S04.E01/E02: Yikes!/Bestest Place on Earth

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

Are you mad at me?
 

Quote

Here it comes.

Original air date 2023.04.16

[Galileo908]

Yikes!

Boy, that lived up to its name. This was intense.

"Did you guys trick me?"

JESUS, BARRY. How think can you be?! Then again, he didn't react at all at Fuches being terrible at hiding that he was wearing a wire. And maaaan, the last thing you wanna say to a cop, the only person around, that you're a cop killer, and would do it again. That whole scene with Birdwell? Goddamn.

Man, it was so good to see Hank and Cristobal again. Cristobal let Hank be Dorothy. That's love right there. But man, he's falling into old habits with wanting to corner the sand market.

There was a lot of focus on PTSD in this one. Hank jumps at any loud bangs. Gene with...everything. And then Sally. Her mom telling her "you sure know how to pick 'em?" Fucking brutal. Not to mention Fuches. Who, of course, is in the same prison as Barry. 

Huh, I should've known there was a Barry board here. I can't believe I never posted here until now.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Galileo908

[Galileo908]

Bestest Place on Earth

Barry's backstory! Fuches knew him as a kid?! That man just flip flops on his love and hatred of Barry. I figured he'd go back to hating Barry by the end of the episode, and now Hank wants Barry dead. Jesus.

That Dave & Busters table scene was both hilarious and masterfully shot.

Man, that "Muffin" scene? Man, brutal. I'm gonna say that a lot this season, aren't I? Barry not only daydreams of someone loving him, his imaginary wedding with old him and Sally was something right out of The Shining. 

Of course Gene would screw up leaving the envelope trail. Love that he had like, six more in his hand. And of course, he tells his story the only way he knew how: via a one man show. All Gene had to do was nothing, but no. He wanted attention and bring everything to be about himself. And after all of that, he still wanted to be an anonymous source. 

"I can't be in the spotlight." Gene, in the spotlight.

It's 2023, yet the Commanders are still the Redskins. 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Galileo908

[Starchild]

9 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

Barry's backstory! Fuches knew him as a kid?!

Am I the only one getting a groomer vibe?

[Galileo908]

4 minutes ago, Starchild said:

Am I the only one getting a groomer vibe?

I get the feeling Fuches was the only person who showed Barry any kind of affection. We'll find out what happened to his parents soon enough, I think.

EDIT: Scratch that, Barry's dad called him his "youngest son." Barry has siblings.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Galileo908

[Galileo908]

17 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

And after all of that, he still wanted to be an anonymous source. 

This is just gonna bite Gene in the ass, I just know it. 

[shapeshifter]

More like "Yikes!" and "More Yikes!" but "Bestest Place On Earth" is what we love about NoHo Hank, right?

 

Just now, Galileo908 said:

This is just gonna bite Gene in the ass, I just know it. 

Barry really is like an evil genie in a bottle that everyone can't resist letting out.

[cpcathy]

3 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

This is just gonna bite Gene in the ass, I just know it. 

I can’t wait, I have a strong dislike of Gene, his story to the reporter was hilariously awful.

[Galileo908]

Just now, cpcathy said:

I can’t wait, I have a strong dislike of Gene, his story to the reporter was hilariously awful.

His voice for Barry was hilariously awful, yet it was the closest thing Henry Winkler has done to channeling The Fonz.

[sistermagpie]

14 minutes ago, Galileo908 said:

His voice for Barry was hilariously awful, yet it was the closest thing Henry Winkler has done to channeling The Fonz.

That was just such a thing of beauty. Go Gene. Screw up your life again!

[Irlandesa]

I get the sense that the theme of this final season is going to be what Barry's has been all along--"they just can't help themselves."  Barry should have stopped killing.  Ron should have let him go.  Gene should take the win.  Hank is risking everything over his obsession with Barry..  Cristobal is risking it for sand. 

The funniest sequence was Hank and Cristobal at the amusement restaurant.  As Hank's talking about no more murders, the waitress interrupts and they put in an order of appetizers. 

[MrWhyt]

that round table shot was perfection. Love this show.

[thuganomics85]

I always had a suspicion that Dave & Busters would be a good meet up for criminal organizations.  Just plan out your crime and then spend the evening playing some games and winning some plushies!  It's fun for the whole criminal family!

Definitely getting the final season vibes here, with the way the pieces are coming together and how everyone is reacting to one another.  Don't see many of these folks making it out in one piece except maybe Sally.  Despite her flaws, I feel like Bill Hader and company will find a way to give her something resembling a good ending since she's not an actual killer (yeah, she might have a bodycount but it was clear self defense!)  But I feel like even Gene is destined for tragedy because him with the reporter is clearly going to backfire somehow.  It will probably somehow mess up Barry's case and get him released.  D'oh!

