Season one of Barry introduces us to the titular Barry Berkman, a marine turned hitman under
the guidance of his handler Fuches.
Fuches assigns Barry a new target in LA, an aspiring actor named Ryan Madison who was
having an affair with the wife of Chechen crime boss Goran, the man who ordered the
hit.
Barry breaks hitman rule number 1 by making contact with Ryan who asks him to perform
a scene with him in his acting class.
Barry, feeling depressed and disillusioned by the hitman lifestyle, feels accepted by
the acting class and becomes smitten with aspiring actress Sally.
The only problem is that Barry is a horrible actor.
Many of the qualities of being a hitman, being closed off and emotionless, hugely contradict
the qualities required of actors.
After breaking down and venting to acting teacher Gene Cousineau that he is in fact
a hitman looking for a different life, Gene takes it as an impressive improvised monologue
and accepts Barry into his acting class.
By the time Barry gets around to killing Ryan, the Chechens have already sent a new hitman
to kill him and Barry to tie up any loose ends.
Barry guns them down and escapes the scene.
In order to make things up to the Chechens, Fuches arranges for Barry to pull off several
jobs for them, all the while Barry continues to attend acting classes and pursues a relationship
with Sally.
When Barry reconnects with an old Marine friend Chris, Chris's friend Taylor discovers Barry's
ties with the Chechens and insists on tagging along on his next job of raiding a rival Bolivian
stash house.
The job is pulled off with little hiccups but Barry ignores Fuches’ orders to kill
Taylor upon the job's completion.
Barry wants Taylor to take his place and work for Fuches so that he can leave behind the
hitman life for good and pursue his acting career.
Taylor counters that Barry should just kill Fuches himself and even hides some money he
stole from the stash house in Barry's bag.
Barry, realizing his plan for Taylor to seamlessly take his place was an unrealistic dream, decides
to do the next Chechen job alone, taking out a Bolivian drug lord upon his arrival at a
private airfield.
Unfortunately, Taylor shows up with his friend Vaughn and Barry's friend Chris.
Going against Barry's planned stealth attack, Taylor drives the group head-on into enemy
fire.
Taylor and Vaughn are killed in the gunfire, but Barry and Chris managed to escape.
Due to the botched attack, the Bolivians declare war on the Chechens.
Emotionally distressed from the horrific turn of events at the airfield, a guilt ridden
Chris tells Barry he wants to turn himself in to the authorities.
Given no other choice, Barry is forced to kill his friend, a decision that emotionally
devastates him.
He then goes to give a performance with Sally in front of his acting class, and the emotions
Barry felt from killing Chris lead to a genuinely captivating performance.
Sally insists that whatever process Barry used to tap into those emotions is the process
he should use before every performance moving forward.
Upon learning of Barry’s survival, Fuches tries to save himself by going to Goran with
information on where to find him.
Goran instead plans to kill both Barry and Fuches.
NoHo Hank, who has taken a liking to Barry, warns the assassin and tells him to run.
Barry instead decides to head to Goran's house, killing the mob boss and his entire gang,
although he spares Hank who takes over the Chechens and makes peace with the Bolivians.
Barry also runs Fuches out of LA, finally putting his hitman past behind him.
Barry and Sally then accompany Gene to get away at his country home.
Gene is also accompanied by his girlfriend, Janice Moss, a detective who all season has
been trying to uncover Ryan Madison's killer and their involvement with the Chechen mob.
Barry is finally at peace and it's a perfect happy ending until Moss discovers Barry's
true identity.
Barry privately begs her not to pursue this, but when she refuses Barry is forced to shoot
her before returning to his room and joining a sleeping Sally in bed.
In season two of Barry, the titular assassin is struggling to keep his double life together.
When a grief-stricken Gene wants to close down his acting school, Barry convinces him
to keep going.
Gene then tasks the acting class with writing and performing a scene that encapsulates their
own personal truth, which forces Sally to confront her relationship with her abusive
ex-husband.
In Sally’s written version of events, she confidently stands up against her husband’s
abuse and her performance receives rave reviews and attention from agents.
Although Sally does feel guilty knowing that the performance was a lie, as she had actually
quietly fled from her husband without ever confronting him.
Outside of acting class, tensions are escalating even further for Barry.
NoHo Hank begs Barry for help in dealing with a Burmese gang that the Bolivian’s leader
Cristobal prefers over the Chechens.
