S03.E08: starting now

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

On the season finale...What the hell is that?!

Season finale

Original air date 2022.06.12 

[Michichick]

My eyes are terrible. What did it say on the note Barry read when he came home at the start of the episode?

[Barbarblacksheep]

Holy crap.

That was intense.

[cpcathy]

1 minute ago, Michichick said:

My eyes are terrible. What did it say on the note Barry read when he came home at the start of the episode?

Went to Tijuana to try our luck.

Wow, what an episode. 

[Barbarblacksheep]

1 minute ago, Michichick said:

My eyes are terrible. What did it say on the note Barry read when he came home at the start of the episode?

I don't recall exactly, but it was a note from his two roommates saying they were "taking their act on the road" or something to that effect.

[Irlandesa]

I suspected all along that Gene was in cahoots with Janice's dad but that didn't make that final shot any less chilling when the cop got out of the way and Barry saw Gene there. 

Of course, I also suspected that maybe Gene actually did kill Jim turning both of the people closest to Barry into murderers.  But I would have hated that because Albert walking away was already taking things a bit too far for me to believe.

[raeb23]

8 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I suspected all along that Gene was in cahoots with Janice's dad but that didn't make that final shot any less chilling when the cop got out of the way and Barry saw Gene there. 

I also suspected Gene was acting to get Barry to go in the house but I didn't expect a police ambush. So now both Barry & Fuches are in custody. Where does the show go from here?

[sistermagpie]

No idea where this is going!

Never liked Sally so much as when she was murdering somebody - the sound booth making it silent was a great touch. All the direction was great.

[juno]

It felt so weird that as much as Barry is the protagonist in this story, when they arrested him my first thought was that it made sense.

This show fell into the real world and Barry is arrested. Unless he confesses, they may have trouble pinning Janice's murder on him. They can get him for pointing a gun at Jim but that may be it. They had no evidence before and couldn't prosecute.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out next season. All the characters have suffered great losses.

[Traveller519]

The scene in Bolivia dropped just about every emotion into 5 minutes. Terror, relief, humor, sadness, anger, happiness, confusion. I have no idea where Hank and Cristobal go from here. From the look on Hank's face, I don't think he knows either.

I figure Albert may pull rank and have Barry transferred. Our protagonists look to be starting next season dispersed, I suspect circumstance will return them all to LA.

[opus]

38 minutes ago, Traveller519 said:

I have no idea where Hank and Cristobal go from here. From the look on Hank's face, I don't think he knows either.

I read that as Cristobal had died (heart attack or something). Anyone else see it that way?

[MrWhyt]

"no one's spoken to him since he stormed out of here cocking his gun... probably off seeing the sights." (poor paraphrase)

this show really puts the DARK into dark comedy.

[MJ Frog]

Again, the small moments are my favorites, like conversion-therapy-dancing-guy's off screen death:

Blam blam!

(plink)

I also don't buy Albert letting him go. If it wasn't for Chris, maybe. But after Chris?

Albert has to be a no-go person for Barry -- he has to realize that dying or going to prison are better choices than killing Albert. He has to, right? I wonder if Albert is finally going to be the person to put Barry down, like a rabid animal. And I wonder if Barry might actually be okay with that.

Edited June 13, 2022 by MJ Frog
More dashes!

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, opus said:

I read that as Cristobal had died (heart attack or something). Anyone else see it that way?

I didn't.  It seems as if Cristobal was out of it but started to recognize Hank and then relaxed when Hank hugged him.  I think Hank's reaction is harder to read.  Maybe it's because he now realizes both he and Cristobal are alone and don't have the support of their crews. 

[thuganomics85]

Well, that was intense!  And that's usually a word I don't associate with what's suppose to be a comedy!

I figured something was going to go down at the end, but they actually fooled me with Gene flipping on Barry and setting up a sting with Jim and the cops.  He's a better actor than he is credited!  Not sure what to make of this.  I'm guess it won't be a slam dunk to convict him of Moss' death, but they at least have him pulling a gun on her father, so that has to be enough to hold him for a bit, right?  Barry in prison could be for an interesting story: especially with Fuches in there as well (and playing up the whole "Raven" angle.)

