It’s week 3 of Season 3 of Barry, and man, does bad stuff keep happening. Last week's episode featured an outburst from Barry that left the cast and crew of Sally’s television show terrified for their safety. Sadly, Sally’s reaction reminded us that she’s been down this road before with her ex Sam, and has perhaps already accepted the fact that her relationship with Barry is also turning toxic. Cristobal received an unexpected visit from his father-in-law (yes, he’s married!) and decides to break up with Hank in order to keep them both safe. (Aww.) Cousineau tried his best to escape from Barry’s unstable grip, but Barry managed to catch up with him and book both of them a role on a TV show. The episode ended on an unsettling note with Barry threatening to hurt Cousineau’s family only to then cry and tell him that he loved him. What’s going on with you, Berkman?
Directed by Alec Berg, Episode 3, titled “ben mendelsohn,” opens with an emotionally drained Cousineau getting his makeup done for the role Barry got him. He begrudgingly answers the makeup artist’s obligatory pleasantries and is then reacquainted with crew members of his past, who had nothing but negative things to say about their previous collaboration. (“You threw hot tea in my face because your omelet had chives.”) Nevertheless, the producer wants to thank Cousineau for the tremendous support and second chance he gave to a veteran (Barry) and gifts him with a line in the show. It wasn’t much, but it was better than not speaking at all.
The angry Chechens check in on their heroin den, only to discover it’s been destroyed (thanks, Fernando). Fortunately for them, the heroin stash was untouched. Hank does his best to convince his men not to seek revenge on the Bolivians because that would mean putting Cristobal in danger (though he doesn’t tell them that part). The Chechen henchmen remain oblivious to the romance and are determined to take the Bolivians down. Hank suggests they call up the “patsy” Fuches in Chechnya, who is living with his best life with his new girlfriend and all of their goats. Therefore, Hank’s phone call about it being safe to return to Los Angeles proved to be a bit of a bummer. Fuches’ ears perk up when Hank mentions he just saw “total basket case'' Barry, who, Hank claims, doesn't care about Fuches anymore. (“You’re not a blimp on his radar, okay?”) Still, this wasn’t enough to lure him back to America, and Fuches decides to stay. One of Hank’s men suggests a suicide mission, yelling, “Cristobal and Bolivians die tonight!”
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Things are much more glamorous for Sally, who’s getting ready for her first press junket. Luckily, Natalie has the good deodorant handy. (You know, the “cancer kind.”) Sally’s agent Lindsay attempts to quell Sally’s nerves, telling her she’s going to be great and to just be herself. But, what specific version of herself should Sally be, exactly? This is the first time the public is going to see her outside of Joplin. What does she want to project to her audience? Are they going to ask about her childhood? About Sam? Should she consider adoption? All these questions swirl inside Sally’s scattered brain seconds before her first interview. Well, if you consider these rapid-fire, shallow sit-downs “interviews.” Sally’s so caught up in what they are going to ask her about the show, but it turns out the interviewers couldn’t really care less about it. They care about the more hard-hitting stuff, like who she thinks will be the next Spider-Man. Naturally, she goes with the name on everyone’s mind (and the title of the episode): Ben Mendelsohn.
Barry and Cousineau wait to be called to the set of Laws of Humanity. Barry’s a bit nervous whereas Cousineau is more dead-eyed and reluctantly runs lines with Barry. The scene ironically involves Barry’s character apologizing to Cousineau’s character about doing “horrible” things, with Cousineau’s character accepting said apology. Barry tries to keep things light, but Cousineau wants answers. He asks if Janice suffered when Barry killed her and says that she knew it was Barry she was looking for because Cousineau told her all about Barry’s elaborate monologue that Barry told him when they first met. (Did you follow all that?)
All that stuff about killing people? Cousineau thought it was some sort of poetic and powerful work of art that Barry made up on the spot to get into the acting class. Now he’s realizing that the monologue was Barry dumping out his truth to him. So, when Cousineau relayed the story to Janice, she immediately made the connection that Barry was her target. Cousineau feels that he’s the reason Janice died because he was the one that put Barry and Janice in the same room (the cabin trip). Barry assures him that she would’ve found out it was Barry eventually because she was good at her job. Barry chalks the whole thing up to being “unfortunate” and wants to focus on the positives.
