Sally not being able to tell her son she loves him, not allowing herself to find happiness with another suitor, and still obsessing over whether people like her work, shows that there's still something deeply broken about her.
That one about the suitor is not what was being conveyed in that scene at all. It was to directly contrast the way she and Barry ended up and the situation with her abusive ex. It wasn't about denying herself anything.
@@AnarchyStockers Sure. And why should she even have to date? She seems content getting praise for directing high school theater while being able to believe she's being a good mom.
@@boblordofevil Exactly, and after Mr. Cousineau’s whole “he treated us like stars” thing, I think she realized that’s all she wanted anyway. Well, not as badly as Mr. Cousineau did maybe lol. I think her meeting that director she loved who was directing some stupid superhero flick miserably might have been some sort of lesson that she doesn’t want fame at any cost, she just wants accolades for something she really likes and is good at. So I think she’s happy where she’s at in the end
This show is so surprising. It is unafraid. It takes tons of risks and highlights the darkness and the absurdies of life. The fact that you are so invested in so many unlikeable characters is a testament to its quality. Love this show.
The finale is judgment day for characters wrapped up in denial. Fuches accepts that he was always a heartless manipulator and is the only gang member to survive the shootout. Giving John back to Barry is an apology of sorts and he’s able to walk away as Barry wordlessly understands the regret and feels that’s enough to settle their conflict. Fuches’ life won’t be happy but he achieved some peace with his self awareness. Sally releases the burden of killing a man and admits to John that she’s a bad mother. She also survives the shootout and has the happiest outcome but it’s still not great. She still prizes validation from others above all else and the flowers in the passenger seat show us fame is still where her heart lies. We see her struggle with being a mom as she doesn’t say I love you back to John but she’s achieved enough self awareness to say no to the date. She understands more healing is needed before she can open herself up to intimacy again and hopefully she can be with someone good when she’s ready. However, that may be a long road. John asks if she’ll be ok alone when he goes to spend time with a friend implying Sally leans on her son as a comfort rather than the other way around as she’s likely still struggling with the trauma of the killing. Hank refuses his chance to confess his role in Cristobol’s death and is immediately killed. Fuches symbolically extends a hand to give him space to confess and be accepted and after his refusal Hank is surrounded by nothing but and the cold, hollow hand of Cristobol’s statue. You see his eyes widen before his death and I think that’s him finally being consumed by his sins in his final moments. It’s dark. Barry agreed to confess at the very end and it’s juuuust enough. That baby step at the very end is what paves the way for his heroic portrayal in the movie and gives John an idol to look up to. All he wanted was for John to see him as a good man, so in a way he did achieve the happiest ending he could have hoped for after everything. Gene never learns to accept himself as a small time actor. His craving for fame dug him into a deeper and deeper hole until he couldn’t escape. He can try to set the record straight but by now his words are meaningless. His ending is by far the most tragic as although he could be an ass he didn’t deserve a life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The whole show feels like a Greek tragedy 😢
"Greek Tragedy" is a brilliant description. I was thinking this very term as well but only because Anthony Hopkins himself once described Breaking Bad as a Greek tragedy. With that thematic framing I was able to more fully appreciate Barry's commentary on the human experience. Distilled, no matter your lot in life, lying to yourself about your character, needs, and boundaries will inevitably lead to your downfall. And to tie this into an old movie, Lord of War, Nick Cage's line "Never go to war, especially with yourself" feels fitting.
That's pretty much how I interpreted it as well, after reading the plot summaries of the individual episodes after I finished the series and thought about it. To me it's a story about honesty and how honesty saves you and dishonesty destroys your soul.
i love how, by the end of the story, the actors (sally and gene) become killers, and the killers (barry, hank, and fuches) become actors, with story arcs, and capable of giving full-on monologues.
That’s a really good observation never thought about it like that! But I’d like to add, that in the end, fuches was the only who could come to terms with his flaws and accepted himself as the flaw person he is.
@@gur262 but she did murder him. yes it was in self-defense, and i’m not even saying it reflects on her morality at all. she had to protect herself from being murdered. doesn’t mean she didn’t murder him.
One thing that does seem to get glossed over in this analysis of the show is that his son, John, was literally there when he got rescued from NoHo Hank. So as he is watching the bio on Barry's life, he had to realize that if that part was B.S., how much of the rest of the story was as well.
Agree, that last shot of him sort of scoff laughing at the end of the film leads me to believe he knew most if not all of it was bullshit as soon as his “rescue” was shown on screen.
well in fairness he did run up to his dad who was strapped with 2 rifles on his back so he could think they just exaggerated his dad even more which is actually cooler than his reality
I mean, he spent most of the time getting shielded by Fuches so he didn’t really see what happened. So him believing that his dad came to save him makes sense.
@@peedfarded I think that was the point of Barry having the guns on his back when they reunited there. So they could have John see him strapped with guns looking to save him. Then in the fake movie, John could just think they are playing it up for the show. The movie does technically follow a lot of key plot points of the timeline/story Jim Moss put together. That was ultimately the one on screen except for the ending. Which was also true as Gene did murder Barry, which he is in prison for.
Also, I think he was young enough to, view his dad as such... his memories might change as he gets older and something triggersit. Bur bc he view Barry already had his dad/hero make sense
Barry was satire on the film industry and a character study of a man trying to connect and that played both sides so well. After this last season I'm down for anything Hader goes to do.
My favorite arc on the show has to be Fuches. I love that he has so many chances to let Barry go and live a simple life, he continually tries to save/kill Barry. We see Sally and Barry consumed by the darkness, but Fuches in the end chooses to run back into the darkness. He knows that’s where he thrives and and he can only be The Raven.
Sally's tinge of self-centeredness is still there in the end. Rather than telling her son she loves him back, she's aks for the gratification of making sure she did good.
Sally was such a perplexing character, because she was SO frustrating at times, but when you find out about her past, everything about her makes sense. Because of her awful narcissistic mom, she's never had a loved one who REALLY knows her and really LIKES her, and so she's been constantly self-destructing with unreliable sources of validation (steady boyfriends and acting). It was great to see her gain enough self-awareness where she could find a simpler job that was less frustrating, and not be drawn into the easy escape of dating a man who would provide short-term relief, but probably not long-term gains. She's still not perfect, but at least she's still around, and has a chance to keep on developing.
it wasn't just him! Sally told him too, all the religious stuff he was listening... also throughout the serie he was struggling to do the right thing ...
I think that when he realized that Sally was not at Coisenau's he figure out that she left him and he had anything more to lose. So when the agent said that it clicked for him.
The weird thing I kept coming back to watching this show was, while Barry's sins were undoubtedly worse, I was always so much more irritated with the flaws of characters like Sally and Gene, even though their transgressions were significantly lighter. And I think the reason why Barry somehow ends up more sympathetic is that even though he's a literal killer, is that he was at least TRYING to become a better person while the other characters were sort of willingly absorbed in their own pettiness.
@@samriddhigupta5514 To me, the fact that he kept relapsing doesn't negate the fact that he was still in the fight. We saw storybeats where he would spare the life of someone when it would have been easier to take them out or where he would try to cut ties with Fuches, where Barry was TRYING to put in the hard work of self-improvement. Even if it took him to the literal end of his life to internalize what it meant to make amends, the throughline of him trying to be a better person was there.
Controversial opinion: I think a lot of the hatred and judgment of Sally specifically is rooted in misogyny. The critique of Gene seems to be more nuanced but also less common. I think Sally and Gene exhibit traits and act in ways that the audience is familiar with and angered by. Most of us have not had someone we care about get murdered by a Marine turned assassin but we have met selfish and egotistical people like Gene and Sally. Additionally, I completely agree with the other reply. Barry was selfish and while he was also a broken, complex person (much like Sally and Gene) he ultimately cared more about maintaining the life he had created and later the image he had created of himself that he killed a lot of innocent people he cared about. Barry is a great show and Barry is a great character but I think some of the viewers miss the point that he is not supposed to be a hero. Sure, he is supposed to be complex and sympathetic but he isn't meant to be idolized. It was something that I did not fully recognise I was doing until he killed Chris and then Janice. I think that is part of the reason the show hammers in this point in later seasons. Barry is not a good person and he is not interested in changing or taking responsibility in any meaningful way except (presumably) at the point right before he dies.
@@zachmiller8725 yeah he realised really late and do not ignore the fact that his relapse affected other people too. Since the final season is entirely directed by Bill Hader himself, he doesn't appear in much of the episodes before time leap which shows what impact Barry's journey to 'improve and relapse himself' had on other people surrounding him which is I would say destructive and obviously Gene's self destructive ego.
I spent several years in an abusive relationship, and I've always told people that the abuse literally becomes an addiction, with complete dependency on your abuser and even a craving for the "normalcy" of the cycles of abuse and love-bombing. Barry was the first show I've seen actually describe that accurately, and it was so cathartic to hear (and also darkly hilarious in the way Sally ultimately has to change her story into the Hollywood cliche).
