Barry – Season 3 Episode 3 “ben mendelsohn” Recap & Review

ben mendelsohn

Episode 3 of Barry Season 3 begins in the trailer Gene and Barry are sharing for their parts on Laws of Humanity. The makeup artist works on the two as Gene discusses his personal life.

He seems to be in a troubled state, neck-deep in a dilemma. He is starting his work today as an extra when the producers break the news that he has a line. For a moment, his eyes light up. But then comes the aching realization of Barry’s foot on his throat.

Hank and his other associates come back to work (the nursery) to find that it has been raided in some fashion.

The needle immediately points towards the Bolivians, much to Hank’s chagrin. He now has to find another way to divert attention from Cristobal.

The vert first avenue that strikes his mind is Fuches. He makes a call out to nowhere on a goat farm. Fuches seems like a happy man, saying so on the phone. Despite Hank’s insistence that all is forgiven and that Barry is now over his betrayal, Fuches declines Hank’s offer to come back. He’s happy in his “slice of heaven”.

They decide to do a suicide bombing attempt on the Bolivians, for which Hank also calls Barry but he declines as well. Sally has her bid day in front of the media for Joplin. Defying expectations, the actual event tanks her morale. Still struck by the aching of his dilemma, Gene begins probing Barry for questions about Moss.

In his questioning, he comes to the realization that it was his remark at the dinner table in the final episode of season one that led Moss to figure out Barry was her suspect.

It was when he mentioned the story that Barry told when he first saw Gene about killing people in the Iraq war. Gene is overcome with guilt and remorse, with Barry trying his best to negate the conclusion.

Cristobal works in sync with Hank and pleads with Fernando to call off his attack on the Chechens. He agrees to cancel the attack and also consider returning to Bolivia.

Barry is mentally in a great place. Not only does he feel that he has got Gene’s forgiveness, but also that he has successfully revived his acting career.

The illusion of the ‘second chance’ does not last though, as Gene, instead of delivering his line, punches Barry and walks out, threatening to stay away from his family. Katie, Sally’s co-star, goes against calling Barry and Sally’s relationship toxic in the media, despite her qualms.

The highlight of the episode is Fuches and Barry’s conversation that leaves the former with an uncontrollable urge to kill the latter.

Barry reveals to Fuches that he has not forgiven him for what he did and that he must stop pretending that everything is okay. Fuches is told about an old 16th-fable that talks about forgiveness on one hand, and vengeance on the other. Fuches leans towards the latter.

The Episode Review

This episode of ‘Barry’ was more about the internal turmoil than the chaos outside. Of course, with the bombing to come next, episode four will be much more “happening”.

For most parts, audiences had to be critical in watching the slightest of moments on the characters’ faces. The delicacy of the situation warranted patience that was duly rewarded in the end. It reminded me of “ronny/lily”, the most unique episode from the previous season. This episode just goes on to show that Bill and Alec are not afraid to take chances and venture out of their comfort zone.

Another extremely interesting theme of the episode was the breaking of illusions. All characters more or less snap out of their wishful thinking to confront reality. But the same is also true for the audiences.

Until now, it was easier and in fact, proved to be the correct choice to root for Barry. This is really the first time we see Barry as a sociopath.

The casual description of his motives behind killing Moss to Gene in the trailer was shocking – to both of us. There was a hint of boastfulness in his voice as well that came as a surprise. Is this a signal of the tides changing? Quite possibly.

It also felt a lot like genuine closure on Fuches’ part. He seems to have truly found his calling – goats. More so, it is the serenity of a boring, peaceful life that seems to have come over him.

Maybe Barry can also take a liking to it after years of a torrid experience. The weary mental state of the characters going through so much in their lives is beginning to show in how the episodes are structured. The continuity element that drives audiences toward television series is found in abundance in this season of Barry, and especially in this episode.