Bill Hader and Alec Berg’s HBO series Barry is both one of the greatest comedies on the air and one of the greatest dramas on the air, with both laugh-out-loud gags and shocking plot twists. The series’ tale of a hitman’s futile quest to give up a life of crime and become an actor has also delivered some of the most thrilling action sequences in TV history.
Action scenes in TV shows tend to be generic and pared-back, shot on a rapid schedule with a limited budget, but Barry’s action sequences are truly cinematic – especially the fight scenes in the now-iconic “ronny/lily” episode.
Barry Takes Out The Chechen Sniper
The climactic scene in the pilot episode of Barry provided the first major action sequence of the series. The opening killing took place off-screen, exploring the aftermath of a hit. At the end of the pilot, audiences finally got to see Barry Berkman in action.
Barry tracks down Ryan Madison, the acting student he was sent to L.A. to kill, and finds that he’s already been taken out by a Chechen sniper. The sniper then aims at Barry, who implores him not to before opening fire on their car, killing everybody inside (except NoHo Hank). Barry’s first action scene established the show’s unique blend of minimalist thrills and deadpan laughs.
The Police Raid
The police raid on the Chechens’ operation was set up perfectly. When Batir is on a video call with the top brass in Chechnya, he gets a higher vantage point to livestream the heroin operation back home.
Not only does he end up avoiding a ruthless police raid; he gets a great view of it. From this distant perspective, Batir watches in horror as his colleagues are all gunned down. A squad car drives through the drug tent and comes out the other side covered in heroin.
Barry Kills Paco
Since he has to wait for Hank’s bullet to arrive in the mail, Barry misses his chance to kill the Chechens’ latest target, Paco, with a sniper rifle. So, he breaks into Paco’s house to finish the job. He wants to take him out discreetly, but that goes out the window when Paco spots him sneaking into the house.
The scene takes a hysterically unpredictable turn as Barry has to improvise. He chases Paco out into his backyard and chokes him out on the other side of the fence to his neighbor’s heavily populated party. Barry is haunted by Paco’s final words, which translate to: “You don’t have to do this.”
The Wartime Flashback To Barry’s Worst Mistake
The flashbacks to Barry’s military experiences don’t play like traditional action sequences; there’s always an unnerving Lynchian quality to convey the psychological horrors of war.
The most disturbing flashback to Barry’s time in the military reveals what really happened after his friend Albert got shot in the head. An enraged Barry burst into a nearby house to kill the man he thought was responsible in front of his family – only to learn that the man was completely innocent. As Gene keeps reminding him, he murdered somebody and got away with it.
Barry Chases Gene Around L.A.
In the early episodes of season 3, Barry got more and more narrow-minded in his quest for redemption. He wants to keep Gene in the trunk of his car until he can earn his forgiveness with a job offer, but an exhausted Gene just wants to go home.
Gene manages to break out of the trunk while Barry is trying to land him an acting role and flees through the backyards and side streets of Los Angeles. He’s chased by dozens of dogs as Barry frantically drives around L.A. looking for him (and ends up in a car crash).
Janice Moss Confronts Barry
In the nail-biting season 1 finale, Detective Janice Moss finally figures out the case based on Gene’s recollection of Barry’s first monologue about returning from the military and becoming a contract killer (which Gene didn’t realize was a real confession but Moss does).
In the dead of night, Moss holds Barry at gunpoint. As the handgun he concealed behind a tree is revealed, Barry implores Moss one last time to just let him go before using it. The killing is carried out with morbid ambiguity. The episode cuts to a couple of off-screen muzzle flashes. Then, Barry returns to Sally in bed after disposing of Moss’ corpse and once again vows to give up killing – “starting now.”
Barry Fights Ronny
Season 2’s “ronny/lily” is widely regarded to be the best episode of the series – and one of the most beautifully unique episodes of television ever made. It’s a more or less standalone episode following the unexpected complications of the previous episode’s cliffhanger. Barry is sent to kill Detective Loach’s ex-wife’s new boyfriend, Ronny, but since Barry has vowed to stop killing, he promises to spare Ronny’s life.
As Ronny packs a bag to start a new life in a different city, Barry is stunned to find that there’s a room full of trophies awarded for Ronny’s martial arts prowess. Inevitably, there’s a brutal dust-up between the two, with the camera leaving just enough out of the frame to keep the viewer engaged.
The Monastery Massacre
In the season 2 finale, Barry finally reaches his breaking point with Fuches and drives down to the monastery to kill him. Fuches manages to escape, but Barry slaughters just about everybody else in the building.
In his blind murderous rage, Barry kills all the Chechen assassins that he’s been training throughout the season – including the one who thanked Barry for giving his life a real purpose.
The Dirt Bike Chase
Throughout season 3, Fuches has been raising an army of people that Barry has wronged to go after him. In the sixth episode, Barry had his first encounter with that army when Taylor’s motocross star relatives chased after his car on their dirt bikes.
Shot in the series’ signature minimalist style, this chase sequence is as wildly unpredictable as Barry fans have come to expect. By the time the motocross killers finally leave Barry alone, this set-piece has delivered a biker in Barry’s windshield, a machine gunner on a highway, and a shotgun-wielding used car salesman.
Lily Attacks Barry
As badly as Ronny beats Barry before ing out at the beginning of “ronny/lily,” it’s nothing compared to the brutality in store for the hitman-turned-actor when Ronny’s similarly badass daughter Lily gets home.
Lily is practically a superhuman, launching herself around the house to bludgeon Barry with everything from a bottle of beer to a frying pan before jumping on his back and stabbing him repeatedly. He spends the rest of the episode dealing with these injuries. After escaping certain doom countless times, Barry was almost killed by a vicious little girl.