History Characters / Barry

[[/index]]




!!!Los Angeles Police Department

[[folder:Janice Moss]]
!!Detective Janice Moss
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/janice_moss.png]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/PaulaNewsome

A police detective who starts seeing connections between Ryan Madison's murder and the activities of the acting class.
----
* CassandraTruth: The only one who consistently believes the murderer is one of Ryan's fellow actors, while her fellow cops are content to draw increasingly wilder conclusions about Ryan's criminal connections. She eventually finds the evidence she needs, but is too late to stop Barry from catching up to her.
* DeadpanSnarker: She's quite prone to snarking, particularly at her rather inept colleagues.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Janice's investigation gets almost as much focus as Barry himself, and drives the plot just as much as he does.
* FakeGuestStar: Paula Newsome is listed as part of the recurring cast, but she appears in almost every episode of the first season and is essentially the {{Deuteragonist}}.
* HeroAntagonist: She's one of the biggest dangers to Barry, but she's far from a bad person. She's just doing her job, and trying to do it well.
* KilledOffscreen: The camera cuts away as she and Barry exchange gunfire, but his survival and calm attitude afterward indicate that she was indeed killed. In Season 2, Barry confirms that he did in fact kill her.
* KnightInSourArmor: After Loach's marriage falls apart, she admits to a colleague she knew it would happen since divorce is pretty common for homicide detectives.
--> '''Moss:''' I mean, come on! She's a human being and he's a homicide detective.
* LikesOlderMen: If her attraction to Gene is any indication.
* MayDecemberRomance: With Cousineau, who is much older than her.
* NiceGirl: She's somewhat stern, but she's actually a fairly nice person who only becomes frustrated when dealing with obvious incompetence.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Barry tries to convince her of this after she finds out the truth about him. It doesn't work.
* OnlySaneMan: She's the only member of the LAPD who isn't an idiot. Loach is mostly absorbed by his own personal dramas and everyone else is pretty incompetent, generally forcing her to take the initiative.
* PosthumousCharacter: Her death casts a shadow over much of the plot of Season 2 and 3.
* SacrificialLion: She's a main character in all but name, making it all the more shocking when Barry kills her to get away with his crimes. It establishes both how ruthless Barry is and that AnyoneCanDie.
* ShutUpHannibal: She delivers a pretty impenetrable response to Barry's assertion that they're not that different.
-->'''Barry:''' Janice, you can, because we want the same thing. We, we wanna be happy. We want love. We want a life. And we're doing it, Janice. We're the same.
-->'''Moss:''' But we're not. We're not the same, Barry. 'Cause I'm a cop and you're a [[PrecisionFStrike fucking murderer.]]
* SurroundedByIdiots: She rightfully takes this view since most of her colleagues really are that stupid. It's most noticeable with the two techies, who are lazy morons seemingly incapable of doing their actual job.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: An upstanding woman who just wants to get to the bottom of a few brutal murders. She would be one of the protagonists if the one she was after wasn't Barry himself.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: She's an upstanding, good-natured woman who is murdered by Barry so he can escape punishment for his crimes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:John Loach]]
!!Detective John Loach
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/90dc92e1_61f8_4126_81ea_5b612c435d8b.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/JohnPirruccello

Detective Moss's partner, who assists with her in the murder of Ryan Madison and several others, finding a link to one of the actors, Barry Block.
----
* AssholeVictim: It is really hard to not cheer when [[spoiler:Ronnie kills him with a kick to the face, snapping his neck in the process]]. Considering how much of an asshole he had been at that point, and the fact that he was going to kill Barry and make it look like he had a gun, it was cathartic to watch.
* BaitTheDog: [[spoiler:He comes off as a SympatheticInspectorAntagonist at first, but it's eventually revealed that he's only after Barry to blackmail him into killing his ex-wife's lover out of petty jealousy.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Initially just an amusing and reliable sad sack who seems like a HeroAntagonist, he reveals himself to be a petty, self-absorbed, and angry man who's willing to kill to solve his problems.]]
* BumblingSidekick: Janice is a very competent cop, whereas Loach is a perpetual sadsack still preoccupied with his wife's divorce. After her death, however, Season 2 reveals that he's actually very competent.
* CorruptCop: Oddly enough, not as corrupt as you might think. [[spoiler:He only wants to use Barry to kill his wife's lover... and when he thinks the job is done, he tries to kill Barry to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: [[spoiler:He blackmails Barry to kill Ronny simply because he's jealous his ex-wife has started a relationship with the man.]]
* HeroAntagonist: In Season 2, he now ''knows'' Barry is an assassin but cannot prove it. [[spoiler:Becomes less heroic when it's revealed he just wants Barry to kill the man who stole his wife away.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He's grumpy, but it seems like Loach genuinely wants to see justice done and avenge Janice's death by capturing Barry. [[spoiler:However, it's revealed he's only doing it so he can blackmail Barry into killing his ex-wife's new boyfriend out of jealousy.]]
* NeckSnap: In "ronny/lily", [[spoiler:he receives a kick to the face. The force of which snaps his neck and kills him. Oddly enough, this is not done by Barry but by a Taekwondo master named Ronnie, someone Loach was paying Barry to kill and who was sleeping with his ex-wife.]]
* NotSoAboveItAll: [[spoiler:As it turns out, he isn't the grumpy yet good-hearted lone detective seeking justice for Moss: he's an absolute mess of a human being who only wants to find Barry so he can blackmail him into killing his wife's new lover.]]
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Loach is played as a joke of a cop throughout season 1, but in the wake of [[spoiler: Detective Moss' death]] he proves to be frighteningly competent. He tracks down Fuches and arrests him when he continues to do hitman work without Barry and then manages to catch both men and have them dead to rights to being arrested. If justice for [[spoiler: Moss' death]] had been his actual motivation for arresting Barry, then Loach would have been the hero of the story that brought Barry down.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Come Season 2, he's after Barry, but he's just doing his job and he's working alone to get Moss' killer. [[spoiler:It's then averted when it turns out he doesn't care about Moss more than he cares about getting Barry to kill his wife's lover.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mae Dunn]]
!!Detective Mae Dunn
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/SarahBurns

Loach's partner after Moss has been killed.
----
* AdvertisedExtra: Credited as a main cast member in Season 3 despite still being a minor character with no individual narrative focus.
* HeroAntagonist: Like Moss before her, she's a likable and sympathetic person who just so happens to be on Barry's tail.
* NiceGirl: Is hapless, but a genuinely nice woman who is kind to Loach's ex-wife [[spoiler: after Loach and his ex-wife's boyfriend seemingly kill each other]]. It is one reason that both other characters and the audience often underestimate her.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Comes off as a cheerful naive woman but is more savvy and capable of reading Barry than she looks.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Charlie Simmer]]
!!Detective Charlie Simmer
->'''Portrayed By:''' Cameron Britton

An incompetent LAPD detective.
----
* TheDitz: He's a slack-jawed moron who can barely be bothered to do his job.
* LazyBum: He's almost always playing video games instead of doing his job, and refuses to put in even the barwst minimum of effort. When tasked with accessing Hank's lipstick cam, he realizes it needs an adaptor and then proceeds to spend the next day slacking off instead of simply buying it.
* TheLoad: While Loach is genuinely helpful to Janice in spite of his numerous hang-ups, Simmer is just a useless moron. He doesn't actively sabotage Janice through his incompetence, but his refusal to do his job drags on her investigation into Ryan's murder.
[[/folder]]



!!!United States Marines

[[folder:Chris]]
!!Chris Lucado
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/ChrisMarquette

Barry's best friend and a fellow ex-Marine.
----
* BadLiar: After he reveals to Barry his wife doesn't know where he is, [[HeKnowsTooMuch Barry's reaction]] inmediatly has him lie desperately that she does know.
* BoomHeadshot: Barry shoots him in the forehead point-blank, staging it like a suicide.
* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Briefly appears in Barry's beach hallucination in "candy asses".]]
* ClusterFBomb: Drops a lot of these in conversations with his military buddies.
* FatalFamilyPhoto: Chris's status as a father makes it all the more heart-breaking when Barry murders him to cover his own ass.
* FreakOut: After being forced to shoot a Bolivian to save Barry's life, he loses it and tries to convince Barry that they should turn themselves in. He quickly backpedals, but it's too late.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: He falls on the wrong end of this, telling Barry that he told his wife he was just going to the gym. When he realizes Barry is about to kill him, he backtracks and says that actually, he DID tell his wife he was going to talk to Barry, but it doesn't help him...
* KilledMidSentence: "Wait, wait, WAIT-!"
* MilesGloriosus: Downplayed example, he likes to hang out with fellow Marines like Barry and Taylor who been in combat and shares their camadrie, but turns out he only did logistics.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: He's horrified when he kills one of Cristobal's men in self-defense, and he decides to turn himself in afterwards. Unfortunately, [[HeKnowsTooMuch Barry won't let that happen.]]
* NeverSuicide: Barry frames his death as a suicide.
* NiceGuy: He's a friendly, polite family man and one of the few war veterans shown to be genuinely well-adjusted.
* OnlySaneMan: He's the only ex-Marine on the show not to be visibly suffering from extreme psychological trauma, and the only one to have adjusted well to civilian life. We find out just before his death that he handled logistics, and had never actually killed anyone.
* SacrificialLion: The first innocent person Barry kills to protect his new life.
* WalkingSpoiler: His true importance isn't clear until very late in the season.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Vaughn]]
!!Vaughn
->'''Portrayed by:''' Marcus Brown

A former Marine and a mutual friend of Taylor and Chris.
----
* BloodKnight: He eagerly joins Taylor on his bum-rush of the Bolivians and takes as much joy in violence as he does.
* FlatCharacter: He doesn't get much characterization outside of being Taylor's equally brutish and dumb friend.
* MultipleGunshotDeath: He's riddled with bullets by Cristobal's men during Taylor's bum-rush.
* TooDumbToLive: He eagerly joins Taylor's suicidal bumrush, and is shot dead for it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Albert]]
!!Albert Nguyen
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/JamesHiroyukiLiao

A former Marine who served with Barry; an incident in Korengal involving him triggered Barry's first rampage. Albert is initially only seen in flashbacks before appearing in person in season 3; after leaving the Marines, he has since become an FBI special agent assigned to help the LAPD in finding Janice Moss's murderer.
----
* BadgesAndDogTags: A former U.S. Marine who became an FBI agent after his discharge.
* GeniusBruiser: While we haven’t seen him display his skills in combat, he is a trained United States Marine. After his discharge, he became an FBI agent, which suggests he is a fairly intelligent person since the FBI doesn’t usually hire morons to become special agents. So, tough enough to have been a Marine plus smart enough to become an FBI agent qualifies him as such.
* IOweYouMyLife: Albert initially has a positive opinion of Barry because Barry saved his life in Korengal, and is hesitant to believe Barry is a murderous hitman because of this. [[spoiler:After he realizes Barry undoubtedly ''is'' a murderous hitman, Albert doesn't even turn him in, but instead yells at him to do better.]]
* ScarsAreForever: He has a very prominent scar on his left cheek, caused by getting shot in the face while on a mission in Korengal.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: He is a levelheaded, intelligent old comrade of Barry's who, unlike the LAPD, approaches the investigation with clarity and common sense. That the person he's chasing is his old friend Barry is played for DramaticIrony.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: He confronts Barry after [[spoiler: discovering that he’s the murderer he has been tasked with tracking down. Rather than take him in, he reminds Barry that he is capable of doing good and is not an irredeemable monster, but that he must stop killing people or else he’ll have no choice but to bring him to justice.]]

[[/folder]]


!!!Other Characters

[[folder:Ronny]]
!!Ronny Proxin
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/DanielBernhardt

An Olympic Medal winning martial artist. Currently dating Loach's ex-wife.
----

* BullyingADragon: Barry ''thinks'' that the threat of death will be enough to drive Ronny out of town with no questions asked. He didn't count on Ronny being a martial arts expert and stone-cold ''badass'' who proceeds to squarely kick his ass.
* TheDeterminator: He simply refuses to die, no matter what Barry does to try and take him out.
* ExtremityExtremist: He's a Taekwondo champion and so his fighting style is heavily focused on devastatingly powerful kicks which are strong enough to snap a man's neck.
* RasputinianDeath: Is brutally [[spoiler:gunned down by the police]] after they see him seemingly attack [[spoiler:Loach]] unprovoked. All this after Barry crushed and crudely fixed his windpipe.
* TheStoner: He is first introduced lighting up a blunt before entering his home. Even after he thinks he has knocked Barry out, the first thing he does before dialing 911 is light up yet another blunt. It’s possible that the only reason he wasn’t able to beat Barry in a fight is that his senses were dulled from being high.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lily]]
!!Lily Proxin
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jessie Giacomazzi

Ronny's daughter.
----

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Yes, really. Barry and Fuches openly question if she's human or [[HumanoidAbomination something else.]]
* AxCrazy: Acts downright feral once Barry [[spoiler:seemingly kills her father,]] stabbing him multiple times and even biting a chunk out of Fuches' face.
* BadassAdorable: Gives Barry more difficulty in a one-on-one fight than anyone else in the series. Including her father, a martial arts expert.
* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: As Barry comes to find out, hurting [[spoiler:and/or killing]] her father will make her go nuts on someone.
* UnstoppableRage: After Barry [[spoiler: seemingly kills her dad]], she goes mental on him, viciously attacking him with her fists, feet and anything she can get her hands on before she runs out of steam and exits the house.
[[/folder]]




[[folder:Jim Moss]]
!!Jim Moss
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RobertWisdom

A retired Vietnam vet and the father of deceased LAPD Detective Janice Moss.
----

* TheAce: He outsmarts just about everyone he comes in contact with.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Although Fuches can actually be good at manipulating people, he’s not as good as he thinks he is. Jim on the other hand, is actually a master of psychological warfare who managed to convince his own interrogator in Vietnam to commit suicide. He proves his superior skills by tricking Fuches into thinking he’s interested in killing Barry as a way to turn him over to the police. Interestingly, while Stovka killer himself when talking to Fuches, he already was deeply psychologically troubled beforehand and did it on his own accord. Moss on the other hand, actually persuaded a sane individual to commit suicide when he was being interrogated in Vietnam.
* AntiHero: Having lost the life of his daughter at the hands of Barry, Jim will stop at nothing to get retribution for his actions, even if it means using morally dubious methods such as psychological torture and manipulation of others.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: With Gene Cousineau's help, Jim lures Barry into going inside his house to kill him, as part of a successful set-up to have Barry arrested.]]
* BoringButPractical: He manages to [[spoiler:arrange the capture and arrest of both Fuches and Barry, simply by alerting the police in advance and luring them to locations where they can be easily surrounded]].
* ChekhovsGunman: He's introduced two-thirds of the way into Season 3 as part of Fuches' "revenge army", and ends up responsible for [[spoiler:both Barry and Fuches himself being arrested.]]
* CoolOldGuy: A retired Vietnam vet and probably the most moral character in the show. He loses a bit of the "moral" part when he starts employing dubious methods like psychological torture, but he still primarily remains concerned with bringing Barry to justice.
* CreepyGood: He has a sinister aura around him, considering that he was a psychological warfare officer and a skilled manipulator in his own right. But he's firmly on the side of the angels.
* DramaticIrony: He spends most of his on screen time trying to avenge his daughter's death, [[spoiler: even getting Barry arrested. At one point, he has Barry tied up in his garage and at his mercy, but Barry's muttering leads him to reexamine the evidence. He eventually exonerates his daughter's killer, at least in the public eye, and pins the blame on her boyfriend, who had also been trying to avenge her.]]
* HeroAntagonist: Probably the biggest challenge that Barry has faced and his actions are shown in a sinister light, but he is clearly on the side of good. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in season 4 [[spoiler: as he mentally breaks Lon O'Neil and threatens Gene over their interview]]
* LivingLieDetector: When he approaches Gene to ask about Barry, he instantly realizes Gene is lying to protect him. [[spoiler:After interrogating him, he gets Gene to change his mind and help the police put Barry behind bars.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:In which the good deed in question was a brief moment of mercy. After Barry's genuine emotional breakdown from Jim's psychological torture, Jim begins to reexamine what he knows about Barry. Him following Barry's mutterings, coupled with Gene's own stupid decisions prior, leads Jim to conclude that Barry was being manipulated Gene and that Gene was really responsible for killing his daughter. This would lead to Jim unknowingly exonerating the man who killed his daughter.]]
* PapaWolf: He's trying to find whoever killed his daughter and bring them to justice.
* RetiredBadass: Jim isn't afraid of dangerous criminals like Barry Berkman, and manipulates someone as manipulative as Monroe Fuches.
* TheStoic: Unless he's interrogating you, Jim always retains his calm.
* TooCleverByHalf: He is incredibly competent at what he does, and that unfortunately causes him to make a costly mistake at the finish line. [[spoiler:He had Barry at his mercy, but the ease at which he captured him and Barry's very pathetic breakdown lead to Jim second-guessing if he had caught the actual culprit behind his daughter's death or merely just a disposable triggerman. Thanks to Gene engaging in some public self-aggrandizement at the worst possible time prior to Barry's capture, Jim comes to believe that Gene had orchestrated the whole thing and that Barry was just a pawn.]]
* TheVietnamVet: He became a POW during the war, even managing to ''convince his own captor to kill himself''.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: While Jim's quest to bring down Barry is righteous, his ways of doing so reach the point of borderline derangement.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sam]]
!!Sam
->'''Portrayed By:''' Joe Massingill

Sally's abusive ex-husband from her younger years. Although he only shows up in the show for a brief time in the second season, his impact on Sally's background plays a major part in her development and motivation as an actor.


