‘Barry’ Is Another HBO Show You Should Be Watching

One of my favorite new shows on HBO is a Bill Hader led comedy, titled ‘Barry.’ The show is centered around Hader, who plays the title character as he navigates through the most confusing time ever in his life. Barry is a disillusioned hitman and former marine, who gets sent to LA to kill a young actor. Along the way, he gets bit by the acting bug himself and that sets off an unforeseen chain of events that will change his life forever. The show has a solid supporting cast, featuring industry vets like Henry Winkler and Stephen Root.

Barry was thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, and actually has quite a bit packed into a relatively short season. The season one is 8 episodes long, with each episode running about 30 mins each. The major characters are pretty much all introduced within the first three episodes, and their story arcs occur at an almost breakneck speed. The most dynamic relationship throughout season one happens to occur between Barry and Sally (Sarah Goldberg), and their journey through Gene Cousineau’s (Henry Winkler) acting class. Barry is generally reserved, almost timid with human interaction, while Sally is much more experienced. She’s almost too advanced for Barry, and that’s what makes their interactions so interesting.

Barry finds himself naturally drawn to Sally and of course his interest in her causes him to neglect his prior duties quite a few times. Barry’s on again off again mentor Fuches (Stephen Root), sees that his golden goose could be slipping away, and of course manipulates Barry throughout the show in an effort to keep the jobs (and money) rolling in. Barry is a great watch and has a fantastic cast that just seems to gel and pull you deeper into the show as the season progresses. The best episodes happen in the second half of the season, and are led by two very solid directors. Hiro Murai of ‘Atlanta’ fame directed episodes 5 and 6, while Silicon Valley vet Alec Berg directed episodes 7 and 8. The back four are easily the best episodes in season one, and each one serves as perfect end caps for the stories that were told in the beginning of the season.

If you’re looking for the perfect binge-worthy show, Barry is one of the best things going right now. You can check out the first season on digital download right now.

You can also hit this link to see how you could win a digital copy of season one!