Hank wants Barry to kill the Burmese gang’s leader, Esther, but Barry refuses, not wanting
to be a killer anymore.
Instead, Barry trains the Chechens so that they could take out the Burmese gang themselves.
One of the Chechens, Mayrbeck, proves to be an excellent student and soon wins the respect
of the rest of the Chechens, pushing Hank to the side.
Meanwhile, Fuches is arrested due to his connections with Goran and the Chechens, and Detective
Moss’ partner Loach turns him into an informant to bring down Barry.
When Fuches records Barry’s confession on tape, Loach doesn’t arrest the assassin,
but instead blackmails him into killing his ex-wife’s new lover, Ronny.
Eventually, Loach arrives to kill Ronny himself, but the Taekwondo master kills Loach before
the police arrive and kill Ronny.
With Loach dead and the investigation into him seemingly over, a furious Barry parts
ways with Fuches.
To get revenge on Barry, a bitter Fuches tracks down Detective Moss’ body and poses as a
private detective to lead Gene to it.
Before Barry can race to the crime scene to stop him, Fuches frames Gene for Moss’ murder,
alerts the police, and holds Gene at gunpoint.
Fuches can’t bring himself to kill Gene, but does tell him that Barry was Moss’ true
killer.
Fuches then runs away as Barry arrives, followed closely by the police.
Barry and Gene are arrested, but Barry manages to plant evidence that exonerated Gene and
shifted the attention toward the Chechens.
And speaking of the Chechens, Fuches brokers a peace deal between Hank, Cristobal, and
Esther, bringing the three gangs together in an attempt to protect himself from a vengeful
Barry.
Hank alerts Barry to Fuches’ location, and Barry storms the gang hideout, slaughtering
gang members, including Esther and Mayrbeck, in his search for Fuches.
Unfortunately for Barry, Fuches escapes.
When the Chechens send a successor, Batir, to replace Hank, Batir assumes Hank slaughtered
Esther and all of the other Chechen rivals and commends him for his work.
Barry had come a long way in distancing himself from his past as an assassin, but could the
past stay the past when Fuches was still around to cause trouble and his innocent teacher
Gene was now secretly aware of his darkest secret?
In season three of Barry, the titular assassin has fallen into a dark depression and returned
to his job of contract killing.
Noho Hank helps divert the Moss investigation and implicate Fuches, who is currently hiding
out in Chechnya.
Despite the police informing Gene that Fuches is Moss’ killer, the acting teacher remains
confident that Barry is the one responsible.
So confident, in fact, that Gene confronts Barry at gunpoint.
Barry is forced to subdue Gene, and, not wanting to kill him, must come up with a plan to re-earn
Gene’s trust and loyalty.
And to make sure Gene stays in line until a plan can come together, Barry threatens
the lives of Gene’s son and grandson.
Sally has created her own television series called Joplin, based on the fictionalized
version of her past abusive relationship.
Barry thinks getting Gene an acting role on the show will boost his spirits and lead to
forgiveness, but Sally turns down Barry’s proposal.
A frustrated and stressed out Barry then viciously lashes out at Sally in front of the show’s
entire crew, leading to Sally eventually standing up for herself and ending the abusive relationship.
Without Sally’s help, Barry is forced to find another way to get Gene an acting job,
but quickly learns that the acting teacher has made a lot of enemies during his time
in Hollywood.
Eventually, Barry lands a role for himself on a television show and convinces the production
to cast Gene as well.
The story of acting teacher Gene taking former marine Barry under his wing goes public and
Gene’s reputation and career are completely revitalized.
Gene is hired to host an acting Masterclass, and wanting to make amends for past mistakes
of his own, hires his spurned former friend Annie to direct.
Meanwhile, Noho Hank and Cristobal begin a romantic relationship, which is seriously
complicated by the escalating war between the Chechen and Bolivian gangs.
Cristobal’s father-in-law, Fernando, comes to America to take charge and strike against
the Chechens, prompting Cristobal to warn Hank about the Bolivians’ plans.
Chechen leader Batir wants to take out the entire Bolivian gang, so Hank hires Barry
to plant a bomb in Fernando’s home, killing him and his men, but keeping Cristobal safe.
Just as Barry plants the bomb, Cristobal arrives and is confronted by Fernando, who reveals
that he knows about Cristobal’s relationship with Hank.
When the bomb goes off, Cristobal emerges from the wreckage as the only survivor.
