Barry (Season 4), Episode 4 ‘It Takes a Psycho’ Recap & Ending Explained: While inching closer to the end, ‘Barry’ is getting incredibly intense, dark, and as unpredictable as a narrative can get. It is fair to say that every episode is nearly as exciting as ‘ronny/lily’ from the second season. While the previous episode hinted at Barry Berkman’s prison break, it also showed interesting developments in the lives of other characters from the series. Sally accepted her fate and became an acting coach. Gene confessed to Jim and Tom that he spoke with the reporter about Barry.
The latest episode titled ‘it takes a psycho’ shows the aftereffects of Barry’s breakout on other characters’ lives. While Sally coaches her new student for her acting gig, Hank makes a life-altering decision about his business with Cristobal.
Spoilers ahead.
Barry (Season 4), Episode 4 Recap
Episode 4: it takes a psycho
The new episode begins with a helicopter flying overhead the prison, heading out in search of Barry Berkman (Bill Hader). Amidst the sound of police sirens, Fuches (Stephen Root) is beaten by the police staff since he was shouting about Bill’s assassination inside the prison. The Warden questions how he got the assassins inside the jail. He has no answer, and he cannot respond either while being beaten up, senselessly. He keeps getting beaten and returns with heavy bruises.
On the outside, Tom (Fred Melamed) and Leo (Andrew Leeds) decide to keep Gene (Henry Winkler) inside an outstation house and cut his communication with the outside world. It is the same house where his ex-girlfriend, Janice (Paula Newsome) was shot dead. Gen tries to convince Leo to get him out considering all the stuff he did to protect his family. Gene asks about ordering from Coral Tree Café. Leo just scoffs. What else can he do to his father’s childlike behavior?
Meanwhile, the police cars arrive outside Gene’s house and bump into each other. It is another example of how Barry’s writing tries to break our conventional archetypes. Anyhow, Jim (Robert Wisdom) parks his car on the other side of the road and tells the commanding officer that Gene has already left. The officer informs him about Barry’s breakout. He believes Barry will possibly try to kill Gene and requests Jim not to kill Barry if he happens to catch the killer before them. Jim says he can’t promise that.
NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) and Cristobal Sifuentes (Michael Irby) gather their new partner crew in the sand mafia business. The couple treats them with booze and karaoke, almost like how corporate treat parties work. Cristobal is angry that Barry’s assassination did not work out, though the crew’s joy makes him fill with joy. There’s a gleam in Hank’s eyes that he does not notice just then.
While the employees relish the joy of this party, Cristobal tells Hank that he should focus on what he accomplished instead of wasting his energy on thinking about Barry. Hank feigns agreement and asks all these ex-gang members to follow him to another dome-shaped place, filled with sand to the brim. He brings them right to the centre and clicks a selfie. Then he gets out and asks Cristobal to follow him.
Unfortunately, Cristobal stays back with the crew and gets caught in the murder trap like the rest of them. He keeps shouting Hank’s name, hoping his beau will come to save him. Soon after, he gets pulled out of the sand and regains consciousness only to find the Chechen gang leaders standing in front of him. Turns out, Hank joined hands with his Chechen colleagues to get back the control of entire LA.
Sally (Sarah Goldberg) joins her protégé, Kristen for her movie shoot. She tries to be supportive by helping Kristen rehearse lines before going on the set. Kristen refuses to rehearse and walks up to the set, anxious, and unprepared. Sally follows her and finds Sian Heder directing this movie. She decides to use this opportunity to connect with this Oscar-winning writer-director. She says how much she loved CODA. ‘I could cry just thinking about it’, she says.
Sian indirectly complains about how, instead of working on a deeply personal story like CODA, she is stuck with doing some franchise movie with models in Halloween costumes. Her words, not mine! Sally feigns excitement. It’s clear she wants to be on the good side of this director and rekindle her own professional career.
