S03.E05: crazytimesh*tshow

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

An example of bottling everything up.

Original air date 2022.05.22

[Kate47]

Gene gets to learn one of the basic rules of atonement: sometimes you apologize and the other person doesn't accept it, and you have to accept that.

Anthony Carrigan is just knocking it out of the park with his expressions this season. I loved his ....sure when Barry was describing his tone of voice.

The scene where the Bolivians raid the Chechens was amazing on a ton of levels, and I'm onboard with them bringing in the new FBI guy to shake things up a bit.

Edit: I completely missed that the FBI agent was Albert. For some reason I thought it was just a random war flashback and didn't connect it with Korengal.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Kate47

[PinkRibbons]

Bill Hader's completely earnest delivery of psychological warfare techniques made me pause and laugh so long and so hard there was genuine concern for me voiced from the other floor of my house. Then I unpaused it and Sally kicked him out which was such a hard turn, I replayed the whole scene again to see if it was really that funny. And it turns out that monologue was in fact still super funny.

I feel like Bill is tired of seeing himself on screen or something because for example in this episode it was so much about everyone else. I really enjoyed seeing Barry in his scene with Sally being absolutely batshit insane but not in his usual depressing and/or terrifying way (well, I mean still terrifying, but...chipper?). There are layers there, and only a really great comedian could pull that off.

Kind of like how during the whole Chechens getting raided scene I was watching and wondering how the hell were they making something that on literally any other genre show would be tense and shocking instead so very funny.

[sistermagpie]

Wow, this episode totally surprised me. That is, I had no idea where the show could be going now, and then this ep was fabulous. I laughed really really hard at Barry's "sweet" offer to Sally to make her enemy eat her own brain, assuring her that it wasn't violent at all. His description of his version of yelling at Sally was hilarious ("I said it, like, that loud"). 

Also so satisfying watching Gene's retribution tour have its own difficulties over something he didn't even remember doing because he's just that awful. Also how it's so Gene to start monopolizing dinner parties because he likes the positive attention. 

The ending was perfect too, with Fuchs' revenge plans against Barry causing a giant tragedy. Fuchs is still ordering hits and manipulating his would-be assassins with bad results. 

The recapper at the AV club didn't like Barry's creepy revenge speech to Sally because they thought it was out of character. Maybe I just thought it was so funny I didn't care, but it made sense to me. Barry probably does think it not being violent means it's totally normal. He really has no good sense of what's appropriate and what's not. Sally's whole show arc still seems the least believable to me. Not only is she somehow suddenly a great artist (not just acting but creating a whole show out of nothing) but the whole thing feels like a dream. How did she get this show? And while I get that the show was leaning into how arbitrary and self-defeating it was, if they know having someone eating dessert in the first ten minutes of a show means people will finish, why not just stick in a dessert scene? I did like Sally sitting in Starbucks expecting people to recognize her from the home page of a streaming service, though. 

[LADreamr]

First of all, I love how the previews this season are just, who is staring at what, and why?

The creepy speech was amazing in what it was revealing about Barry.  He still knows how to be comforting (in tone of voice, anyway), but he has been in this messed-up world for so long, he has no idea how to talk to regular people, now.  And I'm not sure he hears himself, at all.  It's a weird kind of autopilot that he's deaf to.  When people who benefit from your anger issues are calling out your anger issues, something has gone very wrong.

Also, a little worried about Gene's son and grandson's safety in that new house.  

[MJ Frog]

Everything after "Do you know where she lives?" was pure gold. I mean, I knew we were going somewhere fun, but I had no idea.

[thuganomics85]

Did not predict that the build-up to Annabeth Gish's character going after Barry was just for her to accidentally shoot her own son.  Harden criminals these two aren't!  Barry's baffled reaction to hearing the shot was great.  That said though, I'm guessing Fuches little conversation with the woman whose brother Barry killed that seems to be possibly part of some kind of biker gang will end up being a bigger threat!

