Barry: 710N (3x06)

Well dang! As always, I never have any idea where an episode of this show is going to take me.

Cons:

As I've been saying all season, Fuches is definitely the character that I feel the least interested in. His stuff isn't bad, it's just never as gripping as everything else going on in a given episode. I was shocked when he got shot right at the start of this episode, but then his journey for the rest of it was just kind of boring to me. He's staying with a kind family who cares for him, at one point it looks like he's giving up on revenge on Barry, but then he decides he's not done yet, and contacts Detective Moss's father to speak about her death. So ultimately, Fuches ends this episode on the same crusade as he started it on, with very little to speak for after his detour.

We didn't see much of Noho Hank this week, which makes me sad, and time spent with the police detectives also feels like it's pulling focus from the most riveting stuff the show has to offer. Like I said, none of it's bad, it's just not where I feel the most glued to my seat.

Pros:

God, the framing device of this episode, where everyone is going to talk to a guy who runs a beignet place to get life advice, is so funny. It's hard sometimes to meaningfully write about comedy for me, because all I feel equipped to say is, yeah, this made me laugh! But this guy giving wise and completely logical advice to Sally, Barry, Hank, and various strangers was so funny, and it felt like such a good little commentary on life in a place like LA.

Sally's part of the episode involves her reluctantly agreeing to take a writing job for the same network that cancelled her big show. Not a ton of substantive developments for her just yet, but again, the comedy was fucking stellar. The whole back and forth between Sally's agent and the representative from the streaming service was especially golden. They go back and forth describing the vibes of various shows using hums and facial expressions and I was laughing all the way through.

Gene's career seems to be going places while Sally is left behind. He gets offered to teach a MasterClass course, and he's looking to make amends with his old ex who he blacklisted years ago. There's something so compelling about watching Gene's life get back on track pretty much entirely because his one-time acting student held a gun to his head, stuffed him in a trunk, got him an acting gig, and then handed him an entire bag full of money. Like, it's so patently absurd, and yet he's really turning things around for himself here... we'll have to see how it all shakes out! 

But really, as it should be, the focus of this episode was Barry. He gets invited to hang out with some old veteran buddies, hosted by Chris's widow, Sharon. Since Barry, you know, killed Chris, his desire to be around his other buddies from this part of his life is absolutely bizarre, and doesn't exactly speak well of Barry's mental frame of mind. His speech-to-text message to Sally was another comedic highlight, and then we're off to the races with a long motorcycle chase scene that involves untold casualties, from one member of the gang flying through Barry's windshield, to the people in the car dealership including the shooter on the roof... it's intense, it's wild, it's absolutely absurd, it's some of the best of what this show can offer. And then Barry gets to Sharon's house, and she poisons him, revealing the dinner party to be a ruse. Turns out, Fuches got to her first!

So that's that, another episode down, and if you asked me to guess how this season will end, I'd still have no way of telling you. That's the true gift of this show, I suppose.

8.5/10