Barry Review: The Power of No (Season 2 Episode 2)
Life gets too real for some on Barry Season 2 Episode 2, “The Power of No.”
On an episode about truth, there’s a whole lot of lying going on. Every character is lying to themselves in one form or another, trying to prove they are not what they think they portray.
Sally lies to herself about the roles she takes, Gene lies to himself about caring much beyond himself, and Barry lies to himself that meeting Gene is the most important aspect of his life, rather than the lives he takes.
One line, fairly simple in how it plays out, lays it out perfectly. “Am I an evil person?” Barry asks, and Hank confirms it, with enthusiasm. It’s at his core, wishing he could be decent, but Barry’s actions are not that of a decent person, even if he’s slipping up and rejecting that life more frequently now.
It wouldn’t be a Barry episode without some action comedy. The monks chasing down Barry as he casually escapes is wonderfully bizarre. The way the scene holds tightly on Barry the entire time makes the event rattling as he messes the whole thing up.
Bill Hader’s playing Barry as so broken now that he doesn’t even feel much of a fight or flight as he escapes. His uncomfortable stares during class, too, as he realizes he will need to replay his first kills again, are so heartbreaking because deep down, Barry’s longing for distance between life and death keeps bringing death back. There’s no escaping from it.
The episode is a fantastic standout for Henry Winkler. In a simple regarding of a photograph to his quick conversation with his son at the farmers’ market, Gene’s neglectfulness and regret becomes well-realized. He’s lived life all for himself, and now that he’s felt a personal loss, his need for something more creeps into the back of his mind.
Winkler spends a lot of the episode in silence, but his deconstruction of both Sally’s life and his first meeting with Barry just through watching them, are both very compelling moments for him. It’s all in his eyes, the weary regarding of things he sees as insignificant in the moment, when Gene wants something more.
Fuches’ unbelievably quick turn on Barry in becoming a co-operating witness for the LAPD is such a Fuches thing to do, opportunistic every chance he gets. It’s almost like a personal betrayal to the audience during his scene of pleading to Barry, to even believe for a second he’s asking to help out of kindness.
It’s what makes Stephen Root’s performance so much fun. Fuches is a creature of survival, as the first season taught us; he will do or say anything as long as there’s something in it for him. Root plays it with equal parts like he’s in control, and just as equal completely falling apart at the seams.
Barry Season 2 Episode 2, “The Power of No,” is a great reminder, as every episode is, that the world its characters find themselves in is one of regret and searching for something to better themselves. Perhaps it’s too late for them, in their own way.
And yet “The Power of No” finds them all attempting to be better, even when everything is against them. It’s in the attempts where something can be said of their inner character, and their performers are knocking it out of the park.
What did you think of this episode of Barry? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Barry airs Sundays at 10/9c on HBO.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.