Warning: the following article contains spoilers for Barry season 4, episode 4, “It Takes a Psycho.”
From Ross and Rachel, to Jim and Pam, and every other fan-favorite TV couple in between – when these beloved characters have strain put on their relationships, we as an audience feel their pain acutely, but nothing could have ever prepared us for what went down between Barry’s best couple, Hank and Cristobal.
Despite his titular character having very, very little screen time in this Sunday’s episode of HBO’s dark (and getting darker by the minute) comedy, as writer and director, Bill Hader is getting absolutely flamed on social media for traumatizing the living daylights out of us.
Not only is Cristobal’s death faked out twice, the moment we saw a blurred figure clad in white stroll back though Hank’s front door, we felt relief for all but a brief moment – only to receive possibly the most emotional whiplash we’ve felt in any television series this year. How dare you, Bill Hader.
Despite the show being named after and revolving around Hader’s Barry, the recently escaped convict and hitman was nowhere to be seen right up until the end of “It Takes a Psycho,” opting instead to be the looming threat lurking in the back of the minds of every character we see on screen in this week’s episode. While Barry never got around to causing any devastation directly, we were torn to pieces all the same.
Barry only has a handful of episodes left – assuming your emotional wounds have even begun to heal, the series will be back next Sunday on HBO Max.