* BitchInSheepsClothing: When he first shows up he seems polite enough, which might cast some doubt on whether or not Sally's recollection of events are true. Then his true colors are revealed and you realize that he's exactly the man Sally said he was.
* HateSink: Once the NiceGuy facade is dropped and Sam's true nature is revealed any redeeming qualities he might have go right out the window. He threatens Sally with legal action for using his abuse of her in her act, taunts Barry over their past relationship and is overall revealed to be the horrible, abusive person that Sally remembered.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He only physically appears in the show for two episodes in season 2, but he is the major reason for some of the major issues that Sally struggles with. Furthermore, it's not until after Sally meets with him one last time that she decides to change her scene with Barry mid-performance because she doesn't want to appear weak, even if it's not the way they rehearsed or how the scene actually happened.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:John '''(SPOILERS)''']]
!!John Berkman Jr.
->'''Portrayed By:''' Zachary Golinger (child), Creator/JaedenMartell (teenager)

Barry and Sally's young son.
----

* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:John knows what kind of man his father really was, but he still grins a bit at the end of Barry's biopic, which erroneously depicts Barry as a TragicHero. Is he happy that the movie gives him [[SympathyForTheDevil a positive image of his father to latch onto]], or is he laughing [[MirthlessLaughter at just how wrong the movie got his father]]?]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: In the series finale, John and Sally reconcile and develop a better relationship with each other, and they manage to move on to normal, happier lives in the wake of Barry's death.]]
* HomeschooledKids: As a result of Barry and Sally trying to stay off the grid. [[spoiler:He's shown attending a public high school after Barry's death, indicating that he settled into some degree of normalcy afterwards.]]
* InTheBlood: He's inherited some of Barry's personality traits. Sadly, he also seems to have inherited his father's emotional issues as well, judging by how he got into a fight with his friend.
* SecretKeeper: [[spoiler:He knows that his father is not the tragic victim of Gene that the world now thinks he is, but can never tell as it would bring unwanted attention to himself and his mom.]]
* TroubledChild: As a result of Barry and Sally isolating him so their cover isn't broken, John has a very limited and rather distorted perception of the world. [[spoiler: In the end, however, he's aged into a normal, functioning young man in the years after Barry's death.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: He isn't introduced until near the very end of the series, and his existence spoils multiple big twists.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He initially wants to play baseball, but after Barry shows him videos of players being fatally injured in the sport, he develops a phobia of the game and starts having nightmares.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lindsay Mandel]]
!!Lindsay Mandel
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jessy Hodges
Sally's agent, beginning in Season 2, who is one of Sally's only advocates and friends in the business.

* {{Hypocrite}}: She comes off as this in "710N", where on one turn she smells the air outside ''Beignets by Mitch'' and moans but turns to the long line and calls them losers for waiting so long for beignets, only to hungrily scarf one down after Sally emerges with a box: she turns especially feral when a woman on line tries to take the box.
* OnlySaneMan: In the rather surreal world of the show, Lindsay often feels like this: she is the only one of Sally's three agents in Season 2 who recognizes the disappointing nature of the roles she is getting, and when she recognizes Sally's talent for writing she makes an effort to help both her and her fellow classmates get work.
* WrittenInInfirmity: Although this is not acknowledged in any dialogue, Lindsay is visibly pregnant during the events of Season 3. This is because Jessy Hodges was pregnant with her and Creator/BeckBennett's child during filming.

[[folder:Katie]]
!!Katie
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/ElsieFisher
A teen actress playing Sally's daughter on ''Joplin'', who suspects Barry is dangerous.
----
* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: She tells Sally about her honest observations of Barry as a violent man who wouldn't be good for her, [[spoiler:which causes Sally to think things over and then break ties with him.]]
* NaiveNewcomer: To the Hollywood industry in general, given that she immediately speaks up on Sally's behalf after hearing Barry berate her and is frustrated that there are no institutional channels to reprimand Barry's behavior.
* WideEyedIdealist: She sees Sally as an amazing role model and hasn't been as numbed by the various ongoing dramas as other people in the industry have.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: She is never seen or mentioned again after she [[spoiler:convinces Sally to break up with Barry.]]

[[folder:Jim Moss]]
!!Jim Moss
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RobertWisdom

A retired Vietnam vet and the father of deceased LAPD Detective Janice Moss.

* TheAce: He outsmarts just about everyone he comes in contact with.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Although Fuches can actually be good at manipulating people, he’s not as good as he thinks he is. Jim on the other hand, is actually a master of psychological warfare who managed to convince his own interrogator in Vietnam to commit suicide. He proves his superior skills by tricking Fuches into thinking he’s interested in killing Barry as a way to turn him over to the police. Interestingly, while Stovka killer himself when talking to Fuches, he already was deeply psychologically troubled beforehand and did it on his own accord. Moss on the other hand, actually persuaded a sane individual to commit suicide when he was being interrogated in Vietnam.
* AntiHero: Having lost the life of his daughter at the hands of Barry, Jim will stop at nothing to get retribution for his actions, even if it means using morally dubious methods such as psychological torture and manipulation of others.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: With Gene Cousineau's help, Jim lures Barry into going inside his house to kill him, as part of a successful set-up to have Barry arrested.]]
* BoringButPractical: He manages to [[spoiler:arrange the capture and arrest of both Fuches and Barry, simply by alerting the police in advance and luring them to locations where they can be easily surrounded]].
* ChekhovsGunman: He's introduced two-thirds of the way into Season 3 as part of Fuches' "revenge army", and ends up responsible for [[spoiler:both Barry and Fuches himself being arrested.]]
* CoolOldGuy: A retired Vietnam vet and probably the most moral character in the show. He loses a bit of the "moral" part when he starts employing dubious methods like psychological torture, but he still primarily remains concerned with bringing Barry to justice.
* CreepyGood: He has a sinister aura around him, considering that he was a psychological warfare officer and a skilled manipulator in his own right. But he's firmly on the side of the angels.
* DramaticIrony: He spends most of his on screen time trying to avenge his daughter's death, [[spoiler: even getting Barry arrested. At one point, he has Barry tied up in his garage and at his mercy, but Barry's muttering leads him to reexamine the evidence. He eventually exonerates his daughter's killer, at least in the public eye, and pins the blame on her boyfriend, who had also been trying to avenge her.]]
* HeroAntagonist: Probably the biggest challenge that Barry has faced and his actions are shown in a sinister light, but he is clearly on the side of good. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in season 4 [[spoiler: as he mentally breaks Lon O'Neil and threatens Gene over their interview]]
* LivingLieDetector: When he approaches Gene to ask about Barry, he instantly realizes Gene is lying to protect him. [[spoiler:After interrogating him, he gets Gene to change his mind and help the police put Barry behind bars.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:In which the good deed in question was a brief moment of mercy. After Barry's genuine emotional breakdown from Jim's psychological torture, Jim begins to reexamine what he knows about Barry. Him following Barry's mutterings, coupled with Gene's own stupid decisions prior, leads Jim to conclude that Barry was being manipulated Gene and that Gene was really responsible for killing his daughter. This would lead to Jim unknowingly exonerating the man who killed his daughter.]]
* PapaWolf: He's trying to find whoever killed his daughter and bring them to justice.
* RetiredBadass: Jim isn't afraid of dangerous criminals like Barry Berkman, and manipulates someone as manipulative as Monroe Fuches.
* TheStoic: Unless he's interrogating you, Jim always retains his calm.
* TooCleverByHalf: He is incredibly competent at what he does, and that unfortunately causes him to make a costly mistake at the finish line. [[spoiler:He had Barry at his mercy, but the ease at which he captured him and Barry's very pathetic breakdown lead to Jim second-guessing if he had caught the actual culprit behind his daughter's death or merely just a disposable triggerman. Thanks to Gene engaging in some public self-aggrandizement at the worst possible time prior to Barry's capture, Jim comes to believe that Gene had orchestrated the whole thing and that Barry was just a pawn.]]
* TheVietnamVet: He became a POW during the war, even managing to ''convince his own captor to kill himself''.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: While Jim's quest to bring down Barry is righteous, his ways of doing so reach the point of borderline derangement.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sam]]
!!Sam
->'''Portrayed By:''' Joe Massingill

Sally's abusive ex-husband from her younger years. Although he only shows up in the show for a brief time in the second season, his impact on Sally's background plays a major part in her development and motivation as an actor.


* BitchInSheepsClothing: When he first shows up he seems polite enough, which might cast some doubt on whether or not Sally's recollection of events are true. Then his true colors are revealed and you realize that he's exactly the man Sally said he was.
* HateSink: Once the NiceGuy facade is dropped and Sam's true nature is revealed any redeeming qualities he might have go right out the window. He threatens Sally with legal action for using his abuse of her in her act, taunts Barry over their past relationship and is overall revealed to be the horrible, abusive person that Sally remembered.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He only physically appears in the show for two episodes in season 2, but he is the major reason for some of the major issues that Sally struggles with. Furthermore, it's not until after Sally meets with him one last time that she decides to change her scene with Barry mid-performance because she doesn't want to appear weak, even if it's not the way they rehearsed or how the scene actually happened.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mike]]
!!Mike Hallman
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RobertCurtisBrown

Sally's first agent.
----
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He acts perfectly nice and friendly, but he eventually reveals he only took Sally on so she'd sleep with him in exchange for getting roles and drops her as a client when she politely declines.
* CastingCouch: He takes Sally on as a client with the expectation that she'll sleep with him in exchange for his services. When she politely rebuffs him, Mike drops her as a client.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leo]]
!!Leo Cousineau
->'''Portrayed By:''' Andrew Leeds

Gene's estranged son and an organic farmer.
----
* CallingTheOldManOut: When Gene meets with him again, Leo calls him out for only doing it to soothe his own ego and not genuinely regretting his treatment of him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:John '''(SPOILERS)''']]
!!John Berkman Jr.
->'''Portrayed By:''' Zachary Golinger (child), Creator/JaedenMartell (teenager)

Barry and Sally's young son.
----

!!!Gene Cousineau's Acting Class

[[folder:Gene Cousineau]]
!!Gene M. Cousineau
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cousineau.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:''"If there is one thing I learned in my life, you can't control what other people are going to do."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/HenryWinkler

Eccentric and pedantic, Cousineau is a Los Angeles acting teacher who is revered by his students.