Also surprised that Sally already takes a tumble, even though it might not have been through any fault of her own.  Instead, the show was canceled due to the almighty "algorithm" that has been mentioned time and time again in the industry lately: especially when it comes to streaming.  Canceling it after one episode is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but I get that it's the general idea about shows with potential getting canceled too soon, because they don't automatically grab an audience.  While arguably lesser ones thrive.  I hope we at least get a glimpse of that Pam show that is apparently very similar, because I'm imagining it being a very hacky sitcom, but one where you can see a more causal, general audience going for.

Oh, shit!  Cristobal's wife is now in town and is already taking prisoners!  And while NoHo avoids capture for now, she does know about him and Cristobal.  I worry for my favorite Chechen gangster!  Anthony Carrigan is continuing to crush it.

Gene is in a better place now, but he's definitely realizing now that not everyone will just automatically forgive him simply for saying he's sorry.

Albert returning as a FBI agent working on Ross' case was an interesting twist.  I wonder what will happen when he and Barry cross paths.

Michael Ironside was totally playing one of the Chechen gangster bigwigs!  Wonder if we'll see him again.

Ah, Barry!  I'm not sure if that was what NoHo meant about being true to himself and being more "open" with Sally.  Bill Hader's delivery of that speech was perfection.

[Blakeston]

The police car driving into the tent and then coming out the other side covered in heroin had me howling.

And give Anthony Carrigan the Emmy just for the look in his eyes when he was hiding in the closet.

[arc]

Cancelling stuff so abruptly, and based on "the algorithm" is exactly what Netflix does, but this was heightened to an absurd level… or at least, it was absurd before the recent stock swoon made Netflix engage in a round of unprecedented-for-them belt-tightening. But then again, Netflix always has a whole season ready to go before it'll premiere anything and it seems like Banshe didn't do that. Like, once Netflix cancels anything, the existing episodes are still there to stream, esp if it funded the show and owns it. But with Joplin, it looks like Banshe scrubbed it off their service the day after launch.

Well, easy come, easy go, right? Sally's astronomical rise from acting class showcase to showrunner on a critical hit new show was unrealistic too.

Oh snap, Cristobal's wife is a gangster boss herself! If I remember right, it never seemed like Goran's wife was involved in the gang life, or possibly even knew that her husband was a gangster. And the Bolivian elite squad really is elite. Even if Barry hadn't killed almost all the Chechens (who he trained!) last season, they'd have been no match.

I'm glad Sally realized that what Barry was suggesting was horrible. I was scared she was going to accept the offer.

Oh wow, that really sucks that Kyle got shot. If TV has taught me anything about a gunshot wound in that general area, it could be anything from a minor setback to a lethal wound. (Super tangentially, in the pilot for the Bionic Woman reboot, the protagonist's BF got shot in the shoulder and then it turned out he died.)

Albert Nguyen is a really competent guy! So far. Actually, he might be the only competent one on either side of the law in this show, besides Janice Moss. (We'll have to see about Elena. Fernando gets points off for getting blown up in his own house, esp with a talking bomb.)

7 hours ago, Kate47 said:

The scene where the Bolivians raid the Chechens was amazing on a ton of levels,

It was great on every level except the bomb, where the explosion looked extremely unconvincingly composited in. (My loose understanding is that real bomb explosions typically don't have much of a visible fireball nor smoke, but practical explosions for film certainly do.) And yeah, it would have been much more expensive to do it practically rather than with a little CG, but then again, why do it at all? A massive firefight would have fulfilled the story needs just as much.

Actually, speaking of expensive, I thought that motorbike stunt family was also super expensive. It was funny how the noise completely blew up Fuches' attempts to talk to Taylor's sister.

5 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I hope we at least get a glimpse of that Pam show that is apparently very similar, because I'm imagining it being a very hacky sitcom, but one where you can see a more causal, general audience going for.

You know what would be a bitter pill for Sally is if she got cast in a guest role on Pam.

[cardigirl]

9 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Also surprised that Sally already takes a tumble, even though it might not have been through any fault of her own.  Instead, the show was canceled due to the almighty "algorithm" that has been mentioned time and time again in the industry lately: especially when it comes to streaming.  Canceling it after one episode is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but I get that it's the general idea about shows with potential getting canceled too soon, because they don't automatically grab an audience.  While arguably lesser ones thrive.  I hope we at least get a glimpse of that Pam show that is apparently very similar, because I'm imagining it being a very hacky sitcom, but one where you can see a more causal, general audience going for.