This show was fearless, I love how it portrayed its characters has damaged people, we’re they are all kind of shitty. Some just less then others. Great series finale.
Something i have not seen talked about at all is the shot of Hank walking John out of the massacre room, its as heroic a shot as this show gives you but Sally is blind and rattled from 3 grenades shouting for John. Fuches literally ignores her panicked pleas for her son to pass off John to Barry strapped with rifles 20 feet away. For people saying Sally got off easy or only mentioning her murder in self defense as her biggest trauma in the show, you are also pushing her into the background just like Fuches.
Gene failed his redemption & gave into his worst traits. Barry - in his final moments - sought forgiveness without condition. That's why Gene ultimately gets a darker fate.
I would argue that the only one that achieved real forgiveness is Fuches. As the narrator of the video says Fuches is the only one who does not act his revenge. I don't think Barry sought forgiveness without salvation. Barry looks for forgiveness because he knows he is condemned, so his sudden change of heart is out of selfishness not true repent. The show doubles down on this by showing Barry justify his acts by looking for a christian podcast that talk about when it is OK to kill (this in itself a condemnation of religious zealousness) and of course his prayer asking god for the strength to kill everyone in the final confrontation with Hank/Fuches. Barry enrolled himself in one of the religions famous for its idea that if you do things in the name of god you are a good person and if you were ever bad you only have to feel really sorry to get eternal salvation no matter how evil you were most of your life. Everyone in the final season doubles down on their worst traits, including Fuches who now manipulates not only one but a group of killers/criminals. But in the end only Fuches refuses to continue the cycle of violence.
Barry didn't seek forgiveness without condition, he refused to turn himself in to the police and only went to Gene's house because he thought Sally & Jon were there.
Barry, like Fuches, knows he is doomed. However, Barry does seek to turn himself in and face up to his mistakes. Fuches seems to show no sign of abandoning the path he is on. I think that's a big difference.@@FJCD
It was so crazy seeing Hank’s story, even more than Barry’s. I felt Barry loved Sally. I did, but I felt something deeply profound about Hank and Cristobal, but I knew they were doomed from the start.
Sympathy isn't the same as glorification. Fully condemning Walter white is as ignorant As thinking Skylar is a worse person for being an annoying character to some
Barry, the entire series, is just a masterpiece of tight and economical storytelling. When I was watching the first season I had just moved to SoCal from Cleveland so the culture shock and humor were my main draws. As the series got darker, I began to realize how the thematic elements fell into place. Hader, and the other screenwriters, stuck the landing, hard.
Pretty weird interpretation of Sally on this video. Here are some reasons why she didn't get a happy or content ending. 1. Sally won't even say I love you to her son. 2. She tells Barry to take responsibility and to turn himself in, yet she never does for the man she killed even if it was self defense.(and was also/possibly still is haunted by) 3. She only cares about her theatre class and as you said, filling Gene's shoes. She'll be just like him. (very miserable and self centered) 4. She said no to the date because she is afraid of men now. Not because she already has all she needs. She had been with an abuser and a killer back to back. That is traumatizing. 5. She left Barry the same way she left her ex. Just left while he was asleep. She hasn't changed. 6. She didn't turn Barry in to save Gene when she had the perfect opportunity to while he was asleep. If she had done that Gene wouldn't have shot Barry. She probably still feels guilt over it. 7, Other than that one scene being honest with her son, it is probably the ONLY time she was honest. Otherwise John would've known the actual truth instead of choosing to believe what the Hollywood movie portrayed. She needs to turn herself in or she will remain a broken woman who will never heal. Hell, she could probably vouch for Gene too about his girlfriend being killed by Barry. Yet she does not do any of those things and takes no responsibility.
they did have a strange take on sally. they clearly missed something. and i highly agree with point number 4. she’s afraid of loving anyone. but i don’t think she could’ve turned barry in while he was sleeping, and i don’t think she could’ve had any idea barry was gonna go straight to gene’s house and get shot. she’s not responsible for that. she probably expected barry to run around elsewhere searching for her for god knows how long. and considering how gene took barry’s hush money AND killed barry, i don’t think sally’s testimony would’ve saved gene from anything. sally has no physical evidence in gene’s favor. and she can’t stop a movie production. gene couldn’t even stop it. that’s part of why he killed barry. we have to hold gene responsible for what happened to him, not sally for her lack of action in his favor. i also seriously don’t think sally should turn herself in for murdering that man in self-defense. putting aside her traumatic history with abuse and why that triggered her to go for the kill (an argument that has the precedent to be acceptable in the court of law), turning herself in would be leaving john without a mother. and for what? some soulless piece of shit who almost murdered her? abandoning john to go live in jail is not a path of moral redemption for her. she’s not a hypocrite for telling barry to turn himself in; barry has done infinitely worse shit than her. i think a lot of us are too harsh on sally. sally had a lot of issues and she frustrated me very often, but i find it odd how unfair people are to her all the way to the end of the show. it reminds me of how people view skyler white in a way.
I wished Sally was an LGBTQ+ character so that the male and female audience will watch her objectively. Male audience keeps demonizing her and views her as Skyler 2.0 while female audience sides with her no matter what even though she’s a horrible person regardless of abuses she endured. For me, I think she changed but not really. She became more opened to her son and refused to date ever again but is still emotionally stunted and unable to do something so easy like saying “I love you” to her son. And the whole self-centered part still remains because it’s already her thing BEFORE Barry so Sally still being like this years after Barry died is a nice critique on shows like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul whose message is about how everything will solve itself by taking down one bad guy (Walter/ Jimmy. That’s two bad guys😂). The problems in Barry are systematic. Just because Barry died doesn’t make the problems go away.
@@prestowitch I don’t really know but I think male audience project themselves onto Barry too much that they will hate those who are against him (like how they used to idolize Walter White or when they defend Barry killing Chris and Janice because those two are “rats”). Meanwhile, female audience also project themselves onto Sally too much that they think she’s 100% on the right while overlooking her narcissistic behaviors towards everyone around her. So I think if Sally was gender-neutral, people might see her (or them) as who they really are. But maybe I’m too naive about this.
@@nont18411 well the people who identify with barry are ridiculous and they’re going to identify with him regardless of sally’s gender. but yeah, i think the general audience of men is over-critical of sally because of their learned, underlying misogyny (although there are probably some women who hate sally because of misogyny too). and i think the general audience of women defends sally because they have an actual idea of what she’s been through, but they get so defensive that it comes off like they don’t see her obvious flaws. but if she was outwardly identifying as non-binary, i think she would be hated on regardless of anything. yes a lot of people resent women, and yes some women resent men so much that they’ll defend sally until their dying breath, but i think there’s even more resentment towards non-binary people. i can’t imagine the amount of toxic discourse we’d be seeing if she was non-binary.
Yep. He can't escape himself. On a long enough timeline. Give Barry enough time and he'll find himself in yet another bloody situation and then "Right now"(reset) his self-perception all over again.
I think this analysis has left out a very important character in the series, a character that helps to better understand the essence of the series: Jim Moss. He plays the role of pure justice, who does not allow himself to be manipulated by that false Hollywood narrative and who does seek to see that the wicked are punished for their actions, and unlike the other characters, he does not do it for revenge, but for justice. I hope we will see more video analysis of Barry from The Take in the future.
Sally leaving Barry is also what prompted him to take responsibility. It’s only when he realizes that she’s left him for good, that he says he’s going to turn himself in, and that pause is what sets him up to be killed by Gene. In that way, Sally’s actions led to Barry’s positive portrayal in the movie and leaving a positive portrayal for his son, even though Sally didn’t want John to see that stylized, fake version of his father.
i agree with your first paragraph, but come on, we cannot put the blame on sally for how hollywood made a positive portrayal of him. even if she tried, she couldn’t have stopped that movie or the events that inspired the movie. it’s on the media for their irresponsible false reporting, it’s on gene for killing barry, and it’s on barry for taking wayyyyyyyy too long to finally turn himself in (his chance to do that was back in season one)
@SkialarAllynMahar I don't think they are putting that on Sally, just showing that Sally's fate is bleak living in the large shadow of a past that she was not passive in contributing to. Not that she brought it upon herself solely.
