Barry Season 2 Ep. 7 Recap: 'Audition'

Photo: HBO

In the penultimate episode of its second season, Barry brings a simmering conflict to a boil while sliding in some satire on the mechanics of Hollywood.

Sally meets with the Mikes after her other rep Lindsay catches a bit of the play she's written about her abusive past. Her career prospects really appear to be on the upswing when she's told famous television producer Aaron Ryan wants her as a lead in his new series. However, in what feels like a razor sharp commentary on the entertainment industry's knack for taking potentially great, if not highly profitable, stories and twisting them into highly marketable drivel, what Ryan has in mind is far from Sally's vision.

What he pitches is Payback Ladies, where a trio of abused wives band together and become a suburban death squad, first murdering their husbands and then the husbands of other abused women (and possibly new girlfriends, because dust to sidechicks). The tagline? "It's that time of the month...for revenge." Thankfully Sally passes on that godawful idea. Unfortunately the Mikes aren't trying hear the legitimate reasons why Sally passed on the show--like how it takes the genuine pathos of her and other women's stories of domestic violence and turns them into male-fantasy revenge porn--and Lindsay doesn't stick up for her either, so she may be without representation.

Meanwhile Barry, who just happened to be sitting in the lobby waiting for Sally, catches Michael Cohen's eye, and lands an audition for a movie where the director will be present. No cattle call, no callbacks. All because he's 6'2. And a dude. Sally is flabbergasted to say the least, and at one point launches into a long speech that's equal parts frustrated artist, jealous, ego-driven rant and (sorta) supportive girlfriend.

Sally's play, at least what we've seen of it, is way better than the forgettable dudebro fest Barry's auditioning for. Yet Sally not only has to wrestle with revealing a dark part of her past publicly, but must consider if her personal truth will be taken as the absolute truth for all abused women, and whether her depiction of her story will be good for all women. Contrast her fears with Barry, who can portray a meathead who shits in a pie and not for a second have to think how it will affect the image of white guys. Later, Lindsay apologizes for her temporary lapse in judgement, making up for it by booking Sally and the rest of the class a bigger theater, one that will be filled with industry professionals when her play debuts.

Noho Hank's week was not so good. After being ratted out by Khazam, Hank and his men are carted onto a school bus and driven out to a remote location to meet their doom. Esther and Cristobal decide to go with fire, and begin pouring gasoline on the roof. Hank, certain this is the end, confesses he's not about this crime boss life. Mayrbek's basically like "fuck what you talkin' about," freeing himself and the rest of the men then fighting off Esther and her crew. Hank tries to save face, but the damage is done: his men no longer respect him, and Mayrbek is now de facto boss. Damn.

Meanwhile, this season's longstanding question--what will be the fallout of Barry killing Detective Janice Moss--is on the verge being answered. While waiting for his audition, Barry gets a call from Gene, explaining he won't be able to read with him because a private detective contacted him with new details about Janice's death. Of course it's Fuches, who leads Gene to the car and Janice's body, then calls the police pretending to be Gene and confessing to the murder. As Gene stares at his girlfriend's body, he can't see Fuches raising a loaded gun to his temple, and we don't know if he pulled the trigger because the screen cuts to black. Shit has just gotten irreparably real.