Meanwhile, Kristen struggles to remember her lines from the script and cannot emote either. So, she tells ‘Cut’ by herself. Maybe because it is her first gig, she isn’t aware that only the director can call for a cut. Alas, she storms off from the set, angry at herself, and Sally follows her. She even misses the call from her past agent, Lindsay. Besides Sally, Sian and her AD also follow Kristen and try to cheer up her spirits. Sally guides Kristen to understand her character’s motivations to be a better judge of how she would react in such a traumatic situation of a sacrifice. But all Kristen can think of as her sacrifice is dating a 5-foot-3-inch guy!
Anyhow, Kristen starts to rehearse her dialogue. Sally cuts Kristen midway and starts saying those lines herself. But for Sally, reaching the soul of her character is a cakewalk. She says those lines with genuine emotion and tries to outshine her protégé, in front of an Oscar-winning writer-director. Sian finds Sally’s acting, unreal. However, she still wants it mounted on Kristen’s face. So, it suddenly dawns upon Sally that, no matter what, she will never be able to replace a picture-perfect actress like Kristen.
While getting out of the set, Kristen’s agent tells Sally to call him later. He appreciates her hustle of outshining her student and offers a way back into the career. Sally does not respond with a clear yes or no. But she seems to have already made up her mind. She walks back to Kristen’s vanity van to learn that Barry’s out of Jail. Kristen offers her company for the night considering the danger to Sally’s life. Sally says she will be fine, while the helicopter sounds play in the background. Maybe it is the Feds genuinely suspecting Sally to be their path to Barry. Maybe it is a terrifying look into Sally’s mental state (which makes her think that the helicopters are hovering over her head). Nevertheless, Sally decides to return home on her own.
Barry (Season 4), Episode 4 Ending Explained
Where does Barry go once he escapes the prison?
Hank makes a silent-partner deal with the Chechen gang and Cristobal isn’t on board with it. Hank says that he will convince Cristobal. He realizes that Cristobal hasn’t said a single word since the incident. So, he tries to talk Cristobal into his deal with the old mates. But Cristobal can’t digest the fact that Hank betrayed the trust of all his sand business employees and agreed to perform a cold-blooded murder.
Hank makes an attempt to justify but fails to convince him. As a result, Cristobal leaves the house in the hope of never seeing Hank again. Hank does not want him to leave. ‘You know too much’, he keeps repeating. Cristobal insists on leaving. So with a heavy heart, Hank walks back to the house and closes the door. He tries to control his tears while Cristobal gets murdered by the Chechens.
Tom calls Gene to tell him about Barry’s breakout. He believes Gene will be safe in this house. But Tom’s words of comfort do not work on Gene and he starts freaking out. He retrieves a gun, hoping to gun down Barry in case he comes there. Later at night, he senses a movement outside the door. Before the person could speak anything, Gene fires the bullets. Unfortunately, he kills Leo (his estranged son for years), who had come there only to share something from Coral Tree Café.
Meanwhile, Jim stands outside Sally’s place and notices her walking inside. Sally already had figured out that Barry would come there. She calls out his name and he emerges from the dark. Before he could make a case for himself, Sally says, ‘Let’s go’. He is genuinely surprised by how she did not need to be convinced.
Cut to – we see two young boys fighting with each other in a barren desert. The father of one of those boys stops their scuffle and asks the other to return home. ‘He has never heard of call of duty’, the boy says to his father. That’s why, the other boy got angry and hit him. Anyhow, the other boy walks back to his house, takes a bottle of beer from the fridge and places it on his wound. A much-older Barry stands up from his chair to tell a much older Sally that he will talk with their son.
So, ‘it takes a psycho’ becomes yet another terrifying look into the mind of psychopaths. The title almost screams at us – ‘It takes a psycho…to know one.’ Besides the poignant exploration of their psyche, the writing also seems to make a point.
It does not want people to antagonize the poor souls destroyed by psychopaths. It does not want people be so invested in Barry to not understand the utter cruelty and darkness on his path. Besides, its endlessly fascinating thematic explorations, what strikes out as the most impressive is its ability to present Barry’s terror even without his presence throughout the episode. Kudos, director Bill Hader!
