CNN —

“Barry” has taken chances from the very beginning, which is certainly true of a fourth and final season that picks up where the third left off , with its hitman-turned-wannabe actor getting arrested. That paves the way for an even darker season that accentuates the show’s ensemble aspect while leaning a little too heavily on blurring lines with flights of fancy.

Thanks to “Succession,” “Barry” won’t be the highest-profile goodbye on HBO this spring, but the Emmy-nominated series isn’t chopped liver either. It’s fair to say, in fact, that while these episodes don’t quite measure up to what’s gone before, even a less-lethal “Barry” is still very, very good.

Bill Hader’s auteur turn as director-producer-star remains one of TV’s most unpredictable series, and the new season has a strong “Better Call Saul” vibe to it, triggered by fallout from the seemingly inevitable fact that Hader’s Barry couldn’t maintain his double life forever.

The consequences of his arrest flare out to both sides of that…