NoHo Hank & Barry Deserve More Praise

Paying tribute to one of the greatest shows / villain combos of all time...

Allow me to make one absolute doozy of a confession here…

I didn’t actually start watching Barry until its final season was in full flow.

Yes, I know, I messed up there big time.

Anyway, I ended up binge-watching the entire series before watching the final few episodes of Season 4. And, once that was done, I then went back and watched the entire show from start to finish in about three nights.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a series like it, and I certainly haven’t come away from a show feeling that blown away before.

It is hard to put into words just how compelling a show Barry was, and how it consistently hit it out of the park when it came to perfectly mixing side-splitting comedy with intense, terrifying drama that had you out of your seat let alone on the edge of it.

Barry managed to succeed in its mission of being a remarkable bitter and twisted Hollywood satire, while also becoming one of the most brilliantly entertaining and yet overlooked shows on TV. You can’t help but think how much more deserved attention and praise Barry would have garnered were it not for the fact it had to compete with the juggernaut that was Succession every single week throughout its run.

But, for me, of all the heavyweight shows we’ve been treated to recently in what has been an epic run to end all epic runs - House Of The Dragon, The Last of Us, Ted Lasso and Succession - Barry stands alone as the greatest of them all.

It certainly entertained me the most.

The entire premise of the show - a torn hitman who heads to Hollywood and becomes an actor but can’t quite fully get away from his blood-stained, murdering past - was an absolute home run of an idea and I can’t quite believe nobody had thought of it before.

The writing from Season 1 all the way through to the show’s finale was just breathtaking, and kudos to the exceptional Bill Hader who not only starred in the series, but also directed every single episode of Season 4 while his fingerprints can be found all over the writing and creative process throughout the entire run of Barry.

Scenes like the one below prove that not only was the writing on Barry breathtakingly brilliant, but the acting from each of the leads on the show was also masterful.

The acting here from Sarah Goldberg - who did a wonderful job of portraying Sally and all of her painful flaws - was just sublime and this is one of the magical, awe-inspiring monologues I have ever seen on TV. Sarah acted the shit out of this and it was a prime example of just how herculean the writing was on this show.

Also, special mention to Hader again for his delivery of the line that bookends that monologue. It brought some light relief to what was otherwise an emotional and intense moment. And that perhaps best sums up Barry - a show that was able to sprinkle in some comedy gold amidst a whole heap of darkness.

Another fine example of the exceptional writing littered throughout this show came early in Season 1 when the acting class are told about the death of Ryan, and everyone responds in utter shock and disbelief. Apart from Barry, who mimics Sally’s reaction and it was yet another instance of some light being mixed in with the dark.

The same can be applied to the open to Season 3 where Barry is chowing down some food in the middle of nowhere, and all you can hear is someone - who we later come to know as Jeff - pleading for forgiveness and, to be real, for their life. Another guy then comes into the picture, loudly declaring he wants to cut off the pleading man’s eyelids. Barry just nonchalantly goes about his business in the midst of all this, before casually walking over and shooting both men after the second guy admitted he changed his mind about killing Jeff. In the middle of Jeff explaining the reasons why the change of heart, Barry puts a bullet in both guys’ heads and then walks off, screaming “There’s no forgiving Jeff!” before the TV cuts to that iconic Barry opening. It was the coolest, guttiest, most typically Bill Hader way to open a season, and the way the show made you constantly change your mind about what was going to happen was just one of the plethora of things that has cemented Barry as an all-time historically great show.

Henry Winkler did an outstanding job as Gene Cousineau, the egocentric acting teacher who eventually kills Barry in the only ending that made sense for the show. There are some great shows that fail to stick the landing when it comes to bringing its run to a conclusion, but not Barry. That was one hell of a fitting ending. And, by the way, the two time jumps we experienced in Season 4 - one midway through and then the one at the end - were both brilliantly done and actually helped to elevate the story being told. Again, time jumps can be a tricky thing to navigate on TV, but Barry executed both sequences perfectly and then some.

Oh, and Stephen Root was born to play the role of Monroe Fuches. What an interesting, fundamentally flawed but fun character. His epic heel turn in Season 4 and ultimate redemption was perfectly played out too.

But, for me, as much as Barry the show was underrated, the character of NoHo Hank - superbly, gracefully, impeccably portrayed by the spellbinding Anthony Carrigan - was the real star of the show for me.

Carrigan deserves all of the accolades, all of the awards and all of the praise in the world for bringing NoHo Hank to life - one of the most unique and simply easy to love characters in TV history.

NoHo Hank instantly added some much-needed comedic relief to Barry right off the bat, a wannabe crime boss who craved nothing else but to be loved and who saw through all of Barry’s red flags. His friendship with Barry and constant desire to seek him out and protect him was pure bromance goals. NoHo Hank easily morphed into the fan favorite of the show because of his hysterical one-liners, his irresistible on-screen charisma and, of course, his wild, whacky and very, very out-there wardrobe that transformed him into one of TV’s all-time great fashion icons.

If there were a Mount Rushmore for TV’s greatest fashionistas, NoHo Hank would firmly be entrenched as one of the four.

It is shocking to think, then, that the loveable Chechen mobster was originally meant to be killed off at the end of the very first episode. Thank God Bill Hader had a change of heart.

The phenomenal Carrigan ensured that NoHo Hank stole the show every single time he was on screen, and he quickly morphed into the role of demigod of TV villains despite not really fitting neatly into the stereotypical mold of what a villain is supposed to be.

NoHo Hank was a violent guy with lofty aspirations of ruling the crime world, but yet he is softly-spoken, polite and owns a heart of gold to boot. It is hard not to root for such a multifaceted character like Hank.

Oh, and the Chechen accent with a hint of SoCal just helps to elevate every single line that is delivered by Carrigan.

This scene, for me, is my favorite NoHo Hank scene of all time. It just has a little bit of everything that makes Hank so great and his interactions with Barry were always so, so fun to watch.

Also, the way NoHo Hank describes his army as “sucking balls” and then digs out his sidekick who has just been shot in the arm was one of a slew of highlights of that scene alone. The line “if I suck balls you are king of suckballs mountain” combined with Hank kicking the poor guy in the arm and the scream and fuck you that follows never, ever fails to reduce me to tears of laughter.

Honestly, I have watched that one scene at least 3-4 times every day since the finale. It is so damn good.

NoHo Hank kept Barry light through even its most darkest moments - of which there were many - and his slide into heartbroken full-on gangster in Season 4 after killing his beloved Cristobal was both heartbreaking and painfully funny to watch in a twisted kind of way.

Nobody saw it coming but Barry was so much better for having a warm, fuzzy, energetic character like NoHo Hank at the very heart of its run. As soon as Carrigan popped on screen, your eyes were only focussed on him and he turned in a performance for the ages as NoHo.

Who can forget the moment when Hank turned up at Lululemon - Barry’s place of work - in full-on disguise - to only out himself anyway. Or the entire sequence where Barry is training the Chechen mob only for Hank to turn up in outfits more outlandish than the last.

Every scene NoHo Hank was in, he absolutely killed it.

As much as we have been spoilt lately with all-time great shows and characters, NoHo Hank has already risen to the top for me. He’s perfect in every single way and he, just like the show he was in, deserves far more praise than they are both currently getting.

Barry and NoHo Hank were appointment viewing, and I’m sure as hell glad I was introduced to both and spent many a side-splitting, nerve-wracking night with them. Even if it did take me a while to discover their magic.

There will never be another show like Barry. And there will never be another warm, lovable villain like NoHo Hank who stole the show every single time he graced our screens.