Barry: it takes a psycho (4x04)

Well. I am sad.

Cons:

One of the things about this show that always takes me just slightly out of the moment is when Sally is "acting". Because the woman playing Sally is a good actress, absolutely. But how good am I, the viewer, meant to think that Sally, the character, is as a performer? I find it frustratingly ambiguous, and maybe that's the point, but I always get taken out of the immediacy of the scene a bit. When Sally examples the monologue to try and help Kristen, am I supposed to be impressed? Or embarrassed for her? A little of both? When it comes to the commentary on Hollywood and acting in general, the show is clearly trying to say something, but I feel like I never quite know what that thing is.

Pros:

It's a brilliant move to keep Barry out of the majority of this episode. He's escaped from prison, we don't know where he is or when he'll pop up. It's like he's a slasher villain, in a way. Super effective way to build tension through every moment in all the scenes, whether with Hank, Cousineau, or Sally. And then when he does turn up, it's to find Sally ready to drop everything and run with him. Which I both did and did not expect to be how it happened. I find it fascinating that Sally's willingness to run with Barry is completely dependent on how poorly her own life is going at the moment. She's on the cusp of opportunities, but she's being overlooked in favor of the taller, more curvy acting student Kristen who doesn't actually have her talent. Then Barry is there, and you can basically see it take over her face: fuck it. Let's go. I loved Barry's reaction, that meek little "really"? As he kind of can't believe the thing he's been wanting but which seemed so improbable, is actually happening.

And we also see the weird... daydream? Flash-forward? Of Barry and Sally older, seemingly with a kid, who Barry goes to comfort after he gets into a fight with another boy. What a weird insight into Barry's fantasies, if indeed that's what we're seeing, where his image of a family with Sally is framed through his son being upset and violent.

Cousineau gets taken to his cabin where he'll be out of the way, but when he learns that Barry is free from prison and on the loose, he's terrified that he's going to be killed. He shoots Leo, who came to bring him food, and as the episode ends we're actually not sure how badly Leo was wounded. Not a ton happened here, other than us just not being sure how much Barry even cares about vengeance, how much danger Gene is really in. It's interesting how this show very convincingly makes every character the main character of their own story. Cousineau is understandably terrified about Barry coming for him, but we're not sure if Gene is even on Barry's radar, or if he's just focused on running.

I never thought I'd feel sympathy for Fuches, but my god, it was rough watching him get beat up! He doesn't actually know where Barry is, but there was still the suggestion that he wouldn't turn on him no matter how much he got beaten up by the guards. It's so strange, watching this man have such... loyalty, to Barry? If that's even the right word? Parental responsibility, maybe? I find it so fascinating. Fuches is a character where I have genuinely no idea where they're going to take him by the end of the show, and there's so little time left to find out!

And of course I've saved Hank and Cristobal for last. Jesus Christ, this was a torturous half hour of television to watch with my eyeballs. I was vibrating out of my chair, it was so stressful and viscerally awful and sad.

Just the tragicomedy of Hank being a total sociopath and giving all these dudes a fun little party before murdering them in a sandpit... like I feel like if you tried to explain that this is what happens in the show to someone who's not watching it, it just sounds so stupid and baffling and this strange mix of horror and cartoonish, and... yeah. It's brilliant. Cristobal shouting for Hank's help is going to haunt me.

And then that breakup, and Hank sobbing, and the unceremonious, off-screen way Cristobal is shot and killed... like, fuck me up. The roller coaster I have been on with these two characters. When last season ended with Hank going insane to save Cristobal, you wanted them to be happy, you wanted them to have some sort of peaceful retirement. It's heartbreaking that Cristobal had these genuine dreams of going legit and finding a less risky way to make money and live a comfortable life, but that Hank is too afraid, or too ambitious, or both, to be able to get on his wavelength. He lied, he did an insane thing, he murdered a bunch of people, and he thought Cristobal would just fall in line and be cool with it. Barry and Hank have a hell of a lot more in common than I'd previously appreciated.

I can't wait to see what Hank is like now that all the happiness and light has been sucked unceremoniously out of his life. This show makes me want to watch everyone just take the darkest possible turn into violence and despair. It's going to be amazing.

9/10