Spoiler Warning: Barry Seasons 1-3
The Barry season three finale delivered a shocking twist to audiences when the final scene featured hitman Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) finally getting arrested for his murder of Detective Janice Moss (Paula Newsome). In a way, this twist wasn’t surprising considering the downward spiral Barry experienced during the season, becoming increasingly erratic and reckless as he struggled to forgive himself for and come to terms with his past actions.
Knowing that there is a fourth season of Barry on the horizon, the ending did come as a shock in the sense it leaves a lot in the air as to how the show will progress with Barry now behind bars. Barry being arrested could have been thought of as a series finale, but instead, it’ll take the show in a new direction with Barry’s secrets being out in public.
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The major factor relating to Barry finally being arrested had to be Janice Moss’ father, Jim Moss (Robert Wisdom). Fuches (Stephen Root) had reached out to Moss as “Detective Kenneth Goulet,” using Moss as he did the other loved ones of Barry’s victims to seek revenge and kill Barry. Little did Fuches know, he was the one who would be used.
With relative ease and little screen time, Jim Moss outsmarted Barry and Fuches without ever using a weapon against either of them. Fuches’ other agents of revenge all struggled with stepping over the line to seek revenge, with several concocting intricate and messy violent plots that resulted in failure. Jim Moss succeeded where the rest failed, choosing not to fight Fuches and Barry on their level but on his own.
Who is Jim Moss in Barry Season 3?
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Jim Moss is the father of Detective Janice Moss from Barry’s first season. Detective Moss had been the lead detective in the investigation into the death of Ryan Madison (Tyler Jacob Moore), the hit that brought Barry to Los Angeles. At the end of the first season, Detective Moss had put aside her pursuit of Ryan’s killer, investing fully in her loving relationship with Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler).
In season one’s final episode, Barry and Sally (Sarah Goldberg) come over for dinner at Gene’s cabin, and it’s during dinner that Gene tells everyone about the “hit man monologue” that Barry gave to Gene to get into the acting class. Gene simply thought the monologue was good acting, but Janice saw through it, connecting the dots that it was Barry behind it all. Barry ends up killing Janice after she attempts to arrest him at gunpoint, hiding her body inside the trunk of a car.
In season two of Barry, Fuches uses the location of Janice’s body to get back at Barry, hoping to drive a rift between Barry and his new father figure. Fuches, under the guise of PI Kenneth Goulet, shows Gene the body of Janice Moss and tells him that it was Barry who killed Janice. At the start of season three, Fuches is irritated that Barry convinced Gene, albeit by threatening his family, to let go of Janice’s murder. Fuches leaves his happy little goat farm in Chechnya and heads to Los Angeles to build an army to kill Barry, recruiting the loved ones of Barry’s victims to kill him. All of Fuches’ “soldiers” fail, some in hilarious and often spectacular fashion.
Taylor’s (Dale Pavinski) sister, Traci (Jolene Van Vugt), and her gang of motorcyclists shoot Fuches after he gives them Barry’s location, leaving him for dead in the middle of nowhere. Fuches ends up being rescued by a nearby rancher, falling in love with his daughter while living on their ranch. Jim Moss returns Fuches’ call about Janice’s killer, but Fuches claims he made a mistake, choosing the simple ranch life over revenge.
In typical Fuches fashion, after he sees a picture of Gene and Barry in the paper, he becomes enraged, leaving the ranch behind and calling back Jim Moss with information on Janice’s killer.
Fuches Makes the Wrong Choice by Calling Jim Moss
In the second to last episode of season three, “Candy Asses,” Fuches meets with Jim Moss at his house, and the two go for a drive. Fuches tells Moss about Barry Berkman, but Moss goes on to talk about his time serving in Vietnam. Moss was shot down and captured, where he was tortured in a POW camp until he got into the mind of his interrogator and convinced him to kill himself, helping Moss and a few of his fellow soldiers to escape.