Not just streaming services, but networks too. How many shows that are just plain awful get renewed season after season, while well-written and constructed shows only get a season or a partial season?  Because critical darlings often do not appeal to the masses. 

I thought this episode was great! I didn't know where they would go with all the threads after the last episode, but again, they continue to engage me.  We revisited Barry's military history, and Albert returns as an FBI agent who actually seems to know what he's doing. 

Gene's journey to redemption hit a big speed bump, much like Barry's attempt to reconcile with Gene. Killing someone and killing someone's career are different things, but Gene may be seeing that it's not that easy to receive forgiveness. 

One of my most favorite scenes was No Ho Hank trying to give Barry some relationship advice, while clearly nervous that Barry was waiting for them in their home. "Feel free to call first!"  But then, the tense scene of Hank hiding in the closet waiting to be discovered only to end up looking at the same picture Cristobal's wife was looking at, and, I believe, they were both figuring out that Cristobal had been lying to them. (I don't remember if Hank ever mentioned knowing Cristobal was married.) 

 I gasped when I realized that Julie (named in a review I read) shot her own son in the stomach. How awful! But as awful as that was, we still don't know who ordered the hit on her husband. Fuchs set it up and Barry completed the mission, but why? What was he involved with to have a hit put out on him? Maybe we'll find out ...

A jam-packed episode to be sure.  Can't wait for next week, to find out what's going on with the blond guy in the previews. 

Edited May 23, 2022 by cardigirl

[iMonrey]

I don't think I realized Joplin was on a streaming platform. The meeting with the execs sounded exactly like something that would really go down in Hollywood. I laughed when the network lady said the show wasn't hitting the right taste clusters.

I thought Barry's suggestions about driving the network lady insane was just bizarre. I'm not sure what the take-away is because it's almost like he's losing it and is starting to reveal his true self.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Taste clusters measured by the algorithms. WTAF, Netflix.

"Feel free to call ahead." Hank is the master of the understatement.

Huh, Elena is Cristobal's wife. Guess we know who wears the pants in that marriage. But wait, she didn't know her husband was gay? She apparently thought he was cheating on her with a woman. (On reddit they said Hank didn't know Cristobal was married either. 🤔 Sure hope those two crazy kids can work things out.)

Gene is having quite the Apology Tour. But maybe he needs to do a better job of picking his moments. Not a great move to humiliate someone while you're publicly telling them you're sorry.

Geez, Sally, overreact much? 😉 Maybe Barry needs to introduce Sally to Kim Wexler.

The title of this episode couldn't have been more on the money. Just when you think things can't get more insane, they do! 🥴

[Blakeston]

I don't think that Joplin was actually removed from the Banshe site. Sally and Natalie were able to find it after typing in almost all of the title.

I think Banshe just cancelled the show, and stopped promoting it. Which means that people can still find the episodes if they're specifically looking for it - but barely anyone will.

[juno]

There was something about Sally in the first episode of this season that sort of foretold this episode. I noticed she took off her jacket and threw it at a crew member. While a small act, it showed that she was acting in a way that suggested that she was acting like a big star before she became one. Maybe it was part of a setup to show her as someone that was not ready to act in a steady role. Obviously she will have to start again and go out and have to auditions. I have not liked Sally since the first season and while I am happy that she got a push back, I am not happy at the amount of screen time she is getting.

In fact, I am not happy that Barry has been pushed away from acting school as that built the premise of the show. I hope he finds another school to start to redeem himself and get back on track.

[raeb23]

13 hours ago, MJ Frog said:

Everything after "Do you know where she lives?" was pure gold. I mean, I knew we were going somewhere fun, but I had no idea.

I can't believe this show found a way to make me laugh at Barry threatening to gaslight someone. I'm glad Sally threw him out though. If an ex said that to me in real life, it would be terrifying.

13 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

The recapper at the AV club didn't like Barry's creepy revenge speech to Sally because they thought it was out of character.

I thought that was the point; Barry following Hank's advice, revealing more of himself to Sally and making a mess of it due to his current state of mind.

