Tear Jerker / Barry

"My lord, the Queen is dead."

Barry is considered a tragicomedy for a reason.

---

Season 1

Chapter Four: "Commit...To You"

• Sally crying in her car after not only not being allowed to audition for a potentially lucrative role, but finding out it's because she's been dropped from her representation after she rebuffed her agent's sexual advances.

Chapter Five: Do Your Job

• Barry trying to defend himself while the drama class trashes Macbeth and his Lady for being murderers. Forgetting or not knowing that Barry was a marine (and of course, none of them knowing he's a hitman) they declare that taking a life irrevocably marks your soul and changes you for ever into a monster. Barry, an actual combat veteran who has taken lives in the line of duty, (plus, you know, for money) sheepishly argues that Shakespeare was never a soldier and that he doesn't understand what he's talking about. The class gets snippy until Barry quietly snaps that he's killed people, before asking if that means he's doomed forever and should he just kill himself. Only then does Gene remember Barry was a Marine and informs the class about it who back down a little. Of course, Gene goes on to say that if you leave the army and keep killing people, then you're an irredeemable psycho, but Barry's eyes-cast-down defense of his own service is pretty heartrending.

Chapter Seven: "Loud, Fast, and Keep Going"

• Though it doubles as sort of funny, Fuches reaction to the news of Barry's apparent death at the airfield is moving. His first reaction is a literal collapse of grief over his dining table. When we next see him, he and Hank are on the same call and Fuches is fondly talking about how he met Barry as a child, calls him 'the sweetest kid you've ever seen'. While a lot of what Fuches does can be viewed as performative, since he is so manipulative, he appears in that moment to be genuinely moved and depressed by his belief Barry has perished. Of course, he IMMEDIATELY ruins it by complaining that Barry never got the chance to apologize to him. But for a second there, just a second, he might have been able to pretend to look as if he sort of cared.
• Barry killing his friend Chris to keep him quiet about the botched ambush. He then leaves his pistol behind with Chris' corpse (with it being gripped in his hand) to frame it as a suicide.
  • When Chris starts nervously rambling and briefly mentions his wife, you can see the exact moment Barry realizes what he "has" to do. He fights back tears from that moment until Chris' last and he seems like he's desperately trying to talk himself out of it in his head, but Chris is too upstanding of a citizen to keep what he's seen to himself forever and they both know it.
  • "WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?!"
    • "I told you to get out of the car man."
  • On the same coin, Chris himself realizes the decision Barry has made at about the same time and resorts to all but outright begging for his life. His last words are WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT—
    • Chris's pleading is itself heart-rending to listen to. Just like how Barry, anguished, has to psychologically prepare himself for murder by "blaming" his own friend, Chris, in desperation and terror at his imminent death, can only attempt to lie, bargain, and cajole his way out of the situation. They both know what's coming, and they both understand that it can't be stopped, but Chris still desperately struggles in his helplessness, and Barry, hearing every word, still kills him.
• Barry imagining Chris' wife reacting to the news of her husband's death.
  • As shown in the Page Image: "My lord, the Queen is dead."
• Barry's full freak out afterwards.
  • Also the fact that some time before his death Chris reluctantly saved Barry from being killed by a Bolivian by killing the man himself only to freak out completely afterwards since he never killed a man during his time as a marine, since he worked in logistics. Ultimately, saving Barry turned out to be pointless since Barry reluctantly kills Chris anyway which makes it even worse.
    • A particular twist of the knife is after Barry delivers his single line, Gene comes in to praise him. Barry is still DEEP in his nervous breakdown and completely incapable of speech. The only way he can find to communicate that he wants Gene to leave is by first punching a mirror, then tossing a chair across the room. Knowing that Barry's greatest difficulty is expressing himself anyway, to see him so overwhelmed as to be reduced to wordless shrieking is devastating.

