HALLOWEEN SCENERY FOR TRACING SERIES

Take a scene like the one that caps Episode 3 of this final season of Barry, “You’re Charming.” Toward the end of the episode, Barry is being briefed by witness protection agents in a grungy office bathed in ugly fluorescent lights after agreeing to rat out on his connections to the criminal underworld in exchange for his relative freedom. The two use an unfussy but meticulous visual style that works to further highlight the odd minutiae of their characters and situations, both comedic and horrifying, oftentimes within the same breath. The broadest similarity the two share is in their setting: Both make great, distinctive use of Southwestern/Californian locales, turning the arid dry heat and stark landscapes and interiors into baffling fever dreams. No, it doesn’t have quite the same bewildering effect as when The Return included a scene where Michael Cera cameos doing a Marlon Brando impression for a few minutes (among countless other strange digressions), but it does capture the same, very specific vibe of looming dread and bizarre absurdity that defined the show. However, week after week, I continued to identify within Season 4 of Barry that same distinct makeup. Up until now, the only other production that I’ve ever felt captured that same abnormality is S. Thus, it’s ever so perceptible when another piece of art recalls the eerie strangeness of The Return, rare as it is.

HALLOWEEN SCENERY FOR TRACING SERIES

Even so, purely on a style and aesthetic level, The Return saw Lynch charting new territory for his unmistakable, often alienating methodology by creating distinct digital abstractions and moods to revitalize his and Mark Frost’s beloved ‘90s murder-mystery series for the age of streaming television. Most people use it to describe anything that has even the vaguest hint of surrealism or that pushes toward the avant-garde, but is that all his films are? Because the fact that they’re also often empathetic, spiritual explorations of the human experience in the face of horror and tragedy seems just as inextricable from his cinematic voice. It’s difficult to pin down what exactly that even means most of the time. People throw the term “Lynchian” around like it’s nothing, constantly. I realize that comparing anything to Lynch is immediately a bit loaded. But there’s one series in particular that I couldn’t get off my mind for the final eight episodes: David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return. Hader leans more into his influences than ever before in the final season of Barry and coalesces them into something captivating-he’s spoken himself about the impact of works from directors like the Coen Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson. In interviews, Hader casually reveals his immense cinematic knowledge, which leaks its way into his own work (you should check out his visit to the Criterion closet). Now, he has an entire HBO series serving as a rock-solid resume for his directorial acumen, one that proudly asserts his own bold perspective. In 2018 when Barry initially premiered, Hader was basically known as one of the better SNL alums who occasionally popped up in a reliably funny role. That stretch was directed entirely by the show’s star and co-creator/co-writer (with Alec Berg): Bill Hader. Over the course of its four seasons, it would escalate its deadpan, ironic humor by intermingling it with forthright despair and formal experimentation- Barry is never not funny, but the laughs carry an uneasy weight by the final stretch. What started as a 30-minute dark comedy built on the simple, hooky premise of a cold-hearted hit man trying to escape a life of killing by getting involved with a local LA theater arts program slowly moved away from its simple, though effective, beginnings into something much stranger and difficult to pin down the longer it went on.

I’m not sure anyone could have guessed where Barry would end up in its final season.

Halloween scenery for tracing