* AdaptationalNationality: [[spoiler: In-universe, he's [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade portrayed as an]] EvilBrit in the "Mask Collector" movie.]]
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Does he kill Barry out of revenge for Janice? Because he's broken and has finally snapped? Or because he overhears that Barry is going to turn himself in, which would make it clear that Gene was not the mastermind behind either Barry's crimes or his capture -- and thus would rob Gene of the very last reason why anyone would pay attention to him? Or did he think Barry was armed and, knowing how quickly and suddenly he can decide to kill, just shot him to be safe?]]
* AntiHero: Gene's not the best guy in the world: he's self-absorbed, arrogant, slimy, an AttentionWhore, and short-tempered. However, unlike the rest of the main cast he at least tries to do the right thing and shows surprising compassion at times.
* AttentionWhore: His primary failing, and the reason, along with his prima-donna behavior, for why Gene's career went nowhere as a younger actor. Part of his motivation to become an acting ''coach'' seems to be the ability to claim some measure of credit for his former students' successes. Henry Winkler has even gone on record as saying it's almost a drug for Gene.
** [[spoiler:While Jim Moss is able to shame him into participating in the sting operation, Gene can't resist capitalizing on the notoriety the murder case gives him in Season 4; in spite of Moss's warnings that it'll disgrace Janice's memory and complicate the trial against Barry, he gives a Vanity Fair reporter an exaggerated account of his time with Barry that lionizes himself (in the form of a ''repulsively'' hammy one-man show, no less).]]
** [[spoiler:Even if he's still prickly and eccentric, after spending nearly a decade on a kibbutz, a reformed Gene publicly comes out against the proposed movie based on "true events" in the hopes that he can get the project shut down; though Tom praises him for crusading against Hollywood, Gene is dismissive, showing it's not done out of vanity. He finally seems to have shaken his ego for good... until an agent tells him Daniel Day-Lewis wants to come out of retirement to play the Cousineau role, at which point he just can't help himself, and takes on the role of an unofficial consultant to the production. It promptly gets him nabbed by the LAPD.]]
* TheAtoner: {{Zigzagged}} as Gene does genuinely want to atone for his past misdeeds and bad behavior, and even takes the steps to make up with the people he's hurt in his life, but his ego often gets in the way and hinders his ability to truly change his ways.
** A terrible father to Leo during his childhood, he reaches out to him as an adult and they connect and repair their relationship.
** After he gets a second chance in Hollywood, he tries to make amends with those he wronged as a hothead young actor. His success is somewhat mixed, as while he's clearly enthusiastic about making up with all the people he's wronged, his actions occasionally come off as condescending and self-serving, especially to a former girlfriend of his that he had blacklisted. Though, when he realizes that a simple apology doesn't make up for how much he ruined her career, he helps give her a major comeback and payday, at his own financial expense.
** [[spoiler:A possible interpretation of his motives for giving up Barry in a sting. Previously, he'd been willing to cover for him in order to keep Barry's hush money and further his career, until Jim Moss interogates him and berates him for covering for his daughter's murder.]]
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: He desperately wants people to think the world of him and, after [[spoiler:the truth about Barry becomes public knowledge, wants people to think of him as a cunning mastermind who nailed Barry singlehandedly. It works... by convincing Jim and the LAPD that he's been the real mastermind behind Barry's crimes all along.]]
* BunnyEarsLawyer: For as much of an eccentric egotist as he is, Gene genuinely knows his stuff about acting and is a fairly competent teacher.
* ChekhovsGun: Owns one, courtesy of his old friend Rip Torn.
** In the third season premiere, [[spoiler: he attempts to threaten Barry with it after learning the truth about Janice’s murder, but the poorly-maintained weapon falls apart in his hand.]]
** While hiding from Barry in Season 4 [[spoiler: after he escapes prison, he accidentally shoots his son Leo through a door believing him to be Barry. Leo survives, but does not forgive his father.]]
** [[spoiler: In the last episode of the series, Gene shoots Barry in the head with this gun and kills him. He ends up going to prison for the murders of both Barry and Janice.]]
* CloudCuckoolander: Gene is about as strange as you'd expect an old acting teacher to be, often offering bizarre advice or going off on little tangents about his long-past glory days, to say nothing of his aggressive dating strategies.
* CoolOldGuy: Subverted. His acting class and especially Barry view him as such, seeing him as a worldly figure with a lot of insights on the world of Hollywood. This is true to an extent, but the reality is Gene is a has-been - albeit a charismatic one - who scuttled his own career long ago and is trying to relive his GloryDays.
* CruelToBeKind: His first scene is humiliating Sally in front of the whole class in order to get a stronger performance out of her. He's immediately kinder when she's finished her substantially improved scene.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Already teetering over the edge of despair upon seeing his name dragged through the mud after the police publicly accuse him of masterminding Janice Moss' murder in the GrandFinale, seeing that his own son has done an interview accusing him of having tried to murder him causes him to break down. He briefly snaps out of it upon hearing Barry in his home, only to then shoot him, collapse on the couch and seemingly shut down entirely.]]
* DirtyOldMan: Comes across this way when he shamelessly flirts with the decades younger Janice Moss. At the same time though, his interest in Janice is more than sexual, with his courtship being unexpectedly sweet.
* EveryoneHasStandards: He's uncomfortable with Sally wanting to perform a scene from ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' at Ryan's memorial because of its subject matter.
--> '''Gene''': "I just don't think we should evoke child molestation at a memorial."
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: His attempt to [[spoiler: threaten Barry with a gun]] was going really well until [[spoiler: his weapon fell apart.]]
* FatalFlaw: His ego. It's what caused his career to go up in flames prior to the events of the series, and even after that he's proven easy to manipulate through base appeals to his ego. He becomes more self-aware of this after his career revival in season 3 and tries to fix his behavior, [[spoiler: only to backslide in season 4 after the fame of being the one who caught Barry goes to his head, setting off a chain of events that end with him accidentally shooting his own son and fleeing the country.]] [[spoiler:Though he ''tries'' to let go of his egotism after a long period on a kibbutz and sincerely fights to stop a movie based on Janice's murder, an agent telling him he'll be played by Daniel Day-Lewis causes Gene to backslide; this in turn, along with how he's sensationalized his relationship with Barry, gets him accused and ultimately imprisoned by the authorities of being the secret mastermind behind her death.]]
* GoodCounterpart: To Fuches; both are older men who take on a father figure role for Barry, mentoring him in a career he might not have chosen otherwise. However, whereas Fuches is manipulative, selfish and disguises his cruelty as care, Gene is occasionally rude but, at heart, wants what's best for Barry. [[spoiler:In the final season, he ends up transitioning more towards being a {{Foil}} for Fuches, due to Barry's actions basically destroying what friendship they had, while Gene's own poor decisions wind up removing the positive traits he's tried to develop. Fuches enters the final season a changed man who makes peace with Barry over how badly he treated him, while Gene becomes a shell of his former self who ends up killing Barry and paying dearly for the impulsive act.]]
* HeroWithBadPublicity: [[spoiler:By the end of the final season, Gene is widely believed to have put Barry up on murdering Janice and attempted to kill his son over the Chechen drug money. As a result, an InUniverse movie released years later depicts Gene as a criminal mastermind while Barry is portrayed as a sympathetic patsy. Gene is also imprisoned for life after killing Barry.]]
* HiddenDepths:
** Though his manner of teaching may often leave a lot to be desired, Gene's not a total hack, managing to get genuinely stronger results from his class and giving Barry sincere and effective mentorship to better himself as a person.
** Despite previously being described as a bad actor, Gene proves this notion wrong when he [[spoiler: pulls off a performance convincing enough to make Barry head straight into an ambush.]] He also gets a lot of hype with some guest spots Barry gets him on some shows, changing the state of his career practically overnight.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: [[spoiler:In-universe, he is depicted in the "Mask Collector" movie as a criminal mastermind who manipulated Barry into killing for him and the Chechens. The reality, of course, is very different. It's interestingly also a case of an in-universe accidental CompositeCharacter, as his movie depiction actually takes on the role that Fuches held in reality.]]
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: Gene was once a rising star and won acclaim for his acting roles, but his prima donna behavior led to him ruining his own career. By the time of the series, he can't even get a role as an extra and even his family wants nothing to do with him. [[spoiler:By the end of the series, Gene is blamed for Barry's crimes and sentenced to life in prison.]]
* HypocriticalHumor: After Ryan Madison's death, Gene is outraged when Barry suggests putting on "costumes and wigs" to have fun to celebrate him rather than mourning. At Ryan's memorial service, however, Gene's students do exactly that while he looks on proudly.
* ICouldaBeenAContender: Had the makings of a great actor, but his between his ego and his deplorable treatment of everyone around him, he wound up becoming a washed up acting coach with a class mostly full of untalented saps.
* IgnoredEpiphany: From the second season onwards, Gene genuinely tries to become a better person but he's hindered again and again by backsliding into narcissism and selfishness.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: After having a JerkassRealization, Gene tells Barry to change his "truth" performance from his first meeting with Cousineau to his first kill in Afghanistan. Gene is trying to overcome his self-absorption, but he doesn't realize that doing so is reminding Barry of his trauma.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Gene's criticisms can be cruel, but more often than not he's right about how his students need to improve their acting skills. Notably, he points out to Sally that she is genuinely a good actress, but she's hindered by the fact she wants her scenes to be all about her all the time.
* JerkassRealization: When Leo points out that Gene makes everything about himself and even his attempt at reconciliation is motivated by his own narcissism, Gene realizes how much of a {{Jerkass}} and AttentionWhore he really is and starts making efforts to improve. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, the media attention he gets in Season 4 for helping to bring Barry in causes him to backslide into his worst qualities, and it costs him everything by the end.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Cousineau is not necessarily an easy person to get along with. He can be extremely cruel in his criticisms and he's enormously egotistical, but he does generally have good intentions. When Barry is having a minor FreakOut on stage due to the students mocking him for sympathizing with someone who would commit murder, Gene rushes onstage to calm everyone down and attempt to offer Barry some comfort, though he obviously thinks it stems from the war rather than Barry's ProfessionalKiller job. He also genuinely loved Janice, was heartbroken by her disappearance and was broken completely on finding her body. Also, he truly does care for his son Leo even after he abandoned him. Out of the show's leading men, he is the only one shown to be genuinely attempting atonement [[spoiler:after his near death experience with Barry]] by reaching out to those he's done wrong and trying to make amends for his behavior. [[spoiler:Even though his fate at the end of the series is caused by his own poor decisions, the fact that he has been trying to fix things only makes what happens tragic.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: A series of very poor decisions motivated primarily by ego such as not disclosing the $250,000 he received from Barry to the police, shooting his own son, and being lured in to downplaying Barry's crimes by the promise of high profile interest in the Barry biopic, ultimately leads to Gene being falsely accused by police and former friends of running a criminal drug operation, personally having Janice killed by Barry, and ultimately being sentenced to life imprisonment while the world at large regards him as a monster.]]
* MayDecemberRomance: With Janice Moss, who's a few decades his junior.
* {{Narcissist}}: Very much so. He has a a sense of grandiosity about himself, thrives on attention, and very much concerned with making sure people perceive him in a good light. He does genuinely try to change, but he struggles with his narcissism and backslides frequently.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** Gene is actually a pretty talented guy with a lot of insights into the art of acting, and his chops are good enough to [[spoiler: fool Barry into incriminating himself]], but his ego and past nasty behavior alienated anyone who would want to work with him. Though, to his credit, he has started to [[TheAtoner make amends]] with the people he hurt in his past.
** [[spoiler: His fate at the end of the series is a big example of this. His neglect to mention that Barry had given him Chechen drug money, his inability to help himself when it comes to gaining publicity, and shooting the man who was just about to turn himself in to save him all seal his fate. He becomes TheScapegoat for Barry's crimes and is sentenced to life in prison for crimes he didn't commit.]]
* OhCrap:
** [[spoiler:At the end of season 2, Gene recovers from his breakdown enough to remember that Fuches told him it was Barry who killed Janice.]]
** He has a similar reaction in "forgiving jeff" when he [[spoiler:accidentally drops the cylinder of the gun he was using to threaten Barry, leaving him completely helpless against a dangerous assassin.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: The details aren't entirely clear, but it seems he did essentially abandon his young family to pursue his career. When he tries to reunite with his grown son, he's met only with anger and exasperation. [[spoiler:By the end of Season 2, his repeated efforts to reconcile with his son Leo seem to have paid off as the two appear to be on pretty good terms.]]
* ThePrimaDonna: He has a nasty reputation as such around Hollywood and it's why he now largely focuses on teaching since no one wants to work with him or is willing to hire him, even as an extra.
* TheScapegoat: [[spoiler: Due to some poor decisions and neglecting to explain key information, Gene becomes the primary suspect in Janice's murder. Worse, he then shoots and kills Barry, who was ''just about to finally turn himself in for his crimes'', thus taking away his chance to clear his name, leading to Gene going to prison for the crimes that Barry and Fuches committed.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In season 4, [[spoiler: after Barry escapes from prison, Gene flees the country to escape Barry's retribution for turning him in to the police.]]
* SinkOrSwimMentor: Subverted. He makes a lot of threats and ultimatums to garner a reputation as this, but the truth is that he's far more forgiving and wants to give his students harsh lessons to help them grow.
* SmallNameBigEgo: His class thinks the world of him and Cousineau certainly swans around like he's [=DeNiro=], but the truth is far more brutal. He's still struggling to make it, auditioning for roles that amount to being a glorified extra. Although he's been in the industry for some time, it seems that he's mostly been in the periphery of people with real success and has no real reputation to his name beyond his book (which he hawks at every opportunity). The full extent of this becomes apparent in "limonada" when Barry tries to get him ''any'' part in ''anything''. Cousineau's backstage actions and behavior have rendered him persona non grata within Hollywood, to the point that Barry struggles to get him a role as an extra.
* TookALevelInKindness: Though he hasn't completely shed off his {{Jerkass}} skin, it's made clear that Gene is a far nicer and more agreeable man today than he was in his youth. He continues to get nicer during the series, gaining more interest in his students, especially Barry, and trying to right his wrongs from long ago. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he couldn't shed his narcissism enough to stop himself from making a series of poor decisions that would lead to his life completely collapsing at the end of the final season.]]
* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: [[spoiler: Being put through the ringer for the entire final season causes him to finally kill Barry in the final episode moments after Barry decides to turn himself in to prevent Gene from paying for his crimes. Had Gene not given into whatever motivating emotion had pushed him into doing the deed, he would not have ended up in prison for life with the world believing he was a monster.]]
* TragicHero: [[spoiler:Gene wants to be a better person, but his narcissism ultimately results in him losing everything and being framed for Barry's crimes.]]
* UnknownRival: He has no idea that Fuches views him as competition for the role of Barry's father figure.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Him reflecting on Barry's [[IgnoredConfession "improvisation" of being a vet who becomes a hitman]] leads Janice to realize that Barry was the hitman all along, [[spoiler:and the resulting confrontation gets her killed]]. He acknowledges this in "ben mendelsohn", wondering if [[spoiler:he had just kept his mouth shut, Janice might still be alive]].
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Became closer with Barry than any of his other students, beaming with pride over the man he's becoming. [[spoiler: After finding out that Barry murdered his girlfriend, he's far less chummy with him.]]

[[folder:Sally Reed]]
!!Sally Reed
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reed_sally.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I know what it’s like to be freaked out. It’s like when I shaved my head for I Never Saw Another Butterfly without realizing how limiting that was gonna be for other castings. We all lose track of what’s important sometimes."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Sarah Goldberg

An aspiring actress, Sally befriends Barry during Cousineau’s class and they quickly start dating.

* AbusiveParents: Sally's mother is absolutely apathetic and neglectful towards her, showing no concern when she has a panic attack and caring more that she used Sam's name in ''Joplin'' than the fact that Sam abused Sally. [[spoiler:Sally proves to be not any better with her son John, whom she drugs with various substances to avoid having to care for him. To her credit, she does clean up her act, acknowledge her faults as a parent, and by the second time jump, has a much healthier relationship with her son.]]
* AttentionWhore: Her core flaw is her ego, which constantly drives her to put herself first and be the center of attention even when it's inappropriate. Barry's tearful line delivery during their ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' performance finally [[CharacterDevelopment moves her]] to accept that she can't always do this, and she graciously performs in a two-person play with Barry where they will have equal focus. However, [[spoiler: she changes the scene halfway through during a public showcase, which again allows her to outshine Barry entirely (whereas the scene was originally more balanced) and get an opportunity to create a show.]]
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Sally deeply wants to show off her acting talent by playing a particularly challenging role, being drawn to plays like ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' and ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' among others. [[spoiler:She gets her wish in the worst possible way by having to pretend to be a totally different person while on the run with Barry, now with her career dead in the water and with no way of getting the praise and acclaims she wanted.]]
* BigEgoHiddenDepths: She's arrogant and selfish, but clearly carries a lot of self-hatred over her perceived cowardice when dealing with her abusive ex-husband.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: She's very bubbly and perky at first impression, but in practice she's petty, mean, insecure, can't handle someone else's sadness, and ''really'' can't handle someone else's success. The fact that she's had so many boyfriends looks less like socializing and more like a warning sign...
* CastingCouch: Her agent tries to pull this on her; she rejects him, he tries to play it off as a joke... and subsequently drops her.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The pilot depicts her as a genuinely nice and wholesome person who goes out of her way to befriend Barry. It wasn't until the second episode and onwards that it was established that her perky attitude was largely an act, and she was a much nastier person beneath. WordOfGod is that this was the work of Sarah Goldberg, who persuaded the writers to make Sally much more flawed than their original vision of the character. [[spoiler:Rather amusingly, her depiction in Barry's incredibly inaccurate biopic, ''The Mask Collector'', seems to be based off of her characterization in the pilot.]]
* CosmicPlaything: Almost everything that can go wrong for Sally does, oftentimes due to things out of her control. She is the architect for a lot of her own misery, but an equal amount of it is from sheer bad luck.
* DamselInDistress: [[spoiler:She and John get kidnapped by Hank's men in the penultimate episode.]]
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the MoralityPet LoveInterest. While Barry considers Sally to be one of the primary things motivating him to change as a person, Sally doesn't know that he views her as such, and is made uncomfortable on the occasions where he makes it more obvious. Furthermore, Sally is consistently shown to be a very selfish person with her own mountain of personal problems, which, combined with her lack of insight into Barry's past, often causes her to unintentionally be much more harmful to his emotional well-being than she is helpful.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:After leaving Barry, she finally finds success and happiness as a high school theater teacher while reconciling with her son John. While she's still shown to have some issues, such as being insecure over John's approval and rejecting a date out of fear that he'll turn out to be yet another abusive partner, things are finally looking up for Sally.]]
* EvilIsPetty: [[DownplayedTrope Evil's a stretch]], but Sally is a {{Jerkass}} who tends to take out her own petty jealousy on the people around her and often takes mild slights way too personally.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Despite being furious with the executive who immediately cancelled her show, Sally is horrified by Barry's offer to target her with psychological warfare. [[spoiler: This winds up being subverted later on though, as she seeks him out so that he'll target Natalie with his aforementioned tricks.]]
** [[spoiler: After narrowly surviving the shootout between Fuches and Hank's men. Sally finally tells Barry that he should take responsibility for his crimes and turn himself in. When he declines, she finally has enough of him and leaves with John.]]
* FatalFlaw: [[GreenEyedMonster Envy]], along with her [[ItsAllAboutMe ego]] and AttentionWhore tendencies often cause the most problems throughout the series. She can't stand the idea of people not praising her or other people succeeding over her. [[spoiler: She ultimately decides to go on the run with Barry in season 4, despite her being given several opportunities to maintain a promising career in Hollywood, because none of her options will allow her to become a leading lady again, at least not right away.]]
** She also isn't able to be honest with herself about her feelings of shame and emasculation that she felt after her abusive marriage to Sam, so she overcompensates by being an egotistical, narcissistic bitch.
* FreudianExcuse: She spent much of her young adult life in an abusive marriage and escaped it by running away rather than actually standing up to her ex. Both of these events have caused her to subconsciously believe herself to be a weak person, which she overcompensates for through her hawkish and abrasive attitude. On a less dramatic note, she has spent years failing to make a name for herself as an actor despite having some talent, which has made her prone to leaping at every chance at fame the first opportunity she gets, no matter what the consequences of doing so may be.
** In the first episode of season 4, it's revealed that her mother is ''very'' cold and dismissive of her, ignoring her obvious mental distress and clearly not believing that Sam truly abused her.
* GreenEyedMonster: She's deeply envious of others' success, particularly of Barry when he lands a film audition in season 2 and admits how jealous of him she is while having a long emotional breakdown.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Subverted. On the surface, the blonde Sally is a sweet and bubbly woman; however, she's actually something of a {{Jerkass}} prone to being rather petty and mean-spirited.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** Sally criticizes Barry for not incorporating her acting choices into a scene, when she rarely does the same with anyone else and often tries to hog the limelight entirely.
** In "forgiving jeff", Sally tells Natalie that she can't feel empowered as a woman if she doesn't bring up other women with her. But when Natalie [[spoiler:runs her own TV show after Sally's was cancelled, Sally corners her in an elevator and monstrously vents her anger at Natalie, calling her a cunt who has nothing to say and who's never struggled her entire life.]]
* ISeeDeadPeople: [[spoiler:She constantly hallucinates the biker she killed in "starting now." He appears as one of the students in her acting class, his voice threatens her in "the wizard" and she sees his face in a police officer in "a nice meal."]]
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Sally has an ego the size of the San Fernando Valley and is extremely sensitive and reacts badly to any perceived criticism or affront to it and it's gradually revealed to be her way of coping with the trauma of her abusive marriage and her shame at not asserting herself and growing up with an extremely callous, emotionally abusive mother.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: She genuinely doesn't understand why performing a scene from ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' - a notoriously depressing play centering around pedophilia - at Ryan's memorial service might be inconsiderate.
* ItsAllAboutMe: She is incredibly self-centered and is prone to fixating on her own problems even in situations when she ought to be trying to help others. More than once, while talking to Barry, she completely fails to notice that he is upset or not receptive to what she is saying and just proceeds as if they are on the same page, which makes her annoyance with Barry when he's not incorporating her acting choices into his performance ("not listening") [[{{Hypocrite}} a tad ironic]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Albeit one that is portrayed fairly sympathetically. [[ItsAllAboutMe Sally is incredibly self-centered]], which, when combined with her desperation for fame, often causes her to act cruelly toward and be demanding of the people in her life. This is particularly notable in her relationship with Barry, where she alternates between being dismissive of his talents, envious of him stealing her spotlight, and frustrated by his refusal to take part in scenes that make him uncomfortable for her sake. With all that said, it's made clear that she genuinely ''has'' suffered through a lot in her life, which makes it hard to completely dislike her.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** Sally accurately points out many times how misogynistic Hollywood is, and how it's pigeonholed her into degrading roles that often lack agency.
** When Barry behaves like a CrazyJealousGuy at Taylor's suggestion, Sally calls him out on it and directly calls it out as toxic masculinity and a major red flag.
** While she handled it in the most inappropriate and self-destructive manner possible, Sally was also absolutely right to be upset and furious at ''Joplin'' being cancelled less than a day after it's premiere despite it's positive reception purely because a studio algorithim claimed it wasn't reaching enough of an audience and at how the executives discarded a story they previously had confidence in over it and at their completely callous attitude in doing so.
* JerkassRealization: [[spoiler:In the series finale, being held hostage by [=NoHo=] Hank and forced to confess her true identity forces Sally to realize that she has been a bad mother to John. After the final TimeSkip she seems to have improved their relationship.]]
* KillingInSelfDefense: [[spoiler:She kills one of the biker gang members in the Season 3 finale. While definitely self-defense, as he was strangling her, she's emotionally traumatized by the experience.]]
* LadyDrunk: Sally by season 4 and "tricky legacies", when she's [[spoiler:married to Barry and living under a fake identity, her dreams of stardom long dead.]] She buys booze at gas stations and chugs from the bottle before she even gets home. At home, she is given to more drinking and {{Thousand Yard Stare}}s.
* LoveInterests: Barry's love interest.
* LovingAShadow: She clearly doesn't love Barry so much as she loves his adoration of her and constant praise, which draws her back in despite how toxic the relationship is. [[spoiler:After the TimeSkip, their relationship falls apart when Barry shifts to focusing on John for his adoration and love instead.]]
* NeverMyFault: Absolutely ''refuses'' to admit that she was unjustified in [[spoiler: screaming at Natalie for "stealing her show," even though she ''cornered Natalie in a stopped elevator'' to call her an "[[CountryMatters entitled fucking cunt]]" and Natalie's show bears no resemblance to ''Joplin'' besides starring a single mom and daughter. Even when her agent drops her as a client over the incident, Sally insists that all she did was tell the truth and she doesn't want to work with "liars" who say otherwise. She also after the poor reception of her "apology" video tries to blame her agent despite the fact, her agent had tried to warn her not post a video or say anything yet. The fact that she even acknowledges she's been a poor parent to John in the final episode is momentous for the very fact that she typically refuses to believe she's in the wrong. It seems that understanding her own faults allows her to psychologically heal afterwards, as she's shown in the final TimeSkip to have become a much more stable person with a healthier relationship with John.]]
* OutlawCouple: [[spoiler: Runs away with Barry after he escapes custody in "it takes a psycho"]]
* ParentalIssues: Her parents aren't the most supportive to her. Her mother is completely unsympathetic to the abuse she's faced from Sam, and her father, though he tries his best, is too dim to have a real conversation with her.
* ReallyGetsAround: When warning Barry about the ramifications of sleeping with fellow acting class students, she mentions casually that she's done so "a million times."
* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler: Due to Barry becoming more manic and aggressive in Season 3, Sally ends up experiencing her own sanity deteriorating to the point where she screams at and alienates both Natalie and Lindsay after believing they've wronged her (even asking Barry to help her {{Gaslight}} the former). She also beats a biker to death in self-defense with a baseball bat, the brutality of which shocks even ''Barry''.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: After she kills one of the biker gang in self-defense, she flees LA for Joplin, Missouri.]]
* SecretlySelfish: She tends to use seemingly good causes as an excuse to indulge in self-aggrandizement and showboating. It's first demonstrated in the second episode, where she uses Ryan's wake as an excuse to try and showcase her acting ability by performing a scene from ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' despite both Barry and Gene pointing out it's grossly inappropriate.
* SelfServingMemory: Played for drama. Sally has constructed a false narrative for how she left her abusive husband that depicts her as confronting him directly to call him out on his behavior rather than running away from their home in the middle of the night as was actually the case to avoid having to acknowledge the feelings of helplessness that she experienced when doing so.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Sally is suggested to have genuine talent as an actor, and is considered to be the best of Cousineau's students ([[BadBadActing admittedly a low bar]]), but she carries herself as though she were a hidden genius rather than an undiscovered actor of decent ability in a town filled with thousands of them.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Her good looks get her agent to attempt sexual extortion. And the fact that she's good-looking means she's never really had to try in a relationship, leading to her emotional stunting.
* StepfordSmiler: While we only see it in her honest retelling of her abusive marriage she fell into this role to survive her husband's temper, reassuring him that everything was alright when he would feel guilty after hurting her. [[spoiler:When Barry starts to get more abusive and manic in season three, she starts to slip into this again.]]
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: [[spoiler: Following a tarnished reputation and dire career future, she promptly decides to run away with Barry despite knowing full well about his violent nature and criminal activity]].
* ThrowTheDogABone: [[spoiler:Her mental health had been in very steep decline throughout the entire show due to the sheer number of traumatizing events she had been beholden to, but the timeskip following Barry's death shows that she managed to recover and find happiness. By the end of the series, she's a respected theater director at a school and has a much healthier relationship with John.]]
* TookALevelInJerkass: Hits a new low in Season 3 when she corners Natalie to scream obscenities at her and then not only refuses to accept responsibility for actions, but tries to [[spoiler: get Barry to pull a MindScrew on her after previously being disgusted by his offer to do so on a different target]].
* TookALevelInKindness: [[spoiler: By the second time jump, Sally seems to have a better and healthier relationship with John, and has become nicer and happier in the mean time.]]
* TragicHero: Sally has genuine talent and just wants to be a successful actress, but her egotism and insecurities always result in her ruining her own chances.
* TraumaButton: Being yelled at seems to trigger her PTSD. When Barry yells at the class during an argument over ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' over his own killings - which the class believes is about what he did in Afghanistan - Sally is notably on edge and afterwards is the only one who doesn't sympathize with him. When Barry berates her in "limondada", she shifts to being demure and apologetic in what is clearly a trauma response.
* TroubledAbuser: She berates, talks down to, and at one point even slaps Barry after they start dating, which is implied to be because her own history of domestic abuse has warped her perception of what constitutes a healthy relationship. [[spoiler:In season 3, after Barry yells at her and she later gets angry because her show gets canceled, she yells at her "friend" Natalie in a very similar manner. The framing of the scenes is even similar with her pushing Natalie up against a wall.]]
* UngratefulBastard: When one of her friends convinces the casting director of a show she's starring in to cast Sally in a guest role, rather than be grateful for the opportunity Sally is enraged that she doesn't get to play the main character and throws a tantrum afterwards.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: She and Barry start dating quickly and break up soon after, but Barry still pines for her. During the TimeSkip at the end of the first season, they've rekindled their relationship. [[spoiler: They break up in Season 3, after Barry's outburst at her office. But then get back together in Season 4 following Barry's escape from prison and after a [[TimeSkip time jump]], now have a child together.]]