Similar to Hank, Cristobal is trying to prevent any sort of bloody conflict. If Fernando proceeds to attack the Chechens, then that means Hank will die. Cristobal says that the Chechens must be on the run, and thus attacking the plant shop again would be a waste of everyone’s time. Surprisingly, Fernando agrees and sets his eyes back on Bolivia. His next headache is figuring out how to break the news to his men. Maybe a nice meal at Johnny Rockets will ease the blow.
Hank tries to get in touch with Cristobal to warn him that his men want him dead, but Cristobal doesn’t answer his phone. Chechen Yandar is beginning to think it’s weird how Hank is behaving, and goes ahead and buys a bomb on the dark web to blow up Cristobal’s house. Horrified, a shaky Hank says that they should actually blow up Fernando’s house, as he’s the head guy of this whole operation. Yandar tells Akhmal to detonate the bomb, but he says the whole idea is too crazy. Ah, but we know someone who is crazy, don’t we?
Barry gets a text from Hank while at craft services about a potential job, but Barry is not having it. Barry’s real pre-show jitters kick in once he gets a call from Fuches, who he hasn’t spoken to since the madness at the monastery. Fuches says he hears that Barry’s simmered down and apologizes for “whatever” Barry thinks he did to harm Barry’s relationship with Cousineau. (Oh, you mean like telling Cousineau that Barry killed Janice?) Fuches wants a similar apology for ruining his heroin deal with the Burmese and tells Barry that he’s in the hospital dying. Barry of course doesn’t believe him, and smartly asks, “Are those goats in the background?” He tells Fuches that he and Cousineau are actually doing just fine and are acting together. The conversation quickly escalates into a shouting match with Barry telling Fuches that killing Janice is in the past, but Fuches argues that Cousineau will never get over it. In a mature turn of events, Fuches throws his phone on the ground and screams.
How are Sally and Katie holding up? Katie’s much less affected by the press junket than Sally, who can’t believe how many times she has to answer the same question. Sally invites Katie to ride in the limo to the premiere with her and Barry, but Katie declines. Natalie tells Katie that it’s not a good look to turn down an offer from your boss, but Katie admits it’s because she’s not comfortable being around Barry. At first, Natalie can’t understand why that would be, but Katie explains that she saw him freak out on Sally in the writers’ room. Natalie tries to brush it off and says that Barry yells sometimes, but is actually a really great guy. Sure, he might’ve killed some folks at war, and that all screwed with his head, but, come on, he isn’t violent. Katie thinks he’s going to hurt Sally, but Natalie says that can’t be possible because Barry treats her like a “star.” After all, that’s the reason she keeps Barry around. Is that the reason, or is she getting sucked back into another abusive relationship?
It’s finally time for Barry and Cousineau to film their scene. In the show, Hugh Manity (played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar) tells Cousineau’s character that even though they got the money for his wife’s wrongful death case, the only closure could come from an apology. Barry’s character (the one responsible for the death), as rehearsed, says “What I did was terrible, and I am truly sorry.” To everyone’s horror, Cousineau bubbles over with resentment and goes completely off-script. He slaps Barry in the face and tells him to stay away from his family. Before walking off the set, he yells, “F*ck you, and don’t talk to me anymore, you piece of sh*t!”
Katie’s put on the spot when an interviewer says she hears Sally’s in a healthy relationship now. She stumbles and tries to find a balance between the truth and what’ll sound good for the show, ultimately deciding to agree and say that Barry’s “awesome.” Following that unexpected outburst from Cousineau, Barry’s at an all-time low. He gives in to Hank’s job offer, retreating back into his old killer habits. Yandar once again questions Hank’s decision to let Barry take the case. “So, you are giving this job to a madman, who killed most of our men at the monastery?” Hank does his best to slip out of the impromptu interrogation by saying Barry just had a “bad day,” though Yandar clearly isn’t buying it. He reminds Hank that he insisted on using Fuches (when Yandar himself wanted to get rid of Barry), which ended up being a colossal disaster. How was Yandar supposed to trust Hank now with this new plan?
Fuches is madder than ever and wants to return to America just to kill Barry. His girlfriend does her best to convince him to stay in their Chechen paradise by telling him a fable from the 16th century about the power of forgiveness over vengeance. Fuches only hears the “vengeance army” part and wants to go in that direction. Maybe Fuches should try and have a donut instead?
