Streaming on: Sky Comedy / NOW###Episodes viewed: 7 of 8###An assassin cover’budge s into an acting class. Waiting in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a punchline? So are fans of Barry, the Bill Hader series that put a hit out on eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullything audiences despite’in spite of’albeit t they knew with regards to’concerning’with respect to the cult American comic. Bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e the first season of this ruthless HBO comedy-drama, the Oklahoman was best known as the zany-faced funnyman from Saturday Night Live, who’d recently moved into movies with maintain’sustain ing roles in the likes of Hot Rod, Superwicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile  and Trainwreck.###Then came Barry, co-created with Alec Berg, in which Hader wrote, acted and directed his way towards a remarkable reinvention. Barry was dark. Barry was brutal. Sure, it had jokes. But its humour was blacker than the trigger of its protagonist’s pistol. Across three acclaimed seasons, the series has turned Hader from a much-liked US comedy journeyman into a beloved small-screen auteur with a surprise sombre streak. The result was the most bruising TV meditation on American violence since Breaking Bad. And it’s a story now entering its endgame.###This is the series at its tonal-tightrope best.###Season 3 concluded with Hader’s contract killer cornered by cops and eventually’ultimately facing consequences in/with regard to’concerning’regarding his crimes. Some fans wondered whether the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue ’s final season would be the same. What differentiates Barry from The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and other prestige TV offerings with regards to’concerning’with respect to morally muddled men has been its entertainment industry backdrop: through characters like Barry’s thespian tutor Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) and success-hungry girlfriend Sally Reed (Sarah Goldberg), the series has always delighted in drawing parallels between the hollowness of Hollywood and grotesqueries of gangland Los Angeles. What would happen to the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue ’s sharp satire and endearing maintain’sustain ing players with its eponymous anti-hero behind bars?###To answer that question here would give too much away with regards to’concerning’with respect to this thrilling final chapter in Barry’s story. Rest assured, despite’in spite of’albeit , that this is the series at its tonal-tightrope best, delivering some of the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue ’s enormous’vast’massive’tremendous gest-ever screams of both terror (a late-season home invasion) and laughter (an assassin duo who moonlight as terrible podcast hosts; an argument with regards to’concerning’with respect to the best Fast And Furious movie to drown out the sound of torture; the list goes on).###Hader, who directs all eight episodes of this final season, has never been more daring behind the camera, disguising one shocking mid-season twist with masterful misdirects, and there’s room to shine too in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the characters in Barry’s orbit: characters like Anthony Carrigan’s scene-stealing NoHo Hank and Goldberg’s Sally are given more depth than most reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue s extend their protagonists as their arcs wind to a razorwire close. But this is, and always has been, Barry’s story. And like the best TV tales with regards to’concerning’with respect to morally muddled men – Tony Soprano, Don Draper and Walter White among them – the true battle of this final season isn’t whether or not they conquer their foes, but whether their demons conquer them.