[[folder:Sasha Baxter]]
!!Sasha Baxter
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/99cafc14_0e2c_4696_87ff_c6f4f00eaf7a.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/KirbyHowellBaptiste

A student in Gene's class, and Barry's coworker at Lululemon.

* ActorAllusion: She vehemently refuses to play an Australian. Her actress played an Australian in ''Series/TheGoodPlace''.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: She's fairly nice to Barry and even helps him get a job to support himself, but in private texts she dismisses him as a "jarhead."
* NoodleIncident: For reasons she doesn't care to discuss, she is disgusted by the idea of playing an Australian.
* PutOnABus: She doesn't appear in Season 3.
* TokenMinority: She's the only British member of Cousineau's acting class.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Downplayed. She's not actively mean, but by Season 2 she's grown very frustrated with Barry due to his socially awkward behavior and even dismisses him as a "jarhead" in private texts.

[[folder:Natalie Greer]]
!!Natalie Greer
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barry_natalie.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"You're thweetie??"'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/DarcyCarden

A student in Gene's class.

* AngstySurvivingTwin: PlayedForLaughs with her scene about absorbing her twin in the womb.
* BeleagueredAssistant: Becomes this to Sally on the set of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Joplin]]''. She then gets one of her own after becoming a showrunner herself.
* TheDogBitesBack: After putting up with Sally's abusive behavior for almost three seasons, Natalie [[spoiler: records Sally while she is screaming at her in an elevator and sends it into a tabloid which essentially nukes Sally's career.]]
* LargeHam: Of all the students in class (who are all pretty big hams themselves) Natalie is probably the worst of them.
* NiceGirl: While she has her snarky moments, Natalie is overall a genuinely sweet and supporting person and friend to Sally. This is best shown after Joplin is cancelled and Natalie goes to console Sally as she breaks down in the bathroom. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Just don't push it.]]
* SitcomArchNemesis: To Sally, as the two of them occasionally clash over assigned roles. By season 3, [[spoiler:Sally thinks she can take out her frustration by privately venting at Natalie for taking her perceived role as a showrunner at [=BanShe=] but Natalie records the entire thing and uploads it to the internet.]]
* WealthyEverAfter: After the TimeSkip in season 4, [[spoiler: the show she allegedly had poached from Sally has become a huge success and turned Natalie into an A-list showrunner.]]

[[folder:Nick Nicholby]]
!!Nick Nicholby
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/427fa2b4_35c9_425e_b539_06330689a01e.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RightorDoyle

A student in Gene's class, and one of Barry's roommates.

* AlliterativeName: '''Nick''' '''Nich'''olby. Also counts as an AlmostFamousName, as the spelling of his first and last names are the inverse of ''Literature/NicholasNickleby''.
* CampGay: Un-self consciously flamboyant.
* LargeHam: Second only to Natalie in his hamminess.
* WeightWoe: His scene in the Season 2 finale reveals his past struggles with bulimia.

[[folder:Ryan Madison]]
!!Ryan Madison
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/66a6486f_c5bf_4dfb_b05c_f6913978180d.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/TylerJacobMoore

The acting student whom Barry is hired to kill.

* TheAlcoholic: Possibly. Sally mentions he has "like, 7 DUI's."
* MauveShirt: Developed a little before dying at the end of the pilot.
* MrViceGuy: He had an affair with a man's wife, but outside of that comes across as a genuinely nice and friendly guy.
* NiceGuy: He's a friendly, jovial guy who goes out of his way to make Barry feel welcomed.
* PosthumousCharacter: He dies in the first episode, but everyone continues to talk about him and his importance.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Despite only interacting with Barry a few times and quickly getting killed by the Chechens, he introduces Barry to the acting class and spurs on Moss's investigation into said class.

!!!Los Angeles Police Department

[[folder:Janice Moss]]
!!Detective Janice Moss
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/janice_moss.png]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/PaulaNewsome

A police detective who starts seeing connections between Ryan Madison's murder and the activities of the acting class.

* CassandraTruth: The only one who consistently believes the murderer is one of Ryan's fellow actors, while her fellow cops are content to draw increasingly wilder conclusions about Ryan's criminal connections. She eventually finds the evidence she needs, but is too late to stop Barry from catching up to her.
* DeadpanSnarker: She's quite prone to snarking, particularly at her rather inept colleagues.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Janice's investigation gets almost as much focus as Barry himself, and drives the plot just as much as he does.
* FakeGuestStar: Paula Newsome is listed as part of the recurring cast, but she appears in almost every episode of the first season and is essentially the {{Deuteragonist}}.
* HeroAntagonist: She's one of the biggest dangers to Barry, but she's far from a bad person. She's just doing her job, and trying to do it well.
* KilledOffscreen: The camera cuts away as she and Barry exchange gunfire, but his survival and calm attitude afterward indicate that she was indeed killed. In Season 2, Barry confirms that he did in fact kill her.
* KnightInSourArmor: After Loach's marriage falls apart, she admits to a colleague she knew it would happen since divorce is pretty common for homicide detectives.
--> '''Moss:''' I mean, come on! She's a human being and he's a homicide detective.
* LikesOlderMen: If her attraction to Gene is any indication.
* MayDecemberRomance: With Cousineau, who is much older than her.
* NiceGirl: She's somewhat stern, but she's actually a fairly nice person who only becomes frustrated when dealing with obvious incompetence.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Barry tries to convince her of this after she finds out the truth about him. It doesn't work.
* OnlySaneMan: She's the only member of the LAPD who isn't an idiot. Loach is mostly absorbed by his own personal dramas and everyone else is pretty incompetent, generally forcing her to take the initiative.
* PosthumousCharacter: Her death casts a shadow over much of the plot of Season 2 and 3.
* SacrificialLion: She's a main character in all but name, making it all the more shocking when Barry kills her to get away with his crimes. It establishes both how ruthless Barry is and that AnyoneCanDie.
* ShutUpHannibal: She delivers a pretty impenetrable response to Barry's assertion that they're not that different.
-->'''Barry:''' Janice, you can, because we want the same thing. We, we wanna be happy. We want love. We want a life. And we're doing it, Janice. We're the same.
-->'''Moss:''' But we're not. We're not the same, Barry. 'Cause I'm a cop and you're a [[PrecisionFStrike fucking murderer.]]
* SurroundedByIdiots: She rightfully takes this view since most of her colleagues really are that stupid. It's most noticeable with the two techies, who are lazy morons seemingly incapable of doing their actual job.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: An upstanding woman who just wants to get to the bottom of a few brutal murders. She would be one of the protagonists if the one she was after wasn't Barry himself.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: She's an upstanding, good-natured woman who is murdered by Barry so he can escape punishment for his crimes.

[[folder:John Loach]]
!!Detective John Loach
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/90dc92e1_61f8_4126_81ea_5b612c435d8b.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/JohnPirruccello

Detective Moss's partner, who assists with her in the murder of Ryan Madison and several others, finding a link to one of the actors, Barry Block.

* AssholeVictim: It is really hard to not cheer when [[spoiler:Ronnie kills him with a kick to the face, snapping his neck in the process]]. Considering how much of an asshole he had been at that point, and the fact that he was going to kill Barry and make it look like he had a gun, it was cathartic to watch.
* BaitTheDog: [[spoiler:He comes off as a SympatheticInspectorAntagonist at first, but it's eventually revealed that he's only after Barry to blackmail him into killing his ex-wife's lover out of petty jealousy.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Initially just an amusing and reliable sad sack who seems like a HeroAntagonist, he reveals himself to be a petty, self-absorbed, and angry man who's willing to kill to solve his problems.]]
* BumblingSidekick: Janice is a very competent cop, whereas Loach is a perpetual sadsack still preoccupied with his wife's divorce. After her death, however, Season 2 reveals that he's actually very competent.
* CorruptCop: Oddly enough, not as corrupt as you might think. [[spoiler:He only wants to use Barry to kill his wife's lover... and when he thinks the job is done, he tries to kill Barry to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: [[spoiler:He blackmails Barry to kill Ronny simply because he's jealous his ex-wife has started a relationship with the man.]]
* HeroAntagonist: In Season 2, he now ''knows'' Barry is an assassin but cannot prove it. [[spoiler:Becomes less heroic when it's revealed he just wants Barry to kill the man who stole his wife away.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He's grumpy, but it seems like Loach genuinely wants to see justice done and avenge Janice's death by capturing Barry. [[spoiler:However, it's revealed he's only doing it so he can blackmail Barry into killing his ex-wife's new boyfriend out of jealousy.]]
* NeckSnap: In "ronny/lily", [[spoiler:he receives a kick to the face. The force of which snaps his neck and kills him. Oddly enough, this is not done by Barry but by a Taekwondo master named Ronnie, someone Loach was paying Barry to kill and who was sleeping with his ex-wife.]]
* NotSoAboveItAll: [[spoiler:As it turns out, he isn't the grumpy yet good-hearted lone detective seeking justice for Moss: he's an absolute mess of a human being who only wants to find Barry so he can blackmail him into killing his wife's new lover.]]
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Loach is played as a joke of a cop throughout season 1, but in the wake of [[spoiler: Detective Moss' death]] he proves to be frighteningly competent. He tracks down Fuches and arrests him when he continues to do hitman work without Barry and then manages to catch both men and have them dead to rights to being arrested. If justice for [[spoiler: Moss' death]] had been his actual motivation for arresting Barry, then Loach would have been the hero of the story that brought Barry down.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Come Season 2, he's after Barry, but he's just doing his job and he's working alone to get Moss' killer. [[spoiler:It's then averted when it turns out he doesn't care about Moss more than he cares about getting Barry to kill his wife's lover.]]

[[folder:Mae Dunn]]
!!Detective Mae Dunn
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/SarahBurns

Loach's partner after Moss has been killed.

* AdvertisedExtra: Credited as a main cast member in Season 3 despite still being a minor character with no individual narrative focus.
* HeroAntagonist: Like Moss before her, she's a likable and sympathetic person who just so happens to be on Barry's tail.
* NiceGirl: Is hapless, but a genuinely nice woman who is kind to Loach's ex-wife [[spoiler: after Loach and his ex-wife's boyfriend seemingly kill each other]]. It is one reason that both other characters and the audience often underestimate her.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Comes off as a cheerful naive woman but is more savvy and capable of reading Barry than she looks.

[[folder:Charlie Simmer]]
!!Detective Charlie Simmer
->'''Portrayed By:''' Cameron Britton

An incompetent LAPD detective.

