Another top-notch episode that has the least amount of Barry Berkman in it.
Usually, I really hate when shows do a big cliffhanger and then spend the next episode on some filler stuff or don't even mention the thing that happened and make the audience who had to wait a week to see what happened next feel like a complete idiot. But this is an exception and they did a great job with the post-cliffhanger episode.
Although I personally wouldn't really call the ending of the previous episode a cliffhanger, but I understand why some would and would want to see what happened next ASAP.
Luckily, this episode doesn't do that and jumps right into the police business and how the prison guards were in shambles.
This episode does not only do a great job of dedicating more screen time to these "main" side characters since we don't really have a Barry plotline with Barry in it apart from Jim Moss', but it does a great job of furthering their storylines in some shocking and tragic ways.
This episode is filled with a lot of tragedies: The last scene of Gene Cousineau's plotline which was funny and sad at the same time, the new development in Hank and Cristobal's plotline that was the most serious part of this episode and probably the whole show, and the most tragic tale of all, Kristen's previous boyfriend.
Barry once again takes a jab at Hollywood's current movie and tv show production industry and this time it's Disney and Marvel and this time it's actually more profound and poignant than trying to make it funny like the Netflix Algorithm one from the previous season. I'm honestly now surprised that they didn't mock Marvel way way sooner than now. And the casting for the director part is brilliant and it's obvious what specific movie and director from the new MCU movies they are targetting.
Hank has come a long way since season one and has become one of the most developed and iconic characters on TV in general, and he has become ruthless and scary and far from what he was in the beginning.
There is also a shocking sand-related scene which once again shows how good the production of this show is and how little they rely on CGI to pull off these kinds of impressive stunts.
I also don't think anyone was surprised with Sally's decision at the end and kinda all saw it coming.
Every character like Hank and Sally are stopping to pretend and embracing what they truly are, which is not far from what Barry is.
I didn't get into the details to keep this relatively short and spoiler-free, I just wanted to say that a Barryless Barry definitely could work and they did it here masterfully. I was skeptical at first when I saw that one review titled "Barryless Barry" and I thought "oh, it's one of those post-cliffhanger episodes which completely ignores the big cliffhanger and its main character even though we're halfway through the last season", but this was fantastically done and I think it was the right call to not have Barry in it so we could see how the other characters are reacting to the breaking news.
Though I am kinda a little disappointed we didn't see how exactly Barry got out. But I guess it's implied that there was just one guard for the exit door that is presumably in that section of the prison and the guard got shot so Barry easily escaped. You kinda have to suspend your disbelief a little for that part, but it's just a nitpick.
Great episode overall and with all the crazy stuff and shocking twists that happened in this episode and how many great scenes it had, I think it deserves the full rating.
