Barry’s Henry Winkler gave the dish on why his character, Gene Cousineau, decided to try to make a whole story out of his (inaccurate) history with Barry Berkman in the time together between when they first met and when Cousineau worked with his dead girlfriend’s father Jim Moss to set him up, even though Moss explicitly told him not to.
Winkler explained why Cousineau decided to rock the boat even further, citing the acting teacher’s need for attention as an actor, craving the spotlight whenever the opportunity presents itself. Despite Berkman being behind bars at the beginning ofHBO’sBarryand should be put in the rearview mirror, that won’t stop Cousineau from taking advantage of the situation, which may not be the wisest choice knowing the kind of person Berkman is.
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While talking withThe Hollywood Reporter, Winkler was blunt about why Cousineau ran to the press even though he avenged Janice’s death. “Because Gene is an a**hole. Gene can’t help himself. As much as Gene wants to be a big person, [attention] is like crack for him. He needs that spotlight like some other people need heroin.” Though Cousineau craves attention as Winkler put it, he added that he turned Barry in to avenge the love of his life more than anything and not for his previous misdeeds. “No, that was a completely different kettle of fish. He felt as bad as he possibly could, which was not all the way into bad. With Barry, the man killed the woman he loved. After that, all bets are off.”
After Jim told Cousineau not to involve the media, the latter operated secretly to ensure he got a big-time reporter to reveal his story. Once he did, Cousineau did a one-man act portraying himself as basically Berkman’s personal Messiah while portraying Berkman himself to be a hapless idiot. While his depiction was not entirely accurate - it came off like a vanity project - what is true is that Barry did look at Gene as a mentor who gave him a new lease on life through acting, which gave Barry the purpose and the happiness he had been looking for in his life.
All implications are that this will impactwhereBarryseason 4 goes and how the story ends. Not only did Gene double-cross Jim Moss - who has the mental capacity to convince people to kill themselves - but a story like this getting out could very well infuriate the cold-stone killer Barry, who may or may not escape prison as the show heavily implies. The show has demonstrated that Barry has turned on Cousineau after he not only turned him in but rubbed it in his face afterward.
Two episodes into the show’s final season, the story has been building things up without getting predictable.Will Barry spend the rest of his life in prison, or will he make a deal to get out? If he does, will Fuches and the Chechens get to him before he leaves? Did Cousineau make himself a mark from all sides now that the story will get leaked? Does Sally go back to Barry even after knowing all he’s done? No matter where this all heads, one thing is for sure -Barryseason 4 is on the right track for an epic conclusion.
Barryseason 4 airs new episodes on Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