The woman shooting her son was unexpected for me. I just thought they would change their minds when they actually encountered Barry. I can't see Fuchs staying alive much longer. He doesn't have the protection of Barry or the Chechens and is bound to piss someone off by dredging up past murders.

I can't wait to see where they're going with Albert's story.

[PinkRibbons]

I wonder if Kyle getting shot was the show's commentary on glamorizing gun violence, cause lets be honest, Barry killing an entire warehouse full of people was definitely impressive (in a truly sick way). Like I've considered buying a gun for a while now and decided against it because at the moment, the likelihood of me needing it for defense of self and property is way lower than the likelihood of me shooting someone I love accidentally. Kyle and his mom are the exact people who should never have a firearm and particularly not without training with it. I mean for shit's sake, my parents were forcible reserves to the Soviet Army (which is why, despite their staunch republicanism, they are not at all interested in guns because, and I quote, "we're sick of guns") and 50 years later they still know that you never point so much as a water gun at someone unless you intend to shoot.

(There's actually a pretty great demonstration of this in the Pilot of this show, when Barry shoots up the Chechen assassin's car - he doesn't pull his gun until he absolutely has to fire. He actually tries to talk them down first. Ah for the days when he still had some sanity.)

As for Sally, in the Prestige Podcast Bill mentioned that they wanted Sally to fail despite having done everything right, but in the scene where she found out she was canceled I was like, "you cannot have this reaction, you will literally never ever get another chance in that industry if you get an attitude without any proven selling power". Also couldn't she shop the show to other networks?

[aghst]

14 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

The recapper at the AV club didn't like Barry's creepy revenge speech to Sally because they thought it was out of character. Maybe I just thought it was so funny I didn't care, but it made sense to me. Barry probably does think it not being violent means it's totally normal. He really has no good sense of what's appropriate and what's not. Sally's whole show arc still seems the least believable to me. Not only is she somehow suddenly a great artist (not just acting but creating a whole show out of nothing) but the whole thing feels like a dream. How did she get this show? And while I get that the show was leaning into how arbitrary and self-defeating it was, if they know having someone eating dessert in the first ten minutes of a show means people will finish, why not just stick in a dessert scene? I did like Sally sitting in Starbucks expecting people to recognize her from the home page of a streaming service, though. 

That was my instant reaction too, they're retconning him, making him more evil than he's been in the past.

He's a guns guy, not a psyops guy.

I don't find it believable that fake Netflix would instantly cancel a show.  They may not renew it and they may not promote it as much but they paid for the season so why would they bury it?  Presumably she gets paid anyways.  Especially if her deal was for more than a year.

Because do Netflix subscribers depend only on the algorithm to recommend them new shows or do they look at reviews, RT scores and such, word of mouth, which is informed by the reviews and RT scores?

I can believe that an inferior show would get more viewers but 27% vs. 98%?  Not saying RT scores are everything but a high score gets you more coverage, more articles written.  Again, unless subscribers are ONLY depending on recommendations by an algorithm.

Plus I think low scores or reviews will make people not bother to try out a show.

What are the odds that Barry's old army buddy is now in the FBI, gets assigned to this case, and believes it was Barry?  If they use profiling, it probably comes up that way.  But I don't think the local cops would jump when an FBI guy joins the case late and gives orders.  The Janice case, after awhile, would kind of be dropped, because there are other cases happening.

I'm also scratching my head about a Bolivian gang being so well-resourced, having reach well into the US and committing that kind of violence with impunity.  Maybe that's the joke that of all the criminal groups operating in the US, you have these gangs from small, distant countries waging a big war in LA.

The Chechen gang is kind of lovable, incompetents.  The Bolivians are like paramilitary and professional?  Yeah but they would get in line behind the Armenians and the Mexican cartels.  They would not be running SWAT operations so far out of their territory.  The father was ready to give up on LA, figured they gave it a try and it wasn't going to be.  Then the daughter shows up and goes scorched earth?

Other thing is Fuches, the Raven is on the police radar because of what Hank sold to the cops.  After this big shootout, I wonder if the cops are going to listen to Albert, instead they might pursue these gangs and come across the Raven.

[sistermagpie]

10 minutes ago, aghst said:

That was my instant reaction too, they're retconning him, making him more evil than he's been in the past.

