Created by Alec Berg & Bill Hader
Written by Alec Berg & Bill Hader
Directed by Bill Hader
Starring Bill Hader, Sarah Goldberg, Stephen Root, Anthony Carrigan and Henry Winkler
New episodes airing Sundays on HBO

by Alex Rudolph, Staff Writer

Barry's goal at the end of Barry's last episode was to earn Gene's forgiveness. Barry's goal at the beginning of this episode is to force somebody to give Gene a part in a movie or TV show. It's a Gene-heavy episode and yet Henry Winkler spends most of it locked in Barry's trunk, begging to be let out.

The quick narrowing of Barry's focus speaks to how desperate he is to wring forgiveness out of Gene. It's less about pondering the best way to do that, and more about achieving it and checking it off a list. It's "go to the post office," not "create a better world."

If you have that mindset, you might feel entitled to walk into your partner's workplace and demand she give Gene a part in her TV show. Barry's a problem-solving robot, who mostly solves problems with murder. He isn't in a place to finesse anything or work through multi-part plans to reach his goals. When he asks Sally, in full view of her coworkers, to cast Gene on Joplin, he's confused when she won't immediately do so. And then he's angry, and in a truly ugly (I say this admiringly) performance, Bill Hader slaps his head like he's about to slap Sarah Goldberg, gets up close and shouts in her face. Other characters leave the room. He leaves, and Barry and Sally don't see each other in person for the rest of the episode.

Unfortunately, the move works. By the end of the night, Sally's texting Barry incessantly to apologize for not giving Gene the part. Barry's become the abusive boyfriend she's making a TV show about, and neither of them can see that.

Sally's on-screen daughter is shaken by Barry's blow-up, but dissuaded from talking to HR about it. "I like my job," a writer says before shutting her laptop and walking away, ending any discussion about reporting the boss' boyfriend. I don't know if the word is "brave," but it's certainly a bold choice for Hader to make his character do something so nakedly unlikable. So many pieces of art would try to explain it away in a semi-justifiable way. When Barry's murdered people, the show has often made it clear that he was backed into a corner and risked exposure or death if he didn't pull the trigger. There's no justification here. There's no quirk. The character just acts like a dangerous piece of shit. This guy's never been a cartoon character but he's also never been so real, and seeing him blow up at Sally is unsettling. Her reaction, essentially begging Barry to forgive her for giving him a reason to yell, is equally unsettling.

Gene's a good example of a quirky asshole. After striking out with Sally, Barry goes to (real-life) casting director Allison Jones to see if any parts are fit for Gene. Turns out his name is poison. "He was awful to me," Jones says. It's revealing to get takes on the character from outside of the acting class. When Barry began, Gene came off like a doofus, but the show slowly made him seem like a scammy, hacky never-was, and more like its lead characters' salvation. But maybe he's just a bad actor. More than that, maybe he's an asshole. He called Allison a "donkey witch," an objectively perfect thing for a character to say during an insecure fit, when she wouldn't cast him on Family Ties. He's a cartoon. As good as the writing and performance are together, Gene is a guy you can't hate. All of his failings are too funny.

NoHo Hank gets his own sad little chunk of a sad episode when we return to his nursery, where the same Chechan cover of "Africa" from the last episode continues to play on loop. Cristobal has a wife and kids in Bolivia and his father-in-law thinks it's time to head home. One episode after they got together, Cristobal breaks up with Hank, who may now be presumed dead by the Bolivian mob.

The cover of "Africa" is one of a half dozen incredible jokes that killed me in this episode. Sally's show Joplin has competition in Pam!, a similar sitcom from a Whitney Cummings/Chelsea Handler type, and D'Arcy Carden's Natalie can't get over how big Pam's martini glass is in a promo shot. While fleeing from Barry, Gene is mauled by 30 domesticated dogs in a couple's backyard, as that couple breaks up over one person's insistence on having 30 dogs. Barry's car is totaled by an Uber that looks exactly like his car. That's Barry's strength - it can spend a week being both the funniest and darkest show on TV. And this is actual aching darkness. And this is actual hilarious comedy.

We end on a moment of both at the very end. "You're going to enjoy everything that comes with being given a second chance," Barry says to Gene, in Gene's son's home. “Otherwise this one, and that one, go away." Barry is, of course, nodding to Gene's son and grandson.

"I love you," Barry says to his panicking mentor. "Do you love me? Can you say it? Can you say it again?"