Bill Hader's Barry

[Bloop]

I have to admit that I don't fully understand what I've seen in the latter part of the final season.
I loved the show, and Bill Hader is an incredible director, but I was left with a few questions about some of the moments that were shown.

For example -

I didn't get the scene where Sally walked over to the police officer with the bleeding eye. To me this was clearly a hint that this wasn't reality. But...turns out that it was..?!

If anyone can walk me through this I'd appreciate it.

Here's my take on it:

The officer wasn't really bleeding, that was just in Sally's mind. Seeing the officer brought up the memory of the man Sally killed in self-defense in Barry's apartment in the last episode of season 3 - the guy from the biker gang sent by Fuches to kill Barry (the cop was played by the same actor). I assume that she felt that going to the police would result in her facing the consequences of having killed a man and covering it up, plus going into hiding with Barry (an escaped convict and murderer). Maybe it was also a sign that she doesn't trust most men (only feeling "safe" with Barry), so the cop took the form of her attacker.
Sally also imagines hearing the biker's voice in episode 6 of this season ("what did you put in my eye"), in the scene where there is an apparent home invader in a black morph suit, and the house gets rammed by a truck. What's "real" and what's not in this series has become harder to tell for me (maybe that's the point). I still don't know if that scene was supposed to be a dream or some figment of Sally's imagination. I had originally assumed it was real and the attacker was the dirt bag from the diner that Sally had choked, but now I'm not sure. Maybe the it was just Sally's fear of being attacked, not felling "safe" without Barry that caused her to imagine it all. Or maybe it's a combination of reality and her imagination. The truck ramming the house also reminded me of when Noho Hank was a prisoner of Cristobal's wife, hearing the tiger (or lion or whatever it was) ripping the other prisoners to shreds on the other side of the wall while their captors laughed. In hindsight, maybe that scene wasn't meant to be taken literally either? It's hard to say what's meant to be "real" in a show like this.

 

[Bloop]

So a coworker just pointed something out to me…

At the end of this episode, we see Barry going in to kill Gene…he’s in his church dad outfit, noticeably aged. Then we see him get grabbed with the hood over his head, and he wakes up in Jim Moss’s garage…younger looking, in a different outfit.

I went back and watched the season three finale, and the outfit that he has on in Moss’s garage at the end of this week’s episode, is the exact same outfit he had on in the season 3 finale.

I’m wondering how much of this season has been real at all now.

I had that same thought. He definitely looked younger than in previous scenes, to the point where I went back to see what he looked like before he was captured. It especially made me think everything that happened this season - Barry going to prison, the timejump, Barry having a son with Sally, etc. - might have been "incepted" by Janice's father, but it seems now like that wasn't the case. I'm not really sure what to think of the finale.

 

[Pepperbone]

Here's my take on it:

The officer wasn't really bleeding, that was just in Sally's mind. Seeing the officer brought up the memory of the man Sally killed in self-defense in Barry's apartment in the last episode of season 3 - the guy from the biker gang sent by Fuches to kill Barry (the cop was played by the same actor). I assume that she felt that going to the police would result in her facing the consequences of having killed a man and covering it up, plus going into hiding with Barry (an escaped convict and murderer). Maybe it was also a sign that she doesn't trust most men (only feeling "safe" with Barry), so the cop took the form of her attacker.
Sally also imagines hearing the biker's voice in episode 6 of this season ("what did you put in my eye"), in the scene where there is an apparent home invader in a black morph suit, and the house gets rammed by a truck. What's "real" and what's not in this series has become harder to tell for me (maybe that's the point). I still don't know if that scene was supposed to be a dream or some figment of Sally's imagination. I had originally assumed it was real and the attacker was the dirt bag from the diner that Sally had choked, but now I'm not sure. Maybe the it was just Sally's fear of being attacked, not felling "safe" without Barry that caused her to imagine it all. Or maybe it's a combination of reality and her imagination. The truck ramming the house also reminded me of when Noho Hank was a prisoner of Cristobal's wife, hearing the tiger (or lion or whatever it was) ripping the other prisoners to shreds on the other side of the wall while their captors laughed. In hindsight, maybe that scene wasn't meant to be taken literally either? It's hard to say what's meant to be "real" in a show like this.

Awright. I'll buy that.

What's "real" and what's not in this series has become harder to tell for me

Same here.

And strangely, I'm okay with it.
Maybe it's because I've been so pleasantly entertained in the last couple of years that I've developed an unconditional love for it.

Thanks for taking the time!