He's a guns guy, not a psyops guy.

To be fair, it didn't seem like he'd actually ever done any of that. He was trained in the military, probably, to sneak around, but the other stuff was from reddit. If he tried it in real life it might go about as well as Kyle & Mom's plan to kill Barry. So he might have been just spitting out stuff he'd been imagining in his head that wasn't violent but was still vengeful and full of rage.

All day, every time I look at the dog, I think of how impossible it would be to replace him with a slightly different dog and have only me be able to tell. Not to mention finding exactly the same furniture but in a larger size.

[cardigirl]

15 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

 I laughed really really hard at Barry's "sweet" offer to Sally to make her enemy eat her own brain, assuring her that it wasn't violent at all. His description of his version of yelling at Sally was hilarious ("I said it, like, that loud"). 

The recapper at the AV club didn't like Barry's creepy revenge speech to Sally because they thought it was out of character. Maybe I just thought it was so funny I didn't care, but it made sense to me. Barry probably does think it not being violent means it's totally normal. He really has no good sense of what's appropriate and what's not. 

14 hours ago, MJ Frog said:

Everything after "Do you know where she lives?" was pure gold. I mean, I knew we were going somewhere fun, but I had no idea.

14 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Ah, Barry!  I'm not sure if that was what NoHo meant about being true to himself and being more "open" with Sally.  Bill Hader's delivery of that speech was perfection.

28 minutes ago, aghst said:

That was my instant reaction too, they're retconning him, making him more evil than he's been in the past.

He's a guns guy, not a psyops guy.

13 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

To be fair, it didn't seem like he'd actually ever done any of that. He was trained in the military, probably, to sneak around, but the other stuff was from reddit. If he tried it in real life it might go about as well as Kyle & Mom's plan to kill Barry. So he might have been just spitting out stuff he'd been imagining in his head that wasn't violent but was still vengeful and full of rage.

All day, every time I look at the dog, I think of how impossible it would be to replace him with a slightly different dog and have only me be able to tell. Not to mention finding exactly the same furniture but in a larger size.

My take on that conversation was that a) it was hilarious, yet also frightening, and b) Barry was following Hank's advice to be more open with Sally. Clearly Barry didn't understand how he was coming across because he can't understand why Sally broke up with him because he yelled. 

I thought of it as a "slip," or a thought that he said out loud, before realizing that maybe that wasn't the fix he needed for Sally. 

Although, the part about taking a picture of her while she was sleeping and bragging that he could be in the house and she would never know he was there, was chilling, and, I think, spoke directly to some of Barry's "very particular set of skills."   The rest, replacing the dog and the furniture, was fantasy. 

Edited May 23, 2022 by cardigirl

[Irlandesa]

27 minutes ago, aghst said:

Plus I think low scores or reviews will make people not bother to try out a show.

Maybe but people like trash. Take 2 stories about women trying to escape from an abusive situation.  One is thoughtful and realistic.  The other is a revenge fantasy full of silly twists, nudity and sexual situations.  Some people would be attracted to the more critically received show.  But Netflix Top 10 trends have shown me there is a strong audience for the second kind of show as well.

There's a reason Spanish series like who killed sara?, Dark Desire and the Polish 365 Days movies break out even in the US.

38 minutes ago, aghst said:

That was my instant reaction too, they're retconning him, making him more evil than he's been in the past.

I don't see this as a retcon.  He just hadn't had a reason to consider using these methods in the past.

[Soobs]

1 hour ago, PinkRibbons said:

I wonder if Kyle getting shot was the show's commentary on glamorizing gun violence, cause lets be honest, Barry killing an entire warehouse full of people was definitely impressive (in a truly sick way). Like I've considered buying a gun for a while now and decided against it because at the moment, the likelihood of me needing it for defense of self and property is way lower than the likelihood of me shooting someone I love accidentally. Kyle and his mom are the exact people who should never have a firearm and particularly not without training with it. I mean for shit's sake, my parents were forcible reserves to the Soviet Army (which is why, despite their staunch republicanism, they are not at all interested in guns because, and I quote, "we're sick of guns") and 50 years later they still know that you never point so much as a water gun at someone unless you intend to shoot.

