‘Barry’ Stars on [Spoiler]’s Death, Sally’s Decision & More

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Barry Season 4 Episode 4, “It Takes a Psycho.”]

It’s one shock after another as we reach the halfway point of Barry‘s final season.

First, the heartbreaker: Just after we think that Cristobal (Michael Irby) isn’t going to die as a result of Noho Hank’s (Anthony Carrigan) new deal going back on their business venture (he survives the sand!), he refuses to get on board because he wanted to be legitimate (and all their partners were killed). As Cristobal sees it, the man he loves wouldn’t have done something so cold-blooded; he’s ready to walk away. Hank warns him he can’t … because he knows too much. And with that, Cristobal is killed before he even enters his car.

“I had the wind knocked out of me, truly,” Carrigan tells TV Insider of discovering Cristobal’s death. “I had no idea that that was where it was headed. I was so genuinely surprised. And yet I think it tracks in this really awful, tragic way. Hopefully, people will forgive him for it.”

When it came to filming Hank and Cristobal’s last scene together, it “was an absolute joy. It was so difficult because it’s such a difficult thing to do emotionally, but fortunately, I had Michael Irby with me to just act opposite off of, and I feel like we found something really special,” Carrigan shares.

Merrick Morton/HBO

And it’s not like Hank thought that would be the outcome of his moves. Rather, he expected everything to work out. “I think he was also trying to be a gangster and trying to make gangster moves, and that does not fit well with love and relationships,” he says.

“I think Hank was really just kind of taking things one step at a time. I think one of the things that gets Hank into the most trouble is that he can really only see one step at a time,” Carrigan continues. “And so when he basically makes these huge mistakes, it’s too late by that point to go back and realize, ‘Oh wow, maybe I shouldn’t have done this. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe I should have done this.’ I don’t think foresight is Hank’s strong suit.”

That might not have been the only death in this episode. Gene (Henry Winkler), after Barry (Bill Hader) escaped from prison, hides out in a cabin and sits waiting, holding a gun … then shoots when he sees someone at the door. But unbeknownst to him, he shoots his son Leo (Andrew Leeds), who stopped by with food.

Gene would 100 percent want to put the blame for that on Barry. “Would I shoot my own son? No. I was defending myself,” Winkler says of his character. “There was somebody out there trying to get me.” (Robert Wisdom, who plays Jim, adds with a laugh, “talk about gaslighting. Wow.”)

Barry wasn’t at the cabin, so where was he? He’s waiting for Sally (Sarah Goldberg) when she gets home after a rough day on set with one of her students; she impresses the director (Sian Heder!), but everyone just wants what she does to come out of the actress they want. “I know this is crazy, but if I could just stay here,” Barry begins. “Let’s go,” Sally tells him. Why? The day she had on set? What her career looks like? Their conversation when she visited him in prison and admitted she felt safe with him?

“I think it’s all the things and all the time before that as well. I think it’s every single negative experience she’s had in Los Angeles, from the bad encounter with the agent in Season 1, who was sexually harassing her, all the way to having her dreams come true and having the rug pulled from under her overnight, having friendships turn sour, having destroyed her relationship with her agent, every single thing, like LA has not gone well. And then on top of all of that, she’s been in this destructive relationship that has really derailed her life to a place that she couldn’t have foreseen,” Goldberg explains.

“Then, when she just tries to get her feet back on the ground, I think she’s confronted with one final humiliation,” she continues, pointing to the aforementioned moment of performing for Heder. “She thinks, ‘Maybe this is going to be the moment in the movie where I save my own career and my own life, and I can do this,’ and she’s seen as this wonderful performer,” only for that not to be the case.

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And so, going into that scene with Barry in her apartment, she’s “realizing that her dreams are not going to come through and the humiliation of putting yourself in that vulnerable state and being crushed. I think the mental state she’s already in, it was just one strike too many. And when she gets the news about Barry, I think we’re expecting her to be afraid. But actually, she sees an exit.”

Meanwhile, back in prison, Fuches (Stephen Root) faces questions — and beatings — regarding Barry’s whereabouts. But even though Barry gave him up, Fuches refuses to talk. “I think he starts out keeping quiet for himself, and the reason he ends up keeping quiet is because he wants the respect of his peers in prison, which eventually [he gets],” as we see when everyone waits until he sits down to eat to continue what they were doing, according to Root.

Considering all that happened at the halfway point of the season (not to mention the end of this episode)? We’re bracing ourselves for the final stretch.

Barry, Sundays, 10/9c, HBO