wow

wow
Season	4
Episode	8
About
Written by	Bill Hader
Directed by	Bill Hader
Cinematography by	Carle Herse
Editing by	Franky Guttman & Ali Greer
Runtime	34 min.
Air date	May 28, 2023
Chronology
← Previous	"a nice meal"

"Admit that you fucked up. Admit that you were scared. That you hate yourself, that there's some days you don't think you deserve to live. And the only thing that'll make you forget... is by being someone else."

―Fuches to NoHo Hank

"wow" is the series finale of Barry, written and directed by Bill Hader. It first aired on HBO on May 28, 2023.

The episode was viewed by an estimated 234,000 households and was acclaimed by critics for its direction, cinematography, performances, and final scene, with many celebrating it as a fitting conclusion to the show.

At the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, Hader received nominations for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for this episode.

Synopsis

That's it.

Plot summary

NoHo Hank calls Monroe Fuches to make peace by giving him Barry, but Fuches is not interested after Hank's attempts to kill him. He changes his mind when Hank shows him Sally and John.

D.A. Buckner announces to the press that Janice Moss's case has been re-opened. Jim claims that Gene is a suspect in her death. Sally finally confesses to John that they've been running from the law for eight years, admitting that Barry is an escaped killer. She also states that she killed a man and deserves whatever happens to her. Hank's henchmen arrive and separate them, taking Sally outside to meet Fuches with them.

Fuches arrives at Nohobal with his gang, demanding to see John, then offers to disappear if Hank admits to killing Cristobal. Hank tearfully admits his regrets in failing to keep Cristobal safe. As John is brought out, Hank changes his mind and calls Fuches a liar before reaching for his gun. Fuches quickly shoots Hank and shields John as a shootout erupts, killing all the other gangsters except for Fuches and one of his men. Fuches escorts John away from Nohobal, while a dazed Sally follows them. Barry buys many guns to prepare for battle at Nohobal, but when he arrives, John runs into his arms. Barry exchanges a silent look with Fuches, who walks away into the dark. Hank dies grasping the hand of Cristobal's statue.

At a motel, Sally urges Barry to surrender to the police and exonerate Gene, but Barry claims that the three of them surviving means he has been "redeemed." The next morning, Barry finds that Sally and John have left. At Gene's home, Gene reads negative news articles about him and contemplates suicide, while Tom is leaving when Barry arrives, looking for Sally and John. Just as Tom convinces Barry to turn himself in, a vengeful Gene enters and shoots Barry dead. Gene silently sits on the couch while Tom is heard outside calling for an ambulance.

Years later, Sally is a respected high school theater teacher. After an Our Town performance, she runs into Robert, a new history teacher at the school. He asks her out for a date, but she declines. With Sally's permission, a well-adjusted teenage John visits his friend Eric and watches The Mask Collector, the biopic made about Barry that John has waited several years to see. Barry is portrayed positively as a traumatized Marine who moves to Los Angeles and joins Gene's acting class to cope with his wartime experiences. His history as a hitman is left out, and he is instead manipulated by Gene, portrayed as a British-accented Chechen mafia leader who uses his acting class as a front for employing students to commit crimes. Gene murders Janice while she is investigating Ryan Madison's death and forces Barry to dispose of the body. Barry escapes from prison and rescues his family from the Chechens before Gene repeatedly shoots him in a confrontation at the theater. The film's epilogue states that Gene was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of the murders of Janice and Barry, while Barry was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with full honors. John cracks a faint smile, finding relief in the film's depiction of Barry's legacy.

Cast

Main

• Bill Hader as Barry Berkman
• Stephen Root as Monroe Fuches
• Sarah Goldberg as Sally Reed
• Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank
• Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau
• Robert Wisdom as Jim Moss

Supporting

• Fred Melamed as Tom Posorro
• Charles Parnell as D.A. Buckner
• Zachary Golinger as John Berkman
  • Jaeden Martell as Older John Berkman
• Gary Kraus as Chief Krauss
• Tobie Windham as Damian
• Andre Hyland as Jason
• Jim Cummings as Movie Barry Berkman
• Louisa Krause as Movie Sally Reed
• Michael Cumpsty as Movie Gene Cousineau
• Kimberly Hébert Gregory as Movie Janice Moss

Gallery

Stills

Trivia

• This is the only episode in which Gene does not have any spoken dialogue.
• Jaeden Martell previously starred alongside Bill Hader in the film It: Chapter Two.
• Sarah Goldberg explained in an interview that she and Hader had discussions on Sally's reaction to Cousineau's imprisonment, and came up with two possibilities: Sally tried to speak up in Cousineau's defense against Barry, but was dismissed; or she was terrified that John would be orphaned if her killing of the Taylor gang member came to light, and so chose to stay quiet. Goldberg personally likes to believe the first possibility, though she finds the second one equally plausible.
  • Hader has also offered the explicit extra-textual information (only implied in this episode) that Sally forbid John from watching The Mask Collector and told him his father was not a good man.