* TheDitz: He's a slack-jawed moron who can barely be bothered to do his job.
* LazyBum: He's almost always playing video games instead of doing his job, and refuses to put in even the barwst minimum of effort. When tasked with accessing Hank's lipstick cam, he realizes it needs an adaptor and then proceeds to spend the next day slacking off instead of simply buying it.
* TheLoad: While Loach is genuinely helpful to Janice in spite of his numerous hang-ups, Simmer is just a useless moron. He doesn't actively sabotage Janice through his incompetence, but his refusal to do his job drags on her investigation into Ryan's murder.

!!!United States Marines

[[folder:Chris]]
!!Chris Lucado
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/ChrisMarquette

Barry's best friend and a fellow ex-Marine.

* BadLiar: After he reveals to Barry his wife doesn't know where he is, [[HeKnowsTooMuch Barry's reaction]] inmediatly has him lie desperately that she does know.
* BoomHeadshot: Barry shoots him in the forehead point-blank, staging it like a suicide.
* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Briefly appears in Barry's beach hallucination in "candy asses".]]
* ClusterFBomb: Drops a lot of these in conversations with his military buddies.
* FatalFamilyPhoto: Chris's status as a father makes it all the more heart-breaking when Barry murders him to cover his own ass.
* FreakOut: After being forced to shoot a Bolivian to save Barry's life, he loses it and tries to convince Barry that they should turn themselves in. He quickly backpedals, but it's too late.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: He falls on the wrong end of this, telling Barry that he told his wife he was just going to the gym. When he realizes Barry is about to kill him, he backtracks and says that actually, he DID tell his wife he was going to talk to Barry, but it doesn't help him...
* KilledMidSentence: "Wait, wait, WAIT-!"
* MilesGloriosus: Downplayed example, he likes to hang out with fellow Marines like Barry and Taylor who been in combat and shares their camadrie, but turns out he only did logistics.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: He's horrified when he kills one of Cristobal's men in self-defense, and he decides to turn himself in afterwards. Unfortunately, [[HeKnowsTooMuch Barry won't let that happen.]]
* NeverSuicide: Barry frames his death as a suicide.
* NiceGuy: He's a friendly, polite family man and one of the few war veterans shown to be genuinely well-adjusted.
* OnlySaneMan: He's the only ex-Marine on the show not to be visibly suffering from extreme psychological trauma, and the only one to have adjusted well to civilian life. We find out just before his death that he handled logistics, and had never actually killed anyone.
* SacrificialLion: The first innocent person Barry kills to protect his new life.
* WalkingSpoiler: His true importance isn't clear until very late in the season.

[[folder:Vaughn]]
!!Vaughn
->'''Portrayed by:''' Marcus Brown

A former Marine and a mutual friend of Taylor and Chris.

* BloodKnight: He eagerly joins Taylor on his bum-rush of the Bolivians and takes as much joy in violence as he does.
* FlatCharacter: He doesn't get much characterization outside of being Taylor's equally brutish and dumb friend.
* MultipleGunshotDeath: He's riddled with bullets by Cristobal's men during Taylor's bum-rush.
* TooDumbToLive: He eagerly joins Taylor's suicidal bumrush, and is shot dead for it.

[[folder:Albert]]
!!Albert Nguyen
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/JamesHiroyukiLiao

A former Marine who served with Barry; an incident in Korengal involving him triggered Barry's first rampage. Albert is initially only seen in flashbacks before appearing in person in season 3; after leaving the Marines, he has since become an FBI special agent assigned to help the LAPD in finding Janice Moss's murderer.

* BadgesAndDogTags: A former U.S. Marine who became an FBI agent after his discharge.
* GeniusBruiser: While we haven’t seen him display his skills in combat, he is a trained United States Marine. After his discharge, he became an FBI agent, which suggests he is a fairly intelligent person since the FBI doesn’t usually hire morons to become special agents. So, tough enough to have been a Marine plus smart enough to become an FBI agent qualifies him as such.
* IOweYouMyLife: Albert initially has a positive opinion of Barry because Barry saved his life in Korengal, and is hesitant to believe Barry is a murderous hitman because of this. [[spoiler:After he realizes Barry undoubtedly ''is'' a murderous hitman, Albert doesn't even turn him in, but instead yells at him to do better.]]
* ScarsAreForever: He has a very prominent scar on his left cheek, caused by getting shot in the face while on a mission in Korengal.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: He is a levelheaded, intelligent old comrade of Barry's who, unlike the LAPD, approaches the investigation with clarity and common sense. That the person he's chasing is his old friend Barry is played for DramaticIrony.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: He confronts Barry after [[spoiler: discovering that he’s the murderer he has been tasked with tracking down. Rather than take him in, he reminds Barry that he is capable of doing good and is not an irredeemable monster, but that he must stop killing people or else he’ll have no choice but to bring him to justice.]]

!!!Other Characters

[[folder:Ronny]]
!!Ronny Proxin
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/DanielBernhardt

An Olympic Medal winning martial artist. Currently dating Loach's ex-wife.

* BullyingADragon: Barry ''thinks'' that the threat of death will be enough to drive Ronny out of town with no questions asked. He didn't count on Ronny being a martial arts expert and stone-cold ''badass'' who proceeds to squarely kick his ass.
* TheDeterminator: He simply refuses to die, no matter what Barry does to try and take him out.
* ExtremityExtremist: He's a Taekwondo champion and so his fighting style is heavily focused on devastatingly powerful kicks which are strong enough to snap a man's neck.
* RasputinianDeath: Is brutally [[spoiler:gunned down by the police]] after they see him seemingly attack [[spoiler:Loach]] unprovoked. All this after Barry crushed and crudely fixed his windpipe.
* TheStoner: He is first introduced lighting up a blunt before entering his home. Even after he thinks he has knocked Barry out, the first thing he does before dialing 911 is light up yet another blunt. It’s possible that the only reason he wasn’t able to beat Barry in a fight is that his senses were dulled from being high.

[[folder:Lily]]
!!Lily Proxin
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jessie Giacomazzi

Ronny's daughter.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Yes, really. Barry and Fuches openly question if she's human or [[HumanoidAbomination something else.]]
* AxCrazy: Acts downright feral once Barry [[spoiler:seemingly kills her father,]] stabbing him multiple times and even biting a chunk out of Fuches' face.
* BadassAdorable: Gives Barry more difficulty in a one-on-one fight than anyone else in the series. Including her father, a martial arts expert.
* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: As Barry comes to find out, hurting [[spoiler:and/or killing]] her father will make her go nuts on someone.
* UnstoppableRage: After Barry [[spoiler: seemingly kills her dad]], she goes mental on him, viciously attacking him with her fists, feet and anything she can get her hands on before she runs out of steam and exits the house.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lindsay Mandel]]
!!Lindsay Mandel
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jessy Hodges
Sally's agent, beginning in Season 2, who is one of Sally's only advocates and friends in the business.
----
* {{Hypocrite}}: She comes off as this in "710N", where on one turn she smells the air outside ''Beignets by Mitch'' and moans but turns to the long line and calls them losers for waiting so long for beignets, only to hungrily scarf one down after Sally emerges with a box: she turns especially feral when a woman on line tries to take the box.
* OnlySaneMan: In the rather surreal world of the show, Lindsay often feels like this: she is the only one of Sally's three agents in Season 2 who recognizes the disappointing nature of the roles she is getting, and when she recognizes Sally's talent for writing she makes an effort to help both her and her fellow classmates get work.
* WrittenInInfirmity: Although this is not acknowledged in any dialogue, Lindsay is visibly pregnant during the events of Season 3. This is because Jessy Hodges was pregnant with her and Creator/BeckBennett's child during filming.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Katie]]
!!Katie
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/ElsieFisher
A teen actress playing Sally's daughter on ''Joplin'', who suspects Barry is dangerous.
----
* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: She tells Sally about her honest observations of Barry as a violent man who wouldn't be good for her, [[spoiler:which causes Sally to think things over and then break ties with him.]]
* NaiveNewcomer: To the Hollywood industry in general, given that she immediately speaks up on Sally's behalf after hearing Barry berate her and is frustrated that there are no institutional channels to reprimand Barry's behavior.
* WideEyedIdealist: She sees Sally as an amazing role model and hasn't been as numbed by the various ongoing dramas as other people in the industry have.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: She is never seen or mentioned again after she [[spoiler:convinces Sally to break up with Barry.]]
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Jim Moss]]
!!Jim Moss
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RobertWisdom

A retired Vietnam vet and the father of deceased LAPD Detective Janice Moss.
----

* TheAce: He outsmarts just about everyone he comes in contact with.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Although Fuches can actually be good at manipulating people, he’s not as good as he thinks he is. Jim on the other hand, is actually a master of psychological warfare who managed to convince his own interrogator in Vietnam to commit suicide. He proves his superior skills by tricking Fuches into thinking he’s interested in killing Barry as a way to turn him over to the police. Interestingly, while Stovka killer himself when talking to Fuches, he already was deeply psychologically troubled beforehand and did it on his own accord. Moss on the other hand, actually persuaded a sane individual to commit suicide when he was being interrogated in Vietnam.
* AntiHero: Having lost the life of his daughter at the hands of Barry, Jim will stop at nothing to get retribution for his actions, even if it means using morally dubious methods such as psychological torture and manipulation of others.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: With Gene Cousineau's help, Jim lures Barry into going inside his house to kill him, as part of a successful set-up to have Barry arrested.]]
* BoringButPractical: He manages to [[spoiler:arrange the capture and arrest of both Fuches and Barry, simply by alerting the police in advance and luring them to locations where they can be easily surrounded]].
* ChekhovsGunman: He's introduced two-thirds of the way into Season 3 as part of Fuches' "revenge army", and ends up responsible for [[spoiler:both Barry and Fuches himself being arrested.]]
* CoolOldGuy: A retired Vietnam vet and probably the most moral character in the show. He loses a bit of the "moral" part when he starts employing dubious methods like psychological torture, but he still primarily remains concerned with bringing Barry to justice.
* CreepyGood: He has a sinister aura around him, considering that he was a psychological warfare officer and a skilled manipulator in his own right. But he's firmly on the side of the angels.
* DramaticIrony: He spends most of his on screen time trying to avenge his daughter's death, [[spoiler: even getting Barry arrested. At one point, he has Barry tied up in his garage and at his mercy, but Barry's muttering leads him to reexamine the evidence. He eventually exonerates his daughter's killer, at least in the public eye, and pins the blame on her boyfriend, who had also been trying to avenge her.]]
* HeroAntagonist: Probably the biggest challenge that Barry has faced and his actions are shown in a sinister light, but he is clearly on the side of good. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in season 4 [[spoiler: as he mentally breaks Lon O'Neil and threatens Gene over their interview]]
* LivingLieDetector: When he approaches Gene to ask about Barry, he instantly realizes Gene is lying to protect him. [[spoiler:After interrogating him, he gets Gene to change his mind and help the police put Barry behind bars.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:In which the good deed in question was a brief moment of mercy. After Barry's genuine emotional breakdown from Jim's psychological torture, Jim begins to reexamine what he knows about Barry. Him following Barry's mutterings, coupled with Gene's own stupid decisions prior, leads Jim to conclude that Barry was being manipulated Gene and that Gene was really responsible for killing his daughter. This would lead to Jim unknowingly exonerating the man who killed his daughter.]]
* PapaWolf: He's trying to find whoever killed his daughter and bring them to justice.
* RetiredBadass: Jim isn't afraid of dangerous criminals like Barry Berkman, and manipulates someone as manipulative as Monroe Fuches.
* TheStoic: Unless he's interrogating you, Jim always retains his calm.
* TooCleverByHalf: He is incredibly competent at what he does, and that unfortunately causes him to make a costly mistake at the finish line. [[spoiler:He had Barry at his mercy, but the ease at which he captured him and Barry's very pathetic breakdown lead to Jim second-guessing if he had caught the actual culprit behind his daughter's death or merely just a disposable triggerman. Thanks to Gene engaging in some public self-aggrandizement at the worst possible time prior to Barry's capture, Jim comes to believe that Gene had orchestrated the whole thing and that Barry was just a pawn.]]
* TheVietnamVet: He became a POW during the war, even managing to ''convince his own captor to kill himself''.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: While Jim's quest to bring down Barry is righteous, his ways of doing so reach the point of borderline derangement.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sam]]
!!Sam
->'''Portrayed By:''' Joe Massingill

Sally's abusive ex-husband from her younger years. Although he only shows up in the show for a brief time in the second season, his impact on Sally's background plays a major part in her development and motivation as an actor.


* BitchInSheepsClothing: When he first shows up he seems polite enough, which might cast some doubt on whether or not Sally's recollection of events are true. Then his true colors are revealed and you realize that he's exactly the man Sally said he was.
* HateSink: Once the NiceGuy facade is dropped and Sam's true nature is revealed any redeeming qualities he might have go right out the window. He threatens Sally with legal action for using his abuse of her in her act, taunts Barry over their past relationship and is overall revealed to be the horrible, abusive person that Sally remembered.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He only physically appears in the show for two episodes in season 2, but he is the major reason for some of the major issues that Sally struggles with. Furthermore, it's not until after Sally meets with him one last time that she decides to change her scene with Barry mid-performance because she doesn't want to appear weak, even if it's not the way they rehearsed or how the scene actually happened.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mike]]
!!Mike Hallman
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RobertCurtisBrown

Sally's first agent.
----
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He acts perfectly nice and friendly, but he eventually reveals he only took Sally on so she'd sleep with him in exchange for getting roles and drops her as a client when she politely declines.
* CastingCouch: He takes Sally on as a client with the expectation that she'll sleep with him in exchange for his services. When she politely rebuffs him, Mike drops her as a client.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leo]]
!!Leo Cousineau
->'''Portrayed By:''' Andrew Leeds

Gene's estranged son and an organic farmer.
----
* CallingTheOldManOut: When Gene meets with him again, Leo calls him out for only doing it to soothe his own ego and not genuinely regretting his treatment of him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:John '''(SPOILERS)''']]
!!John Berkman Jr.
->'''Portrayed By:''' Zachary Golinger (child), Creator/JaedenMartell (teenager)

Barry and Sally's young son.
----

!!!The Bolivians

[[folder:Cristóbal Sifuentes]]
!!Cristóbal Sifuentes
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cristobal1.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You killed all my buddies."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/MichaelIrby

The boss of the Bolivian cartel that Fuches convinces Goran to wage war against.

* AdmiringTheAbomination: He admits to Goran he's been a fan of his, particularly his habit of mailing his enemies bullets before having one of them killed.
* AffablyEvil: He's much more like [=NoHo=] Hank than Goran, being a genuinely friendly guy who carries on casual conversations about self-help books in the middle of making serious threats. It's this similarity that allows the two of them to unite after Goran's death.
* AntiVillain: He's the nicest crime lord you could ever meet. He's deeply loyal to his allies, a proponent of cooperation with rivals, and friendly to just about everyone.
* BeardOfEvil: He sports a goatee, and is a crime lord - albeit a very nice one.
* CheatedDeathDiedAnyway: [[spoiler: He’s accidentally caught in Hank’s sand pit massacre, but manages to be the SoleSurvivor among the gangsters present. He’s then casually executed by the Chechens a few hours later for leaving Hank as a result of said massacre.]]
* ClosetGay: Season 3 reveals that Cristobal has a wife and children in Bolivia when more Bolivian gangsters arrive and state they'll wrap things up so he can go back to them, but he has [[spoiler:been committed to a romantic relationship with [=NoHo=] Hank during his time in California, indicating Cristobal is in the closet on [[{{Gayngster}} loving men]].]]
* CureYourGays: [[spoiler: In "starting now", Cristobal is tortured via electric chair by Elena, to prevent him being attracted to men.]]
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: He reveals that he's a nice enough guy that, had Goran simply asked for an alliance and shared use of the stash house instead of getting Barry involved, he would have gladly agreed.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Although season 2 saw Cristobal okay with executing Hank and his men by immolation on a schoolbus for betraying him and Esther, in season 4, Cristobal is horrified when [[spoiler: Hank has their own men killed in a sand sivo]]. Apparently the difference is that it is one thing to order the deaths of people who were planning on betraying him, but it is another to betray the trust of your own people.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: He hopes to unite all of LA's gangs as one big crime syndicate, regardless of race or creed.
* FriendlyEnemy: He's quite polite to Goran while informing him that, for killing his men at the stash house, he now has to go to war with him as a matter of course. He even recommends him some self-help books.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: In the halfway point episode of season 4, [[spoiler: Cristobal is executed by the Chechens when he tries to leave Hank because he knows too much about the Chechens' operations]].
* ManlyFacialHair: He has a mustache and goatee, and he's one of the most assertive of the show's characters.
* NobleDemon: He has no compunction about murder and drug-dealing, but he's very much a proponent of cooperation even with his rivals and is extremely loyal to his allies. [[spoiler:What drives him away from Hank is Hank's decision to kill Cristobal's men.]]
* NiceGuy: For a vicious kingpin, he's one of the nicest characters on the show.
* PunchClockVillain: He treats the more brutal aspects of gang life as simply an unfortunate necessity and NothingPersonal, and he's quite fond of recommending self-help books and giving life advice as though he were an ordinary office worker.
* RealMenCanCook: During his and Hank's first date, he cooked a traditional Bolivian meal for him. [[SupremeChef It was apparently heavenly.]]
* SupremeChef: According to Hank, his cooking is heavenly.
* TooDumbToLive: Really, how did Cristobal think that [[spoiler: walking out on Hank]] in season 4 was going to end? [[spoiler: Bill Hader has said that Cristobal was calling Hank's bluff and that he did not actually believe Hank would go so far as to have him be killed]].
* VillainCred: He cheerfully admits he respects Goran, particularly him having sent a bullet via mail before having had Paco killed.
* VisionaryVillain: Cristóbal doesn't see any reason why merciless criminals can't get along and share their territory. He hopes that one day all of LA's gangs will be United and working together.