It seems to me that, in the end, Sally and Barry were the ones who fared the best. Even though Barry ended up dead. Barry gets to die redeemed. After so long in denial, he finally agrees to go to prison and accept his sins. However, he doesn't get to go because Gene murders him. He dies trying to do good and that is enough. And if you think about it, maybe that's the best thing that could have happened to him. Because he's so manipulable, it's very likely that someone would have used him again later and put him back on the road to crime. In the end he ended up repenting and leaving a good life for his son. On the other hand, as much as many people hate Sally, I just can't. She's a character who, while she was nefarious most of the time, she had a very sad past (as did Barry), and was someone who really tried to do things differently. He was swimming against the tide in such a fake industry. And I think anyone would be annoyed that she couldn't be successful because it's not fake. I mean, she was talented, she did a great show that ended up being critically praised, but it was cancelled simply because of an algorithm. That's a huge offense to someone who's worked so hard. That's not to mention what she went through in past relationships and with her mother. In the end, I think she still ends up having a chance to redeem herself, and that's because, to be honest, one can simply never fit into a false and hypocritical system if one wants to remain sincere. Perhaps the best thing in the end is simply to be true to, let's say, the truth, even if that means being left out of everything. Maybe the years will pass and, at last, he will find peace. Without a doubt, the one who did worst is Gene, but I think that's precisely one of the main goals of the show: to show how serious and destructible the ego is.
I read the last shot of John smiling as acknowledgement of the ridiculousness of the fictionalized representation of his father and not as hero worship. Could be read either way, I suppose, but John surely remembers the events and Sally was honest with him finally about who his father was.
▪︎S1 Pilot: Barry believed Mr.Cousinea would save his life by helping him change from being a hitman to an actor w/morals. ▪︎S4 Finale: Gene ends Barrys life the MOMENT Barry finally changes making an unselfish decision from his heart. Barry realized he destroyed Mr.Cousinea's life & the only redemption to himself+Gene was deciding to stop being a hitman serving life in prison.
Unpopular opinions: - I think Gene deserves this ending. - I think people give too much excuses for Sally’s behavior because of how she’s a victim of abuses that they refuse to see that she’s still a bad person on her own without her violent ex husbands and dysfunctional family. - Fuches NEVER redeem himself. Like dude spent the whole show puppeteering Barry into committing atrocities (the blood of Barry’s victims are on Fuches’ hands as well) and using that to destroy Barry’s life out of spite but suddenly everyone thinks he’s a good guy now thanks to one act of kindness? This is the same BS as Darth Vader. If people are mad at Sally for not telling her son she love him, they should be mad at how Fuches got away with his crimes as well.
I would disagree with you about Fuches, but not because he protected and returned John to Barry. Fuches’s “redemption” is not him becoming a better person, since it can be argued that he’s actively worse after becoming a hardened gang leader. His redemption comes from him actually acknowledging how much of a piece of shit he is. He’s one of the only characters who owns up to how terrible of a human being they actually are in a cast of characters who are all awful people in denial about it. He’s also the only character that served any actual time for his crimes. I honestly kind of thought that Fuches gaining enlightenment and self-awareness while paying his debt to society while only coming out of prison a tougher and more capable criminal was a critique on America’s broken penal system.
Thank you, this video has convinced me of finishing the series. After Barry killed Chris I thought they where going for shock value, with horribleness just for the shock of it. This is much more deeply thought than I gave them credit for.
Sally was my LEAST favorite character. Fake as hell, stuck up, slanderous unless it benefits her, just overall evil. Great writing of a character but it did always bother me that she killed a guy and told Barry to confess- she probably wouldn’t even face punishment as it was defense but saying Barry should confess but she gets to be fine while feeling her baby liquor, so much so that he was hardly breathing while sleeping always made me sick. Even a dude showing up to harm them left him alone as he could tell the kid was hurt enough.. Great video and pacing just had to get it off my chest how much she disgusted me- Barry was my favorite until the forth season and Fukes was my favorite in the forth season as it was his peak performance. 👏🏼😂
I rewatched this series cause it’s amazing and seeing the “Oh Wow” moment before Barry is killed. I like to also think he also said it cause the prop gun actually did work this time 😂
Jesus the ending has me in a mind blown spiral after the final bow tie to Barry’s death it all came together w the overarching narratives that come up in the plot and what it’s trying to say about entertainment, context that formulates vs the context that never came forward, and in a way history itself too. obsessions with truths and lies, all this stuff it’s just crazy to me. We really live in a world like entertainment but never really plays like it. Real life is crazy bahaha this show was awesome
I love how everyone became the worst version of themselves one way or another, especially people that strive for goodness. In turn, the death I'm saddest about is Cristobal and the scene leading up to that.
Lots of women watch it, we don't make content on male shows because of Algorithms etc. Most listeners are women and they'd obtain necessarily like this stuff.
I think you're overestimating the positivity of Sally's ending. When her son says he loves her she asks if her play was good then proceeds to give the cheap bouquet more genuine affection she gives him. She didn't change, that praise through acting is still the most important thing to her and her confession to John never touches that central lie she tells herself, it does other things but not enough to get her to change, because she doesn't. If Fuches is the ideal of the finale to cut through the bull and contend with truth then she is just as much a failure as anyone else
I'm seeing a lot of people saying Sally's ending was actually bad, and you guys saying it was happy, but I think the truth was probably in the middle. She got the best she could've hoped for without going to jail. She's still working in her field. And while she can't trust men easily, and is still kind of dependent on her son for validation (a little unfairly), she's still alive, and still has a chance to change in the future. The ones who are dead can't do that. And as Fuches shows, sometimes, people CAN change.
Wow...I agree with a lot of this analysis but it's so off track about Sally imho. This video portrays her as if she was just a good person and everything she ever done was because she was a victim or something. Yes she's been traumatized, but like Barry, she still made her own choices regardless. By the end, she's still a narcissist, craving for attention (she never said back ''me too'' to John's ''I love you''...instead asking if her show was good..that was the thing to notice here) and she doesn't say no to the date because she's content with her life and she's happy with what she has...it's because she's afraid to fall in love with another Barry and have her trauma back again. She doesn't know best by telling Barry to takes responsibility of his actions...she wants to leave him yes, but she never took responsibility either for the guy she killed (even if it was self defense). Also...her dreams have been taken away from her, but Sally ALWAYS been a self-centered and shitty person too to people around her. When she placed herself in front of (Kristen I think?) to show how SHE could deliver the lines instead of her to Sian Heder, it was for her own benefits, not to help the other actress as an acting coach. I could give other examples, but what I love about Barry is the fact that everyone is pretty much grey and yes, even Sally. Imho, she has a semi-happy ending but Fuches has a better one because he fully accepted who he really was at the end and the fact the he served as a shield to protect John while the bullets were flying to then deliver the boy safe to Barry is something he would've never done in the past. She didn't face her inhumanity head on...Fuches actually did. Like I said earlier, Sally is still craving for attention so to me, the show showed that she didn't come to terms with who she really is : A narcissist first, then a mother.
Barry constantly believed that he had unlimited second chances throughout the entire series and that his actions didn’t have consequences. The cycle will repeat after his son watches his serial killer father get glorified for his wrongdoings.
No. She learned from her ego, Gene didn't and tried to exploit Janice and Barry's stories to serve himself. Wanting validation was a core of Sally's personality before Barry came into her life. That's not a flaw, that's an actor thing.
The problem with the story and especially the last episode is that it forgets so much of what happened before. Moss somehow just leaves Barry alone and doesn't realize what might happen? And Barry's old military friend does nothing to speak up with what he knows? And so many other plot holes. The ignoring all these loose ends just left a sour and bitter note in my mouth. I get what they were going for but it felt so lackluster and random at times.
@@StefanLopuszanski the military friend Barry saves in Afghanistan who is in police or FBI I think. Moss thought because of the money Gene was forced to take from Barry but by reading the reporter's diary Jim somehow misinterpreted it, partly due to over- dramatization that Gene did of his version of the story in front of the reporter.
@@samriddhigupta5514 : But why just leave Barry alone instead of securing him? Moss should have known better, that's super basic stuff. And Gene could have explained his side of things and had other people step forward who knew. It just seems so convenient and out of character. But oh well. Just thought it would have had a better ending but I knew it was going to be problematic the second the prison assassination was botched nonsensically and then the random illogical time jump and what happened there.
@@StefanLopuszanski I was scratching my head too. Then I realised it's about general characteristics of human on how we revert back on our bad habits. Besides this technicality, Gene was still selfish in this season as trying to speak to reporter when told not to do so explicitly by the DA.
Kind of disappointed your videos have slowly turned into summaries and surface level examinations. Screen Prism was truly great once, and you had really deep insight. Most of your videos over the last couple years have just felt lazy
@@suzygirl1843 I have no idea, no one has any idea, Screen Prism was a way better name! Far more unique. Maybe they sold ownership or something, and the new guys wanted something more generic/bland? Honestly, I'm so broken-hearted with this channel, I keep trying to watch new videos and not finishing them...
There's no way John doesn't try to become a marine himself. By not being truthful and not being present, Barry ultimately only causes the cycle of abuse by authority figures and violence to continue through his son who seems doomed to a hero complex mixed with father issues.
True and Sally feels no affection for her son because he reminds her of barry she couldn't even say that she loves him once why is no one realizing that
@@KennyNGA Sally has always been a self involved character. I mean, she was/is an actress. There are alot of people who became parents due to circumstances not choice. That's my own mom too. She's an okay enough mom, so is Sally.
