Barry Season 3 Episode 6 Review: 710N

This Barry review contains spoilers.

Barry Season 3 Episode 6

Everyone is out to get Barry Berkman, or at least that what it seems like in “710N.” Fuches’ spiteful revenge plot looks like it’s reaching each person that’s been impacted by Barry’s actions through the first two seasons. As a result, the back half of this season is almost like the plot of a John Wick movie, if instead of equally trained assassins, regular everyday Joe’s were trying to take down the legendary hitman. It’s a chaotic way to shake up the status quo on Barry and it’s yielding fruitful results.

The big chase scene that takes up the last 10 minutes of the episode is another wonderfully composed action sequence in a series which has been good for a few per season. There are comedic bits sprinkled throughout, like Barry’s absent-minded singing and the unfortunate outcomes that befall most of the motocross squad, but it’s still tense, white-knuckle stuff. When Barry gets on the highway that gives the episode its namesake, the camera is situated far behind him, giving scope to the speed, space, and danger of it all. A lot of the camera tricks remind me of the crowd-pleasing chase from this year’s The Batman. It rules. 

The episode also continues the season-long trend of not letting the humor take a backseat to the driving plot or the darker aspects of the story. There are some spectacular bits in this episode, beyond Barry’s hilarious ongoing use of talk to text in public places. All our main characters find themselves seeking wisdom from Mitch, the beignets guy, which simultaneously skewers L.A.’s flavor of the week food trends and offers a snapshot of the navel-gazing nature of our leads. Then there’s Fuches’ storyline, which finds him shot after running afoul of the leader of the motocross crew. As he lies dying in outskirts of L.A., he’s picked up by a rural family that nurses him to health. Once again, it appears that Fuches has found a quiet, fulfilling shot at a second chance, and just as he’s about to commit to this peaceful new life, he catches a glimpse of the Variety article about Barry and Gene and abandons the idyllic situation just like he did in Chechnya. 

The episode begins with Albert putting the pieces together about what happened with Bolivians and Chechens. He realizes that only someone with a military background could have pulled off the Bolivian bombing, which brings his mind back to Barry. He goes to visit Chris’ widow to see if she may have information about Barry, but she only reveals that Barry’s gotten interested in acting. We’re led to believe that this encounter encourages her to reach out to Barry about a veteran meet-up, and Barry spends the episode trying to attend while being pursued by Taylor’s relatives.

When he finally arrives unscathed, he’s tricked into eating some poisioned food before it’s revealed that Chris’ widow is another person that has been contacted by “Kenneth Goulet.” It’s a hell of a surprise, but we know Barry is going to find a way out one way or another. Out of all of the people looking for revenge, Jim Moss, Janice’s father who contacts Fuches during this episode, seems like the one who will put up the best effort to take Barry down.

Meanwhile, Sally is offered a chance to write on the horrible Medusa-based show by a Banshee executive played by SNLhttps://www.denofgeek.com/saturday-night-live/ alum Vanessa Bayer. Bayer is pitch perfect here at continuing Barry’s satirical look at the streaming age, communicating her desires for the show with exclamatory sounds and funny faces. It’s seriously funny. Then Gene is offered his own chance at hosting an acting masterclass that will be simultaneously streamed, and he decides to use it as opportunity to try to work with Annie and mend their relationship. She’s more than dubious, but Gene claims he’ll let her keep all of the money from the endeavor. Maybe all the second chance talk that Barry through at Gene really is having a positive impact.

While Barry continues to juggle multiple balls in the air, this episode felt much more focused, with more connective tissue and a big action set-piece to bring things back to Barry. The idea of turning the families of all of Barry’s victims into a relentless revenge army is so smart and I can’t wait to see just how much more tangled it all becomes. Knowing the Bill Hader and Alec Berg have a fourth season already mapped makes this development more exciting, because it portends things will just get more out of hand from here.