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beer_good_foamySo everyone's talking about Game of Thrones and the battle of Winterfell and all that, which I mean, I am too. It's good television.
What not everyone is talking about is that the show right after it (for the 12 people who still watch linear TV) on HBO is Barry, and it just aired THE best television episode of 2019. Yes, I'm calling it in May. Because Barry 2.05 "ronny/lily" is just that good. Reasons and gifs under the cut.
So what is Barry?
Barry is a series written, produced by and starring Bill Hader, of SNL fame, as the titular character, who is an assassin-for-hire trying to go straight by joining an amateur theatre group led by Henry Winkler.
...that sounds like a really bad sitcom.
It does, but as anyone who saw Skeleton Twins can tell you, Hader really has dramatic chops too. And yes, it's a comedy, but of the very dark and dry variety, which never drops the seriousness of its actions even as the plot spirals merrily into lunacy. For starters, you don't just give up killing people for money, especially not when you're in high demand from several different mafias with great side characters.
Also, y'know, the lead character is a former marine with severe PTSD whose only relationship with other people for the past 10 years has been through the scope of a rifle, and is now at the mercy of a hack acting coach who's telling him to release all his inner demons for Theatre. Which is a very bad idea when you've deliberately trained yourself to become a sociopath, and plays havoc with the old trope of art being a tool of healing and empathy. So yes, it's funny, and it's kind of a love letter to hard-working actors and bad amdram, but it also goes to some really dark, sad and brutal places. It's a comedy without obvious punchlines, and a tragedy that never demands that we forgive the bad guy.
OK. So what's the deal with this "ronny/lily" episode? Do I need to know the show to watch it?
It's pretty much a good stand-alone episode, and it's SPECTACULAR. Imagine the "Pine Barrens" ep of The Sopranos as directed by Alex Cox circa Repo Man and you'll be in the ballpark, but if that means nothing to you: It's a hit gone Very Wrong when Barry is blackmailed into murdering someone he doesn't want to kill. That someone turns out to be a Taekwondo master. And just when that seems bad enough, it turns out his 10-year-old daughter is one too, and may or may not in fact be completely human. And the show, which for the most part is pretty realistic, goes completely surreal for 30 minutes as Barry and his handler are chased through a sleepy LA suburb by a pre-teen gargoyle with very sharp teeth.
That actually sounds kinda cool. / That actually sounds completely dumb.
It is both, and in the lamest, cleverest way. It doesn't hurt that Hader directs it like a dream, with long unscored takes where the camera occasionally goes "Uh... this is way too embarrassing for our hero, I'll just film this wall for a few seconds, tell me when he stops making an ass of himself."
Why should I watch another assassin-for-hire series when Killing Eve is on?
Watch both. They're both great, in very different ways. And yes, I'm contemplating crossovers.
So is anyone else watching this, and if not, why not?
What not everyone is talking about is that the show right after it (for the 12 people who still watch linear TV) on HBO is Barry, and it just aired THE best television episode of 2019. Yes, I'm calling it in May. Because Barry 2.05 "ronny/lily" is just that good. Reasons and gifs under the cut.
So what is Barry?
Barry is a series written, produced by and starring Bill Hader, of SNL fame, as the titular character, who is an assassin-for-hire trying to go straight by joining an amateur theatre group led by Henry Winkler.
...that sounds like a really bad sitcom.
It does, but as anyone who saw Skeleton Twins can tell you, Hader really has dramatic chops too. And yes, it's a comedy, but of the very dark and dry variety, which never drops the seriousness of its actions even as the plot spirals merrily into lunacy. For starters, you don't just give up killing people for money, especially not when you're in high demand from several different mafias with great side characters.
Also, y'know, the lead character is a former marine with severe PTSD whose only relationship with other people for the past 10 years has been through the scope of a rifle, and is now at the mercy of a hack acting coach who's telling him to release all his inner demons for Theatre. Which is a very bad idea when you've deliberately trained yourself to become a sociopath, and plays havoc with the old trope of art being a tool of healing and empathy. So yes, it's funny, and it's kind of a love letter to hard-working actors and bad amdram, but it also goes to some really dark, sad and brutal places. It's a comedy without obvious punchlines, and a tragedy that never demands that we forgive the bad guy.
OK. So what's the deal with this "ronny/lily" episode? Do I need to know the show to watch it?
It's pretty much a good stand-alone episode, and it's SPECTACULAR. Imagine the "Pine Barrens" ep of The Sopranos as directed by Alex Cox circa Repo Man and you'll be in the ballpark, but if that means nothing to you: It's a hit gone Very Wrong when Barry is blackmailed into murdering someone he doesn't want to kill. That someone turns out to be a Taekwondo master. And just when that seems bad enough, it turns out his 10-year-old daughter is one too, and may or may not in fact be completely human. And the show, which for the most part is pretty realistic, goes completely surreal for 30 minutes as Barry and his handler are chased through a sleepy LA suburb by a pre-teen gargoyle with very sharp teeth.
That actually sounds kinda cool. / That actually sounds completely dumb.
It is both, and in the lamest, cleverest way. It doesn't hurt that Hader directs it like a dream, with long unscored takes where the camera occasionally goes "Uh... this is way too embarrassing for our hero, I'll just film this wall for a few seconds, tell me when he stops making an ass of himself."
Why should I watch another assassin-for-hire series when Killing Eve is on?
Watch both. They're both great, in very different ways. And yes, I'm contemplating crossovers.
So is anyone else watching this, and if not, why not?