[[folder:Paco Zambrana]]
!!Paco Zambrana
->'''Portrayed By:''' Geo Corvera

A member of the Bolivian mob turned informant for the Chechens.

* AintTooProudToBeg: He begs Barry for his life, though it doesn't do him any good.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: While Barry initially doesn't understand Paco's begging due to not knowing Spanish, when Sally translates his last words - "You don't have to do this." - it has a profound effect on Barry.
* BeardOfEvil: He doesn't do anything particularly villainous, but he's still a criminal and he sports a beard.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Goran has him killed both because he's [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]] and because he has too much knowledge of the Chechen's activities to be left alive.
* TheMole: He secretly informs on the Bolivians to the Chechens.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Goran rewards him for betraying the Bolivians to the Chechens by having him assassinated to make sure no one else finds out what he knows.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He's a minor character who dies at the end of his only appearance, but without Paco Goran never would have learned of the Bolivians' stash house which drives much of the conflict of Season 1.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: As soon as Paco gave the Chechens all the vital information he had, Goran ordered him killed.

!!!Other Criminals
[[folder:Esther]]
!!Esther
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/PatriciaFaAsua

The Burmese gang leader.

* BoomHeadshot: Shot in the head by Barry in the Season 2 finale.
* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Briefly appears in Barry's beach hallucination in "candy asses".]]
* DarkActionGirl: She's a crime lord and she makes it very clear that she's more than capable of throwing down. Part of the reason Cristobal allies with her is because she holds her men to the same standard.
* DeathGlare: Her default expression is a stoic, intense stare that massively puts off everyone.
* HiddenDepths: She's much more cold and off-putting than Cristobal is, but she shares his love for self-help books and his desire for teamwork.
* MadeOfIron; Puts a knife through her own hand to prove a point. Cristobal is impressed, [=NoHo=] Hank much less so.
* SatelliteCharacter: Her sole plot importance is that [=NoHo=] Hank wants her out of the way so he can have all of Cristobal's attention. She almost never interacts with any other characters onscreen and the only mention she's received after her death has been [[spoiler:a non-speaking cameo in Barry's beach hallucination among the other people he's killed.]]
* TheStoic: She's stone-faced at all times and rarely expresses any emotion.

[[folder:El Toro]]
!!El Toro
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/GuillermoDelToro

A mysterious, well-dressed criminal who meets with Hank and Cristobal to discuss an assassination job.

* TheCameo: He's played by Guillermo Del Toro in what seems to be a one-scene appearance.
* DeathGlare: Gives one to Hank when Hank repeatedly questions the validity of a podcast, one which El Toro has a personal interest in.
* ObliviousMockery: Is on the receiving end of it when Hank laughs about an invention he finds idiotic, to which El Toro sternly reveals he bought said invention.

!!!Other Characters

[[folder:Ronny]]
!!Ronny Proxin
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/DanielBernhardt

An Olympic Medal winning martial artist. Currently dating Loach's ex-wife.

* BullyingADragon: Barry ''thinks'' that the threat of death will be enough to drive Ronny out of town with no questions asked. He didn't count on Ronny being a martial arts expert and stone-cold ''badass'' who proceeds to squarely kick his ass.
* TheDeterminator: He simply refuses to die, no matter what Barry does to try and take him out.
* ExtremityExtremist: He's a Taekwondo champion and so his fighting style is heavily focused on devastatingly powerful kicks which are strong enough to snap a man's neck.
* RasputinianDeath: Is brutally [[spoiler:gunned down by the police]] after they see him seemingly attack [[spoiler:Loach]] unprovoked. All this after Barry crushed and crudely fixed his windpipe.
* TheStoner: He is first introduced lighting up a blunt before entering his home. Even after he thinks he has knocked Barry out, the first thing he does before dialing 911 is light up yet another blunt. It’s possible that the only reason he wasn’t able to beat Barry in a fight is that his senses were dulled from being high.

[[folder:Lily]]
!!Lily Proxin
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jessie Giacomazzi

Ronny's daughter.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Yes, really. Barry and Fuches openly question if she's human or [[HumanoidAbomination something else.]]
* AxCrazy: Acts downright feral once Barry [[spoiler:seemingly kills her father,]] stabbing him multiple times and even biting a chunk out of Fuches' face.
* BadassAdorable: Gives Barry more difficulty in a one-on-one fight than anyone else in the series. Including her father, a martial arts expert.
* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: As Barry comes to find out, hurting [[spoiler:and/or killing]] her father will make her go nuts on someone.
* UnstoppableRage: After Barry [[spoiler: seemingly kills her dad]], she goes mental on him, viciously attacking him with her fists, feet and anything she can get her hands on before she runs out of steam and exits the house.

[[folder:Lindsay Mandel]]
!!Lindsay Mandel
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jessy Hodges
Sally's agent, beginning in Season 2, who is one of Sally's only advocates and friends in the business.

* {{Hypocrite}}: She comes off as this in "710N", where on one turn she smells the air outside ''Beignets by Mitch'' and moans but turns to the long line and calls them losers for waiting so long for beignets, only to hungrily scarf one down after Sally emerges with a box: she turns especially feral when a woman on line tries to take the box.
* OnlySaneMan: In the rather surreal world of the show, Lindsay often feels like this: she is the only one of Sally's three agents in Season 2 who recognizes the disappointing nature of the roles she is getting, and when she recognizes Sally's talent for writing she makes an effort to help both her and her fellow classmates get work.
* WrittenInInfirmity: Although this is not acknowledged in any dialogue, Lindsay is visibly pregnant during the events of Season 3. This is because Jessy Hodges was pregnant with her and Creator/BeckBennett's child during filming.

[[folder:Katie]]
!!Katie
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/ElsieFisher
A teen actress playing Sally's daughter on ''Joplin'', who suspects Barry is dangerous.

* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: She tells Sally about her honest observations of Barry as a violent man who wouldn't be good for her, [[spoiler:which causes Sally to think things over and then break ties with him.]]
* NaiveNewcomer: To the Hollywood industry in general, given that she immediately speaks up on Sally's behalf after hearing Barry berate her and is frustrated that there are no institutional channels to reprimand Barry's behavior.
* WideEyedIdealist: She sees Sally as an amazing role model and hasn't been as numbed by the various ongoing dramas as other people in the industry have.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: She is never seen or mentioned again after she [[spoiler:convinces Sally to break up with Barry.]]
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Jim Moss]]
!!Jim Moss
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RobertWisdom

A retired Vietnam vet and the father of deceased LAPD Detective Janice Moss.
----

* TheAce: He outsmarts just about everyone he comes in contact with.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Although Fuches can actually be good at manipulating people, he’s not as good as he thinks he is. Jim on the other hand, is actually a master of psychological warfare who managed to convince his own interrogator in Vietnam to commit suicide. He proves his superior skills by tricking Fuches into thinking he’s interested in killing Barry as a way to turn him over to the police. Interestingly, while Stovka killer himself when talking to Fuches, he already was deeply psychologically troubled beforehand and did it on his own accord. Moss on the other hand, actually persuaded a sane individual to commit suicide when he was being interrogated in Vietnam.
* AntiHero: Having lost the life of his daughter at the hands of Barry, Jim will stop at nothing to get retribution for his actions, even if it means using morally dubious methods such as psychological torture and manipulation of others.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: With Gene Cousineau's help, Jim lures Barry into going inside his house to kill him, as part of a successful set-up to have Barry arrested.]]
* BoringButPractical: He manages to [[spoiler:arrange the capture and arrest of both Fuches and Barry, simply by alerting the police in advance and luring them to locations where they can be easily surrounded]].
* ChekhovsGunman: He's introduced two-thirds of the way into Season 3 as part of Fuches' "revenge army", and ends up responsible for [[spoiler:both Barry and Fuches himself being arrested.]]
* CoolOldGuy: A retired Vietnam vet and probably the most moral character in the show. He loses a bit of the "moral" part when he starts employing dubious methods like psychological torture, but he still primarily remains concerned with bringing Barry to justice.
* CreepyGood: He has a sinister aura around him, considering that he was a psychological warfare officer and a skilled manipulator in his own right. But he's firmly on the side of the angels.
* DramaticIrony: He spends most of his on screen time trying to avenge his daughter's death, [[spoiler: even getting Barry arrested. At one point, he has Barry tied up in his garage and at his mercy, but Barry's muttering leads him to reexamine the evidence. He eventually exonerates his daughter's killer, at least in the public eye, and pins the blame on her boyfriend, who had also been trying to avenge her.]]
* HeroAntagonist: Probably the biggest challenge that Barry has faced and his actions are shown in a sinister light, but he is clearly on the side of good. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in season 4 [[spoiler: as he mentally breaks Lon O'Neil and threatens Gene over their interview]]
* LivingLieDetector: When he approaches Gene to ask about Barry, he instantly realizes Gene is lying to protect him. [[spoiler:After interrogating him, he gets Gene to change his mind and help the police put Barry behind bars.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:In which the good deed in question was a brief moment of mercy. After Barry's genuine emotional breakdown from Jim's psychological torture, Jim begins to reexamine what he knows about Barry. Him following Barry's mutterings, coupled with Gene's own stupid decisions prior, leads Jim to conclude that Barry was being manipulated Gene and that Gene was really responsible for killing his daughter. This would lead to Jim unknowingly exonerating the man who killed his daughter.]]
* PapaWolf: He's trying to find whoever killed his daughter and bring them to justice.
* RetiredBadass: Jim isn't afraid of dangerous criminals like Barry Berkman, and manipulates someone as manipulative as Monroe Fuches.
* TheStoic: Unless he's interrogating you, Jim always retains his calm.
* TooCleverByHalf: He is incredibly competent at what he does, and that unfortunately causes him to make a costly mistake at the finish line. [[spoiler:He had Barry at his mercy, but the ease at which he captured him and Barry's very pathetic breakdown lead to Jim second-guessing if he had caught the actual culprit behind his daughter's death or merely just a disposable triggerman. Thanks to Gene engaging in some public self-aggrandizement at the worst possible time prior to Barry's capture, Jim comes to believe that Gene had orchestrated the whole thing and that Barry was just a pawn.]]
* TheVietnamVet: He became a POW during the war, even managing to ''convince his own captor to kill himself''.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: While Jim's quest to bring down Barry is righteous, his ways of doing so reach the point of borderline derangement.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sam]]
!!Sam
->'''Portrayed By:''' Joe Massingill

Sally's abusive ex-husband from her younger years. Although he only shows up in the show for a brief time in the second season, his impact on Sally's background plays a major part in her development and motivation as an actor.


* BitchInSheepsClothing: When he first shows up he seems polite enough, which might cast some doubt on whether or not Sally's recollection of events are true. Then his true colors are revealed and you realize that he's exactly the man Sally said he was.
* HateSink: Once the NiceGuy facade is dropped and Sam's true nature is revealed any redeeming qualities he might have go right out the window. He threatens Sally with legal action for using his abuse of her in her act, taunts Barry over their past relationship and is overall revealed to be the horrible, abusive person that Sally remembered.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He only physically appears in the show for two episodes in season 2, but he is the major reason for some of the major issues that Sally struggles with. Furthermore, it's not until after Sally meets with him one last time that she decides to change her scene with Barry mid-performance because she doesn't want to appear weak, even if it's not the way they rehearsed or how the scene actually happened.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mike]]
!!Mike Hallman
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RobertCurtisBrown

Sally's first agent.
----
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He acts perfectly nice and friendly, but he eventually reveals he only took Sally on so she'd sleep with him in exchange for getting roles and drops her as a client when she politely declines.
* CastingCouch: He takes Sally on as a client with the expectation that she'll sleep with him in exchange for his services. When she politely rebuffs him, Mike drops her as a client.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leo]]
!!Leo Cousineau
->'''Portrayed By:''' Andrew Leeds

Gene's estranged son and an organic farmer.
----
* CallingTheOldManOut: When Gene meets with him again, Leo calls him out for only doing it to soothe his own ego and not genuinely regretting his treatment of him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:John '''(SPOILERS)''']]
!!John Berkman Jr.
->'''Portrayed By:''' Zachary Golinger (child), Creator/JaedenMartell (teenager)

Barry and Sally's young son.
----

!!!The Chechens

[[folder:Goran]]
!!Goran Pazar
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goran.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:''"My daughter is having sleepover and we are being too loud."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/GlennFleshler

The leader of the Chechen mob in Los Angeles, Pazar hires Barry to handle an embarrassing situation.

* AffablyEvil: He's very ruthless and not to be trusted, but Goran's an amicable and straightforward guy for the most part. He's even polite to Fuches while informing him that he is going to betray and murder him and Barry at the first opportunity.
* AlasPoorVillain: Goran is a ruthless mobster, but he's a loving father, spited husband and he spends much of his time being awkwardly put-upon by incompetent or treacherous associates. When he's killed by Barry, the camera holds on his body in a manner that lends his death weight.
* BaldOfEvil: He's bald, and the head of the Chechen mafia.
* BigBadEnsemble: With Fuches for Season 1; Fuches has the malice, Goran has the muscle. He still comes across as far less dangerous due to being a sympathetic PunchClockVillain.
* BoomHeadshot: Barry kills him by shooting him in the side of the head. He doesn't die right away, either, instead floundering for a few seconds as his nervous system goes haywire.
* BrutalHonesty: He's generally quite blunt and makes his feelings known to everyone. One memorable instance has him quite casually inform Fuches he's going to have him and Barry killed.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: He has a habit of betraying his allies, particularly those who have only been hired by him and are not official members of the mob. He orders Paco killed the second he's [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]] and nearly does the same to Fuches and Barry before the former narrowly talks him out of it.
* DeadpanSnarker: He's quite sardonic and prone to making witty remarks.
* TheDyingWalk: After being shot in the head by Barry, Goran takes a few steps forwards before sitting down on a nearby chair and dying.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He dotes on his young daughter.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Goran is ruthless, but he isn't excessively sadistic. He's disgusted when he learns that Barry once stabbed a guy in the balls, and doesn't even want his wife's lover to be murdered in such a way.
** He finds Vacha way too creepy to be trusted. At least part of this is because he's so ObviouslyEvil he's not useful for anything that requires subtlety, but Goran seems genuinely intimidated by him.
** He's genuinely regretful after learning Cristobal would have shared the stash house with him, both because it will lead to a gang war between them and because all the bloodshed was completely unnecessary.
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Series/TheSopranos Tony Soprano]]. Both are overweight, burly crime bosses who balance their family lives with their profession, are something of a MeanBoss while still being a fair employer, and frequently engage in macho posturing.
* FatBastard: He's fairly overweight, and he's a ruthless gangster.
* FatalFlaw: Despite enjoying PragmaticVillainy, his desire to be seen as a powerful crime boss is what makes him susceptible to Fuches' manipulations. This eventually leads him to order the raid on Cristóbal's airstrip and demote [=NoHo=] for being too polite and "weak," both of which [[HoistByHisOwnPetard lead to his death and the near-destruction of his mob]].
* FriendlyEnemy: After actually meeting Cristobal, he admits he's a "super-nice guy" in spite of the fact the two are about to go into a gang war.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: His decision to raid Cristobal's airstrip and his demotion of Hank set off a chain of events that leads to his death.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He believes that [[ConsummateLiar Fuches]] is trustworthy and a reliable source of information, and that [[AffablyEvil Cristobal]] is a violent maniac. He only realizes how badly he misjudged them when it's too late.
* KickTheMoralityPet: He spends most of the first season treating Hank like his best friend, making his angry outburst and demotion of him all the more shocking.
* LaughablyEvil: He's a ruthless mob boss, but the duality between his occupation and him being a loving family man is frequently played for comedy.
* MeanBoss: He's quite prone to belittling his men which even Hank isn't safe from. He never crosses into being a BadBoss, but he noticeably stops caring about the men that Barry killed when he proves a viable asset to the Chechens.
* NoSympathy: He has absolutely no sympathy for Vacha wanting revenge on Barry for killing his brother, bluntly telling him that he doesn't care and to let it go.
--> '''Goran:''' Oh my God, no one cares. It's so boring. Every day, "he kill my brother"!
* OnlySaneMan: He tends to be the only member of the Chechen mob to use common sense and rely on PragmaticVillainy.
* PragmaticVillainy: He's outraged when Vacha reveals he's been stalking and photographing Barry. Not because of any moral reason, but because Barry is both a useful asset and that Vacha has inadvertently supplied a lot of evidence that the police could use to tie Barry to the Chechens.
* PsychologicalProjection: He believes Cristobal is a ruthless mob boss much like himself who won't compromise with anyone out of fear of looking weak. In reality, Cristobal would have agreed to share his stash house with Goran had he simply asked, sparing a lot of death and misery.
* PunchClockVillain: He's a dangerous mob boss, but he's also a loving father who doesn't let his criminal activities completely rule his life. This is used to humorous effect, such as when he conducts a serious meeting with Barry and Fuches [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes while at his daughter's dance recital]].
* TechnicianVsPerformer: The Performer to Barry and Fuches' technician. Goran is fixated on dramatic gestures such as his idea of mailing a bullet to the colleagues of a murder victim, where Fuches and Barry are comparatively more straight-forward and practical.
* UnwittingPawn: Fuches plays him like a fiddle for most of the season, convincing him that waging war on the Bolivians is better than just killing him for Barry's failure. This eventually results in his death.
* VillainCred: He has a lot of respect for Stovka, practically worshiping the ground he walks on and clearly being in awe of him the entire time.
* VillainousFriendship:
** With Hank. The two get along like a house on fire, and much of the first season's comedy comes from the two bantering with each other. However, Goran eventually severs their friendship after Hank's obvious concern for Barry's well-being makes him decide that he's weak.
** He forms a brief one with Fuches, until he realizes Fuches has been manipulating him and simply feeding his ego.
* VirtueIsWeakness: He admits in a fit of rage that he views Hank's polite and obsequious personality as a sign of weakness.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Goran believes he's in a serious crime drama akin to ''Film/TheGodfather'' and ''Film/{{Scarface}}'' where grand power plays and extravagant methods of murder are the norm. Unfortunately for him, he's in a dark comedy that deconstructs this sort of genre and where organized crime is portrayed as almost mundane and boring work.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: He's very fond of pulling this trope. He has Paco killed the second he's given Goran all the vital information he has, and he intends to kill Barry and Fuches once they kill Paco until Stovka's suicide forces him to make do with them.

