'Barry' struggles to understand 'what he did wrong' in season 4

Barry is back on TV screens for the final time with season 4. Season 4 of the HBO series sees Barry, played by Bill Hader struggling to understand what he did wrong.

Creator and protagonist of the show, Bill Hader details Barry’s mental workings as he gets accustomed to life in jail. Speaking to Variety about the first few episodes, Bill Hader reveals what’s going on in Barry’s head.

“He doesn’t understand what he did wrong. It’s kind of like your dad just turned you in to the police. He’s in a lot of denial throughout the season, and then as the two people he really holds onto — Cousineau and Sally — ostracize him, he becomes a feral animal. He gets really angry. It spins out, and he’s just left with himself.”

Barry wants to change but he’s struggling with weight of his past. Hader reveals that Barry is confronted with the choices of either accepting who he is or working on himself.

“It’s like if you go to therapy, and learn, ‘Oh wow, I do this, I do that. I should work on that.’ And just because you’re hyper-aware of your issues doesn’t mean they go away; you still have to manage them. And I think Barry just got tired of managing them. There’s a lot of pride there, a lot of id. ‘I want this. Why can’t I have this?’ If he was in therapy or if he had friends who were real with him, they’d be like, ‘If you want to get this, you might have to act this way. Taking responsibility, changing your behavior.’ That’s too hard for for him.”

“And for people! As you get older — I’ve seen it with people very close to me — you have a choice, whether it’s to better yourself or just go, “Hey man, life’s short. This is who I am. Take it or leave it.” In Season 3 he got to this other place. Call it selfishness.”

Barry is created by Bill Hader and Alec Berg, and first aired in 2018. The show follows the story of Barry Berkman, a hitman who goes to Los Angeles to carry out a job but ends up enrolling in an acting class taught by Gene Cousineau. Through his experiences in the class, Barry starts to question his life choices and tries to leave his criminal past behind. 

However, his past actions continue to haunt him and he struggles to escape his former life as a killer.