Barry delivers Cristobal to Hank, then delivers his reward money to Gene as further penance.
When Cristobal’s wife, Elena, comes to America to avenge her father’s death, she orders
her team to attack the Chechens and kidnap her husband.
She brings Cristobal back to Bolivia and subjects him to electroshock conversion therapy.
Hank and his men follow them to Bolivia, where the Chechens are all slaughtered by a panther.
Hank manages to kill the panther and the Bolivians, including Elena, to save Cristobal.
Meanwhile, Sally’s television series Joplin is canceled almost immediately after premiering,
forcing Sally to take a writing job on a different series, which she sees as an unfair demotion.
Upon finding out that her former assistant Natalie has been given her own show, Sally
cruelly lashes out at her in a fit of jealousy and rage.
Natalie films the encounter and posts it online, costing Sally her writing job.
After posting a terrible, half-hearted apology video online where she refuses to take full
responsibility for her actions, Sally is also dropped by her agent.
Meanwhile, Fuches returns to America seeking revenge against Barry.
Posing as a PI, Fuches visits the families of many of Barry’s past victims, encouraging
them to track down Barry and enact vengeance.
A biker gang led by Taylor’s sister pursues Barry, who narrowly escapes with his life.
Chris’ widow, Sharon, then poisons Barry and leaves him to die, but the assassin is
saved by Ryan Madison’s grieving and depressed father.
As Barry continues to fight off his pursuers, he is visited by Sally, who asks for his help
in spitefully ruining Natalie’s career.
Barry refuses, not wanting to encourage Sally’s downward spiral, but the two are then attacked
by a surviving member of the biker gang.
Sally is forced to kill the biker, traumatizing her, but Barry promises to get rid of the
body and take full responsibility for the death.
As Barry heads off to tie up all of his loose ends, he makes plans to leave Los Angeles
with Sally, unaware that she has already left by herself to return to her hometown of Joplin.
As Barry disposes of the biker’s body, he is confronted by his old marine friend, Albert,
who now works for the FBI.
As Barry breaks down in tears, Albert agrees to let Barry go as thanks for saving his life
in Afghanistan, but makes Barry promise to never kill again.
With his plan to kill Barry ending in failure, Fuches decides to try a new tactic.
He visits Jim Moss, the grieving father of Janice, and reveals that Barry was her killer.
Suspicious of Fuches, Jim turns him into the police before investigating Barry on his own.
Jim Moss then calls Barry to his home for a final confrontation.
Gene insists that he and Barry kill Jim to put an end to the investigation for good and
move on with their lives.
At Jim’s home, Barry takes Gene’s gun and tells him to go home, not wanting him
involved.
As Barry prepares to murder Jim, the police rush in to arrest him.
As Barry is taken into custody, he realizes that Gene had betrayed him, working with Jim
Moss to set him up and finally avenge Janice.
In season 4 of Barry, the titular assassin finds himself in prison as punishment for
his years of crime.
While there, he discovers that Fuches is a fellow inmate, and when Barry apologizes for
trusting Gene, the assassin and his handler finally reconcile.
Fuches turns down a deal to be an FBI informant to instead form a gang with his surrogate
son, Barry.
As Fuches takes on the mantle of “the Raven” and attempts to assemble a gang, Barry tries
to cut a deal with the FBI behind Fuches’ back, promising to provide information on
NoHo Hank, the Chechens, and their criminal empire.
Outside the prison, Sally is shocked and devastated to discover the depths of Barry’s violent
past.
Her family offers her no comfort, and her acting career is ruined, but she does find
some respite in becoming an acting teacher.
Gene has become a media hero due to his involvement with Barry, and the attention quickly goes
to his head.
Despite the warnings of Jim Moss, Gene begins giving interviews detailing his involvement
in Barry’s arrest, jeopardizing the entire case.
NoHo Hank and Cristobal are continuing their romance and trying to start a legitimate business
empire together selling construction sand.
Although Hank at first wants to help orchestrate his friend Barry’s escape from prison, upon
learning that Barry has become an informant, Hank decides to have assassins murder him.
As Hank’s hired assassins attack Barry, he successfully fights back, killing them
and escaping prison.
The prison guards violently attack Fuches for information on Barry’s escape, despite
him swearing he has no information to give.
Thinking Fuches is just being loyal to his friend, the other prisoners finally respect
him as the Raven.
With Barry on the run, Gene fears for his life and goes into hiding, accidentally shooting
his son in the process.
