What a Monday they expect us from this week since HBO Max offers us a double of two farewell seasons of two of the best current series. We’ve been seeing one for a few weeks now, ‘Succession’. The other is a comedy? black that points to an anthological ending: season 4 of ‘Barry’.
Composed of eight episodes, of which I have been able to see seven (they enter like water), this latest installment of the story of the retired contract killer to pursue an acting career enters in his final act… jail. There we find our protagonist, played by Bill Hader, after being arrested at the end of season 3.
It is curious the evolution that the HBO dramatic comedy has had throughout the seasons. Each year he returned with a greater “darkness” representing, in a certain sense, not only the future of the story, but also the state of mind of our protagonist.
Oneiric prison of being
It’s Hader himself who directs the entire season this time (usually sharing the duties with his partner Alec Berg and others) and has chosen to present the new chapter in the life of Barry and company almost like a bad dream. There is in the choice of shots, very close, and in the narrative style an air between the dreamlike and the oppressive.
This air permeates during a season that, without going into details, is clearly divided into two halves. It’s an ambitious decision on the part of Hader and company but I think it’s quite right. This is so, especially since a large part of the general theme of the series almost from the first episode is that inevitability of the ghosts of the past.
In fact, there is a certain return to areas and issues that were believed to be left behind to give them a new perspective. Berg and Hader reap what they have been sowing during three great seasons and they solidify it in the face of saying goodbye in style with a farewell, worth the redundancy, as ambitious as it is absolutely fascinating.
A sublime address
Fascinating not only because it manages to balance, again, a tone that could overload at times. But because his character study is still one of the best on television in what these navigate in a world of violence and aspirations for more while we have fantastically comedic touches (the “keynotes” of NoHo and Cristóbal or the physical humor is fantastic).
The key, I think, lies in how well Hader does both in front and behind of the camera. Let’s remember that the comedian has won the DGA for best series direction for each season of ‘Barry’ and I wouldn’t be surprised if he also won the Emmy here. His camera takes us where he wants at all times, as fluid as it is even daring.
Definitely, the final season of ‘Barry’ is ten. Although it is true that there is an episode that does not work as well as we would like, we are facing a frankly impeccable farewell.
In Espinof | The may of the serial drama: 4 of the best current series say goodbye forever in less than a week and there is a very powerful reason for that