Chapter Eight: "Know Your Truth"

• Barry finally seems to have everything he wanted: a loving girlfriend, a social life, a career path he's actually passionate about (and doesn't involve murdering people), and has cut all ties to the criminal underworld. Too bad Cousineau has to recount the tale of Barry's "monologue" in front of Detective Moss...
• Barry desperately pleading with Moss to just let him go and forget she ever saw him. She refuses. Then we see the gun hidden behind the tree...

Season 2

Chapter Three: "Past = Present x Future Over Yesterday"

• Sally cruelly abusing poor Barry while practicing their scene at the acting class. The fact that Gene (who Barry views as a father-figure) joins in by berating him alongside Sally makes this worse.

Chapter Four: "What?!"

• Barry screaming, crying and beating himself up in his car, ashamed at himself after he nearly murdered Sally.
• Barry telling Gene about what happened at Korengal. By the end you can tell he deeply regrets the whole thing.
  • "Do you think I'm a bad person, Mr. Cousineau?"

Chapter Five: "ronny/lilly"

• Looking at the episode from Lilly's point of view, she comes home to find her father apparently dead (and he does die for real at the end of the episode) and she has no idea why or how this weird man has seemingly targeted her family. When Fuches approaches her on the sideway, she looks like she is about to cry.
• Barry's flashbacks to his younger self returning home from the war. While all his fellow Marines are running to meet up with their loving families, he's walking alone...and the only person waiting for him is Fuches, waiting to lead him down the dark path he's on in the present.

Chapter Seven: "The Audition"

• Fuches' utterly cruel decision to show Moss' decaying body to Cousineau, who's spent all season holding out hope that she was alive and proceeds to lapse into an Heroic BSoD that lasts all the way through the next episode. What's worse is that Cousineau is a complete innocent and this was nothing more than a petty way to get back at Barry.
  • When Barry finds Gene in the next episode after Fuches leaves he's seen utterly sobbing his eyes out.
• Gene Cousineau getting arrested for Janice's murder after Fuches framed him.

Chapter Eight: "berkman > block"

• Continuing her abusive behaviour towards Barry from episode 3 here Sally outright slaps him before they perform their scene while ignoring the fact that Barry was clearly not in the right headspace at that time. Sally dodged a bullet there considering he could've killed her for doing that. Word of God even states that, had Sally not gone off-script Barry would have been lost in the scene and choked her out for real.
  • And then there's the actual performance of their scene. Barry sticks to the script only for Sally to go off-script completely by flipping a table at him before screaming in his face and shoving him repeatedly hurting and scaring poor Barry in the process. All of this happening not just in front of their friends (again) but also in front of an actual audience this time around. By the end, Barry just walks backstage in utter silence.
  • Sally's guilt immediately after, as she's finally gotten the recognition and praise she wanted, but at the cost of her truth. After working so hard to be able to tell her real story, she winds up tossing it aside in the moment, leaving her horribly ashamed.
• Barry's reaction on realizing out that he killed his pupil Mayrbek during his rampage at the Burmese monastery. He's clearly on the verge of tears as he looks at Mayrbek's dead body.

Season 3

"limonada"

• Sally nervously preparing Barry's favorite foods and video games at home after he yells at her. It's obvious it's an old survival tactic from her former abusive marriage.

"ben mendelssohn"

