Barry Season 2, Episode 3 recap: Past = Present x Future Over Yesterday

Barry and NoHo Hank team up to create an army while Sally struggles with denial in the third episode of Barry Season 2.

Denial can be a powerful action for all the wrong reasons. We choose what we want to remember in order for that story to fit our narrative. All of the main protagonists are in denial in some way. Barry with the war, Sally with her previous marriage, Gene with his son, and Hank with his team are all examples of denial.

Each character will have to separate what is the truth and what is fiction from their stories in order to get over there denial. Will the truth set them free? Below is the recap for HBO’s Barry Season 2, Episode 3 titled, “Past = Present x Future Over Yesterday.”

Barry needs a friend, not a “Hank”

Slowly, but surely, another layer was peeled back into Barry’s memories from Afghanistan. This time, Barry moved from his first kill to the first time he saved a life in the Korengal Valley. Because Barry does not want to kill or revisit his murders, he decides to write about the first time he saved a life for his assignment.

While writing his scene, Barry is shot at by NoHo Hank and his henchman, who misses terribly. Hank seeks to kill Barry for not executing the hit on Esther and for worsening his relationship with Cristobal. Barry corners Hank with a gun, but cannot find it in him to pull the trigger. In order to pay his debt, Barry offers to train Hank’s men and create an army of natural born killers, which Hank happily accepts. However, Hank’s army will need a lot of training because all but one member of the team, Mayrbek, can’t shoot straight.

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While at work, Barry is visited by Fuches, who is still undercover for Detective Loach. However, this confrontation turns into a somber reunion. Barry confides in Fuches about his time at Korengal and how he wishes to express his true feelings about the story. However, Fuches urges him to keep the true story of that day with Albert buried inside and instead, tell an entertaining story in his acting class. Barry takes Fuches’s advice to heart and gives the monologue from Braveheart during class to express his feeling, but Gene quickly shoots that down and yearns for Barry to tell the truth.

Sally runs into her worst nightmare

For her assignment, Sally revisits her failed marriage with her ex-husband, Sam. While discussing the dreaded night where she left her abusive husband with her friend, Kate, Sally stresses that she stood up for herself and screamed at Sam. However, as Kate pointed out, that never happened. Kate helped Sally pack up her stuff while Sam was passed out and escaped during the night.

Sally channels this pain into her work and incorporates this troubling emotion into her scene. During the scene, Sally screams at Barry, who is playing Sam, to choke her and abuse her. Both Sally and Gene push Barry to his breaking point as he storms out of the theater. As Sally consoles Barry in the parking lot, a haunting look runs down her face. Sam is standing right in front of her, which causes Barry to finally embrace the darkness as his face reflects someone who is out for blood.

Did you enjoy Season 2, Episode 3 of Barry? Leave them in the comments below!

Barry Season 2 airs on Sunday nights on HBO at 10 p.m. EST.