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+--- Thread: Barry (/showthread.php?tid=26)
Barry - gorzek - 01-22-2025
if you haven't watched Barry (HBO series), you should!
if you have: hell of a show, right?
i am most of the way through the final season. i have a lot of thoughts about it but to summarize:
- every character in this show is caught in the tension between two versions of themselves: who they are now, and who they wish they were.
- Barry wanted to get into acting to "become someone else," to hide who he was beneath the veneer of a fictional character. meanwhile, Gene's entire theory of acting is that it's only real if you bare the deepest parts of yourself.
- these people are constantly done in by their own selfishness. NoHo Hank is the only person who more or less consistently behaves in the interest of others, and he faces the most agony when he acts out of pure selfishness.
- people on this show are also trying to escape the consequences of their pasts rather than face them. the message hits over and over: you can't remake yourself if you won't own up to who you already are and what you've already done.
that's not even getting into the way it's staged and shot, how it messes with your notion of what's real and what isn't.
all this is to say, it's a great show and if you like character-driven shows (and/or dark comedies) you should give it a shot.
RE: Barry - gorzek - 01-24-2025
so i just finished it. i can see why some people didn't like the ending, but i thought it was perfect. everything that happened was the result of the characters' actions. none of it was arbitrary. truly a character-driven show and finale.