• Gene quietly confronts Barry about Janice's death and Fuches with three simple words: "Did she suffer"? While Barry is briefly cut to the quick, you can see him, in real time, try to build up another wall of justifications and bullshit to avoid even saying he was responsible or did anything wrong, while Gene sits there, heartbroken and despising his former protege. Barry has become completely dependent on lies and self-delusion just to seem like he's a real, functional person, and it's not even working on a surface level any more.
  Gene: So that monologue... you gave me, when I first met you — that was fuckin' true. And then I said it again at the dinner table... and she knew it was you.
  Barry: Hey, we don't need to rehash all this...
  Gene: If I didn't say anything... she'd be alive today.
  Barry: Oh, no, don't put that on yourself, Mr. Cousineau. She was good at her job. The whole thing's just really unfortunate, you know? Look — I believe, and some of this I got from your teachings, that... th-that you can be, the version of yourself that you wanna be.
  Gene: [disgusted] ...I never said that to you.
  Barry: What I'm saying is... is that, I never would've learned that if it wasn't for you.
  Gene: So I'm responsible for who you are?
  Barry: The positive side, yeah! I mean, meeting you changed my life for the better, you know? [sighs] Look, we've both done terrible things in our lives, but we're helping each other... make up for it, y'know?
  [Gene stares at him with pure wordless contempt]
  Barry: [chuckling] I mean, you got a line! You're welcome!
• Katie reaches out to several people, including Natalie (who not only knows Barry, but also about Sally's past) about her concerns after Barry yells at Sally, only to be dismissed every time, either because they can't be bothered or because it contrasts with the version of Barry they know. Not only is it clear that they won't take her seriously due to her age and inexperience, It's clearly reminiscent of real-life cases of abuse being ignored or covered up in the entertainment industry. The whole experience is clearly very difficult for her, but no one is willing or able to actually help.

"all the sauces"

• After Barry misses the premiere of Sally's new show she dumps him, largely because of his outburst from two episodes prior. While she's not wrong, he still looks crushed. Between this and his continued falling out with Gene, Barry has nothing.
  • The look on Sally's face after Katie confronts her, breaking it to her that Barry is violent and that she's worried what could happen to Sally if she stays with him. It's clear that this is not the first time Sally has considered this, and she's clearly devastated when it all slots into place. In particular, the way Katie says "you're dating a violent man" calls to mind Sally's assertion in Season 2 that "[she] will never be with a violent man again". It was an ironic line before, but when Sally finally lets herself see it it's heartbreaking.

”candy asses”

• Ryan’s father George picks up a barely alive Barry with the intent to finish him off after Fuches gave George Barry’s info. However, George simply parks for what seems like hours (it’s light out when he finds Barry, and dark when he starts talking), and tells Barry how much he loved his son and wants to be with him. A few scenes later, Barry is being wheeled into the hospital, as he realizes that George drove him there and then shot himself in the head.
• Barry's poison-induced fever dream. He passes through a large crowd of people, everyone he's ever killed, on a desolate beach to reach the shore, and stands in front of them looking unsure and lost. He notices Goran, who seems to make eye contact briefly... then turns away, nonchalant, as if he was just looking in Barry's direction. There's a darkly funny bit when Barry notices Chris beside him — he tries to get his attention by awkwardly smiling and waving, while Chris reacts with confusion and a glance behind himself, like how anyone would react to a total stranger greeting them — but even it doesn't distract from the crushing moment of his realization. While Barry has delusional and psychopathic tendencies, he has never forgotten a single one of his victims' faces, and even though he carries them everywhere he goes, even they don't recognize him — he is utterly alone in this world, and his legacy is murder and pain.

"starting now"

• The sequence where Sally is forced to fight off the Taylor gang member by herself. The scene has worrying intentional parallels to the physical abuse she sustained from Sam, particularly in how he tries to choke her to death. However, special notice needs to be given to her not only incapacitating him with the knife but proceeding to grab a baseball bat and beat him to death. You can't fault her for fighting back, of course, but Barry's horrified reaction upon waking up sells it: because of his presence in her life, both circumstance and from copying his behavior, Sally is now fully capable of the same violence as Barry.
• The entire sequence in Bolivia: Hank can only listen helplessly as a panther mauls two of his closest friends to death, which, along with the threat of him being next, drives him so over the edge he breaks free from his handcuffs and personally kills the panther and his captors himself. The fun-loving Chechen gangster comic-relief from Season 1 is long-gone by the end of Hank's tearful reunion with Cristobal.
• Albert's confrontation with Barry. Besides the fact that Barry's trauma can be traced back to Albert's injury, Albert proceeds to hold Barry at gunpoint and berates him for killing Chris. 3 seasons worth of guilt come crashing down on Barry, and he becomes a screaming mess as he truly believes Albert will kill him right there.
• The look of shock on Barry's face when he realizes Gene tricked him into getting arrested. It's absolutely comeuppance to Barry, but Barry has worshipped Gene up to this point, and the shock of the betrayal is really sold by Bill Hader's acting.
• The bittersweet moment at the end between Jim and Gene after Barry's arrest. They've finally brought Janice's killer to justice, but at the end of the day she is still dead, and Jim is still left alone in an empty house.

