tricky legacies
"tricky legacies" is the fifth episode of the fourth 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.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by an estimated 0.279 million household viewers and gained a 0.07 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.
The family regularly listens to megachurch sermons online, and Barry often highlights bad deeds that figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi committed, believing this will eventually help John see him as good.
Barry discovers the mitt in John's room and, concerned about being seen at a public game, shows him death incidents in little league baseball to dissuade him from playing.
Sally sleeps with John in the bathtub while Barry stands guard outside with his gun, hearing only the faint sound of youths laughing and running away, and stays vigilant until the morning.
At a Warner Bros. office, studio PA Josie (Annie Chang) is surprised to find a bearded Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler), who was reported missing and presumed dead since Barry's escape, having fled the country after accidentally shooting his son Leo.
Returning to her house, Sally is disheartened to see that Natalie (D'Arcy Carden) has found immense success with her BanShe sitcom Just Desserts, now nearing its finale.
In April 2023, the episode's title was revealed as "tricky legacies" and it was announced that series creator and lead actor Bill Hader had written and directed it.
The writers wanted to explore Barry's dream of having a family with Sally, preferring to skip the time spent on the run as they deemed it "uninteresting.
"[2] The writers settled on a 8-year time jump, which would line up with the age of John, as well as introducing the aspect of the biopic, which would serve as a catalyst for the characters.
[2] Originally, the episode would revolve around all main characters of the series, but Bill Hader thought it would be interesting if they focused solely on Barry and Sally, as "it'd be nice to just live in the jump for a second.
"[2] Sarah Goldberg was excited about the prospect of the episode, explaining she asked Hader "Can we please go like full Gena Rowlands' Woman Under the Influence/Opening Night?
The doubling of characters and resetting identities through a filter of filth and decay evokes Twin Peaks' final episode, when Dale Cooper awakes in Odessa, Texas, in a seemingly different reality.
"[11] Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone wrote, "All of this is interesting to some degree, but 'Tricky Legacies' does too good a job of making us appreciate the misery and boredom of the life these two fugitives have built for themselves.
In addition to the time-jump, this fits into another prestige TV trend: the departure episode, which either focuses on relatively minor characters, or else deviates wildly from the usual format.
This one, though, was a tough sit: making its glum points again and again, until I was incredibly relieved to see the action cut back to Los Angeles for a glimpse of a bearded Gene Cousineau returning to town to get involved with a planned Barry Berkman biopic.
"[12] Ben Rosenstock of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Except for one scene near the end, 'Tricky Legacies' takes place entirely outside of Los Angeles, immersing us in a world that looks and sounds different from what we're used to on Barry.
The site wrote, "Goldberg has been wowing us for four seasons now with her work as ruthlessly ambitious actress Sally on HBO's pitch-black hitman comedy.
