For all the pain he’s brought on Barry, Fuches does seem to have something of a heart. While watching “Rain Man” on TV, he compares the characters played by Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman to himself and Barry. (Presumably, that would make Barry the equivalent of Raymond Babbitt, which is … an interesting comparison!) So even though he could play stupid, he decides to help Barry if possible, telling a guard that Barry’s life is in danger. But the guards don’t seem to care, dragging Fuches away while Barry meets with the FBI, including Agent James Curtis (Dan Bakkedahl). Though Agent Curtis tries to walk Barry through the process of what will happen in Witness Protection, while promising him that Sally can join him soon, Barry is struck by an unexpected twist: one of the people in the room is there to kill him.
Of course, it helps to add a brief bit of humor that said person is played by Hader’s old “SNL” castmate Fred Armisen. Armisen is clearly playing one of the podcasting killers, who’s doing a bad job of giving himself away as a bulge-eyed, sweaty dude who keeps looking at the ceiling where his partner must be lying in wait. “That guy’s here to kill me,” Barry says, blithely pointing at the podcaster. But if we have learned anything about Barry Berkman over the last few seasons, it is that he always figures out a way to escape certain death. This time, it’s because the weapon that Armisen’s character has at the ready backfires on him, ripping off one of his fingers in the process. Armisen’s partner in crime does shoot at and kill all the actual FBI agents, but Barry quickly grabs one of their guns, takes the other shooter down, and vanishes. That leaves the prison warden (played briefly by character actor Richard Riehle) to stride in and ask the pressing question: “Where the hell is Berkman?”
“you’re charming” is another suitably tense episode, and one that once again makes clear that while few of the characters on this show are truly good people, Barry Berkman has quickly become the worst of them. His centerpiece call with Hank is no doubt going to fuel his lust for revenge — we don’t know for sure that’s how Barry is feeling, but that would seem like a logical conclusion considering that an Oscar-winning filmmaker just tried to have him offed on Hank’s behalf. (Is Guillermo del Toro playing himself here? Who knows. Let’s hope so.) Admittedly, a character whose behavior — at least this week — approaches similar levels of awfulness is one whose behavior seems a little out of scope. That would be Jim Moss, who apparently managed to torture a man out of speaking his native tongue, which seems a wee bit too deranged. (Yes, it’s true that Lon cannot tell his wife or editor who did this to him, but his wife knew he was going to visit Jim Moss, information she could easily share with an editor of a very big magazine.) It’s especially deranged because Lon does not seem like a lazy portrait of sloppy journalism. Maybe we’ll see Lon again (though I will only say I highly doubt it for now). Even still, that was a bit of a misstep. For now, though, “you’re charming” does a good job of leaving us hanging: there’s a lot of fireworks we’re liable to see in one week as two old friends become likely eternal foes.
