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LOS ANGELES, April 11 (UPI) -- The fourth and final season of Barry, premiering Sunday on HBO, does seem to be moving toward closure for all the characters. Whatever happens this season feels like the last hurrah for all involved. Aspiring actor Barry Berkman's (Bill Hader) hitman past finally caught up with him in Season 3. Acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) led police to Barry, so Season 4 opens with Barry in prison.
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The season premiere is a little different, as everyone is regrouping after Barry's arrest. His girlfriend, Sally (Sarah Goldberg), leaves Los Angeles for a bit, but processes the news about Barry in a typically, for her, extreme way.
Chechen mobster NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) seems to have chosen love with Cristobal (Michael Irby) over crime. And Barry appears in an unsettlingly calm state as he accepts his new circumstances.
Even prison violence is portrayed artistically. The camera zooms in on Barry, and we only see the blood dripping from his head, not the beating he presumably endured.
This is a good reintroduction to Barry, given that the previous season finale shook up the whole world of the show. And however this is resolved, Barry certainly can't go back to being an acting student when his classmates and teacher know the truth.
Episode 2 returns to the darkly comic tone for which the series is known. Barry is in prison with former employer Fuches (Stephen Root).
Fuches tries to establish himself in prison, but he's still thinly masking his cowardice. So the bravado contrasts with the truth in amusing ways.
In parallel, NoHo Hank and Cristobal begin a new business venture. Their presentation to new partners is like a motivational seminar mixed with a pyramid scheme meeting, and Carrigan and Irby play it up to the hilt.
Gene is relishing the attention he's receiving as the hero who caught Barry. Gene approaches this new status with the same hammy dramatic flair with which he teaches his students.
Subsequent episodes still get emotional, too, as various characters visit Barry to resolve their relationships with him. By Episode 3, there are action scenes both in and out of prison.
As director, Hader approaches those action sequences with ambitious photography. Nothing will top the Season 2 episode, in which Barry chases Ronny (Daniel Bernhardt) across town, but he continues to find clever, violent ways to pay off Barry's conflicts.
There still are plenty of scenes in acting class, too, so Barry hasn't lost that half of the show due to Barry's arrest.
While it will be sad to see Barry go, the first four episodes provided to critics suggest the final season will be monumental. And that's all without spoilers. The episodes contain even more shocking and compelling twists for viewers to discover.
Barry airs Sundays at 10 p.m. EDT on HBO.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001 a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
