t assign narcissism to what is clearly a lack of empathy.

[Mickey]

I would

[VinylGuy]

yeah, im not feeling this season at all.

[Ensign9]

"King of Suck Balls Mountain"

[VinylGuy]

Finally a good episode...that felt more closer to season two at least.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[VinylGuy]

Everything with the bomb detonator was pure gold.

Also, i loved the Joplin premiere. Sally is just an awful human being.