That wasn't real. Since Barry wasn't home, she hallucinated what we saw. I think Bill Hader confirmed this actually. She trashed her own house without knowing it. It's like when she sees the police officer bleeding for his left eye...that was the dude she killed last season.
Jim Moss is pulled such a scummy move on Gene. Tempting him with a dream movie deal on a guy he knows can't resist redeeming his career, and has been "sober" for years. This is like entrapping a drug addict 8 years sober with drugs and then charging him with drug use.
They should have ended the series at season 3. The 4th season was a long train wreck that made the endings of The Sopranos or Seinfeld look like masterpieces, because at least they were just ONE episode.
I don't think the ending was Hollywood disordering. Because Gene actually went to prison. Bury with buried in Arlington. Gene was so greedy. He actually said " Barry is a sympathetic character" when you thought they were going to make the movie he wanted. You didn't tell the police about the $250,000 Barry gave him. Greed finally had got up to him. That became the story. Because that's what people believed.
Something really missing from this video, for how much it emphasizes Sally's love for John, it doesn't address why when he tells her that he loves her and she doesn't reciprocate. Clearly, this narcissistic character doesn't love her son, because she only loves herself. Good analysis, but it has some holes still.
@@basilcook4280 Benet's by Mitch Where the line was a mile long, and the reason for that is, everyone has a bitch session that Mitch listens to, then gives advice to them. NO one took his advice on any of it.
She does find peace but only by accepting who she is. She is still self-centered because when John says "I love you "to her, all she was worried about was how the show went. The only difference between now and before is that before, she acted like she wasn't self-centered. For example in season 3, when she kept asking Barry to come by the set and bring flowers and not letting him stay and also when Barry loses it in season 3 when he asks for her help and she's like I tried but casting said no.
I like this ending, tho I know that this show could of kept going but the new WB owners want all the old stuff to end. Disney did the same with all the projects LucusArts and Marvel had at the time. And all the actors and producers need to lie threw their teeth. That's business I guess...
Me honestly I believe Sally was annoying, whenever things got bad for her it was always Barry’s fault or if she wanted to get back at someone suddenly Barry wasn’t crazy anymore. Fughes was cool. Granted he sold Barry out any chance he got even when they were like peas in a pod, I thought him rescuing Barry and their antics were enjoyable, funny especially when they had to kill the cops wife’s BF. Gene?…oh a boy. I was rooting for him when he was being targeted but when he betrayed Barry it when downhill for me. The ego, his greed, the two-faced liar is what he was towards the end. Barry EARNED his forgiveness, caused him to rebuild the relationship with his son, gave him 250,000$, rekindled with his old colleagues but then gene wanted more, he twisted the story and when things got bad he cried, begging any higher power to save him. I don’t think he really deserved to kill Barry. Hank was really cool, his character was consistent and he was always funny just a whole vibe tbh. He got a pretty cool death. Barry…from the get go my boy was manipulatable. I think it’s apparent when even as a dad he believes random UA-camrs fun-facts. He’s the goat in most cases but he switches from a killer that EVERYONE NEEDS to do ANY JOB to not understanding he was betrayed by gene and acting like a lost kid, regardless Barry has a tendency to get his ass whooped by anyone with ACTUAL MILITARY TRAINING or even POLICE TRAINING and I thought he was smart because he could kill, not get away with it, bury a body and ect but it turns out NO ONE in LA is a threat because they don’t have the same training as barry does, NO ONE knows what they’re doing and Mosses dad can trick him…TWICE!?…Barry’s character for me is when he’s actually thinking about the peoples he’s killed like Chris and what I LOVED about his Albert was that he FORCED Barry to think about it but for some reason he NEVER appeared again and Barry just MOVED ON like it never happened at all. Albert was a very cool character and should’ve had more scenes. I wished Barry went to prison and he confessed the true story of everything that happened.
Sally was a horrible person. She was self centered narcissistic person who resorted to multiple acts of violence. While I can somewhat expect the extreme change of character and destiny of Fuches makes sense, Sally became a self ceyperson who still doesn't care about her son
.......................HEY IKE ya shitbird, you want a little PIEEEEEEEEE? P.S I don't think John actually sees Barry as a hero by the final scene; I think he's relieved at the fact that others are going to see him that way.
nonono, Barry’s choice to turn himself in is his redemption, you can definitely tell from how the shot is set up and the tension in the scene that this is his change of heart and it has a very different tone to it than every other time, that’s why gene is in prison and Barry got remembered as a hero
I disagree with the idea that Barry wasn't redeemed at the end. At least when it comes down to putting God into the equation. There was a thief on the cross next to Jesus and he was sorry for what he did. However, just like Berry he did not have enough time to redeem himself in this world. However, God knew his heart and Jesus told him he would see him in Paradise. Barry didn't have enough time to go through with his actions for redemption but God would know. Considering God answered Berry's prayer by protecting his son in such a wild fashion that this would probably be the case
Perfect finale 👍 Really highlights the line between reality and how myths are created. The entire show is about how death and violence aren't glamorous and how redemption is more difficult then you see in a Hollywood movie. The real actual end of the story is a cluster fuck: Barry escaping prison because of a failed hit by 2 podcast hosts, Gene fleeing to a Kibbutz, Sally getting kidnapped by happenstance, The haphazard shooting between Fuches and Hanks men, Barry randomly getting killed by Gene It's a great ending. But the movie just being a bland "Barry was manipulated by Gene and died saving his family" is genius. They cut out all the humor and darkness of Barry and created a soulless biopic that's completely a product of Hollywood. The reason Barry's death is anticlimactic, why Barry and Hank didn't have a shoot out, why Gene didn't confront Barry, Why Barry died fast is because Life isn't that simple or easy. It draws a great parallel between truth and comfortable lies. And how myths are created from twisted facts.
I don’t have HBO- MAX yet but just discovered Barry on You- Tube. I clicked your video and listened all the way through. Video clips were interesting and some of your dialogue was interesting but 50 % was bs pseudo- intellectual stuff.
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The show started with Barry wanting to become an actor and ended with Gene becoming a killer.
YOOOOOOO!
That is such a great shout out.
Barry was an actor. He pretended to be a regular person
Sally not being able to tell her son she loves him, not allowing herself to find happiness with another suitor, and still obsessing over whether people like her work, shows that there's still something deeply broken about her.
That one about the suitor is not what was being conveyed in that scene at all. It was to directly contrast the way she and Barry ended up and the situation with her abusive ex. It wasn't about denying herself anything.
Also really, obsessing? Asking her son if it was good is obsessing for SALLY? Do you remember anything about the show?
I think she’s just afraid to go down that road after her mom’s whole “you sure know how to pick ‘em” and her life going to shit every time she dates
@@AnarchyStockers Sure. And why should she even have to date? She seems content getting praise for directing high school theater while being able to believe she's being a good mom.
@@boblordofevil Exactly, and after Mr. Cousineau’s whole “he treated us like stars” thing, I think she realized that’s all she wanted anyway. Well, not as badly as Mr. Cousineau did maybe lol. I think her meeting that director she loved who was directing some stupid superhero flick miserably might have been some sort of lesson that she doesn’t want fame at any cost, she just wants accolades for something she really likes and is good at. So I think she’s happy where she’s at in the end
This show is so surprising. It is unafraid. It takes tons of risks and highlights the darkness and the absurdies of life. The fact that you are so invested in so many unlikeable characters is a testament to its quality. Love this show.
The finale is judgment day for characters wrapped up in denial.
Fuches accepts that he was always a heartless manipulator and is the only gang member to survive the shootout. Giving John back to Barry is an apology of sorts and he’s able to walk away as Barry wordlessly understands the regret and feels that’s enough to settle their conflict. Fuches’ life won’t be happy but he achieved some peace with his self awareness.
Sally releases the burden of killing a man and admits to John that she’s a bad mother. She also survives the shootout and has the happiest outcome but it’s still not great. She still prizes validation from others above all else and the flowers in the passenger seat show us fame is still where her heart lies. We see her struggle with being a mom as she doesn’t say I love you back to John but she’s achieved enough self awareness to say no to the date. She understands more healing is needed before she can open herself up to intimacy again and hopefully she can be with someone good when she’s ready. However, that may be a long road. John asks if she’ll be ok alone when he goes to spend time with a friend implying Sally leans on her son as a comfort rather than the other way around as she’s likely still struggling with the trauma of the killing.
Hank refuses his chance to confess his role in Cristobol’s death and is immediately killed. Fuches symbolically extends a hand to give him space to confess and be accepted and after his refusal Hank is surrounded by nothing but and the cold, hollow hand of Cristobol’s statue. You see his eyes widen before his death and I think that’s him finally being consumed by his sins in his final moments. It’s dark.
