Will NoHo Hank Make It Out Of Barry Season 4 Alive?
There are plenty of TV characters who are famous for lasting way longer than they were supposed to. If you're ever in any kind of trivia game, the fact that Jesse in "Breaking Bad" was supposed to die in season 1 will probably come in handy; similarly, Jack Shephard was supposed to die in the pilot of "Lost." But NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) is on a whole other level: not only was he also supposed to get killed off in the pilot episode of "Barry," but realistically he probably should've died multiple times throughout each season so far. Everyone else on the show suffers from the natural consequences of their actions, but Hank charmingly slithers away from those consequences every time.
The first episode of "Barry" season 4 shows Hank enjoying the rewards of his latest escape from certain death, chilling in a nice house with his boyfriend Cristobal (Michael Irby), both of them now disconnected from the mob groups that kept them apart. Unfortunately, this peaceful existence doesn't last long: Hank finds out Barry's been arrested, so he agrees to go along with Cristobal's sand operation as part of his plan to break Barry out of prison. At the end of episode 2, things are further complicated by the discovery than Barry is now working with the FBI.
"We have to kill Barry," Hank says. Since there are still six episodes left and the show is named after Barry, it doesn't seem like Hank will pull this off any time soon. But even though the objective odds of a Barry vs. Hank showdown certainly lean in Barry's favor, history tells us that luck is on Hank's side.
The charmed life of NoHo Hank
Hank cheated death for the first time at the end of the pilot episode, when Barry ends up shooting him down from across the street in the middle of the night. This is the first time that the audience truly gets to see Barry's assassin skills in action, and it looks like he expertly takes out everyone in the car within a few seconds. This scene could easily have been the last we saw of NoHo Hank.
Yet not only does Hank survive, but he also leaves a functioning camera in the car, which thankfully ensures that he and Barry's storylines will be entwined for at least the rest of the season. Later on in the series, it seems like Hank will be in danger from the Bolivian mob, but in a pleasant twist Cristobal turns out to be a really cool guy. Turns out, violence was never necessary in this situation at all.
Hank gets another bit of good luck at the end of the season when he tells Barry about the other Chechens' plans to kill Fuches. Barry rescues Fuches and kills a bunch of Chechens in the process, which results in Hank taking charge of the Chechen mob. Go Hank!
Admittedly, this isn't all good news — as season 2 makes clear early on, Hank is definitely not qualified for this job — but Hank's luck still has a long way to go before it ever runs out.
Hank survives the barbecue bus
"Barry" season 2 also gives us Hank's second attempt to murder Barry, and this time it's one of the funniest scenes in the whole series. Hank has his guy Akhmal (Troy Caylak) attempt to snipe Barry out from the roof of a nearby building. Akhmal misses multiple times, Barry figures out what's going on, and he ends up sneaking up on them and turning the tables. Barry isn't even that mad that Hank just tried to murder him; he's mildly annoyed, as if he'd gotten into a minor fender bender.
The scene culminates in Barry nearly shooting Hank right then and there. Hank puts on a brave face and dares Barry to do it, but luckily this is early season 2 and Barry's still trying to be a good person. Even though killing Hank is the smart, pragmatic thing to do, Barry choose to spare Hank's life.
Later in the season, Hank and his men end up constrained and left inside a bus that the Burmese mafia light on fire. Surely this will be the end of Hank, right? Wrong again. Because Barry's been training his men for the past few episodes, they're now capable of escaping the bus on their own, all while Hank monologues to himself about how he's not cut out for this life.
Going into the season 2 finale, things still don't look good for Hank: he's alive, sure, but he's lost the respect of his crew. Luckily, Barry swoops in and kills the guys for reasons that have basically nothing to do with Hank's situation, so that's not a problem anymore. After a season of ups and downs, Hank is back on top!
A more serious season 3
"Barry" season 3 was the darkest chapter so far, and not even sweet, lovable Hank was immune to its effects. Early on, he finds out that Cristobal has a wife back at home, and soon he and Cristobal are separated by the Bolivian mob, seemingly forever. Hank travels to Bolivia, gets knocked out and imprisoned, and then gets chained up in a cell in Cristobal's home. This is the part where "Barry" turns into a full horror show, as Hank is forced to listen to his friends in the other cell getting eaten alive by a panther.
Although Hank has never been what most would call tough, here he manages to break his handcuffs and wrestle a gun from a guard's hands. Admittedly, he only pulls this off because the guard is terrible at his job — he has a gun, but chooses to charge at Hank instead of shooting from a distance — but it's still pretty cool. Hank shoots his way out of his cell, then murders Cristobal's homophobic wife. It's a disturbing storyline with a happy ending, made extra surprising by the fact that this time Hank actually fights his way out of the situation, rather than letting his safety rest on the whims of those around him. Is it still insanely improbable that he survived this whole ordeal? Yes, but let's not argue with a good thing.
Really, it's Cristobal who's truly the luckiest character of season 3 (apart from being kidnapped and tortured by his wife), as the fourth episode involves him surviving a massive explosion that kills everyone else in the house. "Barry" can often be cruel to its main characters, but Hank and Cristobal always seem to get a break when they need them.
Hank's odds in the final season of Barry
Season 4 gives Hank and Cristobal the opportunity to escape the dangerous life that has previously dictated their every move. But Fuches couldn't handle that opportunity, and neither can they. It only takes about five minutes of retirement bliss before Cristobal wants to get in touch with a bunch of mob guys to start a sketchy sand transportation business, and it only takes Hank another five minutes to start plotting a prison break.
If there's a theme to "Barry" so far, it's probably that you can never truly escape your past. Barry tried , and he ended up in prison; Sally tried, and she ended up dating an assassin and abusing her former assistant. Characters keep grasping at the chance to start a new life, but reality keeps swooping in to punish them for it. Even Cousineau, who appears to have successfully turned over a new leaf in his acting career, seems unlikely to get out of all this scot-free. (If Barry doesn't get revenge, I wouldn't be surprised if the reporter he tries to woo in the second episode ends up painting him in a bad light.)
In other words, despite the preternatural ability to escape death they've demonstrated thus far, all the signs point to a tragic ending for Hank and Cristobal in "Barry" season 4. They've had their chance at a peaceful life and they've rejected it, and even when Barry's in prison he's still not to be trifled with. Logically, realistically, and thematically, Hank should not survive this season. But then again, has logic and reason ever stopped Hank before?
New episodes of "Barry" air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.