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HBO’s Barry has a knack for incorporating humor into its more serious moments, often resulting in some of the most surprising events in television. Using humor to disguise the horror it houses, Barry lures its fans into a false sense of security before swiftly pulling the rug from beneath them. Bill Hader’s promise of a darker tone for the show’s third season was a credible one, resulting in the series’ most shocking season yet.
6 Barry Confronting Sally
While attempting to right his wrongs, Barry spends the opening of the third season trying to acquire an acting role for his former mentor, Gene Cousineau. After discovering Barry’s involvement in Janice Moss’ death, he is placed once more in a situation where he must kill someone he loves. Wanting to distance himself from his former lifestyle, Barry allows Gene to live and promises to help him get back on his feet, but it is more difficult than he expected.
Gene has been ostracized by the acting community due to his diva-like tendencies, so Barry seeks the help of his girlfriend, Sally Reed, who recently began directing her own show. Due to their past together, Barry sees no issue with Gene being given a role, but Sally disagrees, setting the protagonist off. In front of her colleagues, Barry roars at Sally, commanding her to help and insisting on how easy it would be. Sally remains mostly unfazed by this until she is later informed of how frightening his behavior was.
5 Barry Revealing His True Self
Since the events of the second season, Sally has become relatively successful in the acting industry. Now directing her own show in which she attempts to recount the harrowing events of her past, Sally is seen as an inspiring young woman with a heart-wrenching story to tell. Unfortunately for Sally, the show is quickly canceled upon its release by Diane Villa. Diane loosely attributes the show’s poor reception to the streaming service’s algorithm, ensuring to never reveal herself as the reason it was canceled.
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With Sally now consumed with rage, Barry offers to assist her in any way he can. Referring to the methods of emotional torture he learned in the military, Barry finally expresses his true nature to Sally. He offers to sneak into Diane’s house, take pictures of her, replace her dog with a different dog, and a variety of other means of psychological torture. The calmness with which he delivers these harrowing lines is perhaps his most terrifying line deliveries in the show to date.
4 Sally’s Outburst In The Elevator
Though Sally is presented as a mostly warm and caring individual, her five minutes of fame revealed a less endearing side to the Barry character. Captivated by her success, Sally forgets to treat those around her with the respect they deserve, often prioritizing herself above those she works with. Her assistant, Natalie, is often the sole receiver of Sally’s abusive comments, but Natalie has the last laugh.
When Sally’s show, Joplin, is canceled, she decides to take a job as a writer. She slowly begins to ease into this new role, but upon learning that her former assistant has begun directing her own show, Sally’s anger becomes untethered. She confronts Natalie in an elevator, accusing her of stealing her ideas and screaming endless profanities at her. This once reserved character’s unapologetic display of verbal abuse was one of the most frightening events in the entire show.
3 Sally’s First Kill
Barry spends the majority of the series attempting to keep his life as a hitman separate from his life as an actor. It becomes clear during the season’s finale that the only thing Barry fears more than this collision of worlds is the idea of dragging those he loves down with him. With Monroe Fuches having informed the families of Barry’s victims of their killer’s identity, Sally becomes endangered through association.
She returns to Barry’s side once more to employ his terrifying services only to encounter a relative of one of Barry’s victims. This strange man knocks Barry unconscious before beginning to strangle Sally. Just when all hope seems lost, Sally sticks a knife in the assailant’s jaw, forcing the man to release his grip on her neck. She follows the staggering man into a soundproof room and proceeds to beat him until Barry awakens. This type of behavior was always expected from Barry, but never from the character of Sally Reed.
2 Barry’s Arrest
Barry’s third season finale housed what can only be described as the most shocking turn of events in the entire series. Having silently promised his former friend and war buddy to cease his murderous endeavors, Barry decides to escape Los Angeles alongside his girlfriend in the hope of pursuing a new life. Unfortunately for Barry, Gene Cousineau has an alternative plan for him.
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Barry receives a call from his former acting coach, informing him that he plans to kill Detective Moss’ father. Stricken with shock, Barry races to Gene’s location to prevent him from committing such a heinous act and decides to do it himself to spare his friend the torment. He approaches Moss from behind, only to realize he is surrounded by armed forces sent to arrest him. Barry is usually a clever and concise killer who plans each of his murders, so his arrest during the climax of season 3 was arguably the show’s most shocking twist.
1 Conversion Therapy
Barry is well-known for its presentation of gruesome and sinister torture methods, but season 3 housed what is arguably the most appalling act in the series so far. Upon discovering the relationship between NoHo Hank and Cristobal, Cristobal’s wife, Elena, attempts to reclaim her husband’s love through the brutal act of conversion therapy.
As one of the primary leaders of the Bolivian mob, Elena commands a great deal of power. Though she harbors disdain for Cristobal and his actions, she still believes that he will reprise the role of a loving husband if she enforces the right methods. She tasks a half-naked man to dance in front of Cristobal while he is electrocuted, in the hope of causing him to associate his sexuality with feelings of pain. Conversion therapy is one of the cruelest means of torture to ever exist, so its presence in Barry’s season 3 provided one of the biggest shocks in the entire show.
Barry is available to stream on HBO Max.
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