User Reviews

Directed by Hiro Murai, Chapter Six represents the halfway mark of season 1 sans D'Arcy Carden. The Macbeth theme underscored the Shakespearean atmosphere to this episode where the ending was rather shocking.

1. Barry says I love you 2. Janice gets in a gunfight 3. More people die

Reviewing episodes after weeks you've watched them is very difficult. But I will try my best. As the show progresses, it never loses its sense of humor and drama. Taylor is a newly introduced character but even he is fresh because while he's the typical obnoxious dumb muscle type character, he sees that Fuches is taking advantage of Barry and also makes sure that Barry gets his half. That kind of action is not expected from who openly watches porn in other's presence.

There are a lot of subtle funny points in this show such as when Gene comes in, everyone in the acting class stands up and starts clapping. Those are such joy and I love it. I laugh out loud several times in those moments but also enjoy it when the show get dead serious in scenes like when Gene unknowingly instructs Sally and Barry to say "I love you" to each other when they have a major conflict going on. Barry is still infatuated with Sally, imagining a new life and a possibility of family with Sally so it adds to the whole comedy. Henry Wrinkler, who plays Gene, is honestly a comedic genius and this role for him is sort of self-reflective as Gene and Henry share some similar characteristics about being old in Hollywood.

In the last moment of the show, Barry is mortified that even though he wanted to do the job alone, bunch of his marine friends tagged along. He wants to stop them but he's such a pushover that he lets it happen which ends up in a disaster with Taylor and Vaughn being dead. I really thought Taylor was gonna be in the show for a bit long. It really does not hesitate to take out characters for the story but it's never done in a forceful way. It totally makes sense. Another amazing episode and I just love every bit of it!

Barry, still trying to recover from the breakup with Sally, must contend with a fellow Marine, Taylor (Dale Pavinski) he met through a friend at a party (with his acting class) wanting to work with him as a hitman while Fuches (Root) continues to try to convince him to murder the volatile nuisance (except when toking from a joint and watching hardcore porn at home) so that he won't cause any disturbance to the ongoing working relationship with the Chechens (led by Goran Pazar and Noho Hank), looking to move in on the Bolivians. Meanwhile Detective Janice Moss (Paula Newsome) can't shake that someone from Cousineau's (Henry Winkler) acting class is responsible for Ryan's murder, running into Goran's "body cleanup" sicko, Sasha (Mark Ivanir), there inside the nearly-empty building to stab and kill Sally (he has been following Barry's exploits, wanting him dead because Barry killed his brother) when the opportunity was available. A shootout between Moss and Sasha results in his death, the detective later locating "unclean money" taken from a drug seizure heist that was stashed by Barry in the bathroom ceiling (Taylor dumped the drug money in Barry's bag, removing his Cousineau book and Macbeth script).

With Sally losing her agent (he wanted to have sex with her but her careful rejection of him resulted in his dumping her, not to mention, a gig lined up for her was later taken away because of it), she not only convinces Cousineau to give her the Lady Macbeth part (taken from Natalie as a result) but after some begging she secures the male part of Macbeth. Barry's inability to adapt purposely to Cousineau's demands, basically, essentially by accident, appeasing him by less effort and more of a reality to how he feels (he actually does love Sally while she is dedicated almost completely to being an acting success, so their "I Love You" back-and-forth, coordinated by Cousineau, is more performance from her and reality by him, which ultimately is praised by their acting coach) remains the shows masterful highlight. The split between Barry trying to handle Fuches, the Chechens, and the investigation by Moss (always a shadow that follows him), with his attempts to become a decent actor, remain a seesaw, tug-of-war that continues to wear at him. All Barry really wants to do is quit the assassination work and develop as an actor in Cousineau's class. But the pull of his past never lets him press forward to a more healthy future. Barry trying to avoid killing Fuches or Taylor (both want the other dead) at each other's urging is an aggravation he hopes to steer away from. Eventually, as the end shows us, Taylor (and his Marine buddies) make a major misstep in trying to drive right into a Bolivian roadblock despite Barry's every attempt to ward them away from the dangerous, gung-ho, full-speed-ahead decision. This was never going to end well as Fuches tried to warn Barry to no avail. Sally advocating for Macbeth, while Cousineau listens to her enthusiastic pitch, further illustrates that she wants the grandest roles in order to prop up her reputation. Cousineau's pursuit of Moss is cute but she clearly is torn on whether or not to eventually disregard his advances or remain complicit in a conflicting sexual relationship due to her investigation of his class. Taylor, despite not willingly leaving well enough alone, does make a good point regarding Fuches' using Barry, receiving half of what the job offers for success...but Fuches is quite manipulative, preying on Barry's loyalty to him even as arranger only wants his killer to continue because there is profit in it.

We all know Barry makes up situations in his mind that applies to what he's gling through in real life so with this episode's cliffhanger, we don't know if Barry saw the worst in front of his own eyes. Let's see what happens on the next episode. I can't stop watching this show. It's the first time since Stranger Things where I binge watch a season in less than a day, I guess the running time helps. A critique i'm sure to expect from this episode is the cheesy gunfight between the chick and the russian dude. I feel like they didn't feel like they were shooting real guns, and they really just looked like they were acting instead of looking engaged. Though we are all happy that the russian didn't hurt Barry's crush. I see a lot of potential in this show in the upcoming seasons. This is just a start, and they look for excuses to keep the plot progressing like now killing the russian guy cause now Barry's crush still won't know Barry's a killer. It keeps the story from progressing, but at the same time it does cause now the investigators will know he's associated in some way with Barry.

My Reaction / Review for Barry Season 1 Episode 6 ''Chapter Six: Listen with Your Ears, React with Your Face'' (S1. E6): Episode 5 was awesome and i gave it a rating of 9/10. Let's see if this one is better or worse. The marine dude is so dumb, I love it. What is going on? We see a future with Barry having a son and a daughter? You could feel Barry's hurt feelings when he had to repeat ''I love you'' to Sally, I think that Barry really loves her. Lol the way Vacha runs is priceless, super funny. And... he is dead, that sucks. What the hell? Taylor called more guys, more marines? Oh boy, this is not good for Barry. Wow what was that ending? Is Taylor and the other guy dead? Wow, just wow. My rating is 9/10.

The Barry and Taylor dynamic was interesting, but after years of Bill Hader playing weird characters on SNL it is hard to see him as the normal one in a relationship.

The gunfire at the end of the episode was certainly shocking. This show isn't the best at blurring the lines between drama and comedy, but it's far from the worst. It has me on board so far.