I thought this was one of the most realistic scenes in the entire show. They didn't even bother to go to a shooting range or get any training. Accidental shootings literally happen every day. I lost a friend in high school because someone tossed a loaded gun into a back seat, it went off and hit my friend in the head. Anyway...

This episode was buckwild! It had Gene's apology tour which included Laura San Giacomo, Sally's meltdown, Fuch's and the motor cross lady who seemingly couldn't care less about her murdered brother, Cristobal's angry wife stamping around in her heels, a double raid on the Chechens. It was a lot for 30 minutes!

Also, can we talk about Barry's collage? The happy/sad masks, the fact it just says Good across the top!

The FBI agent who served with Barry is going to get him especially if he discovers Barry killed a fellow soldier.

[aghst]

I didn't even recognize Laura San Giacomo, though I've only seen her in sex lies, videotape.

Yeah that collage was weird.  He gets an inspiration, buys all the office supply store stuff.

It's tough, he might have to get rid of Albert too.  So he has to dig deeper and deeper when it comes to the debt of bad acts in the cosmic ledger.

Either that or Albert will be the guy to take him down?

[arc]

15 hours ago, cardigirl said:

Not just streaming services, but networks too. How many shows that are just plain awful get renewed season after season, while well-written and constructed shows only get a season or a partial season?  Because critical darlings often do not appeal to the masses.

Yeah, but when networks do it, there’s usually a comprehensible process. The ratings are bad, or the demographics are bad, or it’s not a good time slot fit for a network trying to program 2 hours of prime time per day. For the last few years, the streamers have said that what makes a show a success for them is that it either drives retention or new subscriptions or both. Joplin was under marketed, rushed out early, and then dropped off the front page after a few hours. 

This stuff definitely happens everywhere, but even by streaming standards (aka Netflix’s hair trigger for cancelling shows that don’t move the needle), cancelling a show in one day is harsh. Jupiter’s Legacy took them a month after launch to pull the plug. And again, that show, like every single streaming show, had already finished producing every episode. Joplin was still shooting! Sally somehow got the worst of both traditional and streaming here.

8 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Maybe but people like trash. Take 2 stories about women trying to escape from an abusive situation.  One is thoughtful and realistic.  The other is a revenge fantasy full of silly twists, nudity and sexual situations.

Wasn’t the whole thing about the end of s2 how Sally wrote a realistic scene (or short play) and then in the moment she flipped it and went for the cathartic fantasy and took a huge win because everyone loved the fake story?

9 hours ago, PinkRibbons said:

Also couldn't she shop the show to other networks?

It’s possible but hard. Netflix famously has a long lockout on its shows moving to other streamers. One of the only exceptions I can think of was when one of their cancelled shows moved to a cable channel instead of another streamer.

Edited May 24, 2022 by arc

[aghst]

It was probably meant to be satire, how companies like Netflix are too reliant on AI.

And I forget the expression they used, something about "taste centers" or taste something being in the right area?

But it's absurd, how quickly Sally's triumph disappeared.

In any event, it was inevitable that she would fail.  If she became a big star, she'd no longer be in Barry's orbit.  Even though she dumped him for a second time in this episode, they're going to be around each other again or there's no point in her being on the show.

And honestly, guy like Barry is probably used to finding women willing to hook up with him.  Don't buy that she's his true love or something.

[raeb23]

2 hours ago, aghst said:

I can believe that an inferior show would get more viewers but 27% vs. 98%?  Not saying RT scores are everything but a high score gets you more coverage, more articles written

Isn't Pam a network show with a known star? I could see it getting way more coverage (both positive & negative) than Joplin. 

I remember the creator of The Baby-Sitter's Club saying last year that the show was cancelled by Netflix because the algorithm determined that the 'right people' weren't watching. Despite having an audience & both seasons of the show receiving 100% RT scores from critics. 

I think what happened to Sally is plausible but the timeline isn't. So in the real world, maybe Sally's arc would take 2 or 3 times as long as it has this season. However, I don't expect 100% realism from Barry. If I could roll with ronny/lily, I could roll with Sally's sudden rise (and fall).

[Dev F]

52 minutes ago, aghst said:

It was probably meant to be satire, how companies like Netflix are too reliant on AI.

