Continuing from last week's episode, it's revealed that Barry's plan for earning Gene's forgiveness amounts to getting him an acting job to revitalize his career. From the start, it's clear how self-centered Barry's "good deed" is and how it's simply a way for Barry to absolve himself of his sins. We see this in the way he viciously tears into Sally when she is unable to give Gene a part on her show (one of Hader's most terrifying moments) and threatens to kill Gene when he refuses to acquiesce to Barry's self-deluded quest for forgiveness. He refuses to consider how Gene's checkered past has basically blacklisted from the industry and ends up using a speech that Gene gave him about how he made him a better human being to get him a part on Laws and Humanity.
Gene himself wants nothing to do with Barry, as we see when he eventually escapes from Barry's trunk and makes a run for it. It's a scene that somehow manages to be both terrifying and hilarious and ends with Gene succeeding in escaping Barry, only to come home and find Barry waiting for him. It is here that Barry threatens his son and grandson, and we see the true fear in Gene's expression when he's forced to say he loves Barry. It's a wonderful bit of acting by Henry Winkler and Bill Hader and drives home just how the Barry/Gene relationship has permanently changed.
Notes:
* Cristobal's father-in-law Fernando arrives in LA and announces his plan of raiding Hank's hideout and killing all the Chechens so Cristoball can return home. Fortunately, Hank is alerted by Cristobal and manages to evacuate, only for the latter to then break up with him and tell him to go on the run. It's a subplot that manages to be both funny and heartbreaking, even if the fifteen second shot of Hank's face as he watches Cristobal drive away is the one flaw in an otherwise superbly directed episode.
* Sally's storyline intertwines with Barry's in how afraid she now is of him by his outburst. We see her regressing back into the person she was during her relationship with her ex-husband when she leaves work early to make him dinner and buy him a new Xbox controller (a call-back to the premiere when Barry complained about his controller not working), as well as apologizing to him rather than the other way around. Added to her growing stress is the news that her show's premiere is being pushed and I don't see this relationship ending well.
* The actress who plays Sally's on-screen daughter bears witness to Barry's outburst and approaches her coworkers to discuss reporting Barry, only to be told that there's nothing to be done, as Barry wasn't physically violent with Sally and it risks their jobs if they get involved.
* No Fuches this week.
No comments:
Post a Comment