BARRY: CHAPTER ONE: MAKE YOUR MARK {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The first in this dark comedy series about a disaffected Marine turned hitman who finds unexpected joy in an amateurish L.A. acting class. In this episode, Barry Berkman returns home after a contract killing and is greeted by his family "friend" and handler Monroe Fuches, who offers him a lucrative job with the up-and-coming Chechen mob in Los Angeles. Hoping the large payout will get him closer to finally ending his career of murder, Barry flies to California and meets with grim crime boss Goran Pazar and his oddly cheerful lieutenant "NoHo" Hank, who instruct him to kill Ryan Madison, a fitness trainer who has begun an affair with Goran's wife. Barry tails Ryan to an acting class and watches as another student, Sally Reed, attempts to perform an emotional scene and, after failing to "create a life" onstage, is driven to tears by instructor Gene Cousineau's harsh criticism – but then uses her distress to improve her acting, prompting Gene to quickly apologize. Barry is alarmed when Ryan, mistaking him for another student, quickly enlists him as his partner for his brief scene from the movie "True Romance," but Barry finds himself surprisingly moved by the applause and praise.
Sally, Ryan and the other students happily drag Barry out to Residuals, a bar for aspiring actors, where they immediately welcome him into their circle. Ryan advises him to change his stage name to "Barry Block," and when Barry drives Ryan home at Sally's behest. Ryan offers him a copy of Gene's book and warmly offers to assist him in preparing a monologue. Flustered, Barry doesn't notice NoHo Hank observing the friendly scene, but when Fuches later questions him, Barry admits that the class "made him feel really good about himself" and wonders if acting, not killing, might be his true "purpose." Fuches quickly dissuades him from his dream, ordering to "stop thinking and kill Ryan," and a conflicted Barry skips the next acting class. He approaches Cousineau, who agrees that he seems to have no talent – but Barry then delivers a vulnerable speech about how his post-Afghanistan trauma and depression led him to accept jobs killing "bad guys," leading to a moral and existential crisis, and Cousineau, assuming his monologue to be fictional, changes his mind and accepts him into the class. Pleased, Barry then discovers that Ryan has already been executed by Chechen killers, and he is forced to gun down his rivals. Absconding to a nearby diner, Barry tells the waitress that he, too, is an actor.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: November 30, 1999 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:30:24
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 133838
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Drama; Contract killers; U S Marine Corps; Acting - Study and teaching
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV series, 2018-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Bill Hader … Executive Producer, Created by, Director, Writer
- Alec Berg … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Aida Rodgers … Producer
- Megan Murphy … Co-Producer
- Kris Baucom … Co-Producer
- Amy Solomon … Associate Producer
- Alexandra L. Thomas … Arsenal Producer
- David Wingo … Music by
- Bill Hader … Cast, Barry Berkman / Barry Block
- Stephen Root … Cast, Monroe Fuches
- Sarah Goldberg … Cast, Sally Reed
- Glenn Fleshler … Cast, Goran Pazar
- Anthony Carrigan … Cast, NoHo Hank
- Henry Winkler … Cast, Gene Cousineau
- Tyler Jacob Moore … Cast, Ryan Madison
- Darrell Britt-Gibson … Cast, Jermaine Jefrint
- D'Arcy Carden … Cast, Natalie Greer
- Andy Carey … Cast, Eric
- Rightor Doyle … Cast, Nick Nicholby
- Alejandro Furth … Cast, Antonio Manuel
- Kirby Howell-Baptiste … Cast, Sasha Baxter
- Mo Anouti … Cast, Thick Neck
- Dennis Keiffer … Cast, Shooter
- Melissa Villaseñor … Cast, Waitress