Barry agreed to confess at the very end and it’s juuuust enough. That baby step at the very end is what paves the way for his heroic portrayal in the movie and gives John an idol to look up to. All he wanted was for John to see him as a good man, so in a way he did achieve the happiest ending he could have hoped for after everything.
Gene never learns to accept himself as a small time actor. His craving for fame dug him into a deeper and deeper hole until he couldn’t escape. He can try to set the record straight but by now his words are meaningless. His ending is by far the most tragic as although he could be an ass he didn’t deserve a life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
The whole show feels like a Greek tragedy 😢
"Greek Tragedy" is a brilliant description. I was thinking this very term as well but only because Anthony Hopkins himself once described Breaking Bad as a Greek tragedy. With that thematic framing I was able to more fully appreciate Barry's commentary on the human experience. Distilled, no matter your lot in life, lying to yourself about your character, needs, and boundaries will inevitably lead to your downfall. And to tie this into an old movie, Lord of War, Nick Cage's line "Never go to war, especially with yourself" feels fitting.
That's pretty much how I interpreted it as well, after reading the plot summaries of the individual episodes after I finished the series and thought about it. To me it's a story about honesty and how honesty saves you and dishonesty destroys your soul.
i love how, by the end of the story, the actors (sally and gene) become killers, and the killers (barry, hank, and fuches) become actors, with story arcs, and capable of giving full-on monologues.
That’s a really good observation never thought about it like that! But I’d like to add, that in the end, fuches was the only who could come to terms with his flaws and accepted himself as the flaw person he is.
@@John34bruh true! i think sally came to terms with her flaws too but fuches really nailed the acceptance part lol
“Did you think the speech I gave back there was good?”
Sally never became a murderer. She says so as she fully believes she might die and sure. Kinda feels bad for having killed.
@@gur262 but she did murder him. yes it was in self-defense, and i’m not even saying it reflects on her morality at all. she had to protect herself from being murdered. doesn’t mean she didn’t murder him.
One thing that does seem to get glossed over in this analysis of the show is that his son, John, was literally there when he got rescued from NoHo Hank. So as he is watching the bio on Barry's life, he had to realize that if that part was B.S., how much of the rest of the story was as well.
Agree, that last shot of him sort of scoff laughing at the end of the film leads me to believe he knew most if not all of it was bullshit as soon as his “rescue” was shown on screen.
well in fairness he did run up to his dad who was strapped with 2 rifles on his back so he could think they just exaggerated his dad even more which is actually cooler than his reality
I mean, he spent most of the time getting shielded by Fuches so he didn’t really see what happened. So him believing that his dad came to save him makes sense.
@@peedfarded I think that was the point of Barry having the guns on his back when they reunited there. So they could have John see him strapped with guns looking to save him. Then in the fake movie, John could just think they are playing it up for the show. The movie does technically follow a lot of key plot points of the timeline/story Jim Moss put together. That was ultimately the one on screen except for the ending. Which was also true as Gene did murder Barry, which he is in prison for.
Also, I think he was young enough to, view his dad as such... his memories might change as he gets older and something triggersit. Bur bc he view Barry already had his dad/hero make sense
Barry was satire on the film industry and a character study of a man trying to connect and that played both sides so well. After this last season I'm down for anything Hader goes to do.
completely agree!
Did anyone else notice "wow" is what Gene says to Barry the first time he acts?
My favorite arc on the show has to be Fuches. I love that he has so many chances to let Barry go and live a simple life, he continually tries to save/kill Barry.
We see Sally and Barry consumed by the darkness, but Fuches in the end chooses to run back into the darkness. He knows that’s where he thrives and and he can only be The Raven.
Sally's tinge of self-centeredness is still there in the end. Rather than telling her son she loves him back, she's aks for the gratification of making sure she did good.
The last episode was completely opposite of what I was speculating and guessing! Just in awe!
I didn't even know it was the finale
I stopped speculating after season 2 but some scenes while predictable, was always well performed and executed. When out on top I feel.
That's why it was called, Wow
Sally was such a perplexing character, because she was SO frustrating at times, but when you find out about her past, everything about her makes sense.
Because of her awful narcissistic mom, she's never had a loved one who REALLY knows her and really LIKES her, and so she's been constantly self-destructing with unreliable sources of validation (steady boyfriends and acting). It was great to see her gain enough self-awareness where she could find a simpler job that was less frustrating, and not be drawn into the easy escape of dating a man who would provide short-term relief, but probably not long-term gains.
She's still not perfect, but at least she's still around, and has a chance to keep on developing.
Why do you think she ist narcissistic I thought she was just fed up of Sally's one man show which she had to endure 30 years
She had a simpler job cause it's all she could get in that undercover situation and she hated it.
I still think its crazy that the guy that talks Barry into confessing is Gene's agent on his way out.
it wasn't just him! Sally told him too,
all the religious stuff he was listening...
also throughout the serie he was struggling to do the right thing ...
I think that when he realized that Sally was not at Coisenau's he figure out that she left him and he had anything more to lose. So when the agent said that it clicked for him.
The weird thing I kept coming back to watching this show was, while Barry's sins were undoubtedly worse, I was always so much more irritated with the flaws of characters like Sally and Gene, even though their transgressions were significantly lighter. And I think the reason why Barry somehow ends up more sympathetic is that even though he's a literal killer, is that he was at least TRYING to become a better person while the other characters were sort of willingly absorbed in their own pettiness.
Even in that Barry was lying to himself. He killed his friends, Janice and lot others to save himself. That's called being selfish.
@@samriddhigupta5514 To me, the fact that he kept relapsing doesn't negate the fact that he was still in the fight. We saw storybeats where he would spare the life of someone when it would have been easier to take them out or where he would try to cut ties with Fuches, where Barry was TRYING to put in the hard work of self-improvement. Even if it took him to the literal end of his life to internalize what it meant to make amends, the throughline of him trying to be a better person was there.
Controversial opinion: I think a lot of the hatred and judgment of Sally specifically is rooted in misogyny. The critique of Gene seems to be more nuanced but also less common. I think Sally and Gene exhibit traits and act in ways that the audience is familiar with and angered by. Most of us have not had someone we care about get murdered by a Marine turned assassin but we have met selfish and egotistical people like Gene and Sally.
Additionally, I completely agree with the other reply. Barry was selfish and while he was also a broken, complex person (much like Sally and Gene) he ultimately cared more about maintaining the life he had created and later the image he had created of himself that he killed a lot of innocent people he cared about.
Barry is a great show and Barry is a great character but I think some of the viewers miss the point that he is not supposed to be a hero. Sure, he is supposed to be complex and sympathetic but he isn't meant to be idolized. It was something that I did not fully recognise I was doing until he killed Chris and then Janice. I think that is part of the reason the show hammers in this point in later seasons. Barry is not a good person and he is not interested in changing or taking responsibility in any meaningful way except (presumably) at the point right before he dies.
@@zachmiller8725 yeah he realised really late and do not ignore the fact that his relapse affected other people too. Since the final season is entirely directed by Bill Hader himself, he doesn't appear in much of the episodes before time leap which shows what impact Barry's journey to 'improve and relapse himself' had on other people surrounding him which is I would say destructive and obviously Gene's self destructive ego.
@@frances9975 doesn't misogyny exist in Hollywood? It does and you might be right about that.
I'm so glad we were all around for Barry and Succession; great shows.
Better Call Saul was spectacular as well. So lucky to be alive in this time :)
I spent several years in an abusive relationship, and I've always told people that the abuse literally becomes an addiction, with complete dependency on your abuser and even a craving for the "normalcy" of the cycles of abuse and love-bombing. Barry was the first show I've seen actually describe that accurately, and it was so cathartic to hear (and also darkly hilarious in the way Sally ultimately has to change her story into the Hollywood cliche).
Fuches is slept on, his character arc is so great!
This show was fearless, I love how it portrayed its characters has damaged people, we’re they are all kind of shitty. Some just less then others. Great series finale.
Something i have not seen talked about at all is the shot of Hank walking John out of the massacre room, its as heroic a shot as this show gives you but Sally is blind and rattled from 3 grenades shouting for John. Fuches literally ignores her panicked pleas for her son to pass off John to Barry strapped with rifles 20 feet away. For people saying Sally got off easy or only mentioning her murder in self defense as her biggest trauma in the show, you are also pushing her into the background just like Fuches.
Gene failed his redemption & gave into his worst traits.
Barry - in his final moments - sought forgiveness without condition.
That's why Gene ultimately gets a darker fate.
Gene knew what he was doing though. He chose the infamy because then they both have a legacy.
I would argue that the only one that achieved real forgiveness is Fuches. As the narrator of the video says Fuches is the only one who does not act his revenge.