Credit to the Robert Ray Wisdom casting.  He was only here for a few episodes, but he really sold the character in a way that you can believe he would be able to pull all of this off.

So, Sally's response to what went down was to actually go with Barry's idea to play mind games: only with Natalie instead!  For a second, I thought we were heading into a similar direction as Jimmy and Kim on Better Call Saul, but then they're attacked (who was he?  Couldn't recognize him), and Sally's forced to kill him, although she might have gone a bit overboard with it.  But it looks like she's going back to Joplin now, although I have to imagine this isn't the end of her time on this show.

Wasn't expecting poor Cristobal to be getting shock therapy from his wife.  Yikes!  Glad Noho was able to save him, but I don't see this being an easy road for them.  And it sounds like most of Noho's crew was killed, which is sad.  I will miss those goofy gangsters!

Not surprised by Albert's decision right now.  After saving his life, I can see why Albert would feel some kind of loyalty towards Barry and not take him our or arrest him.  But I wonder if we'll see him again next season.

Definitely more surreal than the past two seasons and I can see that being a bad thing for some (along with being more dramatic than funny in a lot of ways), but I still am enjoying the hell out of this journey and can't wait to see where Bill Hader, Alec Berg, the cast, and everyone else takes this next.  I do wonder if the next season will be the last, because it really feels like we are this close to the endgame already.  Hope the wait won't be too long this go around!

[arc]

"Haven't seen him since he stormed outta here and cocked his gun in front of us" is an incredible line.

Wow wow wow. Sally wasn't really listening to Barry trying to talk her out of going down a dark road, but that near-murder by Robbie Taylor was horrifying but seemed to really wake her up. I'm glad she went home (Joplin home, not LA home) rather than try to go on the lam with Barry.

Which would have been a moot point anyways since Jim Moss and Gene sprung a very good trap on Barry. I don't know what he was thinking, picking up Gene's gun. If he really had another murder in mind (and after Albert gave him a second chance!), it would not have been a good idea to try it with the decaying remnants of Rip Torn's gift gun. I assume Moss and Gene were planning on having Barry hold that one because it wouldn't have been a real danger to Moss.

Hank's story, well. I was thinking it was some kind of psyop for some reason. Like, they were playing animal noises, hitting the adjacent wall with a sledgehammer, pouring some soup under the door to simulate vomit, that sort of thing. But I guess it just actually really happened like it seemed? Elena sicced a vicious animal on the captured Chechens and then Hank miraculously escaped and killed everyone and everything in the next cell, then killed Elena and her "tempt my husband to see if he's gay/bi" accomplice and rescued Cristobal?

I'm glad Barry didn't manage yet another successful coverup, because now the next season will definitely do something very different.

2 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

(who was he?  Couldn't recognize him)

That's Robbie Taylor, until now the last surviving member of Taylor's biker stunt family. He had the machine gun and tried to orchestrate the handoff in "710n".

[Badlands]

That was a terrible sting. Barry could have shot him several times before the cops yelled to put down the gun. Also, isn't that entrapment? They even provided him with a gun.

[cardigirl]

47 minutes ago, Badlands said:

That was a terrible sting. Barry could have shot him several times before the cops yelled to put down the gun. Also, isn't that entrapment? They even provided him with a gun.

That was my thought. The police aren't really known for giving that many chances to drop a gun. 

Otherwise, I thought it was an excellent episode. Barry's reckoning was delivered on several fronts. I think the one that stung the most, though, was Cousineau. 

[cdnalor]

2 hours ago, Badlands said:

That was a terrible sting. Barry could have shot him several times before the cops yelled to put down the gun. Also, isn't that entrapment? They even provided him with a gun.

It was a setup so I doubt the gun would be loaded or it was otherwise rendered inoperable.

[Kate47]

98% sure it's Rip Torn's dictated but not read gift gun, so chances are good it would have fallen apart the second he tried to pull the trigger. 