And I forget the expression they used, something about "taste centers" or taste something being in the right area?

"Taste clusters." Which, believe it or not, is actually a real term Netflix uses.

Quote

But it's absurd, how quickly Sally's triumph disappeared.

Bill Hader mentioned in an interview that this was based on something he experienced:

I did have a guy I worked with tell me, “Hey, I have a show. It’s gonna be on Netflix,” and then going on Netflix and seeing it on the homepage that morning. Then I came back that night to watch it and it wasn’t on the homepage anymore so I searched it and it was like that joke that’s in there where she had to type out pretty much the whole thing before it showed up. That is from life.

Now, in real life, as Hader clarified in the Prestige Podcast someone mentioned earlier, this didn't happen the day the show premiered. And I doubt Hader had to type the guy's full name plus "N-E-W S-H-O-W" plus the name of the show to get it to come up. But like a lot of comedy, it's an exaggerated version of something that happened in real life.

[aghst]

Yeah I just listened to the Prestige TV podcast.

He said Sally was going to have a rise and fall arc, didn't say exactly why they wanted the fall but some of the writers and Berg had more experience with stories about shows being canceled abruptly.

[Blakeston]

As soon as we got the plotline with Sally having her own show, I suspected that one of the main reasons for it was that the makers of Barry enjoyed making jokes about their world. "Aren't streaming services stupid?" "Aren't TV executives stupid?" "Aren't press junkets stupid?"

[iMonrey]

Quote

I thought that was the point; Barry following Hank's advice, revealing more of himself to Sally and making a mess of it due to his current state of mind.

Yes but this scene suggests that Barry is too out of touch with reality to understand what he's saying would freak Sally out. Thus far, he has had the wherewithall to keep his assassin side of his life secret, and during his conversation with Hank and Cristobal he reiterated that he couldn't actually reveal that side of his life. So to just start casually suggesting all these outrageous things as if they were normal makes it seem like he's got some warped sense of perception that anyone should have pegged long before now. 

And maybe that's the joke - that there have been signs all along that people have missed or written off as metaphor, but this one really kind of stuck out.

Edited May 24, 2022 by iMonrey

[Tachi Rocinante]

Michael Ironside!  I hope he was using prosthetics.

There is no way a show gets pulled the same day unless the star gets arrested for murder or child molestation. I understand the comedic intent, but that was bullshit beyond belief.

[sistermagpie]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Yes but this scene suggests that Barry is too out of touch with reality to understand what he's saying would freak Sally out. Thus far, he has had the wherewithall to keep his assassin side of his life secret, and during his conversation with Hank and Cristobal he reiterated that he couldn't actually reveal that side of his life. So to just start casually suggesting all these outrageous things as if they were normal makes it seem like he's got some warped sense of perception that anyone should have pegged long before now. 

And maybe that's the joke - that there have been signs all along that people have missed or written off as metaphor, but this one really kind of stuck out.

That pretty much has happened, hasn't it? That people just write off things he says as not real or whatever? With Sally I figured the idea was that to Barry, this was pulling back. He wasn't offering to shoot her. Sure he'd break into her house, but just for a second so she wouldn't know he was there. He was just going to "freak her out."

[nomodrama]

On 5/22/2022 at 10:00 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Did not predict that the build-up to Annabeth Gish's character going after Barry was just for her to accidentally shoot her own son.  Harden criminals these two aren't!  Barry's baffled reaction to hearing the shot was great.  That said though, I'm guessing Fuches little conversation with the woman whose brother Barry killed that seems to be possibly part of some kind of biker gang will end up being a bigger threat!

Is the brother, Taylor? Fuches said something about Barry owing him $1700 for a hot tub. And in that case, Barry didn't really kill him at all. 