I don't think Barry sought forgiveness without salvation. Barry looks for forgiveness because he knows he is condemned, so his sudden change of heart is out of selfishness not true repent. The show doubles down on this by showing Barry justify his acts by looking for a christian podcast that talk about when it is OK to kill (this in itself a condemnation of religious zealousness) and of course his prayer asking god for the strength to kill everyone in the final confrontation with Hank/Fuches. Barry enrolled himself in one of the religions famous for its idea that if you do things in the name of god you are a good person and if you were ever bad you only have to feel really sorry to get eternal salvation no matter how evil you were most of your life.
Everyone in the final season doubles down on their worst traits, including Fuches who now manipulates not only one but a group of killers/criminals. But in the end only Fuches refuses to continue the cycle of violence.
Well said
Barry didn't seek forgiveness without condition, he refused to turn himself in to the police and only went to Gene's house because he thought Sally & Jon were there.
Barry, like Fuches, knows he is doomed. However, Barry does seek to turn himself in and face up to his mistakes. Fuches seems to show no sign of abandoning the path he is on. I think that's a big difference.@@FJCD
It was so crazy seeing Hank’s story, even more than Barry’s. I felt Barry loved Sally. I did, but I felt something deeply profound about Hank and Cristobal, but I knew they were doomed from the start.
Also I think the "movie" at the end is a genius way to mock the people who glorify and sympathize with these anti-heros, like Walter White for example
Sympathy isn't the same as glorification. Fully condemning Walter white is as ignorant As thinking Skylar is a worse person for being an annoying character to some
Barry, the entire series, is just a masterpiece of tight and economical storytelling. When I was watching the first season I had just moved to SoCal from Cleveland so the culture shock and humor were my main draws. As the series got darker, I began to realize how the thematic elements fell into place. Hader, and the other screenwriters, stuck the landing, hard.
With the way Fuches quickly runs into the shadows, visibly frightened, I think Barry's the one who spares his life, not the other way around.
Pretty weird interpretation of Sally on this video. Here are some reasons why she didn't get a happy or content ending.
1. Sally won't even say I love you to her son.
2. She tells Barry to take responsibility and to turn himself in, yet she never does for the man she killed even if it was self defense.(and was also/possibly still is haunted by)
3. She only cares about her theatre class and as you said, filling Gene's shoes. She'll be just like him. (very miserable and self centered)
4. She said no to the date because she is afraid of men now. Not because she already has all she needs. She had been with an abuser and a killer back to back. That is traumatizing.
5. She left Barry the same way she left her ex. Just left while he was asleep. She hasn't changed.
6. She didn't turn Barry in to save Gene when she had the perfect opportunity to while he was asleep. If she had done that Gene wouldn't have shot Barry. She probably still feels guilt over it.
7, Other than that one scene being honest with her son, it is probably the ONLY time she was honest. Otherwise John would've known the actual truth instead of choosing to believe what the Hollywood movie portrayed.
She needs to turn herself in or she will remain a broken woman who will never heal. Hell, she could probably vouch for Gene too about his girlfriend being killed by Barry. Yet she does not do any of those things and takes no responsibility.
they did have a strange take on sally. they clearly missed something. and i highly agree with point number 4. she’s afraid of loving anyone.
but i don’t think she could’ve turned barry in while he was sleeping, and i don’t think she could’ve had any idea barry was gonna go straight to gene’s house and get shot. she’s not responsible for that. she probably expected barry to run around elsewhere searching for her for god knows how long. and considering how gene took barry’s hush money AND killed barry, i don’t think sally’s testimony would’ve saved gene from anything. sally has no physical evidence in gene’s favor. and she can’t stop a movie production. gene couldn’t even stop it. that’s part of why he killed barry. we have to hold gene responsible for what happened to him, not sally for her lack of action in his favor.
i also seriously don’t think sally should turn herself in for murdering that man in self-defense. putting aside her traumatic history with abuse and why that triggered her to go for the kill (an argument that has the precedent to be acceptable in the court of law), turning herself in would be leaving john without a mother. and for what? some soulless piece of shit who almost murdered her? abandoning john to go live in jail is not a path of moral redemption for her. she’s not a hypocrite for telling barry to turn himself in; barry has done infinitely worse shit than her.
i think a lot of us are too harsh on sally. sally had a lot of issues and she frustrated me very often, but i find it odd how unfair people are to her all the way to the end of the show. it reminds me of how people view skyler white in a way.
I wished Sally was an LGBTQ+ character so that the male and female audience will watch her objectively.
Male audience keeps demonizing her and views her as Skyler 2.0 while female audience sides with her no matter what even though she’s a horrible person regardless of abuses she endured.
For me, I think she changed but not really. She became more opened to her son and refused to date ever again but is still emotionally stunted and unable to do something so easy like saying “I love you” to her son. And the whole self-centered part still remains because it’s already her thing BEFORE Barry so Sally still being like this years after Barry died is a nice critique on shows like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul whose message is about how everything will solve itself by taking down one bad guy (Walter/ Jimmy. That’s two bad guys😂). The problems in Barry are systematic. Just because Barry died doesn’t make the problems go away.
@@nont18411 agreed, but how would making sally an LGBTQ character get people to watch her objectively? in this climate?
@@prestowitch I don’t really know but I think male audience project themselves onto Barry too much that they will hate those who are against him (like how they used to idolize Walter White or when they defend Barry killing Chris and Janice because those two are “rats”). Meanwhile, female audience also project themselves onto Sally too much that they think she’s 100% on the right while overlooking her narcissistic behaviors towards everyone around her.
So I think if Sally was gender-neutral, people might see her (or them) as who they really are. But maybe I’m too naive about this.
@@nont18411 well the people who identify with barry are ridiculous and they’re going to identify with him regardless of sally’s gender.
but yeah, i think the general audience of men is over-critical of sally because of their learned, underlying misogyny (although there are probably some women who hate sally because of misogyny too). and i think the general audience of women defends sally because they have an actual idea of what she’s been through, but they get so defensive that it comes off like they don’t see her obvious flaws. but if she was outwardly identifying as non-binary, i think she would be hated on regardless of anything. yes a lot of people resent women, and yes some women resent men so much that they’ll defend sally until their dying breath, but i think there’s even more resentment towards non-binary people. i can’t imagine the amount of toxic discourse we’d be seeing if she was non-binary.
Barry wouldn't have stuck it out if he hadn't been shot by Gene. he had opportunities. would've been "starting now" all over again.
That’s how I took it. GC found peace knowing Barry was dead, even if it meant he goes to prison.
Yep. He can't escape himself. On a long enough timeline. Give Barry enough time and he'll find himself in yet another bloody situation and then "Right now"(reset) his self-perception all over again.
I think this analysis has left out a very important character in the series, a character that helps to better understand the essence of the series: Jim Moss.
He plays the role of pure justice, who does not allow himself to be manipulated by that false Hollywood narrative and who does seek to see that the wicked are punished for their actions, and unlike the other characters, he does not do it for revenge, but for justice.
I hope we will see more video analysis of Barry from The Take in the future.
"Fuches spares Barry..."
That's adorable.
Sally leaving Barry is also what prompted him to take responsibility. It’s only when he realizes that she’s left him for good, that he says he’s going to turn himself in, and that pause is what sets him up to be killed by Gene.
In that way, Sally’s actions led to Barry’s positive portrayal in the movie and leaving a positive portrayal for his son, even though Sally didn’t want John to see that stylized, fake version of his father.
i agree with your first paragraph, but come on, we cannot put the blame on sally for how hollywood made a positive portrayal of him. even if she tried, she couldn’t have stopped that movie or the events that inspired the movie. it’s on the media for their irresponsible false reporting, it’s on gene for killing barry, and it’s on barry for taking wayyyyyyyy too long to finally turn himself in (his chance to do that was back in season one)
@SkialarAllynMahar I don't think they are putting that on Sally, just showing that Sally's fate is bleak living in the large shadow of a past that she was not passive in contributing to. Not that she brought it upon herself solely.
@@wisdomsnap8695 that i would agree with
@@prestowitch not saying she did anything wrong, just that her actions led to the portrayal in a roundabout way.
@@frankjennings4489 oh i see what you mean, butterfly effect. i can always appreciate when a show does that well
It seems to me that, in the end, Sally and Barry were the ones who fared the best. Even though Barry ended up dead.
Barry gets to die redeemed. After so long in denial, he finally agrees to go to prison and accept his sins. However, he doesn't get to go because Gene murders him. He dies trying to do good and that is enough. And if you think about it, maybe that's the best thing that could have happened to him. Because he's so manipulable, it's very likely that someone would have used him again later and put him back on the road to crime. In the end he ended up repenting and leaving a good life for his son.
On the other hand, as much as many people hate Sally, I just can't. She's a character who, while she was nefarious most of the time, she had a very sad past (as did Barry), and was someone who really tried to do things differently. He was swimming against the tide in such a fake industry. And I think anyone would be annoyed that she couldn't be successful because it's not fake. I mean, she was talented, she did a great show that ended up being critically praised, but it was cancelled simply because of an algorithm. That's a huge offense to someone who's worked so hard. That's not to mention what she went through in past relationships and with her mother. In the end, I think she still ends up having a chance to redeem herself, and that's because, to be honest, one can simply never fit into a false and hypocritical system if one wants to remain sincere. Perhaps the best thing in the end is simply to be true to, let's say, the truth, even if that means being left out of everything. Maybe the years will pass and, at last, he will find peace.
