Editor's note: The article below contains spoilers for the Barry series finale.Even if Barry continuously told its audience that it could never know what to expect, it still managed to deliver some shocking plot twists during last night's series finale. After years of being haunted by the fact that Barry (Bill Hader) had killed his girlfriend, Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) had enough, and he took it upon himself to bring justice to the memory of his partner. In a climatic second, Gene shot Barry twice, effectively taking the life of the man who murdered the love of his life. In a recent interview with Variety, Winkler revealed that the violent moment was filmed in only two takes:
I shot him twice, and I think we only did it twice. I shot him once, and he said, “You don’t have to do this, Mr. Cousineau,” and I shot him a second time. But in the final, he went “Wow.” Just wow. It is still jaw-dropping.
Apparently, the different takes were only produced to have two different options for Barry to say as his final words, with Hader deciding to use the one that felt more genuine for the character. Even after killing Janice, the protagonist couldn't understand why his mentor didn't want to see him anymore. Due to the fact that their relationship began as an honest friendship that brought a potential father figure to Barry's life, the former marine was going to do anything in his power to keep it from going away. But, as always, Barry's violent tendencies got the best of him, and he ended up creating a path of destruction.
After killing Barry, there was nowhere left to go for Cousineau, and every hope he had for clearing his name regarding the death of Janice was gone as soon as he pulled the trigger on his former student. The character was given a life sentence, charged with a murder he didn't commit, and another one he had to pull off to protect his own life. The actor could've never imagined that teaching a young man with potential into his class would evolve into a dangerous and explosive situation that would keep him away from every person he loved. Just another person that had to pay for Barry's actions.
Barry's Family Managed to Escape
Right at the middle of its final season, Barry surprised audiences with an unexpected time jump, following its characters eight years after the titular character escaped from prison. It was then revealed that Sally (Sarah Goldberg) ran away with Barry, and the two had a boy named John, who is kept away in a solitary house to avoid the attention of the police. After surviving a kidnapping attempt from NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), Sally escapes with John while Barry is sleeping. When the former marine goes looking for them, he meets his fate at Cousineau's house.
You can check out Collider's interview with Sarah Goldberg below: