Authur “The Fonz” Fonzerelli from Happy Days, Barry Zuckerkorn from Arrested Development, Gene Cousineau from Barry, and Henry Winkler from the mundane life all have one thing in common: the English alphabet. HBO’s diabolic comedy, driven by a hitman chasing redemption, just had its most scary, intimidating, yet ridiculously hilarious moment in the Sunday slot series finale of Barry.
Sung from the vocal chords of Comicbook, the actor/producer had zero cushion for the shock he was about to receive when he found out how Gene Cousineau’s close up was hellishly crumbling. Need a moment to collect yourself? So did Winkler himself.
Spoilers!
While Barry tries to embrace an only slightly more subtle life as an actor, Gene Cousineau wields justice using his own hands. The series finale beelines straight from the vantage point of the season three swan song in which Gene triggers Barry’s arrest.
“So, [Bill] told me [the ending in the middle of the season], and while I’m a pretty verbal fellow, I was speechless,” said Winkler. “I went, ‘I what!?’ So, I stammered and stuttered a little bit, and then I just walked away and got some avocado toast.”
By the fourth season, Gene was a silhouette in the shadows, thirsty for justice, but only ever pantomiming the gesture. Bobbing like a wave of comic relief or erring as a side piece to a cautionary tale, Gene’s inner monologue was starting to lose its subtext after shooting his own son while attempting to gun down Barry in a bulging backstory involving the dearly departed Rip Torn. Near the end of the show, Gene doesn’t have many tears left to swallow. Although his son survived the shooting, he was convinced that Gene was an unsavory and dubious character who deliberately shot him, given the circumstantial evidence. Gene also faced a dialogue of criminal charges rooted in the illicit acts Barry committed.
“It was because Gene was being blamed for what he knew Barry did,” said Winkler. “Gene seemed to be in one of those rooms where the walls were all closing in toward the center, and so he was being crushed by this evidence. Remember, Barry was the son that Gene wanted, not the kid who was actually Gene’s son.”
The tagline commissioned by Barry is:
Disillusioned at the thought of taking down another “mark,” depressed, low-level hit man Barry Berkman seeks a way out. When the Midwesterner reluctantly travels to Los Angeles to execute a hit on an actor who is bedding a mobster’s wife, little does Barry know that the City of Angels may be his sanctuary. He follows his target into acting class and ends up instantly drawn to the community of eager hopefuls, especially dedicated student Sally, who becomes the object of his affection. While Barry wants to start a new life as an actor, his handler, Fuches, has other ideas, and the hit man’s criminal past won’t let him walk away so easily.
Watch every episode now on Max.