Without a doubt, the one who did worst is Gene, but I think that's precisely one of the main goals of the show: to show how serious and destructible the ego is.
I read the last shot of John smiling as acknowledgement of the ridiculousness of the fictionalized representation of his father and not as hero worship. Could be read either way, I suppose, but John surely remembers the events and Sally was honest with him finally about who his father was.
▪︎S1 Pilot: Barry believed Mr.Cousinea would save his life by helping him change from being a hitman to an actor w/morals.
▪︎S4 Finale:
Gene ends Barrys life the MOMENT Barry finally changes making an unselfish decision from his heart. Barry realized he destroyed Mr.Cousinea's life & the only redemption to himself+Gene was deciding to stop being a hitman serving life in prison.
Unpopular opinions:
- I think Gene deserves this ending.
- I think people give too much excuses for Sally’s behavior because of how she’s a victim of abuses that they refuse to see that she’s still a bad person on her own without her violent ex husbands and dysfunctional family.
- Fuches NEVER redeem himself. Like dude spent the whole show puppeteering Barry into committing atrocities (the blood of Barry’s victims are on Fuches’ hands as well) and using that to destroy Barry’s life out of spite but suddenly everyone thinks he’s a good guy now thanks to one act of kindness? This is the same BS as Darth Vader. If people are mad at Sally for not telling her son she love him, they should be mad at how Fuches got away with his crimes as well.
I would disagree with you about Fuches, but not because he protected and returned John to Barry. Fuches’s “redemption” is not him becoming a better person, since it can be argued that he’s actively worse after becoming a hardened gang leader. His redemption comes from him actually acknowledging how much of a piece of shit he is. He’s one of the only characters who owns up to how terrible of a human being they actually are in a cast of characters who are all awful people in denial about it.
He’s also the only character that served any actual time for his crimes. I honestly kind of thought that Fuches gaining enlightenment and self-awareness while paying his debt to society while only coming out of prison a tougher and more capable criminal was a critique on America’s broken penal system.
Gene getting that ending is why this finale was amazing to me. He didn't deserve it, but in a weird way, he did. Delicious.
I just finished this amazing series yesterday night , still a bit confused but NOT disappointed , last 2 seasons had me on the edge of my seat !!
The last great show of the Golgen era!!! Truly deserves more praise and recognition... Thanx, Girls!!!
Thank you, this video has convinced me of finishing the series. After Barry killed Chris I thought they where going for shock value, with horribleness just for the shock of it.
This is much more deeply thought than I gave them credit for.
Sally was my LEAST favorite character. Fake as hell, stuck up, slanderous unless it benefits her, just overall evil. Great writing of a character but it did always bother me that she killed a guy and told Barry to confess- she probably wouldn’t even face punishment as it was defense but saying Barry should confess but she gets to be fine while feeling her baby liquor, so much so that he was hardly breathing while sleeping always made me sick. Even a dude showing up to harm them left him alone as he could tell the kid was hurt enough.. Great video and pacing just had to get it off my chest how much she disgusted me- Barry was my favorite until the forth season and Fukes was my favorite in the forth season as it was his peak performance. 👏🏼😂
*feeding
It’s funny that the one character that got through to Barry and made him see the value of turning himself in was an acting coach’s agent.
Fuchs saving the kid is like Walter White saving Jesse in the last episode of breaking bad.
3:45 Oh God! You're a genius! Never thought of that!
I rewatched this series cause it’s amazing and seeing the “Oh Wow” moment before Barry is killed. I like to also think he also said it cause the prop gun actually did work this time 😂
Jesus the ending has me in a mind blown spiral after the final bow tie to Barry’s death it all came together w the overarching narratives that come up in the plot and what it’s trying to say about entertainment, context that formulates vs the context that never came forward, and in a way history itself too. obsessions with truths and lies, all this stuff it’s just crazy to me. We really live in a world like entertainment but never really plays like it. Real life is crazy bahaha this show was awesome
This was such a great essay on the finale! I’d love to see more on this show from you guys. Also maybe even an essay on Ted Lasso finale 👀
I love how everyone became the worst version of themselves one way or another, especially people that strive for goodness.
In turn, the death I'm saddest about is Cristobal and the scene leading up to that.
Now that's a really good take
What is Cyber Chase on about?
Barry, the greatest assassin in the united states had the same fate than Stovka, the greatest assassin in Chechenia.
You're the first women I've seen online talking about Barry. Love it.
Lots of women watch it, we don't make content on male shows because of Algorithms etc. Most listeners are women and they'd obtain necessarily like this stuff.
Just watched the series finale and I needed a debrief like this! Thank you!
My favorite show ever
I think you're overestimating the positivity of Sally's ending. When her son says he loves her she asks if her play was good then proceeds to give the cheap bouquet more genuine affection she gives him. She didn't change, that praise through acting is still the most important thing to her and her confession to John never touches that central lie she tells herself, it does other things but not enough to get her to change, because she doesn't. If Fuches is the ideal of the finale to cut through the bull and contend with truth then she is just as much a failure as anyone else
This is a wonderful breakdown
Sally did not find 'peace.'
wow ....
This show was impeccable
loved this show, one of the bests.
Barry was so good
I'm seeing a lot of people saying Sally's ending was actually bad, and you guys saying it was happy, but I think the truth was probably in the middle.
She got the best she could've hoped for without going to jail. She's still working in her field. And while she can't trust men easily, and is still kind of dependent on her son for validation (a little unfairly), she's still alive, and still has a chance to change in the future. The ones who are dead can't do that. And as Fuches shows, sometimes, people CAN change.
We need a NoHo Hank spinoff before he met Barry!!
Wow...I agree with a lot of this analysis but it's so off track about Sally imho. This video portrays her as if she was just a good person and everything she ever done was because she was a victim or something. Yes she's been traumatized, but like Barry, she still made her own choices regardless. By the end, she's still a narcissist, craving for attention (she never said back ''me too'' to John's ''I love you''...instead asking if her show was good..that was the thing to notice here) and she doesn't say no to the date because she's content with her life and she's happy with what she has...it's because she's afraid to fall in love with another Barry and have her trauma back again. She doesn't know best by telling Barry to takes responsibility of his actions...she wants to leave him yes, but she never took responsibility either for the guy she killed (even if it was self defense). Also...her dreams have been taken away from her, but Sally ALWAYS been a self-centered and shitty person too to people around her. When she placed herself in front of (Kristen I think?) to show how SHE could deliver the lines instead of her to Sian Heder, it was for her own benefits, not to help the other actress as an acting coach.
I could give other examples, but what I love about Barry is the fact that everyone is pretty much grey and yes, even Sally. Imho, she has a semi-happy ending but Fuches has a better one because he fully accepted who he really was at the end and the fact the he served as a shield to protect John while the bullets were flying to then deliver the boy safe to Barry is something he would've never done in the past. She didn't face her inhumanity head on...Fuches actually did. Like I said earlier, Sally is still craving for attention so to me, the show showed that she didn't come to terms with who she really is : A narcissist first, then a mother.
Barry constantly believed that he had unlimited second chances throughout the entire series and that his actions didn’t have consequences. The cycle will repeat after his son watches his serial killer father get glorified for his wrongdoings.
Who lives, who dies, who tells your story
Great essay on Barry!
Important. Ty.
I would argue that Sally is on a path to being like Gene.
No. She learned from her ego, Gene didn't and tried to exploit Janice and Barry's stories to serve himself. Wanting validation was a core of Sally's personality before Barry came into her life. That's not a flaw, that's an actor thing.
I thought I was watching Telemundo with that T. 😂
There is no free will and the show exemplifies that.
That John wick joke lol!!
The problem with the story and especially the last episode is that it forgets so much of what happened before. Moss somehow just leaves Barry alone and doesn't realize what might happen? And Barry's old military friend does nothing to speak up with what he knows? And so many other plot holes.
The ignoring all these loose ends just left a sour and bitter note in my mouth. I get what they were going for but it felt so lackluster and random at times.
Moss thought Gene was the killer, and the military friend already promised he won't tell at end if season 3
@@deadspacemasseffect : Huh? Not sure what you said about Moss.
@@StefanLopuszanski the military friend Barry saves in Afghanistan who is in police or FBI I think. Moss thought because of the money Gene was forced to take from Barry but by reading the reporter's diary Jim somehow misinterpreted it, partly due to over- dramatization that Gene did of his version of the story in front of the reporter.
@@samriddhigupta5514 : But why just leave Barry alone instead of securing him? Moss should have known better, that's super basic stuff.
