Barry: "all the sauces"

The show that Barry reminds me of most is Breaking Bad, not just because they're both darkly funny crime dramas that examine the morality of their protagonists, but in how both shows burn through plot in a way that still feels organic. In particular, this season reminds of the final season of Breaking Bad, where the status quo and character dynamics were upended in nearly every episode.

"all the sauces" deals with the fallout from the previous episode, where Barry takes a job from Hank to assasinate Fernando by planting a bomb underneath Cristobal's house. The A-plot is vintage Barry, with Barry having to slowly and cautiously place the bomb underneath the house and use a phone app to detonate it, only for the app to malfunction. What starts as a darkly funny scene turns serious when an unsuspecting Cristobal arrives home only to be confronted by Fernando on his affair with Hank and is faced with the choice to either kill his lover or die himself. It's a tense scene given that the show isn't afraid to kill off characters, but Cristobal manages to escape the house just as Barry finally manages to detonate the bomb and is taken home to Hank by Barry.

Gene is also dealing with the fallout from the previous episode, as he attempts to covince his family to leave LA to escape Barry. only to be told by his agent that his outburst on set has led to an extension of his role on Laws and Humanity. Gene is too afraid of Barry to be concerned with the possible resurgence of his career, even after Joe Mantegna commends him on his work with a veteran and promises to lift the restrainig order he has against Gene (a common running gag throughout the season is alluding to Gene's career and how truly awful his behavior must have been). It takes Barry dropping by with the money he got from the hit and a promise to never bother Gene again for the latter to change his mind about running away.

Gene isn't the only person that Barry has burned bridges with. Sally's show Joplin has it's premiere where Barry fails to show up and Sally is a nervous wreck over presenting the show. Her tune changes quickly when she learns that the show has received near critical acclaim and she becomes emotional on the podium. For someone who has breathed life into what could've easily been a cartoonishly drawn character, Sarah Goldberg gives what is her best performance yet in this episode, making Sally's reaction feel organic and natural with what we know of the character. It was only a matter of time before Katie came to Sally with her observation that Barry is a violent person, but what's truly surprising is that Sally actually listens to her and proceeds to break up with Barry. While I wish that we got more scenes between Sally and Barry to better build up the breakup, the scene is expertly performed by both Hader and Goldberg and will undoubtedley fuel Barry's downward spiral going forward.

Notes:

* While Barry is dealing with the consequences of his actions, Fuches pretends to be a private investigator and visits the family of the man Barry killed back in the pilot to inform them of Barry's involvement and how the police let him get away. This storyline is mainly set up for what will presumably be the backbone of the second half of the season, but it's a nice bit of continuity and establishes Fuches as a slimy mastermind.

* D'Arcy Carden hasn't had much to do in this season as I would've liked, but every scene with her in this episode is hilarious, from her critique of Sally's speech to hogging the limelight on the red carpet.

* Plenty of humor in an otherwise heavy episode, such as Hank's setting up the detonator app on Barry;'s phone and Gene's agent (played by Fred Melamed) listing the various insults people have leveled against Gene due to his past behavior.