![]() ![]() But compelled at gunpoint by Fuches to acknowledge he killed Cristobal (Michael Irby), Hank, who has since reinvented himself as a savvy businessman, still can’t bring himself to face what he’s done. The fourth season has particularly put Noho Hank (Anthony Carrigan) through the wringer, as the formerly lovable gangster ensures his own safety at the unthinkable cost of his boyfriend’s life. He doesn’t have time to add anything else before Cousineau’s second and final shot to the head.īarry’s not the only one damned by denial. “Oh, wow,” he remarks after Cousineau’s first shot to his shoulder. Instead, Barry‘s moral accounting spits out an unceremonious end to fit the unworthy man he truly was. Going out in a blaze of Chechen gunfire or a swarm of police would’ve suited the white knight Barry needs so desperately to believe he is. It’s only when Barry’s backed against the wall, with Sally and John having left without a trace and Tom (Fred Melamed) pleading that only Barry can save Cousineau, that he finally relents.īut Barry snatches away his final opportunity to play the hero, having Cousineau kill him before he can confess. Tellingly, he wasn’t interested in doing so when Sally had urged him to do so hours earlier, informing him that Cousineau might otherwise go down for Barry’s crimes. The morning after his non-death, he decides to turn himself in for Janice’s murder. The Barry we find in the finale hasn’t gotten much better at atonement. Throughout the show’s run, we’ve watched Barry go from simply trying to outrun his past to seeking forgiveness for it - not by owning up to what he’s done but by, for instance, showering Gene with money and professional opportunities. What better place for a man trying to rewrite his entire life than an industry built around selling lovely little fictions?īut even as the type of critically acclaimed dramedy that its characters might once have (mostly metaphorically) killed to get cast in, Barry has been more interested in puncturing those fictions than upholding them. It’s why he’s spent the season stewing over Cousineau ( Henry Winkler) telling his story, why he gives his son an ultra-sanitized account of his time in Afghanistan, why he was so drawn to Hollywood in the first place. Never mind that he’s a contract killer whose body count has only ballooned over four seasons - Barry’s always clung to the delusion that one more “starting … now” might reframe him as a savior, as a protector, as a good guy whose bloody past has been wiped clean. But it does so in a way that highlights the gap between true atonement and the cheap made-for-TV version of it, and that purposefully undermines any satisfaction to be found in Barry’s would-be redemption arc.įrom the start, Barry has been a story about the stories Barry wants to tell himself, about himself. The episode does eventually serve Barry some version of the forgiveness he’s always longed for. TV Ratings: 'Succession' Hits Series Highs for Final Episodeīarry, though, has no interest in letting anyone off the hook that easily.
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