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| Photo: HBO/Jordin Althaus |
Gene interrupts the class in the middle of their mirroring exercises (a la Harpo Marx and Lucille Ball) to tell them Ryan has died, and tells his devastated pupils to use the shocking news as inspiration for their acting before sending them home early--though he also makes sure to remind them this class is still on the clock. "Stepping away from the class, is in itself a lesson," he says. Gene is all about those coins.
On the way out everyone--or moreso Sally, given the speed at which she takes charge/bulldozes over her more introverted classmates--decides to hold a memorial for Ryan at their regular hangout Jake's and speak, sing and act out scenes in his honor. But before Barry can figure just how to incorporate of the death of his mark as a paint in his thespian toolbox, he gets a text from Fuches saying the Chechens may be trying to kill (or kloom, damn that text message Autocorrect) them for not taking out Ryan.
Fuches is ready to go to war and handle the situation--all based on his video game combat research--but Barry insists he leave town and he'll clean up the mess. Of course Barry really wants Fuches to get ghost so he can fully concentrate on Gene's class. However the Chechens have other plans, busting into the hotel room and bringing them back to boss Goran's garage, where he lays out the terms: do a job for us or Fuches dies. Well, actually Fuches was getting his teeth filed down but they were making too much racket and spoiling Goran's daughter slumber party. Damn crumbsnatchers always know how to ruin a good torture season.
Barry reluctantly agrees, promising Fuches he'll take care of the job before heading out to Ryan's memorial, which is about as cringe-worthy as you'd expect. It kicks off with one classmate explaining how Webster defines death like she's at a commencement cerermony and continues with others acting out auditions Ryan helped them with (cop number 2 was particularly riveting), singing and miming. Sally and Barry are up next to do a scene from Doubt until Ryan's father just has to go and act like a real person and shit, breaking down over his son's death. It's too much for Barry to take, as he heads for the exit with Sally trailing behind him.
"It's called being human. That's what acting is," Sally says after Barry explains the reason behind his walking out. "I don't know if I can do that," he answers. At this point Barry appears to view acting as a form of escape, a way to hide from rather than discover himself. But the longer he stays in the acting class and forms bonds, the harder it will become to do that. And, if the creepy stalker we see spying on he and Sally later that night is any indication, it'll become harder to keep his two lives from spilling over each other.
Other Thoughts:
--On the homicide investigation front, the police have the Chechen assassin's lipstick camera in custody, but due to Detective Moss lack of tech savvy, the device is locked for now.
--While she may not be tech savvy, Moss was the MVP of the night when it came to reads.
-On Detective Loche's divorce: He's a homicide detective and she's a human being. That shit don't last. If the department had wanted him to have a wife, they'd have issued him one. " Savage. On a more serious note, Moss' attitude is somewhat similar to Fuches, in that jobs dealing with directly with violence require an emotional distance that wreaks havoc on relationships.
--Sally clearly sees herself as the queen bee of the bunch, the undiscovered star destined to leave the others in the dust. I mean asking Barry if he wanted to come in to talk about why they shouldn't sleep together? That's some next-level narcissism.
--Sally may be the most vocal, but others in the class are also ambitious; peep the way two students make sure they put their best faces forward when they spot Ryan's manager in the audience.
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