 

[Bloop]

Here's some more of my musings - I don't know if it's what Bill Hader and Alec Berg intended, but it's my interpretation. Slight spoilers for season 4, but I've blocked out the more spoiler-ish stuff regarding the wrap up of the series.
I think that Barry & Sally's son John was meant to be the physical manifestation of their virtue, something they both lacked (to different degrees). John is the "goodness" that they both failed to achieve in life, and became something they tried to hold onto and protect, even if they still failed at maintaining a true moral center. Sally's lack of motherly love for John is an indication that she's still morally corrupt, yet she feels obligated to take care of John, so it makes sense (to me, at least) that John is her morality embodied - she doesn't really want to hold onto it, but she knows she needs to. Barry keeps trying to protect him/it to try to gain redemption. In the end, John was saved (physically),
so both Barry and Sally end up not losing their moral center (at least not completely). He's also the reason Fuches didn't seek revenge on Barry. There's obviously a father/son relationship between Fuches and Barry, so that plays into the dynamic of Fuches saving John and not trying to kill Barry as well.
Father/son relationships play a big part in the show, specifically with Barry - Barry/Fuches, Barry/Gene, Barry/John. it's obviously at the center of what makes Barry who he is and shaped his warped sense of morality.

 

[Pepperbone]

Here's some more of my musings - I don't know if it's what Bill Hader and Alec Berg intended, but it's my interpretation. Slight spoilers for season 4, but I've blocked out the more spoiler-ish stuff regarding the wrap up of the series.
I think that Barry & Sally's son John was meant to be the physical manifestation of their virtue, something they both lacked (to different degrees). John is the "goodness" that they both failed to achieve in life, and became something they tried to hold onto and protect, even if they still failed at maintaining a true moral center. Sally's lack of motherly love for John is an indication that she's still morally corrupt, yet she feels obligated to take care of John, so it makes sense (to me, at least) that John is her morality embodied - she doesn't really want to hold onto it, but she knows she needs to. Barry keeps trying to protect him/it to try to gain redemption. In the end, John was saved (physically),
so both Barry and Sally end up not losing their moral center (at least not completely). He's also the reason Fuches didn't seek revenge on Barry. There's obviously a father/son relationship between Fuches and Barry, so that plays into the dynamic of Fuches saving John and not trying to kill Barry as well.
Father/son relationships play a big part in the show, specifically with Barry - Barry/Fuches, Barry/Gene, Barry/John. it's obviously at the center of what makes Barry who he is and shaped his warped sense of morality.

Holy cow...
You're making me realize that I need to find time to rewatch the whole thing all over again.

It's difficult to articulate, but it fells like I picked up on most of what you're suggesting, but wasn't able to form a cohesive understanding of it - if your musings are actually what Hader/Berg & Co intended.

You know...part of me wants to spend a few hours chatting with Hader and Berg while having a few drinks, listening to how all this came about - yet an equal part of me doesn't want to know. It's just the strangest feeling. This show, and particularly how it ended, hasn't left me indifferent. I'm kind of inspired now. Weird.

In any case, thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts.

 

[Bloop]

Holy cow...
You're making me realize that I need to find time to rewatch the whole thing all over again.

It's difficult to articulate, but it fells like I picked up on most of what you're suggesting, but wasn't able to form a cohesive understanding of it - if your musings are actually what Hader/Berg & Co intended.

You know...part of me wants to spend a few hours chatting with Hader and Berg while having a few drinks, listening to how all this came about - yet an equal part of me doesn't want to know. It's just the strangest feeling. This show, and particularly how it ended, hasn't left me indifferent. I'm kind of inspired now. Weird.

In any case, thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Thanks, I appreciate it. Actually, I didn't think of the stuff about John immediately while watching, it just happened in the days after watching the finale in trying to make sense of it all. I'll rewatch it all again (I've already watched each of the seasons at least twice, not including season 4), hopefully some more insight will present itself.

 

[yaris]

Spoilers AHEAD.....

The show was hit and miss throughout, but the series finale was really good. Everyone basically got what they deserved, although Sally got off pretty easy, but she was the biggest victim I suppose. John watching the 'Hollywood' version of his Dad's life was very clever.

I was more than expecting that the final season was just a dream cop out, but Barry dying was the best ending and Sally back to her old egoic pursuits seemed on the mark. She barely loves her son as her ego is her life driver.

A good show will frustrate to the point of not being forgettable and wanting to watch it again. The fact that it was hit and miss seemed almost on purpose to achieve that goal.

All the actors were excellent and Bill Hader has some solid talent as a creator/writer etc...looking forward to seeing what he comes up with next.

 

[Pepperbone]

Cool interview with some behind the scenes footage.