Chapter One: Make Your Mark

At the very beginning, we are given directly to understand what the protagonist of the series represents for us. He's deadly, he's a lost soul, but he's also a person who has bills to pay. Meet - this is BARRY.

The series is a dark tragicomedy about the life of a hired killer, who has the opportunity to prove to himself that he is capable of not only killing "bad" people, but also of giving out his acting skills filled with life ... abstraction. But we all perfectly understand that, based on how much our hero would not like to try himself in another area, his past full of violence is unlikely to release such a person so easily.

The pilot episode may not showcase the full power of this concept, but it certainly manages to convey the message that Barry has the potential to become something big. And the creators definitely feel that they picked up a lot of interesting things in the future.

I had heard about this series (it kicked up a lot of award attention) so I'm finally giving it a watch. The Entertainment industry has a bad habit of self-congratulating itself for productions that mirror themselves back to themselves (I mean BIRD MAN? Are you kidding me? What an exercise in self-consuming, self-justifying, self-indulgent hubris!), so I was a little cynical that the piece could live up to its hype. But, this has a unique premise which is always a good beginning for me. It has its own internal logic. Its comedy springs from dramatic comedy which is dependent on its own reflections on reality and those who I dwell it rather than on jokes, one-liners, gags or hyperbole - another plus for me. I think I'm going to like this. I give this first episode an optomistic 8 (great) out of 10. {Dramatic Comedic Criminal Behaviour}

I didn't expect this show to have a stable plot as I went in almost completely blind (having only read the summary of the plot), and what a wonderful surprise I got when this first episode turned out to be better than I expected. The humor is a bit dark but the show has its wholesome moments as well, the few bits of violence are well made and as it's said in the trivia: it's not romanticizing any of the gore. Give this pilot a watch if you want well executed humor with tiny bits of realistic violence.

Barry is a jaded assassin, pondering his chosen career. His latest assignment sends him to Los Angeles to take out a personal trainer who is sleeping with a mob boss's wife. He follows the personal trainer into an acting class and discovers that he may have a talent for acting. Could this be the new direction he is seeking?

A dark, quirkily funny opening episode. The thought of an assassin first of all pondering his career choice and then considering acting is absurd. However, like much of the comedy in the episode this absurdity is wonderfully understated. It's the deadpan matter-of-factness about Barry's chosen profession and current life that make this so funny.

With this setup it is intriguing to see where this goes from here.

In a directorial way, this pilot is quite a success. The framing is good, the acting is great, the sometimes contrasting lighting adds weight to the story and the score blends with the plot and fits the tone.

As for that plot, I must see further episodes to fully develop my thoughts on this one. Nevertheless, the plot of this episode is well-delivered; the decision to dump the viewer into the story with no context whatsoever creates an intrigue, and the decision to have the protagonist explain the context of his life current with a monologue occurs naturally.

Hopefully, this show delivers on its potential.