Barry’s back!

Barry (Sunday Night, HBO)

Barry returned last Sunday with the first two episodes of season 4.

The first episode updated the viewers on what happened after Barry was arrested.  Barry went to jail, where he was reunited with Fuches.  Fuches briefly became an FBI informant until Barry told him that he loved him, which led to Fuches not only stepping away from the FBI but also declaring that he was going to start his own prison gang.  Sally went back to Joplin and promptly got into a fight with her mother over the television show and its portrayal of Sally’s abusive ex.  Gene plotted to control how the story of his relationship with Barry would appear in the media.  Cristobal and NoHo Hank plotted to start a semi-legitimate business, selling sand to construction sites.  Directed, as all of this season will be, by Bill Hader, the first episode was full of surreal touches and it left me feeling rather unsettled.  Sitting in prison and only showing emotion when Sally briefly came by to visit and demand to know whether he had killed their dog, Barry appeared to have finally snapped.  He went as far as to taunt a guard into nearly beating him to death.  The show had its funny moments but, make no doubt, the first episode was all about tapping into Barry’s heart of darkness.

The second episode had a bit more of the show’s trademark bizarre humor.  Cristobal and NoHo Hank attempted to convince two rival crime families to join them in their sand enterprise.  In order to convince them, they arranged for a meeting at the happiest place on Earth …. Dave and Buster’s!  The meeting went well, up until NoHo Hank announced that freeing Barry from prison would be a part of the plan.  An upset Cristobal told NoHo Hank that his loyalty to Barry made him appear to be “soft.”  However,  Fuches then called NoHo Hank for prison and told him that Barry had decided to become an FBI informant.  A stunned NoHo Hank announced that Barry would have to die.

While that was going on, Gene finally gave an interview about his experiences with Barry but, being Gene, he couldn’t just sit down and answer questions.  Instead, he put together a one man show, one that actually turned out to be pretty good, even if Gene’s version of events was a bit self-serving.  Meanwhile, Sally has returned to Los Angeles and is trying to put the pieces of her life and her career back together.  Unfortunately, her career still hasn’t recovered from last season’s viral video scandal and, to top it all off, she is now known for being the girlfriend of a serial killer.

As for Barry …. well, Monroe wasn’t lying.  At the end of the second episode, it appeared that Barry has decided to work with the FBI!

What a wonderful way to start the fourth season!  This is the final season of Barry and I can’t wait to see how the story wraps up.  I have a feeling that there won’t be many happy endings.

Beavis and Butthead (Paramount Plus)

Barry’s not the only one to have returned this week.  These two morons, Beavis and Butthead, have returned as well.  This week, Beavis and Butthead ruined meditation for everyone and then they went hunting with Mr. Anderson and nearly got killed.  Of all the supporting characters on this show, Mr. Anderson is probably my favorite because he’s basically just a really old version of Hank Hill.  His World War II flashback was wonderfully odd.

Beef (Netflix)

Unfortunately, it’s been a long week so I’ve only had time to watch the first four episodes of this miniseries.  Ali Wong and Steven Yeun are both giving outstanding performances in this series about a road rage incident that spirals out of control.  I’m looking forward to finishing it up during this upcoming week.

Dynaman (Night Flight Plus)

I watched an episode of this Japanese series on Saturday morning.  A bunch of fish monsters were trying to take over the world.  Dynaman stopped them.  Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words so here’s a screenshot:

Farmer Wants A Wife (Wednesday Night, Fox)

The farmers are still not married.

Half Nelson (YouTube)

I reviewed Half Nelson here!

Hang Time (YouTube)

I have watched and written up reviews for several hours of Hang Time this week.  In fact, I’m nearly done with the show.  (My reviews of the show will be running through September.)  Read this week’s review here!

The Love Boat (Paramount Plus)

I wrote about The Love Boat here!

Survivor (Wednesday Night, CBS)

I recapped this week’s episode for the Reality TV Chat Blog!

Tulsa King (Paramount Plus)

I finally got around to watching the second episode of Tulsa King this week and I’m afraid the show still isn’t working for me.  I think it’s because Stallone’s character is a bit too aggressive.  Stallone is at his best when he’s playing either a dumb but likable mook (i.e., Rocky) or when he’s fighting for his survival, like in First Blood.  But when he’s the one who is actually barking out orders and intimidating innocent people, it’s just not as much fun.  Plus, there’s only so many times that any show can go to the “Old people sure are confused by technology” well before the joke starts to run dry.  That said, I’ve been told the show get better so I’ll stick with it and see what I think of the third episode.

Waco: The Aftermath (Sunday Night, Showtime)

This miniseries picks up where Showtime’s last Waco miniseries left off.  The Branch Davidian compound has been burned down.  David Koresh is dead.  The main FBI negotiator (Michael Shannon) feels guilty about what happened at the compound but he also fears that the stand-off is going to embolden the militia movement.  (And he’s right!)  Meanwhile, the surviving Davidians are being railroaded in court and treated as scapegoats for the failures of both Koresh and the government.  Things got off to a strong start on Sunday.  I look forward to seeing where this show ends up going.

Yellowjackets (Sunday Night, Showtime)

This week’s episode was intriguing.  I loved the scene where Shauna confessed to Callie.  I’m still worried about Walter and Misty though.  I can just see Walter getting on Misty’s nerves and getting poisoned as a result.  I’ll also say that, as much as I enjoy this show, I’m starting to get a bit tired of the whole Taissa thing.  The show need to either explain what’s going on with all that or just move on.