What I’m Watching: Barry (Season Finale)

Barry: Season 1, Episode 8 “Chapter Eight: Know Your Truth” (B+)

I’m not sure how I was expecting this season to end, but this finale managed to wrap up most of the active threads and send us in an uncertain new direction with Barry ready to live his new life as an actor, doomed to be haunted by his actions. While I like Barry and actor Bill Hader, my clear favorite of this season has been Noho Hank, played by Anthony Carrigan. He’s an overall sweet guy, one who was ready to call Barry to thank him for his friendship and warn him that he shouldn’t return to acting class if he wanted to live. Fortunately, and perhaps purposely, he wasn’t in the garage when Ruslan was building stocks to fancifully kill Fuches and then Barry took out Goran and everyone else just in time to save him. Fuches seemed more angry with Barry that he was abandoning what he thought was his calling than anything else, and Barry being welcomed in by Sally when he showed up to say goodbye set him on a very different path than he had expected. Flashing forward to an idyllic weekend at Cousineau’s cabin made it seem like everything was going great, with some logic gaps still present in Barry’s life plan with Sally, like switching roles each night for the many theoretical repeat attendees of their play. Cousineau sharing Barry’s speech about being a hitman was a low point, one that forced Barry to presumably kill Detective Moss. I’ve greatly enjoyed this show all season and look forward to whatever comes next in year two. Now, let’s get Carrigan nominated for an Emmy along with Hader!

Season grade: A-
Season MVP: Anthony Carrigan as Noho Hank