Actors Henry Winkler, who plays acting guru Gene Cousineau, and Anthony Carrigan, who plays the friendly Chechen mobster NoHo Hank, recently delved into their thoughts on the directionBarryhas headed in.
During its first two seasons,HBO’sBarrywas a show that perfectly blended comedy and drama into one cohesive story. However, its third season, which wrapped up last month, took a very dark turn becausethe titular character Barryis having his two worlds collide both as an actor and as a hitman.
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Carrigan loved the new direction, praisinghow original theBarrywasin how it blended the two sides together. He also vowed that the comedy will come back. “I loved it, I was so on board. From the very beginning, the show has been pretty unique in the way that it toes the line of comedy and drama,” he said during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “But I think it’s so cool to be so relentless, in a way, and completely take the comedy out. It’ll come back, don’t worry — I’ll attempt to find moments for levity.” Winkler on the other hand was impressed. To him, it was like he was on a completely different show. “It was so dark, I bought a miner’s cap. I would think, ‘Wow, I’m prepared for tomorrow’s work, I’m just going to lay low now, enjoy my puppies, I’m going to talk to the grandchildren.’ And then I would get to the set and [co-creator] Alec [Berg] and Bill would take me, like, to the Ozarks. I was just taken to a completely different place.”
Both Winkler’s and Carrigan’s characters had very differentstories inBarryseason 3compared to their previous seasons. Even though neither character has ever met the other, their characters had some similarities. Cousineau had to deal with the trauma of knowing that one of his finest acting students was not only responsible for the murder of his girlfriend but was also forcing himself into Cousineau’s personal and professional life. Hank had to deal with his drug operation being seized by the police while also dealing with the Bolivian cartel trying to destroy his relationship with the love of his life, Cristobal.
The way the season ended, things were left very open-ended for where they go next with both characters. Cousineau set Barry up to go to prison along with Janice Moss' father, but time will tell if he did that truly to get back at Barry or because Moss' father knew how to get him to.NoHo Hank escaped from the cartel’s grasp, and he freed Cristobal from the electroshock therapy he was dealing with, but where he goes from here, both in his work and personal life, is anyone’s guess.
Carrigan vowed that the show’s comedic roots will return in the future. How they’ll do that will be pretty hard knowing where everyone’s at right now. Now that Barry and Fuches are headed to prison, that opens up a lot of fresh material, especially if Barry and Fuches meet again face to face. Sally’s dreams of making it as an actress are destroyed for the time being, and now she’s gone home to Joplin, so who knows what’s next for her?Barryhas seamlessly added new characters who made the show better like Cristobal, so perhaps the show’s comedic return to form will come in the shape of a new character or two.