Despite Cristobal’s desire to become legitimate, Hank fears the Chechen elders and turns on
his crew, murdering them all to prove his loyalty.
The Chechens are impressed by this act and place him in charge of their American operations,
though Cristobal is horrified by his lover’s actions.
Despite Hank pleading for Cristobal to stay with him, Cristobal leaves Hank, accepting
his fate.
And so, the Chechens murder Cristobal, leaving Hank heartbroken.
As Sally becomes the acting coach for a young actress in a superhero film, her career is
finally getting back on track.
But she has become disillusioned by the industry, and when Barry pays her a visit, she offers
to run away with him to start a new life.
Eight years later, Barry and Sally are living off the grid and under false identities, raising
their young son, John.
Barry thinks that he has legitimately turned his life around, and turned to religion for
support.
Meanwhile, Sally has become miserable in her new life, with barely any affection for her
and Barry’s son.
Elsewhere, Fuches is released from prison, now with a loyal gang by his side who respect
him as the supposedly fear-inducing Raven.
Meanwhile, Hank has turned his and Cristobal’s dream operation into a massively successful
empire, and hires Fuches and his gang as a security team.
But Fuches can’t help but attempt to goad Hank into admitting Cristobal’s death was
his own fault, which Hank refuses to do, sending the two men on a violent war against each
other.
Realizing his men stood no chance against the Raven’s, Hank attempts to call a truce
by offering to kill Barry Berkman.
Meanwhile, Gene returns to Hollywood after eight years in hiding after learning that
a movie based on his experiences with Barry is about to go into production.
Gene insists that he has returned to stop the film from happening, as it could unintentionally
glorify Barry and exploit Janice’s death, but no one in Gene’s life, including the
son he accidentally shot, believes his motives to be pure.
And when Gene discovers that Daniel Day-Lewis is interested in playing him in the film,
he quickly turns back against his morals and agrees to allow the film to paint Barry in
a more sympathetic light.
But this was all a ploy, as Gene is then confronted by his son, Jim Moss, and the FBI.
Hearing his desire to sympathize with Barry, and discovering that the assassin paid him
money from the Chechens, the FBI now suspect Gene to be an accomplice of Barry who hired
the assassin to murder Janice.
When Barry learns of the film, he leaves Sally and John behind to return to Hollywood and
murder Gene, in an attempt to stop the film from happening and Gene getting a chance to
tell his side of the story, which would obviously be damning toward Barry and ruin his new supposedly
idyllic life.
In Barry’s absence, Sally’s traumatic past catches back up to her, and she and John
are attacked in an event that may or may not be all in Sally’s head.
This prompts Sally to take John and follow Barry to Los Angeles in the hopes of preventing
him from murdering Gene and putting an end to their life on the run.
And that’s when the Chechens arrive to capture Sally and John, using them as bait to lure
Barry into a final confrontation between the assassin and Fuches and Hank.
While captured, Sally confesses to John that Barry is a murderer and that the guilt she
has felt since killing the biker has led her to being emotionally distant from her son.
When Fuches and his men arrive to join Cristobal for their confrontation against Barry, the
sight of John snaps Fuches out of his Raven persona.
He offers to leave Hank alone for good if the Chechen just admits to being responsible
for Cristobal’s death.
When Hank refuses, the Raven’s men open fire on the Chechens.
Hank is killed, but Fuches manages to survive while protecting John from the gunfire.
As Barry finally arrives, missing the battle, Fuches safely delivers John to Barry, as a
final act of kindness for his surrogate son.
Having come to terms with her own grief, Sally is ready to stop running.
Knowing Gene was being arrested for Janice’s murder, Sally pleads to Barry to turn himself
in.
When Barry refuses, Sally takes John and runs.
Barry visits Gene’s house to search for his wife and son, but as he finally realizes
he needs to turn himself in, Gene emerges and murders Barry, finally getting true justice
for Janice, but damning himself in the process.
Years later, Sally is living a happier, simpler life working as a high school drama teacher
and raising the now teenaged John.
The Hollywood version of Barry’s story paints him as a hero, with Gene as an acting teacher
working with the Chechens, who murdered Janice and framed Barry.
Barry is revealed to have gotten a hero’s funeral, while Gene is serving a life sentence
in prison.
Just as Barry, Sally, Gene, Hank, and Fuches have done so many times before, John chooses
to live in denial of the truth, and accepts the Hollywood version of Barry as his father.