I skipped last week and watched 7 and 8 back to back and my muscles were so tense the entire time. Every piece of character development was so heartbreaking and so good and it was just so so dark. Kudos to them for not using the theme music for these last two episodes, there was very little lightness here and it was just an hour of people careening off cliffs.

[BC4ME]

Alls I have to say is thank god this thing is only a 30 minute "comedy." I don't think I could handle an hour of this every week. I felt tortured. But, great TV lol.

[cpcathy]

Funny, I wanted it to go on for much longer than 30 minutes.

[iMonrey]

I didn't really enjoy this season as much as the previous two, it's gotten really dark. I guess the premise sort of dictates its direction, but much of the quirky charm that defined the first two seasons is gone now. Barry is really a tragic character and he eventually had to be taken down but it's not fun for me to watch.

The thing about these so-called "dramedies" is that they always seem to have this trajectory where they get less and less funny and more and more serious as they go along. And I think it's because the writers get wrapped up in wanting to impress with the seriousness for accolades and awards. 

On an unrelated topic - there's no way in hell there's a direct flight from LAX to Joplin, MO. 

Quote

That's Robbie Taylor, until now the last surviving member of Taylor's biker stunt family. 

Thanks for explaining that, I had no idea who that was. I thought maybe it was Sally's ex-boyfriend from back in Season 1.

[raeb23]

11 hours ago, opus said:

I read that as Cristobal had died (heart attack or something). Anyone else see it that way?

I thought it was the full reality of the situation hitting Hank as adrenaline started to wear off. His happiness & relief giving way to:

1) the fact that Cristobal had been lying to him throughout their relationship

2) Cristobal having a family in Bolivia (I don't think he knew about the kids until he saw the portrait)

3) everyone in their respective gangs finding out about their relationship

4) the psychological effects of the trauma of kidnapping & torture

5) the death of his dream of the 2 of them living together under the radar in California.

38 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I didn't really enjoy this season as much as the previous two, it's gotten really dark. I guess the premise sort of dictates its direction, but much of the quirky charm that defined the first two seasons is gone now.

I agree that it's darker, which seems inevitable due to the premise. Up until these last 2 eps, I still felt some of that quirky charm though. I hope next season finds a better balance between the humour & darkness. I don't know how since the acting class is gone now & everyone else is dealing with intense situations but I'm rooting for Hader & the writing team to pull it off.

[tennisgurl]

That was a real shocker, but it also makes complete sense. Of course Barry gets arrested, he's had so many near misses and so many people are gunning for him and know what he's done, Janice's father is too competent to try to invite Barry over to hope that he can kill him, it seems like the inevitable ending to this seasons story. I did think that Gene might actually try to take on Janice's father for a second, that Barry would be horrified that his presence had led to of the people closest to him to break bad, but this is way more in character for Gene. 

This season has been significantly darker than the last few, and while a part of me misses the comedy being more focused on, the show getting darker also feels inevitable as Barry's double life comes crashing around him. It feels like this is always been where the show was going, Barry couldn't keep almost getting caught but escaping by the skin of his teeth forever, this feels natural. I do appreciate the comedy we get though, like Barry's reaction to Sally asking him to start messing with Natalie. It was both dramatic and a bit funny, he was just so shocked by the turn this day had taken. The moments of quirky humor manages to make the darkness even darker. 

That last shot of Gene, Janice's dad, and her picture in the window was really well constructed. Following Barry being arrested, Sally going hope to Joplin, and that last shot, we ended this season on one hell of a note. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

How did Albert find Barry out in wilds? Was that Barry's known dumping ground or did Albert follow him?

Wow, Gene sold Barry out to save his career. By doing probably the best acting performance of his life.

Cristobal and Hank are both going to have serious PTSD now. Hopefully it won't wreck their relationship and they'll find a way to support each other. They better get out Bolivia ASAP though since Hank just killed the head of a major drug cartel.

When does season four start?

My favorite comment from reddit about that last moment between Hank and Cristobal:

Quote

I expected Lalo Salamanca to walk in the room.

Guess Barry (or Fuches) better call Saul, lol.

