Commentary: How Barry Lost Its Comedy

Now that Barry has concluded, it’s worth going back and looking at the show’s evolution from beginning to end. At the start, it was difficult to pin down exactly what Barry was. Bill Hader‘s inclusion in the project made it come off as comedy, which was pretty evident from the first episode. It also touched upon action, crime, and even some dramatic elements. That first season created a lot of humorous incidents where the stakes for the characters weren’t nearly as high as they would be in years to come. Of course, that debut run obviously had some thrilling and suspenseful moments, but it was nowhere near what was coming along the horizon.

Over the course of the next two and then finally three seasons, Barry’s tone shifted. It more or less remained true to those initial elements: drama, crime, and comedy. However, the levels in which those three elements would be included varied wildly depending on the season and even the episode. As the series’s status quo remained intact — Barry going to acting class while everyone was unaware of his criminal activities — the stakes wouldn’t nearly be as high until Barry was ultimately arrested at the end of the third season. For the fourth season, things changed entirely.

The comedy was still there. It just switched places with the character drama, which was moved front and center to the point where entire episodes would go by without any truly humorous moments. Things had become too real for Barry and his family. The wheels of justice were closing in around him and the moments for levity were few and far between. The show ended on a profound arc of characterization that wasn’t inevitable when the show started. By analyzing the journey this show took from its first episode to its last is interesting in how the dynamics of its tone evolved over time.

Barry is now streaming on Max.