Review – HBO’s ‘Barry’ bows out with a unique bang

Ever since it hit our small screens for the first time back in May 2018, HBO’s Barry has been a hit thanks to its unique and unorthodox nature led by a weird storyline that has strangely worked and sustained it for four seasons. The original premise for it is based on a character named Barry, who kills to earn a living but, in a weird way, discovers the joy of acting while he is looking for his target. Surprisingly and even more baffling, he loves it so much that he is ready to leave his old life behind.

Now back for a fourth and final season, we had the opportunity to review it all (by way of the Showmax team) and like we suspected, the series is still very unique, ridiculous and entertaining as usual. It’s also true that in as much as it’s a hit, the series might not immediately strike a cord with some people especially if they solely relied on the original premise which leaves one with a confused ‘huh?’ and a ‘so what?’ impression but funnily enough that’s part of its charm and only when you start watching consistently does it rope you in… exact same thing happened to us.

Season Four returns with eight episodes all directed by the lead character, Bill Hader, with an interesting story behind it… according to Variety:

“In spring 2020, during the earliest phase of the pandemic, production on Season 3 of “Barry” was shut down before it could even begin. But co-creators Bill Hader and Alec Berg — along with the writing staff of the dark HBO comedy — would soon put that time to good use. They wrote the fourth season of “Barry,” and then went back and rewrote the show’s third, which still hadn’t started filming. As Hader and Berg wrote Season 4, they started to realize that ‘a very clear ending presented itself,’ Hader told Variety in an interview last week.”

Upon watching the last season you get the feeling that the decision to wrap it up was the right one otherwise it would have definitely run into potential fatigue problems, we actually felt the same towards the end of season three. The episodes come in 30 minute intervals making them easy to consume and sometimes that’s all you need. They also do a great job of keeping you hanging and anticipating the next one, like any good watch. 

Barry feels and is different; from the pacing, to the acting, to how each actual episode ends. And that right there forms a large part of its charm, in addition to what we mentioned at the beginning. In classic fashion dating back from episode one in season one to this current one, the series leans heavily on its winning formula which consists of a mix of ‘OMG’, humor and a dash of serious moments that pull you in. Bill Hader is a huge part of why it’s so good and his depiction of the weird character (Barry) lends itself very well on the small screen. Yes it’s sad to see it ending but actually all good things do and like we said, in this instance, it’s probably for the best.

One we highly recommend, HBO’s Barry is now streaming on Showmax and does indeed bow out with a unique bang!