Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThere’s an expression that Bill Hader lets play across his face at the end of the first episode of “Barry’s” new season.
Pointing a gun at one of the show’s major characters, Barry orders them to comply with a plan he’s just coming up with on the fly; a grin flickers around his mouth, then takes root, as his eyes glimmer with self-belief far too serene to be disrupted by the knowledge that what he’s doing is madness.HBO has requested that reviewers withhold key plot details of the next installment of “Barry,” TV’s darkest comedy or its funniest drama.
So it’s impossible to explain more about the mechanics of that scene, or what Barry’s trying to do, beyond broad strokes. Suffice it to say that Barry, the assassin who has found in a nascent acting career a way to put his ability for self-deception to work, has landed upon a scheme that will allow him to feel as though his past sins are forgiven.
That his way forward out of wrongdoing requires him to put those around him through a great deal of pain is an irony Barry cannot or will not consider.
Read more on variety.com