Barry season 3, episode 6 treats us to a breathtaking chase around LA as our beloved characters try to stand back up on two feet.
Episode 6, “710N,” takes us back to where we left off with Fuches (Stephen Root) last week, as he tried to talk Taylor’s (Dale Pavinski) sister Traci (Jolene Van Vugt) into getting rid of Barry (Bill Hader). Somehow he is successful and soon enough her entire gang of bike riders seem to be interested in going after Barry and help her with the deed. For Fuches’ luck, his plan seems to be working, that’s until one of Traci’s men shoots him near his heart, leaving him unconscious in the middle of the desert.
Meanwhile with the cops, Albert Nguyen (James Hiroyuki Liao) and their investigation regarding Janice’s (Paula Newsome) death, they find that Fernando Sagredo’s (Miguel Sandoval) body was found at the house explosion that NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) and Barry were involved in. This leads Nguyen to believe Hank was the one who planted the bomb, hence why the Bolivians attacked his business operations, but the cops are still convinced it was “The Raven.” As they keep talking about how only a highly-skilled person could take out a whole monastery of goons by himself, like an ex-military guy, Albert seems to be piecing the puzzle together about who really is this talented hitman. He pays Sharon Lucado, wife of Albert and Barry’s now dead friend Chris (Christopher Rodriguez Marquette), a visit to get to know a bit of what Barry has been up to since he last saw him. She tells him about Barry’s interest in acting, what he’s done for charity in the name of Chris, and how he still lives in LA. They end their meeting by agreeing to have dinner together and inviting Barry for a reunion.
Barry is still a mess, sleeping on the floor of his friends’ recording studio. He gets a call from Sharon about possibly meeting up for dinner along with other veterans, to which he accepts after an awkward exchange on the phone with her. He goes out shopping for new clothes to wear for the event where he takes the time to loudly speak into his phone to send an apology text message to Sally. He informs her in the message that he will be leaving his acting career behind in exchange for a quieter life helping others like him. Because he is very tone-deaf when it comes to these things, he ends up catching everybody’s attention inside the store for his botched-apology.
Elsewhere with Sally (Sarah Goldberg), she’s at a coffee shop ranting to a random barista about her professional life’s crisis regarding her now canceled show and having to meet with the people at BanShe. She seems to be holding the order line, but the barista doesn’t seem to care and actually gives her valuable advice about not giving up on your goals and passions. Despite her original doubts about the meeting, she decides to talk to the representative of BanShe about what can be done about her situation. Sally is then offered to work in the new project called “The New Medusas,” the show that replaced “Joplin” on the homepage of the streaming service. After a small exchange involving slang language to explain why Sally would be good for the job, her manager Lindsay (Jessy Hodges) convinces Sally to take the job since it would pay good money, even if she is hesitant as Sally feels like this offer is a demotion and not an opportunity.
Back to Fuches, he gets lucky and is saved by a Spanish-speaking family who live in a farm on the mountains. They take out the bullet from his shoulder, patch him up, and feed him and look after him. He starts developing a bond with Anita (Natalia Abelleyra), the daughter of the man who found him. Their discussion is interrupted by a phone call from Jim Moss (Robert Wisdom). Who is this? Well, none other than Janice’s father who is seeking answers regarding his daughter’s death. Rather than directing him towards Barry, though, Fuches hangs up and goes back to the quiet life of the farm and the family he was rescued by.
Hank is seen visiting the outside of his now destroyed and cop infested business facility. He freaks out and drives away, only to arrive at the same shop Sally was at earlier. Like her, Hank proceeds to use the barista as some kind of therapist. Again, he gives excellent advice where he tells Hank that maybe his relationship with Cristobal (Michael Irby) isn’t going to work if he was married and lied about his sexuality. Out of nowhere, though, the barista offers Hank to be his business partner, to which Hank is sort of weirded out by. His storyline doesn’t really go anywhere this week, but it is building up to something intriguing since the cops are after him, as is Cristobal’s wife.
We cut to what Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) is up to in this episode as we see his manager Tom Posorro (Fred Melamed) break into his home to give him the good news that a bigshot producer named Bob Jacobsen wants to give Gene the opportunity to have his very own streaming series called “The Gene Cousineau Master Class,” a show about acting lessons, after his Variety piece detailing how he helped Barry as an ex-marine. Not only is the job good, but the money is good as well. Bob’s opening offer is of 400,000 dollars, which could be increased if Tom negotiates with him. Cousineau agrees, but under one condition: Annie Eisner (Laura San Giacomo) needs to be a part of the project as well. At first, she asks him to leave with his offer as she isn’t interested in his charity, but Gene manages to peak her interest when he offers her to take all the money as long as she is part of the show. This seems to be Mr. Cousineau’s way to amend what she did to her in the past. Will it work? We’ll find out in the last couple of episodes of Barry season 3.
After a drive around the desert, Fuches has a conversation with the man who saved him where he tells Fuches that his daughter wants to be in a relationship with, so he should leave his bad business life behind and to abide by the signs God gives you. Of course, Fuches takes the wrong lesson from what the farmer was trying to tell him after seeing a newspaper praising Barry and instead steals his truck, calls Jim Moss back to ask him to meet, and drives away.
Eventually, Barry ends up buying pastries at the same shop Hank and Sally visited earlier. Like them both, he takes the time to ask for advice from the barista about meeting friends who you haven’t seen in years. The barista advises him to be ready for things to get weird, as people change to the point that they are unrecognizable. I like how this says more about Barry’s evolution as a person, going from marine to assassin, than it says about the people he will have dinner with. He leaves the store and discovers he is being followed by a group of bikers who aren’t sure if he’s the man Fuches told them to kill. A car chase ensues around the city where they destroy public property and damage innocent civilians’ vehicles.
By pure happenstance, Barry is able to get rid of the bikers, some of them either being murdered or seriously injured, and arrives to his dinner. Sharon welcomes him in, offers Barry to eat as many pastries he brought as he’d like. He proceeds to do so while investigating Taylor’s case and who the bikers were on his phone. Things go sideways, though, when he notices Kenneth Goulet’s (Fuche’s fake identity) business card on the table. Sharon comes into the dinning room, Barry connects the dots and realizes she just poisoned him. Barry starts having a reaction to the poison and collapses.
Barry season 3’s writing has been on such a high this entire season, but I have to point out the technical achievements it’s reached this week with its clever camera tricks. The way cinematographer Carl Herse uses mirrors during the scene between Gene and Annie is remarkably simple, yet complex. It’s especially impressive when it tricks you into thinking it is a wide shot of the classroom, only to reveal the camera was pointed at the mirror, not the door. Also, the highway chase sequence is a treat to witness unfold. It’s one of those set pieces where it isn’t necessarily driven by pure spectacle, but by tension in the way that things keep escalating for the worse. After episode 6, I am definitely most looking forward to see what Jim Moss does now that he’s entered the picture and Fuches will likely direct him to go after Barry.
Season 3 Episode 6 of Barry is now available to watch on HBO Max.
