Chapter One: Make Your Mark

Chapter One:Make Your Mark
Season	1
Episode	1
About
Written by	Alec Berg & Bill Hader
Directed by	Bill Hader
Cinematography by	Paula Huidobro & Brandon Trost
Editing by	Jeff Buchanan
Runtime	33 min.
Air date	March 25, 2018
Chronology
Next →	"Chapter Two: Use It"

"Interesting. I mean, the story's nonsense, but there's something to work with."

―Gene Cousineau to Barry Berkman

"Chapter One: Make Your Mark" is the series premiere of Barry, written by co-creators Alec Berg and Bill Hader, and directed by Hader. It first aired on HBO on March 25, 2018.

The episode was viewed by an estimated 564,000 households and received critical acclaim, particularly for its direction and its balance of humor and drama.

At the 71st Directors Guild of America Awards, Hader won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series for this episode.

Synopsis

Barry is a disillusioned Midwesterner who became a hitman at the urging of Monroe Fuches, an old friend who's become his handler. Sent to LA to kill a young actor, Barry accidentally interrupts an acting class and gets bitten by the acting bug.

Plot

Hitman and United States Marine Corps Combat Veteran Barry Berkman carries out a hit in Rochester, New York and returns to his apartment. Destitute and disillusioned, Barry is visited by his handler, old family friend Monroe Fuches, who sends him to Los Angeles to do a job for the Chechen mafia.

In L.A., Barry meets mob boss Goran Pazar and his easygoing, nonviolent right-hand NoHo Hank. Barry is to kill Ryan Madison, a personal trainer who has been sleeping with Pazar's wife. Barry receives his gun in the mail from Fuches and follows Madison to an acting class run by Gene Cousineau, an aggressive, pushy coach. While waiting outside the building for Madison to leave, Barry hears student Sally Reed reciting her lines. Investigating, he ends up accidentally distracting her just as she is called in to do her scene.

Fascinated, Barry follows her in and watches Gene berate Sally to the point of tears to get the emotion he wants from her character in the scene. Madison approaches him, his scene partner absent, and requests that Barry read lines in the scene he's doing. While Madison runs his scene and Barry flatly reads his lines, he experiences a moment of euphoria hearing the students applaud for Madison. Gene invites him to the next class and tells him to prepare a monologue.

Sally catches up to him as he tries to leave and invites him to Residuals, a bar where the class hangs out after classes. He reluctantly accepts, and she and the class try to get to know Barry, although he divulges as little information as possible about himself. Sally invites him to dance with the class, but he turns it down, instead watching her dance and finding himself attracted to her when they share a glance.

He ends up talking with a drunken Madison, who suggests the stage name (Madison reveals his real name is Richard Klempf) Barry Block. Sally requests that Barry drive Madison home due to his past DUIs. Outside Madison's apartment, he gives Barry Gene's book Hit Your Mark And Say Your Lines in an attempt to get Barry to take the class. Madison gives Barry a hug, which is caught on camera by Pazar's tailing henchmen.

The next morning, Fuches shows up at Barry's motel room, stating the Chechens are not happy with Barry hugging his mark. When Barry tells him about the acting class, Fuches dismisses him, telling Barry jobs that put him in the public eye are off-limits and that "this is all you do." Knowing that he has to cut off contact with the acting class, Barry waits outside the building until he catches Gene alone in his car. Irate that Barry missed class and at Barry's claim that he will be leaving town, Gene tells Barry he did not consider him good enough for his class, and that he saw no truth in his acting. Distressed, Barry tells Gene the truth about his past and job, and worries that killing is all he is good for. Gene, believing it to be an improvised monologue, is somewhat impressed and tells him to come to the next class. When he asks for his last name, Barry tells him it is Block.

Waiting outside Madison's apartment for him to arrive, Barry starts reading Gene's book. When he rolls up, Barry walks up to his truck only to find him already killed, shot in the head through his windshield. Barry notices two Chechen goons and NoHo Hank in a car across the street. The man with a sniper rifle starts reloading to kill Barry next, but Barry shoots two of them down, with Hank narrowly escaping wounded. As Barry hurries off, a dashboard camera in the Chechens' car is seen recording.

Barry hides out at a diner a few blocks away. As police cars speed by, he notices his waitress has a script under her arm. She tells him that she has an audition tomorrow, and is an actor. Barry responds that he is too.

Cast

Main

• Bill Hader as Barry Berkman/Barry Block
• Stephen Root as Monroe Fuches
• Sarah Goldberg as Sally Reed
• Glenn Fleshler as Goran Pazar
• Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank
• Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau

Supporting

• Tyler Jacob Moore as Ryan Madison
• Darrell Britt-Gibson as Jermaine Jefrint
• D'Arcy Carden as Natalie Greer
• Andy Carey as Eric
• Rightor Doyle as Nick Nicholby
• Alejandro Furth as Antonio Manuel
• Kirby as Sasha Smith
• Mo Anouti as Thin Neck
• Dennis Keiffer as Shooter
• Melissa Villasenor as Waitress

Gallery

Stills

Videos

Barry S01E01 Featurette - 'Inside Episode 1 with Bill Hader and Alec Berg' - Rotten Tomatoes TV