"ben mendelsohn" is the third episode of the third season of the American dark comedy crime drama television series Barry.
The series follows Barry Berkman, a hitman from Cleveland who travels to Los Angeles to kill someone but finds himself joining an acting class taught by Gene Cousineau, where he meets aspiring actress Sally Reed and begins to question his path in life as he deals with his criminal associates such as Monroe Fuches and NoHo Hank.
Meanwhile, Hank tries to convince his henchmen to avoid attacking Cristobal while Sally starts a press junket for her series.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.299 million household viewers and gained a 0.07 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
The episode received extremely positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances (especially Winkler), pacing, direction and character development.
Barry (Bill Hader) and Gene (Henry Winkler) are in the makeup trailer preparing for their new roles in the TV series Laws of Humanity.
At the Chechen heroin operation, Batir (JB Blanc) contemplates killing Cristobal (Michael Irby) in retaliation for the Bolivian raid.
Sally (Sarah Goldberg) and Katie (Elsie Fisher) start the press junket for Joplin, conducting interviews with E!
Sally is surprised by the interviews' short lengths and irrelevant questions, such as who will be the next Spider-Man, for which she suggests Ben Mendelsohn.
His caretaker Anna (Marika Domińczyk) tries to convince him to abandon the idea, using an old fable about forgiveness, but Fuches misses the point of the story.
There are still surprising turns in this week's descent into assassin-actor delusion with reversals and setups for future action.
"[6] Ben Rosenstock of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Barry has always shown that at its best, acting can be a tool for catharsis — a way to exorcise your inner demons, to combine empathy with self-expression.