Summary
“The Truth Has a Ring to It” is what I would call the calm before the storm episode that will set up the last chapters before the finale
This Barry Season 2 Episode 6 recap for the episode titled “The Truth Has a Ring to It” contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
Last week on Barry, we were treated to a highly entertaining episode reminiscent of a small slice of Quentin Tarantino for me. Bloody, action-packed, offbeat, funny, and surprising in the way characters pop back up in the story, which is quite an accomplishment for a 38-minute story arc. We, as viewers, have been treated to two of the most compulsively watchable television episodes I think I have ever seen from an episodic series from the Home Box Office. “What?!” and “Ronnie/Lily” let the laughs come on strong while nearly keeping us on the edge of our seats, not knowing what was going to happen next. After letting last week’s chapter settle in, I almost hate to admit it. I may have even underrated it.
In their latest outing, “The Truth Has a Ring to It,” Berg and Hader address immediately the loss of Detective Loach (good-bye Twin Peaks‘ John Pirruccello) by telling the media it was a case of a domestic dispute that turned deadly. Hilariously, they show a rumpled-looking photo of Loach next to a professional Hollywood shot of Ronnie (which is the actual photo from actor Daniel Bernhardt’s IMDb page), to what the police chief sums up as, “So, you get it.’
Later, after escaping the grocery store without being arrested, Fuches and Barry eventually hit up a Target (outfits for under $30 apparently) and get cleaned up in a park bathroom. Barry finally cuts the cord, telling his old mentor that his new one, Gene, knows him and accepts him for who he is: a good person. As Barry leaves, Fuches reminds him that “actor boy” did kill his coach’s girlfriend, then tells him, “I guess everyone is a hero of their own story, right?”
Barry is then seen training Hank’s group of Chechen mercenaries and even makes time for more of Hank’s dancing skills, which he has now spread to his entire troupe. Barry tells Hank that his group is as good as they are ever going to be. Hank then gives back the material he was using to blackmail Barry and is disappointed that he didn’t have the special Chechen bullet gifted to him by his “BFF.”
Much of the rest of the episode is dedicated to finally playing out Sally’s truth, as Barry is still having trouble bringing out the inner bad guy he has tried so hard to keep at bay. Gene (Henry Winkler) helps him connect Sally’s ex’s shame for choking her by reliving his time killing a soldier in Korengal. He tells him, “You don’t have to tell your story to use your story.” The only problem now is the pictures killing the love of Gene’s life, Janice. This, per Gene, is the only way to deliver the type of anger Sally needs to portray the scene to the rest of the class.
By the end of the episode, we see that Hank was ratted out by a rogue accordion player he hired to keep his troops’ spirits up to Esther and Cristobal. We also find Fuches hiking in the woods near Gene’s cabin and stumbles (literally) into evidence that Barry killed Janice. He even finds, what we can only assume, is her car hidden deep in the woods.
This particular chapter of the time and tribulations of America’s favorite hitman didn’t have the level of tension and suspense as the previous outings. That being said, I had a sneaking suspicion that “The Truth Has a Ring to it” would have come down to earth a bit. I would call “the calm before the storm” episode that will set up the last chapters before the finale. I’m guessing if this season is any indication, it is going for broke and tumbles into some very dark places.