Season 4

"yikes"

• Everything to do with Sally's return to Joplin and her interactions with her family, which will hit particularly close to home for any child of narcissistic parents. Her father means well, but isn't able to communicate with her effectively, is overly passive, and an enabler. Meanwhile, her mother is cold, dismissive, and emotionally abusive. She sees Sally's presence as an imposition and doesn't take what she's been through with Barry seriously at all. When Sally has a panic attack while in her car, she's more preoccupied with her drive-thru order than anything else. Even when the topic of Sam comes up, she is more disappointed in Sally for using Sam's name on her show than she is empathetic to her daughter for being a victim of domestic abuse.

"you're charming"

• The phone call between Barry and Hank. When Barry calls him and asks for his help in keeping Gene quiet, Hank refuses and confronts him on talking to the FBI. Things devolve into an enraged Barry exchanging insults with a calm, morose Hank before he hangs up on Barry, cutting him out of his life for good. While Hank is a gangster who has used him for his own purposes and even had tried to kill him before, he still genuinely liked Barry in the past and it's obvious that he's deeply upset and betrayed by Barry talking to the feds.
  • Hank's last words to him only cement it:
    Hank: "Why don't you enjoy hell, you murdering, self-centered, lying, fucking narcissistic piece of shit?"

"it takes a psycho"

• After learning of Barry's prison escape, Gene returns to his cabin and sleeps with a revolver at his side. When he is awakened by someone outside later that night, Gene fires through the door and runs off, while the camera pans outside to show that it was Leo, his own son.
• Hank has his own men and the Guatemalans killed by his former compatriots in the Chechen mob in a bid to save himself and Cristobal, which absolutely horrifies the latter. With his trust completely shattered, Cristobal calls it quits on their relationship while Hank begs him to stay, clearly knowing what comes next. After letting him go, a hitman escorts a broken Hank outside to show him a squad of Chechens standing over Cristobal's corpse.

"tricky legacies"

• While Barry has set himself up quite well in hiding, Sally's mental state is clearly deteriorating. She's stuck in a dead-end job as a waitress at a Greasy Spoon, with the brunette wig and Southern accent she uses while out in public the only outlet she has for her talents. At home, she's often drunk and rarely shows affection to Barry or their son, which combined with Barry's attempts to enforce a happy-family facade creates a very uncomfortable environment. It's clear she escaped with Barry more out of a lack of other options back in LA than out of genuine love, and has essentially paid for it with her life.

"wow"

• In a way, Barry's death. He's shot by Gene just as he had finally decided to turn himself in and do the right thing for once, perpetuating the circle of violence and throwing everything down the drain as his only chance to clear his name is now gone. In the end, Barry is buried at Arlington Cemetery with full honors, Gene is given a life sentence in prison for the murder of Barry & Janice and the Warner Bros movie goes ahead with the false account of events, forever destroying Gene's legacy and cementing Barry as a tragic hero.
• Gene has completely given up hope, locking himself in his room while reading news articles about him being the prime suspect in Barry's crimes while Tom tries to help and reach out to him. He takes out a gun from his vault, likely considering suicide only to hear Barry's voice as he comes to Gene's house looking for Sally and John. Shortly after, right as Barry decides to turn himself in to the police and take responsibility, Gene suddenly appears and shoots him, killing Barry with a shot to the head and sits down on the couch in utter silence with no emotion near Barry's corpse as he waits for the police to come and arrest him.
• NoHo Hank's death, as well. All alone and surrounded by the dead bodies of his and Fuches's men, Hank lies dying next to the statue of Cristobal and holds the statue's hand in his last moments.