[heatherchandler]

3 hours ago, raeb23 said:

I agree that it's darker, which seems inevitable due to the premise. Up until these last 2 eps, I still felt some of that quirky charm though. I hope next season finds a better balance between the humour & darkness. I don't know how since the acting class is gone now & everyone else is dealing with intense situations but I'm rooting for Hader & the writing team to pull it off.

I love how dark the show has gotten.  I love that it is not a formula, and they actually *go there* without saying, "oh you can't do that on tv."  It is brutal and violent, but also hilarious.  Hader mentioned in a podcast that some shows are like a math equation, and this show is so not.  

There were parts shot like a horror movie, like when Barry was in the room with Sally and the camera pans over and you see the Taylor brother in the doorway, I jumped!

I was glad Elena was killed.  She had a tiger(?) eating a man downstairs while she tortured her own husband.  

[cpcathy]

Per Bill Hader, it was a panther, and props made a fake panther just in case, but Bill had told them early on that we wouldn’t ever see the panther. They didn’t believe him.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Per Bill Hader, it was a panther, and props made a fake panther just in case, but Bill had told them early on that we wouldn’t ever see the panther

I assume you are referring to the animal noise Hank heard in the next cell over, but what the hell was going on in there? I thought Akhmal and Yandar had broken free and were taking out the guards, but then suddenly there was some weird animal noise - like, WTF. I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on.

Frankly I feel like Hank's story was mostly a fail during this season, especially once he went to Bolivia. If I have to go online to understand what is happening the show isn't doing its job.

[Cosmocrush]

41 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I assume you are referring to the animal noise Hank heard in the next cell over, but what the hell was going on in there? I thought Akhmal and Yandar had broken free and were taking out the guards, but then suddenly there was some weird animal noise - like, WTF. I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on.

We watched it with closed caption on so it mentioned animal growling, sounds of bone crushing, screams etc. 

[carrps]

4 hours ago, raeb23 said:

I agree that it's darker, which seems inevitable due to the premise. Up until these last 2 eps, I still felt some of that quirky charm though. I hope next season finds a better balance between the humour & darkness. I don't know how since the acting class is gone now & everyone else is dealing with intense situations but I'm rooting for Hader & the writing team to pull it off.

Our Spectrum On Demand had a five minute season 3 wrap up, and Hader said the way the material was leading them, this season had to get darker. But he promises more comedy next season!

I agree that I was fine with Barry being finally apprehended. After all the cliffhanger escapes, it felt right.

[TVbitch]

That thing busting through a cement wall was supposed to be a panther?! Um, maybe Bolivian panthers are much bigger? And why would it be coming after Hank if it just made two kills with lots of meat to eat. 

I enjoy this show, but am glad Barry got caught. I never root for the likes of the Vilanelle's or Bryde's or Barry's even if they are the stars of the show. Don't blame Gene. Too bad if Barry was wounded by his "betrayal". Barry killed Gene's girlfriend, was going to shoot Gene, had him locked in a trunk, and threatened his family. Gene owes him nothing, but I do think Gene still cares about him. 

I actually hope Barry goes to jail for some period of time, cuz I would dig seeing Hader/Barry just low key interact with guards, other prisoners, and the prison psychologist. He's kind of exhausted the crazy hit jobs/evading the law scenarios. 

[carrps]

I want Barry to get intensive psychiatric treatment. In or out of jail is irrelevant. He's a mess.

[aghst]

On 6/13/2022 at 4:48 AM, Badlands said:

That was a terrible sting. Barry could have shot him several times before the cops yelled to put down the gun. Also, isn't that entrapment? They even provided him with a gun.

That's what I was thinking.

He snuck into the house and could have killed Jim Moss from across the room instead of walking up close to him, which is when the cops yelled at him to put the gun down.

Jim got Fuches telling him that Barry did it, didn't he?

Yet Jim got Gene to confess to him but Gene was told by Fuches.

So there's a lot of hearsay there, not a confession from the shooter who killed Janice.

You'd think Jim would know that.

Also the place is swarming with cops and Barry didn't sense it at all?

In any event there's a season 3 retrospective featurette and Hader said season 4 is not going to be like season 3, promised the funny would come back.

