Take Three: Barry

Barry: Season 1, Episode 3 “Chapter Three: Make the Unsafe Choice” (B+)

I really like the tone of this show, which was best exemplified in this episode by Hank gleefully calling Barry to tell him he mailed a bullet to the guy Barry is supposed to take out and opening the conversation with a remark about how nice a day it was. Hank and Goran were so excited about the arrival of their replacement hitman, who turned out to be the aging and unhappy Stovka, played by Larry Hankin, who I’ll always remember as Mr. Heckles from “Friends.” Fuches actually played no role whatsoever in bringing about Stovka’s self-inflicted demise, trying instead to compel him to stay alive for reasons only he could help create, and fortunately Goran seems to have taken a liking to him, feeding him a decent meal while still leaving him attached to the chair by bicycle lock. I love how dryly Barry reads all of his lines when he’s going through scenes with Sally, who he truly respects and admires as an actress. Getting called for the role of a mom in the TV version of “We Bought a Zoo,” a movie often mocked for its unimaginative title and less-than-substantive plot, seemed like a real win for Sally, until she found out that the only reason for it was that her little-liked costar from the ill-timed “Bonnie and the Boston Bombers” was the lead. I’m always fond of Kat Foster from “Weeds” and much more, who here got to play the nemesis who made Sally cry and sent her right into the welcoming arms of Barry, who may now be embarking on a positive relationship that is going to conflict greatly with the new work that Fuches has promised the Chechens he’ll do.