Fuches actually meeting Barry when he was a child was surprising.  Creepy too because you can tell in their first meeting that the wheels in Fuches' head were already turning and he was probably already thinking about "mentoring" Barry and shaping him to become the killer he becomes.  Yikes!

NoHo and Cristobal getting into the somewhat illegal sand business wasn't something I predicted, but I'm all for it!  But I do worry about NoHo's obsession with Barry dooming him.  Wherever it is springing him from prison or trying to kill him, just being in Barry's vicinity will no doubt be his downfall.

For some reason, the inmates watching Yellowstone in the prison was highly amusing.

 Gene/Henry Winkler's imitation of Barry was so hilariously bad.

Looks like Robert Wisdom is a regular, so I'm guessing Jim Moss will continue to play an important part going forward.

Next week's previews didn't show much so I guess they don't want to spoil much here.

Can't wait to see how this crazy ride ends!

[arc]

So "Joplin" is still available to stream at BanShe? The show's usual pitch-black cynicism was if anything, not cynical enough compared to the real world where streamers not only cancel shows but then make them disappear from the face of the earth as a tax write off.

Sally's mom is awful.

I'm absolutely blown away by Hank and Cristobal having the rival gangs meet at a Dave & Busters. And not even in the private room, at least not at first.

(side note: the landlady was right. Desert sand is too rounded to be good for use in concrete. It has to be jagged beach sand, and there is a shortage of that stuff.)

I like the admirably low-tech solution to filming Barry's childhood flashbacks. Rather than makeup or digitally de-aging Stephen Root, they just film him from far away.

So far, Cousineau is despicable for whatever PR scam he's trying to run with the reporter. ... I typed that before I knew he was going to subject the reporter to a one-man show. (and who's running tech for this show? It seems like someone's working the lights.) And his version of the story is comically self serving.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Gene is destined for tragedy because him with the reporter is clearly going to backfire somehow.  It will probably somehow mess up Barry's case and get him released.  D'oh! 
…   
Looks like Robert Wisdom is a regular, so I'm guessing Jim Moss will continue to play an important part going forward

Yeah, if Gene screws up getting Barry convicted of murdering Janice (as Gene himself warned would happen if they did interviews) then Jim Moss is likely to off Gene, who was already guilty by association in Jim Moss’s own vengeful mind.

But if the interview goes live everywhere at the same time that NoHo Hank jailbreaks Barry, all bets are off — and on — with regards to how and upon whom Janice’s father will exact vengeance.

Edited April 17, 2023 by shapeshifter

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Don't see many of these folks making it out in one piece except maybe Sally.  Despite her flaws, I feel like Bill Hader and company will find a way to give her something resembling a good ending since she's not an actual killer (yeah, she might have a bodycount but it was clear self defense!)

Eh, Sally is not so redeemable either.
Unless we see her suddenly start making life affirming choices, Sally getting killed off  would feel a little sad, but mostly inevitable.

 

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Fuches actually meeting Barry when he was a child was surprising.  Creepy too because you can tell in their first meeting that the wheels in Fuches' head were already turning and he was probably already thinking about "mentoring" Barry and shaping him to become the killer he becomes.  Yikes!

And Barry was just the last🤯

6 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Barry's dad called him his "youngest son." Barry has siblings.

or had brothers?  
Who didn’t survive the mentoring of aptly named Fuches?  
Fuches and Barry’s father were in the military together and seemingly never mentally left it.

7 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

There was a lot of focus on PTSD in this one. Hank jumps at any loud bangs. Gene with...everything. And then Sally. Her mom telling her "you sure know how to pick 'em?" Fucking brutal. Not to mention Fuches. Who, of course, is in the same prison as Barry

They could have titled either of these episodes “PTSD,” but they went with more creative.

[Galileo908]

1 hour ago, arc said:

 

So "Joplin" is still available to stream at BanShe? The show's usual pitch-black cynicism was if anything, not cynical enough compared to the real world where streamers not only cancel shows but then make them disappear from the face of the earth as a tax write off.

 

I wonder how far this was made before the HBO Max purges. I was also shocked that the show even aired, and that’s why Sally’s parents never saw it. But no, they were just awful.

 

1 hour ago, arc said:

Sally's mom is awful.

Understatement. Combined with her father’s passiveness, her personality had to come from somewhere. And it explains why she hangs around people like Barry. 
 

Everyone on this show craves validation. 

[Starchild]

I can't recall, did Barry's parents die when he was young? If so, could Fuchs have killed them to exercise more control over Barry?