[[folder:[=NoHo=] Hank]]
!![=NoHo=] Hank
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/noho.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349: ''"Well, what do you want me to do? Go to Franchise/JohnWick Assassin Hotel with help wanted sign?"'']]

->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyCarrigan

A Chechen mobster, [=NoHo=] Hank is Goran Pazar’s right-hand man.

* AdmiringTheAbomination: First seen early on when he has a fanboy-esque freakout over hitman legend Stovka, and as the story goes on he holds this towards Barry himself, even giddily reassuring Barry that he thinks he's "the most evil person I know!"
* AffablyEvil: Hank is an immensely likable person, in addition to being the right-hand man to a ruthless mobster. He's genuinely polite, outgoing, considerate, and fun to be around. Even when he's trying to be scary, he's still obviously fixated on being polite. In "The Audition," he admits that his true calling was customer service.
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: He spends most of Season 4 struggling with the guilt of having led Cristobal, who he admits was the love of his life, to his death after trying to keep the both of them from getting murdered by the Chechen mob. By the end, he's anguished but unable to accept responsibility for what happened, shouting that Fuches is a "fucking liar" for stating the reality of the situation, and provokes a shootout; dying alone, surrounded by dead gangsters, he desperately clutches the hand of Cristobal's statue as he draws his last breath.]]
* AllTakeAndNoGive: His friendship with Barry is incredibly one-sided: Hank idolizes Barry and repeatedly puts himself at great risk in order to help Barry out. Barry at-best treats Hank as an annoyance to be quietly tolerated and only turned to when he has no other options left, and at worst will screw him over without hesitation in order to save himself. [[spoiler: This culminates in season 4 where Hank tries to arrange a prison break to bust Barry out at the same time Barry is making a deal to sell Hank and the Chechans out in order to get a protection deal with the FBI. Hank learning of this is what finally convinces him to cut Barry out of his life entirely.]]
* AMFMCharacterization: The first episode of Season 2 features him listening to a cheery pop song, in keeping with his upbeat and AffablyEvil personality.
* AntiVillain: He's definitely ruthless, but Hank remains one of the more sympathetic members of the cast due to his general loyalty to his friends. [[spoiler:This fades in Season 4 as he becomes increasingly ruthless.]]
* BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: Hank views being a gangster as the greatest thing in the whole world, and doesn't get why anyone wouldn't want to be one. When Barry in a moment of vulnerability if Hank thinks he's evil, Hank cheerfully tells him he's the evilest person he knows and genuinely thinks it was a compliment.
* BaldOfEvil: He's a ruthless mobster and crime lord without a hair on his head, not even eyebrows (his actor has Alopecia Universalis, a condition which causes complete loss of all hair all over the body.)
* BerserkButton: [[spoiler: He does ''not'' take kindly to anyone even insinuating that he willingly had Cristobal killed. He flips out and breaks off a budding alliance with Fuches as a direct result of Fuches attempting to compliment Hank about it.]]
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He's a sweet, dorky, energetic guy, and Barry feels comfortable insulting him to his face... up until Hank drops his polite demeanor and threatens to sell him out to the Chechens. See NotSoHarmlessVillain, below.
* BigBad: He's basically the main antagonist of the series finale, as [[spoiler: he kidnaps Sally and John and uses them as leverage against Barry.]]
* BornLucky: Hank has an uncanny ability to not only survive, but benefit from being in life-threatening situations.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Hank doesn’t view anything about being a gangster as objectionable as all. He’s willing to kill as many criminals as he needs to with no hesitation. However, he is also a very kind and polite individual to pretty much everyone, and he seems to avoid involving civilians in his life of crime and violence.
* BreakoutCharacter: Originally meant to die in the first episode, the crew fell in love with Anthony Carrigan's performance, resulting in Hank just being wounded and becoming series regular, long outlasting his boss Goran as one of the main characters.
* CampGay: He's a gay man and very effeminate, though it comes less from his sexually and more from the fact that Hank is fastidiously polite and well-mannered.
* CardCarryingVillain: He considers being called "evil" to be a compliment.
-->'''Barry:''' Am I, like, an evil person?
-->'''Hank:''' Oh my God! I mean. Absolutely! Do I not tell you that enough? You are like the most evil guy I know, man!
* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: Hank clearly views being a gangster as the best job in the world and deeply enjoys it, even viewing being called "evil" as a compliment.
* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: After the shootout in the finale, he dies while looking up at a statue of Cristobal.]]
* DissonantSerenity: His perpetually cheerful personality means he'll treat even death threats with the same attitude he takes when preparing snacks for guests.
* DisproportionateRetribution: He orders Barry to kill Esther because he's jealous Cristobal brought her into their joint operation and is paying attention to her.
* TheDogBitesBack:
** At the end of season 1, Goran demotes Hank because he's too "weak" and soft. Hank then sells out Goran to Barry, effectively signing Goran's death warrant.
** At the beginning of season 2, he asks Barry to perform a hit for him but Barry refuses and insults him. Later that night, Hank shows up at Barry's acting class and informs him that he is no longer asking Barry, he is ''telling'' him to perform the hit and that he'll have the whole class killed if he doesn't.
** In season 4 he finds out that Barry is cooperating with the FBI to sell Hank and his friends out. Hank proceeds to give a TheReasonYouSuck speech over Barry, telling him to rot in hell, and then sends assassins after him.
* TheDragon: Goran's lieutenant and right-hand man.
* DragonAscendant: After Goran's death, Hank is left in control of the Chechen mob, and uses the opportunity (and his people skills) to befriend the Bolivians and make their two groups even more powerful.
* DyingAlone: [[spoiler: His fate in the series finale; having been fatally wounded by Fuches, Hank spends his last moments alive surrounded by the dead bodies of his and Fuches's men while sitting against a statue of Cristobal, clutching its hand as he takes his final breaths before dying.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He's pretty weirded out when Barry talks about having once stabbed a guy in the balls; he's also unsettled by Vacha, who he considers too self-consciously creepy.
** He's also left terrified when Burmese gang leader Esther demonstrates her toughness by stabbing herself through the hand without flinching.
** In the series finale, [[spoiler: he seems genuinely uncomfortable with using a kid as leverage to lure out Barry.]]
* EqualOpportunityEvil: He sees no problem with forming an alliance with the Bolivian mob, and his hatred towards the Burmese mob joining said alliance comes from jealousy rather than bigotry.
* FatalFlaw: Denial. By his own admission, Hank would probably be far happier working a legitimate career in customer service, as it's the one thing in the series he's consistently depicted as both enjoying and being good at. Instead, he sticks to his delusion that [[DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster being a gangster is his life's calling]], [[spoiler: leading to Cristobal's death and Hank being left [[LonelyAtTheTop alone at the top]]]]. [[spoiler: This directly leads to his death after the timeskip, as he'd rather continue to live in denial than admit that he regrets what he's done and how he'd caused Cristobal's death, provoking a fatal shootout with Fuches in the process.]]
* FriendlyEnemy: He genuinely likes Barry, although that wouldn't stop him from killing him if the need arose. He genuinely mourns Barry's supposed death, speaking fondly of him over the phone with Fuches. And when Fuches learns Barry is still alive and sells him out, Hank gives him the heads-up that saves him, calling a good guy. This ends after [[spoiler: Barry starts talking to the FBI]].
* FreudianSlip: A non-sexual version played for drama in the finale. [[spoiler: In their confrontation, Fuches offers to walk away from their feud entirely and never trouble Hank again -- if Hank will only admit that what happened with Cristobal was his fault and a result of poor decisions he made. Hank appears to be on the verge of doing so, but can't bring himself to, and ends up hissing "You're a liar!" at Fuches before pulling a gun on him. Tellingly, however, since making the offer Fuches has said nothing except to agree with statements Hank himself has made; Hank is unwittingly admitting that he himself is the liar by refusing to admit what he did.]]
* {{Gayngster}}: Confirmed as of Season 3, when he is shown in a [[LoveAcrossBattlelines forbidden]] relationship with Cristobal.
* GreenEyedMonster: He becomes very jealous when Cristobal recruits Esther into their joint operation, feeling that she's taking his attention away from him. This leads to him hiring Barry to kill her.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Hank is most assuredly not a good guy, but he's generally incompetent and very nice to everyone, including the people he plans to have tortured and killed.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: When he finally has enough of Barry disrespecting him, he shows up to the building of his acting class to threaten him. His [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness deadly serious]] tone is enough to even intimidate Barry.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: As Hank himself [[DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster views being a gangster as the greatest job in the world]], he can't at all comprehend that Barry feels remorse and discomfort with being a hitman. This results in attempts at being supportive toward Barry as only making him feel worse, such as when he cheerfully tells him that he's "the most evil" person that he knows.
* LaughablyEvil: He's a ruthless criminal, but his perky, upbeat demeanor makes him a blast to watch especially due to the contrast with his occupation.
* LonelyAtTheTop: [[spoiler:In the time skip in Season 4, after Cristobal's death, he is shown to be a highly successful businessman but it also shows that he has no one, and Cristobal's death still hurts him eight years later.]]
* {{Malaproper}}: Hank has a good command of English, but he's not a native speaker, so his attempts at using English-exclusive figures of speech can sometimes come off as awkward or inaccurate ("get out of The Dodge").
-->''"Well, you know what Sonny and Cher would say: that's on you, babe."''
* ManChild: Writes to his contact back in Chechnya as though he were a kid telling his parents about summer camp.
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: With Esther, his rival for Cristóbal's loyalties. Esther is tough, stoic, and referenced as a BrawnHilda by Fuches, while Hank is AffablyEvil and into fashion and interior decorating.
* MotorMouth: Hank absolutely loves to chitchat and when he gets going it's nearly impossible to stop him, even when no one is listening any longer.
* MutuallyUnequalRelationship: He views Barry as his best friend and puts himself at risk many times to help him, while Barry considers him an annoyance and doesn't give a damn about him.
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler: This ends up being his FatalFlaw. In their final confrontation, Fuches points out how, unlike Hank, he has accepted and come to terms with the fact that he is "a man without a heart", and offers to give up their feud and leave immediately if Hank is simply willing to admit that it's his fault Cristobal is dead and he hates himself for it. Hank appears to be on the verge of doing so, but cannot bring himself to -- instead, he pulls a gun on Fuches and gets killed. Appropriately enough, his very last words are a series of excuses ("I actually loved him", "I didn't think this would happen", "I only wanted to be safe", and finally "you're a liar").]]
* NiceGuy: Ignoring the whole "career criminal" thing, Hank is an incredibly and sincerely chipper, friendly, and considerate guy who it's really hard not to like.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
** His decision to bring the lipstick camera with him while trying to kill Barry in the pilot leads to the camera being confiscated by the police and Moss and Loach figuring out Barry's identity. It would have saved Barry and Fuches a lot of grief had Hank simply not brought it along.
** He warns Barry of Goran's hit on him and abduction of Fuches, which lead to Barry murdering Goran and several of his men in retaliation. It doesn't turn out bad for Hank, since he winds up taking Goran's position in his stead.
* NobleDemon: He tries to be this, but he's so damn incompetent at being a gangster that he can't do his job very well and ultimately comes off as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain instead.
* NoSympathy: He's not particularly sympathetic to Vacha wanting revenge in Barry of killing his brother, though he's not as blunt about it as Goran is.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Zig-zagged. For virtually all of Season 1, Hank is an absolute sweetheart who's considerate and sensitive. He's so unthreatening that Barry feels free to tell him right to his face how little he thinks of him regularly, with no fear of reprisal. Come Season 2, when he's facing pressure from seemingly every angle of his life, he shows that even he has limits to what he can tolerate, and exhibits his dark side when he chillingly commands Barry to kill his rival. For all his affable mannerisms, he's still a remorseless criminal who is willing to go to extremes when crossed. With that said, he's still shown to be utterly incompetent as the leader of the Chechen mob throughout the season, so while he ''is'' capable of being ruthless, he can't be counted on to effectively follow through with his ruthlessness.
** In season 3 [[spoiler:during his imprisonment in Bolivia, despite being terrified out of his mind he manages to break out of his handcuffs, overpower a guard and steal his gun, take down a ''panther'' that had just killed his remaining comrades, and finally escape and kill Elena in order to rescue Cristobal]].
** In season 4's "it takes a psycho," [[spoiler:Hank not only heartlessly kills--in an exceptionally cruel fashion--the coalition of gangs he had assembled under the pretense of going legit, but he also allows Cristobal to be executed when Cristobal attempts to leave Hank, as Cristobal knows too much about the Chechens to be left alive]].
* PetTheDog: In the first season finale, Hank secretly calls Barry to warn him that Goran ordered a hit on him and that he should get out of town. It puts Hank - who was already on thin ice with Goran - at risk of reprisal, but he still does it.
* PluckyComicRelief: Compared to the rest of the main cast, who all have some very dark shades to their characters, Hank pretty much entirely exists for laughs. At least in the first two seasons for the most part. See NotSoHarmlessVillain above.
* RelationshipUpgrade: As of season 3's premier, [[spoiler: he and Cristobal are in an explicit romantic relationship]].
* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler: Subverted, while the Season 2 finale made it seem like he managed to be the only member of any of the three crime syndicates present at the warehouse who survives Barry's rampage, it is later revealed that only the Burmese syndicate was wiped out, with there being two other Chechen mobsters who survived as well as Cristobal.]]
** [[spoiler:But by the end of Season 3, the Bolivian cartel captures the remaining members of the LA Chechen mob and executes them by feeding them to a panther. Hank narrowly escapes, finally playing this trope straight.]]
* TheStarscream: Downplayed. He doesn't actively betray Goran, but he's very happy to realize Barry killed him and allows him to take over the gang.
* TattooedCrook: Covered in gang tattoos.
* TragicVillain: [[spoiler: Becomes this in season 4, as he becomes wrapped in guilt over leading his lover Cristobal to his death.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler: Post time skip, he's become a legitimate businessman who is apparently beloved by the community and does charity work, but he still has criminal connections on the side that he taps into for dirtier work.]]
* VillainousFriendship: With Goran. The two get along like a house on fire, and much of the first season's comedy comes from the two bantering with each other. However, Goran eventually severs their friendship after Hank's obvious concern for Barry's well-being makes him decide that he's weak.
* VitriolicBestBuds: A one-sided example with Barry. He seems to be convinced that he and Barry are good friends, whereas Barry, on the occasions when he even acknowledges him at all, rather clearly dislikes him. It gets significantly muddier in season 3, when Barry is desperate enough to come to him for both work and [[spoiler:advice on his failing relationship with Sally]], but Hank barely wants anything to do with him until [[spoiler:tensions with the Bolivian cartel]] force them to team up again. Even then, he treats Barry as an extremely dangerous person he'd rather keep his distance from, in a manner very similar to someone trying to enforce boundaries around a toxic friend or ex. [[spoiler: By season 4, Hank ends up cutting Barry out of his life for good over the phone after he learns of Barry talking to the FBI.]]
* WhiteSheep: Hank is the only member of the Chechen mob who is friendly, polite, and seems to have interests outside of criminal activity. Goran eventually tires of this, calling him "weak" and demoting him, [[DragonAscendant only for [=NoHo=] to come out on top.]]
* WithFriendsLikeThese: He considers Barry a friend, but also repeatedly tries to kill him in the first season alone and blackmails him under the threat of death.
* WouldHitAGirl: [[spoiler: He shoots Elena in the head in the third season finale.]]
* WrongLineOfWork: Hank is repeatedly demonstrated as being a great and charismatic speaker and an utterly incompetent criminal. He even admits at several points when under extreme stress that he's deluding himself in to believing he's a great gangster, and that his true passion is in customer service.