[tennisgurl]

Poor Sally, easy come easy go. I guessed that this would be how things played out, her show gets great reviews but doesn't find an audience while the crap version gets bad reviews but good ratings, although I have to say Sally's dramatic rise and fall has all been ridiculous, even knowing that its clearly a satire. I never bought that Sally, who not long ago wasn't even booking commercials, would get a major autobiographical television show to be both star and show runner of, or that her show could possibly be as amazing as the show tells us it is, and I don't buy Netflix getting rid of the show after just one day. Obviously this is a comedic exaggeration of what has happened to plenty of shows, and Netflix is famous for green lighting a million shows, seeing what catches on right away, and canceling anything that doesn't blow up immediately or doesn't hit the "right" demographics, basically throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, but its been such a wild ride I have narrative whiplash. No show gets canned after one day unless the star or someone does murders someone or something, even if the show gets the worst reviews imaginable and tanks with audiences they will usually give it at least a month, even if they themselves know they don't want to do another season, and they wouldn't totally drop it from the service. They would just quietly stop advertising it and announce that it wont have a second season after awhile, but I guess that would take too long. I have no idea why this of all things is pushing my suspension of belief over the other ridiculous things that happen on this show, but it is. It was still pretty funny/sad as Sally sat there in shock while the Network lady rambles on about nothing, you know the shows writers have heard all of that nonsense.

In previous seasons I would say that Barry's creepy yet hilarious speech would feel a bit out of character, he has previously been pretty good about keeping his hitman and actor lives separate, but he is clearly spiraling and those lines are blurring fast, so I totally buy this from him now. Its like when he really thought that kidnaping Gene and getting him a new part in a procedural would make Gene forgive him for murdering his girlfriend. I thought it was very darkly hilarious, his totally earnest delivery just killed me.

That mother and son story sure took a turn, I knew they were in over their heads and that this was a stupid plan, but ouch. 

Edited May 25, 2022 by tennisgurl

[raeb23]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

even if they themselves know they don't want to do another season, and they wouldn't totally drop it from the service. They would just quietly stop advertising it and announce that it wont have a second season after awhile

That's pretty much what they're doing. It's effectively been buried; dropped from the streamer's homepage but still available if you do a very specific search (as Sally's agent did at the meeting). And the cancellation hasn't been announced yet to the public. Does make you wonder though what the lag time between cancellation decisions and public announcements are for streamers in irl.

It's unclear to me though whether just one episode or a season was released.

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

In previous seasons I would say that Barry's creepy yet hilarious speech would feel a bit out of character, he has previously been pretty good about keeping his hitman and actor lives separate, but he is clearly spiraling and those lines are blurring fast, so I totally buy this from him now.

Agreed. He's been acting irrationally all season. Plus he doesn't have Gene, acting class or Fuchs as stabilising influences anymore...I mean he's going to Hank & Cristobal for advice!

[grandmabegum]

1 hour ago, raeb23 said:

And the cancellation hasn't been announced yet to the public. Does make you wonder though what the lag time between cancellation decisions and public announcements are for streamers in irl.

Sorry if this double posts but it doesn't look like my original post showed up.

I wouldn't say that an official public announcement shows up that quick, but once members of the cast and crew are told it definitely spreads rapidly. People start reaching out for other job opportunities and it's pretty obvious what's happening. One show I worked on news actually spread to Deadline before they even got to tell the crew.

[LADreamr]

1 hour ago, raeb23 said:

Agreed. He's been acting irrationally all season. Plus he doesn't have Gene, acting class or Fuchs as stabilising influences anymore...I mean he's going to Hank & Cristobal for advice!

Good point.  Although, as far as combative Chechen and Bolivian rival mob bosses turned adorable couples go, they are the most stable relationship in his life.

[Milburn Stone]

I loved Barry's monologue. The AV Club guy is full of it. Barry may not have done psyops before, but he would do them for Sally.

This show hits all my taste clusters.

[Iseut]

Barry's psy-ops monologue was so funny and scary. Bill Hader is so, so freaking good. I loved that Barry said all that batshit stuff in such a calm, comforting voice. I'm sure he was thinking, "I'm not yelling now, so this must be okay, right?" Like, he was doing the right things to a point...asking Sally for consent before comforting her, trying to help her feel better, but he's so broken that even when he's checking the boxes on how to be a "good person," still the only way he is able to be is violent and terrifying.

[Pike Ludwell]

It was so great to see Sally kick Barry out of the apt. She'd firmly broken up with him last episode and I was afraid she'd flake out and cave. It looked like she would at first, but Barry's ideas for revenge reminded her. I hope she doesn't cave in a future episode.