Without a doubt in my mind there is no greater show on television right now than Barry. The creation of Bill Hader and Alec Berg not only began as an incredibly sure-handed mastery of genre, tone, suspense, comedy, narrative and character, but has in-fact only gotten better and now reaches new heights with this, its third season. Hader of course is the undoubted auteur here, with his hands in not only the production and writing of the show, but also with his own lead performance, and his many episodes directing . However as he is the first to state in interviews this show is a science of a thousand details and the fact that every single person involved is genuinely on a level beyond top-form, one can't help but reiterate what I already stated to begin with; that Barry is without a doubt the greatest show on televisions right now.

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Hader and Berg have crafted over the course of this third season a bolstering of the darkest elements of the show thus far and made a possible veiling of the horrors through comedy, no longer an option for the creators or the characters involved. There is comedy, let us not forget, and when we do get comedy, its frequently that very Barry combination of dry, wicked sensibility, paired with even at times a deftness for practical slapstick (matching at the best of the times the shows mastery of practical action this series features too). Hader and Berg as directors here certainly do some of their best work and with the fourth season being solely directed by Hader, one can’t help but feel a solidification of a formula that from the beginning we saw the elements of, only now for us to have a profound confidence in all these creatives choose to do. The product itself more than earns this confidence. In-fact one can’t help but bow down and let the show’s perfection wash over you. This show deserves only the highest of hyperbole. In the scripts and direction of the show a deep and incredibly well-handled balance of suspense, surprise and a supreme shadow of the inevitable propel the show to strains that keep the episodic structure of course and segment the tales we view, but overall do offer the sense of one long story. We can’t help but watch and anybody who has all 8 episodes ready to view, would severely struggle I feel to not simply cave and watch the whole thing without pause. I certainly did.

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Hader’s sublime handling of writing and direction of course cannot be underestimated, but Hader also boasts with this endeavour one of the best performances I’ve seen in any medium in my life. This is darkness and this is horror and this is great dry humour and this is heart all in a starkly unsettling and compellingly human combination, making for indeed some of the best acting of years gone by, but also with the titular Barry, one of the great complex creations of television. But Hader is the lead only in name, the show and this series belong to so many other names and faces. Returning co-leads Sarah Goldberg, Henry Winkler, Stephen Root and Anthony Carrigan all return to deliver more brilliance, but again offer more depth and darkness than ever before. These are challenging and deeply troubled characters and yet with the actors triumphant talent, they are incredibly human, believable and of course deeply intriguing. But there are so many new faces too, Elsie FIsher and Robert Wisdom chief amongst them, who deliver similarly complex and thoughtful characters, who despite only having a few scenes with, we feel like we have known the depth of their characters for far longer. However the shows biggest striking force this season is that of minor characters we have met, glimpsed or spoke of, returning now as chief supporting figures. The biggest arc of this series being that of the returning, avenging, grieving figures of Barry’s past coming to challenge him. With this element the shows depth only strengthens and with this the show’s quality only grows. This is profound, brilliantly effective television and still has the time make us laugh, whilst also in its finale featuring multiple of the best made horror and tension sequences of the year. The show is a tightrope and Hader, Berg and everybody else involved continue to ace the crossing of it.

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An undoubted 10/10 8 hours of absolute perfection. The balance of varied genres all delivered with a creative level of excellence that so many shows struggle with in just one genre, makes this show as impressive as anything I have seen in a long time. But it is the incredible writing, the bravura direction and the array of truly sensational performances that make this show undoubtedly for me - I have to say it again - the greatest show currently on television. There are several episodes of this show that left me breathless. That left me with only these words… “This is the best a tv show can be”.

P.S. I don’t think that with the shows prestige that Hader and Berg are finally being able to make the dark drama they initially wanted to make, because from the initial episodes even the show has had a pained darkness at its core that has propelled everything. The show isn't 'getting darker' in the easily reductive critical sense, it’s succumbing to the darkness it has always had. The way the show has gone is frankly inevitable and tragic and all the more compelling because of it. I think it goes without saying that I can’t wait for a fourth season.

- Thomas Carruthers