And Gene could have explained his side of things and had other people step forward who knew. It just seems so convenient and out of character. But oh well.
Just thought it would have had a better ending but I knew it was going to be problematic the second the prison assassination was botched nonsensically and then the random illogical time jump and what happened there.
@@StefanLopuszanski I was scratching my head too. Then I realised it's about general characteristics of human on how we revert back on our bad habits. Besides this technicality, Gene was still selfish in this season as trying to speak to reporter when told not to do so explicitly by the DA.
Kind of disappointed your videos have slowly turned into summaries and surface level examinations. Screen Prism was truly great once, and you had really deep insight. Most of your videos over the last couple years have just felt lazy
Why did they change from Screen Prism to The Take?
@@suzygirl1843 I have no idea, no one has any idea, Screen Prism was a way better name! Far more unique. Maybe they sold ownership or something, and the new guys wanted something more generic/bland? Honestly, I'm so broken-hearted with this channel, I keep trying to watch new videos and not finishing them...
Oh, wow.
Narrator begins to yawn @3:17? 😆 Good vid regardless.
There's no way John doesn't try to become a marine himself. By not being truthful and not being present, Barry ultimately only causes the cycle of abuse by authority figures and violence to continue through his son who seems doomed to a hero complex mixed with father issues.
True and Sally feels no affection for her son because he reminds her of barry she couldn't even say that she loves him once why is no one realizing that
@@KennyNGA Sally has always been a self involved character. I mean, she was/is an actress. There are alot of people who became parents due to circumstances not choice. That's my own mom too. She's an okay enough mom, so is Sally.
Does anybody have an opinion on who rammed their truck into Barry and Sally's house?
wasn't the guy that Sally got fired?
That wasn't real. Since Barry wasn't home, she hallucinated what we saw. I think Bill Hader confirmed this actually. She trashed her own house without knowing it. It's like when she sees the police officer bleeding for his left eye...that was the dude she killed last season.
Jim Moss is pulled such a scummy move on Gene. Tempting him with a dream movie deal on a guy he knows can't resist redeeming his career, and has been "sober" for years. This is like entrapping a drug addict 8 years sober with drugs and then charging him with drug use.
They should have ended the series at season 3.
The 4th season was a long train wreck that made the endings of The Sopranos or Seinfeld look like masterpieces, because at least they were just ONE episode.
It was great ending but I wanted Marky Mark to be in the movie 😂
I don't think the ending was Hollywood disordering. Because Gene actually went to prison. Bury with buried in Arlington. Gene was so greedy. He actually said " Barry is a sympathetic character" when you thought they were going to make the movie he wanted. You didn't tell the police about the $250,000 Barry gave him. Greed finally had got up to him. That became the story. Because that's what people believed.
Had to bail, sooooo burnt out on vocal fry
Something really missing from this video, for how much it emphasizes Sally's love for John, it doesn't address why when he tells her that he loves her and she doesn't reciprocate. Clearly, this narcissistic character doesn't love her son, because she only loves herself. Good analysis, but it has some holes still.
anyone notice that no one ever took Mitch's advice?
Who’s Mitch?
@@basilcook4280 Benet's by Mitch
Where the line was a mile long, and the reason for that is, everyone has a bitch session that Mitch listens to, then gives advice to them. NO one took his advice on any of it.
@@AC3handle “No one took his advice on any of it.” That’s not true. There was that woman who talked with her daughter
Who was the ppl trying to kill Sally?
is she content? she still cant tell john I love you...
Does Sally find peace if she never becomes a star and is still self-centered?
She does find peace but only by accepting who she is. She is still self-centered because when John says "I love you "to her, all she was worried about was how the show went. The only difference between now and before is that before, she acted like she wasn't self-centered. For example in season 3, when she kept asking Barry to come by the set and bring flowers and not letting him stay and also when Barry loses it in season 3 when he asks for her help and she's like I tried but casting said no.
I like this ending, tho I know that this show could of kept going but the new WB owners want all the old stuff to end. Disney did the same with all the projects LucusArts and Marvel had at the time. And all the actors and producers need to lie threw their teeth. That's business I guess...
I like the S3 ending. Everything wrapped up in a bow.
Nah this is how Bill Hader wanted the show to end. He was offered more seasons and he declined
Me honestly I believe Sally was annoying, whenever things got bad for her it was always Barry’s fault or if she wanted to get back at someone suddenly Barry wasn’t crazy anymore.
Fughes was cool. Granted he sold Barry out any chance he got even when they were like peas in a pod, I thought him rescuing Barry and their antics were enjoyable, funny especially when they had to kill the cops wife’s BF.
Gene?…oh a boy. I was rooting for him when he was being targeted but when he betrayed Barry it when downhill for me. The ego, his greed, the two-faced liar is what he was towards the end. Barry EARNED his forgiveness, caused him to rebuild the relationship with his son, gave him 250,000$, rekindled with his old colleagues but then gene wanted more, he twisted the story and when things got bad he cried, begging any higher power to save him. I don’t think he really deserved to kill Barry.
Hank was really cool, his character was consistent and he was always funny just a whole vibe tbh. He got a pretty cool death.
Barry…from the get go my boy was manipulatable. I think it’s apparent when even as a dad he believes random UA-camrs fun-facts. He’s the goat in most cases but he switches from a killer that EVERYONE NEEDS to do ANY JOB to not understanding he was betrayed by gene and acting like a lost kid, regardless Barry has a tendency to get his ass whooped by anyone with ACTUAL MILITARY TRAINING or even POLICE TRAINING and I thought he was smart because he could kill, not get away with it, bury a body and ect but it turns out NO ONE in LA is a threat because they don’t have the same training as barry does, NO ONE knows what they’re doing and Mosses dad can trick him…TWICE!?…Barry’s character for me is when he’s actually thinking about the peoples he’s killed like Chris and what I LOVED about his Albert was that he FORCED Barry to think about it but for some reason he NEVER appeared again and Barry just MOVED ON like it never happened at all. Albert was a very cool character and should’ve had more scenes. I wished Barry went to prison and he confessed the true story of everything that happened.
Sally was a horrible person. She was self centered narcissistic person who resorted to multiple acts of violence. While I can somewhat expect the extreme change of character and destiny of Fuches makes sense, Sally became a self ceyperson who still doesn't care about her son
I love the ending of the glorification of the military veteran and demonization of the teacher.
Are we sure Hank wasn't just committing suicide?
.......................HEY IKE ya shitbird, you want a little PIEEEEEEEEE?
P.S I don't think John actually sees Barry as a hero by the final scene; I think he's relieved at the fact that others are going to see him that way.
nonono, Barry’s choice to turn himself in is his redemption, you can definitely tell from how the shot is set up and the tension in the scene that this is his change of heart and it has a very different tone to it than every other time, that’s why gene is in prison and Barry got remembered as a hero
Sally was the weak link in this show. I could never feel empathy for her character.
May have been the worst final to an incredible show
Sally had SOOOOO many opportunities and blew them all.
I disagree with the idea that Barry wasn't redeemed at the end. At least when it comes down to putting God into the equation. There was a thief on the cross next to Jesus and he was sorry for what he did. However, just like Berry he did not have enough time to redeem himself in this world. However, God knew his heart and Jesus told him he would see him in Paradise. Barry didn't have enough time to go through with his actions for redemption but God would know. Considering God answered Berry's prayer by protecting his son in such a wild fashion that this would probably be the case
By far, the worst TV show I've ever seen in my existence. Literally made no sense whatsoever.
What?😂😂please explain how Barry is the worst show you’ve watched? I have to hear this
I miss the previous narrator, your voice is one tone..
Perfect finale 👍
Really highlights the line between reality and how myths are created.
The entire show is about how death and violence aren't glamorous and how redemption is more difficult then you see in a Hollywood movie.
The real actual end of the story is a cluster fuck: Barry escaping prison because of a failed hit by 2 podcast hosts, Gene fleeing to a Kibbutz, Sally getting kidnapped by happenstance, The haphazard shooting between Fuches and Hanks men, Barry randomly getting killed by Gene
It's a great ending. But the movie just being a bland "Barry was manipulated by Gene and died saving his family" is genius. They cut out all the humor and darkness of Barry and created a soulless biopic that's completely a product of Hollywood.
The reason Barry's death is anticlimactic, why Barry and Hank didn't have a shoot out, why Gene didn't confront Barry, Why Barry died fast is because Life isn't that simple or easy. It draws a great parallel between truth and comfortable lies. And how myths are created from twisted facts.
Yeah that's how death and life really is. It just happens in few secs, truly realistic approach by this show kudos!
Oh wow.
the ending was self explanitory...it's not a David Lynch show...duh
wack
I don’t have HBO- MAX yet but just discovered Barry on You- Tube. I clicked your video and listened all the way through. Video clips were interesting and some of your dialogue was interesting but 50 % was bs pseudo- intellectual stuff.