Barry Season 1 Ep. 5 Recap: Chapter Five: 'Do Your Job'

Photo: HBO

"Sometimes you just have to shut up...do your fucking job." A seething Fuches offers this threat/advice to Barry after recommitting him to the raid on the Bolivians, and after telling him he'll have to kill Taylor--fellow ex-Marine and dudebro on steroids--because he knows too much.

"Do Your Job" tightens the screws on Barry from all sides, not only by Fuches' decision to double down on the raid,  but by forcing him to hear what the outside world thinks of his full-time gig.
It doesn't help that Barry has pushed away Sally, the only person he was forming a some sort of connection with. He tries to make amends for what happened at Natalie's party, but true to her nature, she gives him the polite brushoff, saying he needs to work through his toxic masculinity issues before they can even think about continuing a relationship. It makes sense Sally would pull back, because if Barry's daydream of family portraits and matching hideous father-son shirts is any clue, he is way more invested in what amounted to a one-night stand than she is. But her manner is so chilly, and she's so blind to her own flaws--her selfishness, emotional manipulation--it's hard to totally be on her side either.

But all the "will they or won't they" drama gets put on the backburner as Detective Moss passes out the blurry image of Barry clipping the Chechens to the class, which they of course critique for the lack of editing and airbrushing. Moss interviews Barry and he dutifully acts the part of normal dude, following protocol and giving her the fake names Fuches (who also turns in a fine performance as Mr. Ewing and Ramon) has instructed him give. In other words, doing his job.

Later, when Fuches orders for Taylor to be taken out, Barry objects, arguing Taylor's a Marine and they don't kill Marines, only bad guys. The scene reminds me of The Sopranos episode "From Where To Eternity," which also deals with violence and morality. Tony defends his occupation to Dr. Melfi by explaining he and the rest of his crew were soldiers, and soldiers don't go to hell. It's war. Like Tony, Barry has set up his own moral code to compartmentalize the violence he inflicts on others. And like Tony, when that code gets challenged, he lashes out. During a scene breakdown of Macbeth, the class unanimously declares the tragic protagonist a psycho, one whose soul is forever stained for committing murder. Barry quietly objects to this until his anger boils over and he screams at them; Gene unknowingly covers up the real reason behind his outburst by bringing up his military service, making most of them (save Sally--girl can climb on her high horse in a nanosecond) feel more sympathetic.

Until now, the acting class has largely been an escape for Barry. But Gene and his classmates have drawn a line in the sand, forcing him to face himself. Just as Tony was not in fact a soldier but a ruthless mob boss, Barry's no longer a Marine but a contract killer; he has to take responsibility for the choices he has made and continues to make. Though at the moment he isn't ready to do that, bailing out of the acting exercise to go back to hotel and have dinner in silence with Fuches. However twisted their bond is, Barry knows he won't be judged, and his justifications for doing what he does will be reinforced.

The same can be said for his new partner in crime. Taylor's all "fuck yeas" and fist bumps as Barry goes over their attack plan, and almost ruins everything when he roars "Leroy Jenkins!" and charges in to take out the last remaining Bolivians. Barry so busy marveling at his rah rah bullshit (or hanging back so Taylor can get lit up and he won't have to kill him himself) he gets knocked out by the business end of a gun, dreaming up another sitcom fantasy where he lectures his son on not lowering himself to fight a bully. He wakes up to find Taylor's handles business, and the two search the rest of the hideout and find a money stash. Taylor bends over the collect the loot, and will Barry shoot, is he gonna shoot, will he, will he...nope. Instead he takes Taylor to lunch the next day and introduces him to Fuches.

Our duo's now a trio.

Other Thoughts:

• If Taylor's gonna be a hitman, he's gonna have to the chill the fuck out and practice some damn discretion. I mean leaving 10,000 voice messages about killing the Bolivians? Thirsty much? But what do you expect of the guy who was the first one kicked out of a veteran reacclimation program.

• Natalie showed some backbone this week, standing up to Sally when she attempted to throw salt on her Lady Macbeth performance; it seemed to inspire the other students to confront Sally about her treatment of them, as they remind her of how she scooped up Natalie's crush Zach during last week's party ('cause Natalie wanted to be "adult" with him thank you very much). 

• Detective and Moss and Gene hooking up? Chile *quietly sips tea* But this ill-fated (oh trust, it's ill fated) tryst isn't distracting her from the task at hand, as she's still focused on the acting students despite Detective Loach's suggestion she move on. 

Those One Liners 'Tho

• "Be on the lookout for a man who no discernible features. He killed your friend."
• "What can I say man? I'm a gear head."
• "If I'm not Titus Andromicus I'm gonna burn this fucking place to the ground."
• "It's un-instructive to me."
• "Shakespeare whiffed it on this one."
• Sally: "What is this middle school?" Natalie: "No Sally, it's acting class!"