Merrick Morton/HBO
“So you’re a man of God now,” Jim Moss (Robert Wisdom) tells his captive, Barry (Bill Hader), at the beginning of the most recent episode of Barry. “You think because you’ve repented, you’re going to get to choose where you go after you die? You know where you’re going. And you’re afraid.”
Barry has funneled all of his life energy into religion, listening to preachy podcasts on his way to execute a hit on Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) and whispering prayers to himself as Jim threatens to cut his legs off. His ringtone is a church-y song that repeats words like “Hallelujah!” and “Jesus” over and over again, almost too on-the-nose, as if it were a parody of a real song Christians might sing in church.
But God can’t save Barry now—or ever, in fact. If God is real, he/she/it wouldn’t save killers like Barry. God would save someone like NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), a killer with remorse, passion, and fury over the death of his lover Cristobal (Michael Irby). Or maybe folks like Sally (Sarah Goldberg) and her son with Barry, John (Zachary Golinger), would be rescued. Even Cousineau, who accidentally shot his own son, might fit the bill of folks God would forgive.