[iMonrey]

I'm not crazy about the fantasy/dream sequences. Didn't care for it last season either. Barry is so messed up, I wonder if he'll go for the insanity plea. Somehow I don't see this show ending with Barry either on death row or in prison for life.

[cardigirl]

54 minutes ago, Starchild said:

I can't recall, did Barry's parents die when he was young? If so, could Fuchs have killed them to exercise more control over Barry?

I don't believe we've been told. What we learned in the first season was that Barry was a depressed U.S. Marine and Afghanistan veteran, depressed because he killed an innocent man. Fuchs is a friend of the family, saw Barry's depression, and mentored him into becoming an assassin. Apparently they made good money until Barry found Mr. Cousineau's class and decided he wanted to be an actor and not an assassin anymore. 

 

43 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I'm not crazy about the fantasy/dream sequences. Didn't care for it last season either. Barry is so messed up, I wonder if he'll go for the insanity plea. Somehow I don't see this show ending with Barry either on death row or in prison for life.

The problem with those sequences, especially about his childhood, you don't know how much of that is real memory, and how much is his mind fracturing on him. 

I'm not sure why Barry decided to make a deal with the FBI, maybe he sees a chance to save Sally, if not himself?  

[sistermagpie]

8 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

But I feel like even Gene is destined for tragedy because him with the reporter is clearly going to backfire somehow.  It will probably somehow mess up Barry's case and get him released.  D'oh!

That would be fantastic!

7 hours ago, arc said:

Sally's mom is awful.

 

I did laugh at her eye rolls when Sally was having her panic attack in the car. Finally someone did a real life version of "Sir, this is a Wendy's...."

[Starchild]

I do wonder if her mom is truly that awful, or if she's just lost patience because Sally has been extra her whole life. Probably somewhere in the middle, like with most things.

Her dad looks like a guy who's walked on eggshells since he started this family so many years ago.

[carrps]

I was wondering if Sally's mom was a bit jealous of Sally. She certainly didn't seem happy.

[arc]

2 hours ago, Starchild said:

I can't recall, did Barry's parents die when he was young? If so, could Fuchs have killed them to exercise more control over Barry?

I don’t think it’s been established, but my take is that Fuches may be very morally flexible, he wouldn’t have offed Barry’s parents just to get more power over a malleable kid. He might have encouraged Barry to join the military (not really established either way, but likely after the revelations of this ep), but it sounds like he only got Barry into the hitman business after Barry came home from war.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, Starchild said:

I do wonder if her mom is truly that awful, or if she's just lost patience because Sally has been extra her whole life. Probably somewhere in the middle, like with most things.

Her mother complained about how embarrassing it would be to talk to Sally's abusive ex's mother at church because Sally named her abuser as if Sally opening up about her abuse was the problem and not her abusive ex.  I don't care how extra your daughter is; that is some extra-level parental shittery. 

[tennisgurl]

Yikes indeed, these two openers were a whole lot. We are clearly in the end game here, the pieces are all starting to come together as pretty much every major character is heading towards their end game. One of the shows big theme is how hard it can be to beat your bad habits even when its so obvious that your making bad choices, and we see that all over the place here. 

Yikes! Finding out that Fuches knew Barry since he was a kid makes their relationship even more disturbing. Even when he was talking to Barry in that first meeting it was like he was already planning out how he can use Barry for his own purposes, he's such a sinister figure, and he keeps getting worse. He's always been the person who pushes Barry towards the dark side through emotional manipulation, but knowing that he's had his hooks in him for almost his whole life just makes it worse. Are we going to find out more about Barry's family now? 

Also a big yikes is Sally's family, you can really see why she is the way that she is. She's constantly looking for validation so she ends up surrounding herself with messed up people like Barry. Her mom is a real piece of work and her dad is a huge pushover, what a mess. That "you sure can pick em" was particularly cruel. 

The biggest yikes though? Gene's impression of Barry and telling the whole story of their relationship via one man show. Gene is finally getting the fame and respect he has always wanted and thought he should have, and its definitely going to come back and bite him. 

Barry is becoming more and more delusional, I really have no idea what his end game is going to be at this point. 

[PurpleTentacle]

Sally's mother... well that explains a lot.

[shapeshifter]

“Yikes!” includes shorthand versions of everything wrong in human relations.

The most succinct and perfect example of family relationship and communication problems ever written may be the line spoke by Sally’s mother:   
“I cant respond to you if you're going to scream” in the context of this dialogue:

• [SALLY] I think I might actually be in a lot of trouble.
• [SALLY’S MOM] You sure can pick 'em.
• [SALLY] Mom. I need... your help.
• [SALLY’S MOM] I can't respond to you if you're going to scream. 
• [SALLY, BEGINNING TO SCREAM] I am not fսcking screaming at you!…

The whole “what will the neighbors think” was perfectly crafted dialogue as well, but the set up to scream was amazingly spot on. I wonder if a real argument was taken word-for-word with everything cut out that wasn’t absolutely necessary for it to make sense and that did not add to the drama. 