The military was so impressed with Moss that he was sent to SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) school, where he excelled and eventually became an instructor. Jim Moss had wanted Janice to join SERE too, but even she thought what he did was messed up.
The entire time Fuches is listening to Moss, he’s befuddled by how Moss convinced a man to kill himself, going on to brag about his own abilities right as they pull up outside a police station. Fuches is taken out of the car and brought in for questioning, where Jim claims Fuches fed him some line about getting revenge, never trusting the intent of a man who had knowledge of his daughter’s killer and didn’t go to the police himself.
Moss becomes convinced it is Barry who killed Janice after discovering that Gene had told the authorities the same as Fuches told him. During an event for Gene’s Masterclass series, Moss shows up to talk with Janice’s former boyfriend. Moss tells Gene that “Kenneth Goulet” came to him and told him that Barry killed Janice. Out of fear, Gene vouches for Barry, but Moss notices the sweat pouring from Gene’s head and deduces that he’s being lied to, congratulating Gene on his new show and leaving.
In the season finale, “Starting Now,” Moss calls Gene and asks him to come to his house so they can talk. Once there, Moss takes Gene to the garage, where two chairs sit across from one another. Moss sits across from Gene and begins interrogating him in hopes of discovering the truth about Janice.
Gene Cousineau and Jim Moss Team Up to Outsmart Barry
The interrogation begins with Jim Moss repeatedly asking Gene the same question about whether he loved his daughter, Janice. In a way, this line of questioning seems intended to break Gene, but it could also be seen as Moss attempting to break Gene’s Stockholm syndrome related to Barry.
Moss then asks whether Gene loves Barry, to which Gene replies that he doesn’t. Moss moves his chair closer and asks if Barry loved his daughter, to which Gene replies that he didn’t. Moss pushes his head against Gene’s and asks why he’s protecting Barry and whether he loved his daughter. The scene ends with Gene breaking down in tears, but can be thought of as Jim reminding Gene who he really loves and who really hurt him, as well as enforcing the importance of serving Janice’s memory, a woman who he loved and Jim knows he did.
In the show’s final scene, Gene calls Barry for help, claiming that Jim Moss is crazy and knows everything about the two, wanting to take them out. Gene plays it like he will kill Moss, motivating Barry to take the gun from him and do it himself despite Gene’s pleading. Barry enters the house and finds Jim unarmed, watching football, and pouring a glass of whiskey. The second Barry aims the gun at Moss, armed police come out of the shadows and demand he drops his weapon. As Barry is escorted out, Gene gives him a slight grin, having given the performance of his life by tricking Barry into incriminating himself.
Why did Moss succeed when so many others failed to take down Barry and Fuches? The obvious reason is that Moss was smarter than both of them and was trained in the art of psychological manipulation, making it simple to overcome a cockroach-like Fuches and an out-of-touch basket case like Barry. The second reason is that Moss believes in the law and justice, the same as Janice, whereas all the others who went after Barry didn’t believe in the system or believe it had failed them.
Likely due to his SERE experience, Moss also has an even temperament and doesn’t let emotions cloud his actions, unlike the others who went after Barry. Moss barely lifts a finger to take down Barry and Fuches. He drives Fuches to the police station, has him arrested upon meeting him, and enjoys a drink while Barry incriminates himself and is arrested in his home.
Although the interrogation is cut short, Moss likely convinced Gene that he had the upper hand over Barry. Not only did Gene have knowledge of Barry’s actions, but Barry also loved him as a father figure. By using Barry’s love and desire to violently conceal his crimes, Moss and Gene are able to take down Barry with ease.
Moss has the qualities that Barry and Fuches don’t. He won’t cross moral lines, doesn’t let emotions cloud his reasoning, and looks beyond their brittle facades to see their true intentions and weaknesses. Apart from Janice, no adversaries have displayed these qualities while confronting Barry and Fuches, making sense as to why it was Jim Moss who was the only one able to take them down in the end.
