Saying “I love you” served several purposes in “Barry.” It was said in moments of despair, fear, confusion and consolation. It was used to try and avert disaster, and it was used as a shortcut to reassurance.
As the series finale awaits Sunday night and many viewers begin to piece together theories about what might be in store, now is the perfect time to think about what role that same idea of endgame love could mean. There’s a transactional quality to much of the love on this show, love that comes with opportunity and escape and material success. The strongest test will be in that last episode, as it sure seems like everyone in Barry Berkman’s inner circle who is still alive is converging on the same place to meet in one big physical, in-person test, whose love wins out.
Trying to anticipate how that love will develop, it’s good to remember that “Barry” often uses the idea of love to eliminate other emotions that tend to lead to tragedy. The Season 4 premiere ends with Fuches cradling Barry’s bloodied body and saying that she loves him. In the finale, Fuches is ready for an all-out assault to take him out once and for all. At the end of our conversation with Stephen Root earlier in the season, we asked him if Fuches still had some of that love for the killing machine he helped create.
“I thought that was a great thing to reveal this season, that he didn’t just take him from the military at the end of the war and mold him. She knew him when she played army with him when he was seven years old. So I think her development and her love for Barry started there,” Root said. “She’s known this guy, this thing, for a long, long time and she will always love him. that’s the problem, I think she’s always had love for Barry since time immemorial.
In a way, “Barry” found all of his characters grappling with the idea of trying to hold on to both, the breakup and the cure. Whether it’s turf wars in the entertainment industry or the illegal trade in goods, they all seek to have both the killer instinct to part ways and the love to keep them from getting lost in the pursuit. Sally wanting to escape, Hank wanting to go “legitimate,” and Gene moving to a kibbutz are all timeskip transformations beyond the physical. He’s trying to balance that love and passion for something in a way that doesn’t lead to more damage. Each of them lost something, but he held on to the idea that he could still have it all.
In Barry’s case, he’s faced with the collateral damage he’s caused in trying to make those two sides of himself square. So he flees into worlds of his own making where he no longer has to try. We see it first in daydreams and then when he and Sally are on the run together. As someone who’s had to play half of that dynamic for four seasons, Sarah Goldberg offered her insight.
“I think the sad truth is that both Sally and Barry are not very capable of love. And I think Sally never really loved Barry. He is someone who has witnessed her worst moment, so she needs to feel connected to that person. He keeps going down the well, there’s no water,” Goldberg said. “The pendulum in their relationship swings between need and mutual benefit and, on his part, obsession. Barry has also never really seen Sally. about her, they’re all ideas you have about love when you’re a teenager. Whenever he sees a fantasy version of Sally, she’s always dressed in pink, but Sally never wears pink. She only saw what she wanted to see.
“Barry” was also a pretty sharp dissection of what living in LA can do to someone. That love for other people can also be captured by a passion for performing, whether it’s on a black box stage in North Hollywood, a stage in Burbank, or some diner in a rural Southern town. Acting, like love, is all about choices. While some characters appear to be on the verge of bad luck, ‘Barry’ has been sure to give all of his core players plenty of chances to make their own.
So the ending shouldn’t be any different. At this point, it seems silly to definitively say what will happen or who will “survive” the show’s final chapter. But if there’s room to make a warrant on the record, it’s that a show so laser-focused on blocking, movement, decisions, and instincts will make room for Sally, Gene, Hank, and Fuches to each have one final choice that guide the destiny of the other. Given the various physical and mental injuries Barry has been responsible for over the years, this episode will likely serve as a trial of sorts for Mr. Berkman, presided over by a jury of his colleagues.
Even so, “Barry” rarely took the burden off Barry. It is usually left to him to choose a less undesirable path. The way everyone seems to converge, it would make sense that everyone’s ultimate decision would be down to the guy the show is named after. While logistics are still fuzzy for a few more days, deadlines have been set for most of the season. Love or revenge? All or nothing? Fantasy or reality? It will probably come down to which Barry, in his own way, loves the most.
The latest episode of “Barry” airs Sunday at 10pm on HBO.