When Sally asked Barry to break into Nathalie's house, that was another "What??!" minute, like when the detective in season 2 arrested him, told him he knew Barry killed Janice, but he would make it all go away if he killed his wife's boyfriend, who was the martial arts expert with a young daughter who was also a martial arts expert.

Albert also cut him a break too.  Barry isn't exactly evading detection but people are ready to forgive him, not bring him to justice?  These are LEOs too.  But Albert says he doesn't think Barry is evil, though he just told Barry to stop, "starting now!" rather than tell him to get therapy or something more substantial than quitting cold turkey.

[carrps]

3 hours ago, aghst said:

he just told Barry to stop, "starting now!"

Call back to the first season where Barry kept telling himself that he would stop doing hits "starting now."

[Cool Breeze]

Wow.  Rip Torn's gun really was Chekhov's gun!

Don't think Barry can claim entrapment because the whole reason Barry went to Janice's father's home was because her dad said Gene had id'd him as Janice's killer.  That gives Barry motive.  If anyone reading this got a random phone call, we wouldn't respond the way Barry did because we don't know Janice and we didn't kill her.  For us, it'd just be a random (scary) phone call.  But for Barry, it's evidence of motive for him to silence anyone who knows the truth.

Edited June 15, 2022 by Cool Breeze

[Kroliosis]

The acting in this episode was amazing. 

[aghst]

On 6/14/2022 at 2:43 PM, carrps said:

Call back to the first season where Barry kept telling himself that he would stop doing hits "starting now."

He also said it in the second season.

But really, no reason Albert would know he used that phrase.

[carrps]

17 minutes ago, aghst said:

But really, no reason Albert would know he used that phrase.

Of course not. But the writers deliberately used it.

[sistermagpie]

14 minutes ago, carrps said:

Of course not. But the writers deliberately used it.

And it is something Albert himself could believably say.

[Milburn Stone]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:55 PM, sistermagpie said:

Never liked Sally so much as when she was murdering somebody

Who was that guy?

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

Who was that guy?

I didn't know at first either--apparently he's one of the last (or the last) surviving member of the motorcycle gang that was after Barry.

[PinkRibbons]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

Who was that guy?

He was the guy who shot at Barry from a van or truck as he rode by on the freeway, then tried to do a handoff to one of the passing bikers.

[aghst]

3 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

I didn't know at first either--apparently he's one of the last (or the last) surviving member of the motorcycle gang that was after Barry.

3 hours ago, PinkRibbons said:

He was the guy who shot at Barry from a van or truck as he rode by on the freeway, then tried to do a handoff to one of the passing bikers.

Remember Taylor from season 1?  Barry hired him in season 1 to help him take out the Bolivian stash house.  He was all Rambo and probably saved Barry's life.

So they have all this money and Taylor wanted a hot tub and really spend the money extravagantly.

Then they trie to go meet the Bolivians where they were flying in on a improvised landing strip but he was obvious about it and the Bolivians killed Taylor.

But Taylor's sister and brother go after Barry and I think the brother is the one who shot Fuches, while the sister is the one who chased Barry on the motorcycle.  Brother tried to hand off a gun to another gang member, causing him to crash.  The sister chased Barry to the dealership, shot at him from the roof and Barry shot her there, then went on to get poisoned by Chris' wife, who disappeared.

This show may bring that character back at some point.

[Ottis]

I don't know what happened this season (was it me, or the show, that changed?), but I found the cinematography just stunning, especially during the last 3-4 episodes. Almost Breaking Bad-esque. It went well with what seemed like less dialogue and more visual craziness.

All I kept thinking about Barry (the character), from the point Albert let him go, was how his mind must be breaking given all the things that had happened to him, almost one after the other. 

Also, ironic that Albert "catches" Barry when Barry is burying the guy who actually was trying to kill Barry AND Sally - that was self-defense, not a hit. And Albert is a pretty power character who just showed up and yet has all sorts of conflicts playing across his face. In fact, this show is filled with distinctive characters, which I really enjoy.

I also watch Mayans, so Cristobal is quite the switch in character from Bishop. Cristobal doesn't seem to require a lot of acting, but the physical presence is so different.