[PurpleTentacle]

10 hours ago, arc said:

So "Joplin" is still available to stream at BanShe? The show's usual pitch-black cynicism was if anything, not cynical enough compared to the real world where streamers not only cancel shows but then make them disappear from the face of the earth as a tax write off.

The HBO Max purges weren't because of tax write offs. They were because HBO had made some great deals with and for the creators, when they desperatly needed content for their new streaming service. That meant having to pay those creators as long as the content was on there. Which probably was still a good deal for the service, as long as HBO tried to establish itself as premium, but the new CEO from Discovery thought trash TV was more lucrative. So the shows were removed.

You are thinking of Batgirl, which hadn't been finished yet and would have still needed a ton of CGI-dollars. That and the fact that they were probably already planing a reboot of the DCEU made it questional if finishing it would be a good idea. So the studio rather took the L and made it a tax write off, than gamble even more money on it. Removing something already finished for a tax write off generally doesn't make sense, but with something unfinished it can.

I assume Sally got more of a standard Netflix contract, rather than an HBO sweetheart deal. So the service would have no incentive to take her show down. Now especially, since it is probably seeing a massive bump in viewers.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I can't recall, did Barry's parents die when he was young? If so, could Fuchs have killed them to exercise more control over Barry?

I'd have to go back and watch but I do recall that Fuchs was a father figure to Barry. His dad wasn't around anymore when Barry came back from Afghanistan.

Fuchs clearly thinks of Barry as a son. It's why he so easily flips whenever Barry tries to pull away and reject him and flops back every time Barry gives him validation. I think this episode made it pretty clear how easily Fuchs can fall back in line just by having Barry show him some acknowledgment.

I didn't understand what was going on with Gene. Why the subterfuge with the reporter? Is he not supposed to give interviews since he's going to be a witness at Barry's trial? But he craves the attention or something and that's why he secretly reached out to this reporter? Is that it?

[cpcathy]

22 hours ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Sally's mother... well that explains a lot.

I was surprised to find out the actress is Stephen Root’s real life wife And that Hader wrote the part for her.

Edited April 18, 2023 by cpcathy

[BC4ME]

I know that this is a stupid question but can we assume that Gene telling Barry on the phone at the beginning,"I got you" meant, I snared you, and did Barry hear it that way? Or could he have interpreted it like, I've got your back? His behavior afterward was certainly bizarre enough to make me think he understood he'd been had. I just wondered if I understood it correctly.

Sometimes I feel like I'm not sophisticated enough to understand everything going on in this show. Especially as Bill Hader's vision for the storytelling gets more complicated.    

[shapeshifter]

22 minutes ago, BC4ME said:

I know that this is a stupid question but can we assume that Gene telling Barry on the phone at the beginning,"I got you" meant, I snared you, and did Barry hear it that way?

That's how I understood it.

[sistermagpie]

7 hours ago, BC4ME said:

I know that this is a stupid question but can we assume that Gene telling Barry on the phone at the beginning,"I got you" meant, I snared you, and did Barry hear it that way? Or could he have interpreted it like, I've got your back? His behavior afterward was certainly bizarre enough to make me think he understood he'd been had. I just wondered if I understood it correctly.

Sometimes I feel like I'm not sophisticated enough to understand everything going on in this show. Especially as Bill Hader's vision for the storytelling gets more complicated.    

That's what I assumed. He was asking him if he lied when he told him he loved him etc., so it was probably hurtful to him to realize Gene was saying he lied.

[Joimiaroxeu]

E1
NoHo Hank's campy Mexican costume, lol. He is always so extra. And of course Cristobal is ready to jump back into criming. Importing sand would seem safer than bringing in drugs, though. But doesn't the Italian mafia still run construction-related grift?

E2
Those prisoners were watching Yellowstone, a show about the biggest fictional crime family in Montana. Why would that be allowed? (Plus, Yellowstone streams on Paramount, one of HBO's competitors. Huh?)

Guess Barry finally remembered that Fuches had been schmoozing and grooming him since he was a kid. The snitching ables got turned real quick and Fuches didn't see it coming.

[heatherchandler]

9 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

 

E2
Those prisoners were watching Yellowstone, a show about the biggest fictional crime family in Montana. Why would that be allowed? (Plus, Yellowstone streams on Paramount, one of HBO's competitors. Huh?)

 

If I remember correctly, I think I heard this on a podcast, that Bill Hader heard from someone who has been in prison that Yellowstone is a favorite to watch.