BARRY Season Three: Five Quick Thoughts on “ben mendolsohn”
Episode Three of the third season of BARRY turned out to be more of a table-setting episode, which I think sometimes gets interpreted as boring, which the show couldn’t be even if tried. What we have here with “ben mendolsohn” is all the various conflicts between our different sets of characters being clarified and heightened. So the whole episode feels like a teakettle heating up without the catharsis of a whistle. But we have five whole episodes for that.
For now, let’s focus on a couple of things that stood out tonight:
Stuck in the middle. So, I just figured out where I know Katie from. I’m sure everyone’s already ahead of me on this, but I’m slow, so I only tonight figured out that she is of course played by Elsie Fisher from EIGHTH GRADE. Anyway, Katie is finding herself in the midst of a plot line that I think is really timely, and an honest extension of what Barry and Sally’s relationship really is.
Because Katie is shaken by Barry freaking out on Sally in her office, and it is proving to alter forever her introduction to the world of show business. She refuses a ride to the premiere from Sally and gets reprimanded by Natalie as a result, She opens up to Natalie about what happened, and is astonished when Natalie tries to rationalize, explaining he was just having a bad day, etc.
And when she has to lie about how great their relationship is on the press junket? Its’ heartbreaking. And maybe a little on the nose. But honest in its portrayal in how we cover others’ bad behavior in order to not create a bigger tempest.
I’m often intrigued by smaller characters who have to deal directly with the damage being done by the bigger characters around them (Sally Draper is, no lie, one of my favorite characters on MAD MEN). Needless to say, I’m all in how where Katie goes from here,
The GOAT. For as contemptible as Fuches has bad all series long, there’s some part of me that kind of wishes he could just leave well enough alone and retire on that Chechen goat farm with his new girlfriend, who seems to like him beyond all reason. Alas, revenge is a powerful currency in the BARRYverse, and the fact that Barry claims to have reconciled with Gene cuts him to his core. Jealousy has never sat well with Fuches, and he’s now in danger of his soul being condemned to the bottom of a raging sea.
Speaking of Barry and Gene….
Pushed to the brink. I said out loud more than once tonight to my wife, “somebody is going to bitch-slap Barry if he’s not careful.” He is trying so hard to be chill and let bygones be bygones that, for the first time in the show’s history, he’s actually pissing me off. I actually gasped when he implied that both he and Gene had made mistakes. So when Gene does indeed punch him in the face on set in the middle of their scene (ironically, a scene between a broken widower and the pharmaceutical rep trying to make amends for jacking up the price of his wife’s medicine), screaming at Barry to leave he and his family alone? I totally get it.
The price is that his “second chance” at a career, already on shaky ground, appears to be totally blown. Although I will point out, characters have gotten bookings and careers on this show before by completely improvising or doing the opposite of what they were supposed to do. So, who knows? Maybe Gene’s career is just starting.
“ben mendolsohn” The title of this episode intrigued me for weeks. What? Why such a specific reference? Did they book Ben as himself for a movie or TV show one of the characters would be on? Would the beloved Australian actor be getting involved in the loopy world of Barry Berkman?
It turned out to be what I can only assume is a troll job, a complete red herring. “Ben Mendolsohn” ends up being Sally’s weak answer to an unexpected nonsense question on her press junket for JOPLIN; “who do you think should play the next Spider-Man?” That’s it. Nothing more than a reference to how overwhelming and absurd junkets really are (Katie’s answer of “Harry Styles” makes a little more sense, but only just a little). I can’t tell if BARRY is up its own butt a little with their episode titles this season, or if Ale Berg and Bill Hader are just honestly and truly enjoying the ride with their esoteric connections to the episode in question. But I respect it either way.
And honestly? I’d watch a Ben Mendolsohn Spider-Man movie. Why not?
Another great D’Arcy Carden night. Natalie lightly blowing on Sally’s armpits was inspired. Brava.