I assume now that the show has both Barry and Fuches in prison that the hijinks will continue there. Maybe they will each lead rival prison gangs?

[JenLily]

On 6/16/2022 at 7:33 PM, Ottis said:

I also watch Mayans, so Cristobal is quite the switch in character from Bishop. Cristobal doesn't seem to require a lot of acting, but the physical presence is so different.

OH. MY. GOD. I did not even put together that he is the same actor until RIGHT NOW. The two characters are so different and he does such an amazing job with their portrayals. I'm absolutely gobsmacked.

[Iseut]

This show is so brilliant. With the callbacks and references, it's clear that Hader and Berg plan everything out, which makes me trust that it will end well (well, not necessarily WELL for our characters, but you know what I mean) when it eventually has to come to an end. It's hard to fathom how much longer it could go on, but again, I trust these showrunners completely.

I've been thinking about Mr. Moss's repeated "DO YOU LOVE BARRY BERKMAN?" interrogation of Gene, and how it called back Barry's "Do you love me, Mr. Cousineau?" when he was threatening Gene's family. It was super creepy then and didn't make much sense to me, but now at the end we see that it's a PsyOps technique, and we also learned of Barry's terrifying PsyOps skills a couple episodes ago when he was "comforting" Sally by offering to gaslight the people who canceled her. It all starts to line up, and also makes me hopeful that Barry and Mr. Moss will have additional scenes together in the coming season where they can match wits.

[Nordly Beaumont]

 The scene with Mr. Moss and Gene also reminded me of Season 1 when Sally and Barry do an acting exercise where they say "I love you" with different inflections. Mr. Moss changed how he said "Do you love my daughter" the same way Sally changed how she said "I love you"

[shapeshifter]

Everything has been mentioned about what happened, but in season 4…

On 6/16/2022 at 8:33 PM, Ottis said:

I assume now that the show has both Barry and Fuches in prison that the hijinks will continue there. Maybe they will each lead rival prison gangs?

maybe in prison Barry and Fuches will be temporary allies, each “secretly” plotting to kill the other.

Does Barry get off on PTSD insanity?

 

In the previous episode when Albert was interrogating Fuches, Stephen Root displayed unvarnished evil when he told Albert: 

• [FUCHES] You know that switch you saw go off when Barry was avenging you? I harnessed that into a very lucrative job for him.

In contrast, in this episode, when Albert confronts Barry as he is burying a body that Albert doesn't know was of someone killed in self defense, not even killed by Barry:

• [ALBERT] I know evil, Barry... and you're not evil.

There could be the old Law & Order-type irony that Fuches dodges prison with a plea deal for giving the details of all of Barry's kills.
But I would expect Fuches' 9 lives to eventually run out at the end of the series, whenever that is.
--unless, of course, he finally decides to just be a goat herder.


+++++++++++++++++

A bit specific to this episode:

On 6/13/2022 at 3:06 AM, Irlandesa said:

It seems as if Cristobal was out of it but started to recognize Hank and then relaxed when Hank hugged him.  I think Hank's reaction is harder to read. 

The kind of shock treatments Cristobal had (and the amounts!) IRL would likely result in a some loss of memory. If they wanted to write him out and give NoHo Hank a new direction, that could be a reason. The beignet store seems like a nice place for NoHo Hank to start fresh, but he'd have to have had his own transformative experience, because casual killing of rivals seems to conflict with the nature of Beignets by Mitch. 

 

On 6/13/2022 at 4:00 PM, cpcathy said:

Per Bill Hader, it was a panther, and props made a fake panther just in case, but Bill had told them early on that we wouldn’t ever see the panther. They didn’t believe him.

I assumed it was a lion, but really appreciate the attention to detail and consistency that it was a panther, as in the Eastern European fable told on the goat farm in the earlier episode. 
IMDb give Nick Gracer (Yandar) and Turhan Troy Caylak (Akhmal) only voice credits:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18257408/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm
--perhaps due to Covid restrictions on travel etc.?

Edited July 16, 2022 by shapeshifter