Barry 2x03 Reaction

I think for this kind of wild acting lesson, it's important to remember this whole thing was born out of Gene's depression around Janice. He wanted to quit teaching entirely. Barry basically convinced him they could put on a "real" show with the real trauma by telling his story. I don't think it's particularly healthy or good (especially the way they are doing it) but it's born out of that sadness. We've seen that Gene already has pretty extreme methods in his teaching (like his berating of Sally to get her emotional in one of their first scenes) so I think this tragedy has just made him lose any grasp of reality :) .

Can't wait for episode 5

The woodpeckers sound huge in Spain

Yes, that was a direct ripoff of the speech from "Braveheart", almost word-for-word. Anybody in the USA would recognize it even if they hadn't seen the movie itself, because it has been parodied and homaged so much by countless TV shows. Barry not realizing that it would be OBVIOUS is another indication that he's not really connected with other people. It would be like trying to pretend your name is "Darth Vader": It doesn't matter if anybody has seen "Star Wars" or not, they're going to instantly recognize that that is not your name. I really think this episode shows how much they mastered swinging back and forth between different tones and topics. Funny to shocking to tense and back again. You never know how the show is going to "feel" from scene to scene. Gene calls himself "Mark David Chapman" when approaching his son again. That is the man who assassinated John Lennon of The Beatles, so Gene is self-deprecatingly admitting that he is being weird and creepy and stalker-ish. Throughout season one, Barry wore a Memorial Bracelet for "PFC Jack Gootsan". If you notice, he is NOT wearing it in season two. Jack Gootsan is also not the guy who Barry is talking about in this story. I think Sally's story about leaving her abusive ex is one of the "realest" moments of the series. What matters is that she got OUT, but since she stayed for so long she can't accept that that is "enough". She needs there to have been a Dramatic Confrontation where she Redeemed Herself. And that's something that's so pervasive in abusive relationships in real life. If you escaped, then that's enough. Even if you snuck out in the middle of the night, that's still a victory, and it takes Strength and Resolve to do that all by itself. But so many abuse survivors have self-loathing about being weak/cowardly.

Sally obliviously playing with the feather is so funny

I went to a liberal arts college for two years and while I didn’t study acting pretty much my understanding is that, despite the suspension of disbelief in this show, a lot of acting courses are like that, being graded by using your or other people’s trauma or PTSD for a reading at 8am in the morning. While in college one thing that got out that was a big deal for awhile is that the professor gave the freshman acting majors a graded assignment to convince a complete stranger to have sex with them within two weeks time. Unsurprisingly people complained and the assignment changed to convince a complete stranger to kiss them within that time, which was obviously still fucked.

I think season 3 is my favourite season purely because of just how entertaining/funny it is, but season 2 (aside from one episode) is more what I ‘wish’ the show was. Kinda hard to really get into without spoiling but, yeah, loved the tone of this episode and of some of the ones coming up.

50 50 with Cristobal is the best scene in the series!!!

Mel Gibson famously went on multiple racist tirades over the years, one of which was antisemitic when he got pulled over by a Jewish police officer, hence Gene’s comment.

Barry was on after Game of Thrones so that’s probably why there wasn’t much marketing, the lead in did the work for them

Yeah, the No-Ho Hank dance, another one of my favorite moments of him ❤️