[[folder:Mayrbek]]
!!Mayrbek
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/NikitaBogolyubov

Star pupil of the new Chechen army. Barry's protégé/"Baby Barry".

[[folder:Vacha]]
!!Vacha
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/06b95b23_9c80_4ff0_8e90_39e5c381a30b.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/MarkIvanir
One of Goran's mobsters, the twin brother of another enforcer Barry killed.

* BeardOfEvil: He's a ruthless mobster with a thick, bushy beard.
* BigBadWannabe: He wants to be the one to kill Barry, but his lack of stealth winds up getting him killed before he even gets close to Barry.
* ButtMonkey: He spends most of his screentime being insulted by Goran and Hank, and ultimately gets shot before he even gets close to Barry.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the ObviouslyEvil villain. As Goran and Hank point out, his insistence on being as intimidating as possible at all times makes him extremely conspicuous and makes him incapable of performing any task that requires stealth. When he tries to make a move against Barry, his obvious suspiciousness gets him immediately exposed to Moss and shot dead.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He wants to kill Barry to avenge his brother, who Barry shot in self-defense in the pilot.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: On the receiving end. ''All'' of his colleagues find him way too scary, even Goran who otherwise loves posturing as a terrifying mob boss.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: None of his colleagues particularly like him due to him being way too creepy for their liking.
* ObviouslyEvil: Goran and Hank criticize him for this, noting that thanks to the fact he dresses in dark, menacing clothes and even wears a TortureTechnician-style apron for no reason he's way too conspicuous to be used for anything covert.
* RevengeBeforeReason: His desire to take revenge on Barry ends up getting him killed before he even has a chance to confront him.
* SiblingYinYang: With Ruslan. Vacha is cold and brooding, while Russian is cheery and upbeat. They're both obsessed with scaring people, though/
* StalkerWithoutACrush: He follows Barry and photographs him as he goes about his life, hoping to use it to convince Goran to let him kill him.
* YouKilledMyFather: He wants to kill Barry as revenge for Barry murdering his brother in self-defense.

[[folder:Ruslan]]
!!Ruslan
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/95b752a7_ecb8_47c2_a3d0_7cce101dd001.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/MarkIvanir

One of Goran's mobsters, the twin brother of another enforcer Barry killed.

* AffablyEvil: Unlike his brother Vacha, Ruslan is cheerful, upbeat, and friendly.
* AwesomeButImpractical: As Goran angrily points out, building a stockade to torment Fuches may be a flashy method of torture, but it just wastes time when Ruslan is supposed to just ''kill'' him.
* BackUpTwin: He pops up shortly after Vacha is killed to take his place as the resident intimidator of the Chechens, though his attitude differs significantly from his twin.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the {{Sadist}}. As it turns out, someone who enjoys torturing people is counterproductive as a henchman since they'll waste precious time trying to psych out their victims instead of just killing them on the spot.
* {{Sadist}}: He takes a lot of joy in psychologically torturing Fuches and torture in general, though an annoyed Goran points out he wasted precious time doing it.
* SiblingYinYang: Where Vacha was cold and intimidating, Russian is upbeat at all times and something of a goofball. He's still just as self-conscious about trying to be scary, though much more cheery about it.
* TortureTechnician: He's very into his torture, and starts to build a stockade for Fuches to torment him psychologically.
* YouKilledMyFather: Subverted. Unlike Vacha, Russian doesn't seem to really care that Barry murdered his brother and doesn't show any personal enmity to Fuches. He just likes torturing people.

[[folder:Stovka]]
!!Stovka
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/796754e2_21f9_4761_9a73_56337eb2c43f.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"My whole life, ever since a child, is death."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/LarryHankin

An assassin and Chechen mob member who is sent to America as additional manpower for Goran.

* TheDreaded: Subverted. Goran and Hank ''really'' hype him up to Fuches before he arrives, claiming he's the greatest assassin Chechnya has ever seen. In reality, he's a feeble and depressed old man [[spoiler:who proceeds to promptly blow his brains out]].
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Tired and broken from having spent his life killing for the mob, Stovka choses to shoot himself in the head instead of killing Fuches.]]
* EmptyShell: It's clear a life of murder has left him a broken, apathetic shell of a man.
* ShadowArchetype: He's what Barry would likely become if he doesn't leave his life as a hitman.
* TakingTheKids: He mentions that he once had a wife and a child, but she divorced him and took the child with her.
* TragicVillain: He's a notorious hitman, but Stovka is so broken and depressed that it's hard not to pity him.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: While he look like a gaunt old man, he claims to be 45. It is heavily implied that the stress of working a hitman has caused him to age prematurely.

[[folder:Batir]]
!!Batir
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/JBBlanc

Hank's direct superior and contact back in Chechnya.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Hank mentions that they grew up together and were childhood friends, but it doesn't stop Batir from threatening to have him killed if he doesn't take revenge on Goran's killer.

!!!United States Marines

[[folder:Chris]]
!!Chris Lucado
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/ChrisMarquette

Barry's best friend and a fellow ex-Marine.

* BadLiar: After he reveals to Barry his wife doesn't know where he is, [[HeKnowsTooMuch Barry's reaction]] inmediatly has him lie desperately that she does know.
* BoomHeadshot: Barry shoots him in the forehead point-blank, staging it like a suicide.
* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Briefly appears in Barry's beach hallucination in "candy asses".]]
* ClusterFBomb: Drops a lot of these in conversations with his military buddies.
* FatalFamilyPhoto: Chris's status as a father makes it all the more heart-breaking when Barry murders him to cover his own ass.
* FreakOut: After being forced to shoot a Bolivian to save Barry's life, he loses it and tries to convince Barry that they should turn themselves in. He quickly backpedals, but it's too late.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: He falls on the wrong end of this, telling Barry that he told his wife he was just going to the gym. When he realizes Barry is about to kill him, he backtracks and says that actually, he DID tell his wife he was going to talk to Barry, but it doesn't help him...
* KilledMidSentence: "Wait, wait, WAIT-!"
* MilesGloriosus: Downplayed example, he likes to hang out with fellow Marines like Barry and Taylor who been in combat and shares their camadrie, but turns out he only did logistics.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: He's horrified when he kills one of Cristobal's men in self-defense, and he decides to turn himself in afterwards. Unfortunately, [[HeKnowsTooMuch Barry won't let that happen.]]
* NeverSuicide: Barry frames his death as a suicide.
* NiceGuy: He's a friendly, polite family man and one of the few war veterans shown to be genuinely well-adjusted.
* OnlySaneMan: He's the only ex-Marine on the show not to be visibly suffering from extreme psychological trauma, and the only one to have adjusted well to civilian life. We find out just before his death that he handled logistics, and had never actually killed anyone.
* SacrificialLion: The first innocent person Barry kills to protect his new life.
* WalkingSpoiler: His true importance isn't clear until very late in the season.

[[folder:Vaughn]]
!!Vaughn
->'''Portrayed by:''' Marcus Brown

A former Marine and a mutual friend of Taylor and Chris.

* BloodKnight: He eagerly joins Taylor on his bum-rush of the Bolivians and takes as much joy in violence as he does.
* FlatCharacter: He doesn't get much characterization outside of being Taylor's equally brutish and dumb friend.
* MultipleGunshotDeath: He's riddled with bullets by Cristobal's men during Taylor's bum-rush.
* TooDumbToLive: He eagerly joins Taylor's suicidal bumrush, and is shot dead for it.

[[folder:Albert]]
!!Albert Nguyen
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/JamesHiroyukiLiao

A former Marine who served with Barry; an incident in Korengal involving him triggered Barry's first rampage. Albert is initially only seen in flashbacks before appearing in person in season 3; after leaving the Marines, he has since become an FBI special agent assigned to help the LAPD in finding Janice Moss's murderer.

* BadgesAndDogTags: A former U.S. Marine who became an FBI agent after his discharge.
* GeniusBruiser: While we haven’t seen him display his skills in combat, he is a trained United States Marine. After his discharge, he became an FBI agent, which suggests he is a fairly intelligent person since the FBI doesn’t usually hire morons to become special agents. So, tough enough to have been a Marine plus smart enough to become an FBI agent qualifies him as such.
* IOweYouMyLife: Albert initially has a positive opinion of Barry because Barry saved his life in Korengal, and is hesitant to believe Barry is a murderous hitman because of this. [[spoiler:After he realizes Barry undoubtedly ''is'' a murderous hitman, Albert doesn't even turn him in, but instead yells at him to do better.]]
* ScarsAreForever: He has a very prominent scar on his left cheek, caused by getting shot in the face while on a mission in Korengal.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: He is a levelheaded, intelligent old comrade of Barry's who, unlike the LAPD, approaches the investigation with clarity and common sense. That the person he's chasing is his old friend Barry is played for DramaticIrony.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: He confronts Barry after [[spoiler: discovering that he’s the murderer he has been tasked with tracking down. Rather than take him in, he reminds Barry that he is capable of doing good and is not an irredeemable monster, but that he must stop killing people or else he’ll have no choice but to bring him to justice.]]

!!!The Bolivians

[[folder:Cristóbal Sifuentes]]
!!Cristóbal Sifuentes
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cristobal1.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You killed all my buddies."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/MichaelIrby

The boss of the Bolivian cartel that Fuches convinces Goran to wage war against.

* AdmiringTheAbomination: He admits to Goran he's been a fan of his, particularly his habit of mailing his enemies bullets before having one of them killed.
* AffablyEvil: He's much more like [=NoHo=] Hank than Goran, being a genuinely friendly guy who carries on casual conversations about self-help books in the middle of making serious threats. It's this similarity that allows the two of them to unite after Goran's death.
* AntiVillain: He's the nicest crime lord you could ever meet. He's deeply loyal to his allies, a proponent of cooperation with rivals, and friendly to just about everyone.
* BeardOfEvil: He sports a goatee, and is a crime lord - albeit a very nice one.
* CheatedDeathDiedAnyway: [[spoiler: He’s accidentally caught in Hank’s sand pit massacre, but manages to be the SoleSurvivor among the gangsters present. He’s then casually executed by the Chechens a few hours later for leaving Hank as a result of said massacre.]]
* ClosetGay: Season 3 reveals that Cristobal has a wife and children in Bolivia when more Bolivian gangsters arrive and state they'll wrap things up so he can go back to them, but he has [[spoiler:been committed to a romantic relationship with [=NoHo=] Hank during his time in California, indicating Cristobal is in the closet on [[{{Gayngster}} loving men]].]]
* CureYourGays: [[spoiler: In "starting now", Cristobal is tortured via electric chair by Elena, to prevent him being attracted to men.]]
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: He reveals that he's a nice enough guy that, had Goran simply asked for an alliance and shared use of the stash house instead of getting Barry involved, he would have gladly agreed.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Although season 2 saw Cristobal okay with executing Hank and his men by immolation on a schoolbus for betraying him and Esther, in season 4, Cristobal is horrified when [[spoiler: Hank has their own men killed in a sand sivo]]. Apparently the difference is that it is one thing to order the deaths of people who were planning on betraying him, but it is another to betray the trust of your own people.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: He hopes to unite all of LA's gangs as one big crime syndicate, regardless of race or creed.
* FriendlyEnemy: He's quite polite to Goran while informing him that, for killing his men at the stash house, he now has to go to war with him as a matter of course. He even recommends him some self-help books.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: In the halfway point episode of season 4, [[spoiler: Cristobal is executed by the Chechens when he tries to leave Hank because he knows too much about the Chechens' operations]].
* ManlyFacialHair: He has a mustache and goatee, and he's one of the most assertive of the show's characters.
* NobleDemon: He has no compunction about murder and drug-dealing, but he's very much a proponent of cooperation even with his rivals and is extremely loyal to his allies. [[spoiler:What drives him away from Hank is Hank's decision to kill Cristobal's men.]]
* NiceGuy: For a vicious kingpin, he's one of the nicest characters on the show.
* PunchClockVillain: He treats the more brutal aspects of gang life as simply an unfortunate necessity and NothingPersonal, and he's quite fond of recommending self-help books and giving life advice as though he were an ordinary office worker.
* RealMenCanCook: During his and Hank's first date, he cooked a traditional Bolivian meal for him. [[SupremeChef It was apparently heavenly.]]
* SupremeChef: According to Hank, his cooking is heavenly.
* TooDumbToLive: Really, how did Cristobal think that [[spoiler: walking out on Hank]] in season 4 was going to end? [[spoiler: Bill Hader has said that Cristobal was calling Hank's bluff and that he did not actually believe Hank would go so far as to have him be killed]].
* VillainCred: He cheerfully admits he respects Goran, particularly him having sent a bullet via mail before having had Paco killed.
* VisionaryVillain: Cristóbal doesn't see any reason why merciless criminals can't get along and share their territory. He hopes that one day all of LA's gangs will be United and working together.

[[folder:Paco Zambrana]]
!!Paco Zambrana
->'''Portrayed By:''' Geo Corvera

A member of the Bolivian mob turned informant for the Chechens.

* AintTooProudToBeg: He begs Barry for his life, though it doesn't do him any good.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: While Barry initially doesn't understand Paco's begging due to not knowing Spanish, when Sally translates his last words - "You don't have to do this." - it has a profound effect on Barry.
* BeardOfEvil: He doesn't do anything particularly villainous, but he's still a criminal and he sports a beard.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Goran has him killed both because he's [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]] and because he has too much knowledge of the Chechen's activities to be left alive.
* TheMole: He secretly informs on the Bolivians to the Chechens.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Goran rewards him for betraying the Bolivians to the Chechens by having him assassinated to make sure no one else finds out what he knows.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He's a minor character who dies at the end of his only appearance, but without Paco Goran never would have learned of the Bolivians' stash house which drives much of the conflict of Season 1.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: As soon as Paco gave the Chechens all the vital information he had, Goran ordered him killed.

!!!Other Criminals
[[folder:Esther]]
!!Esther
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/PatriciaFaAsua

The Burmese gang leader.

* BoomHeadshot: Shot in the head by Barry in the Season 2 finale.
* TheCameo: [[spoiler: Briefly appears in Barry's beach hallucination in "candy asses".]]
* DarkActionGirl: She's a crime lord and she makes it very clear that she's more than capable of throwing down. Part of the reason Cristobal allies with her is because she holds her men to the same standard.
* DeathGlare: Her default expression is a stoic, intense stare that massively puts off everyone.
* HiddenDepths: She's much more cold and off-putting than Cristobal is, but she shares his love for self-help books and his desire for teamwork.
* MadeOfIron; Puts a knife through her own hand to prove a point. Cristobal is impressed, [=NoHo=] Hank much less so.
* SatelliteCharacter: Her sole plot importance is that [=NoHo=] Hank wants her out of the way so he can have all of Cristobal's attention. She almost never interacts with any other characters onscreen and the only mention she's received after her death has been [[spoiler:a non-speaking cameo in Barry's beach hallucination among the other people he's killed.]]
* TheStoic: She's stone-faced at all times and rarely expresses any emotion.

[[folder:El Toro]]
!!El Toro
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/GuillermoDelToro

A mysterious, well-dressed criminal who meets with Hank and Cristobal to discuss an assassination job.

* TheCameo: He's played by Guillermo Del Toro in what seems to be a one-scene appearance.
* DeathGlare: Gives one to Hank when Hank repeatedly questions the validity of a podcast, one which El Toro has a personal interest in.
* ObliviousMockery: Is on the receiving end of it when Hank laughs about an invention he finds idiotic, to which El Toro sternly reveals he bought said invention.

!!!Other Characters

[[folder:Ronny]]
!!Ronny Proxin
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/DanielBernhardt

An Olympic Medal winning martial artist. Currently dating Loach's ex-wife.

* BullyingADragon: Barry ''thinks'' that the threat of death will be enough to drive Ronny out of town with no questions asked. He didn't count on Ronny being a martial arts expert and stone-cold ''badass'' who proceeds to squarely kick his ass.
* TheDeterminator: He simply refuses to die, no matter what Barry does to try and take him out.
* ExtremityExtremist: He's a Taekwondo champion and so his fighting style is heavily focused on devastatingly powerful kicks which are strong enough to snap a man's neck.
* RasputinianDeath: Is brutally [[spoiler:gunned down by the police]] after they see him seemingly attack [[spoiler:Loach]] unprovoked. All this after Barry crushed and crudely fixed his windpipe.
* TheStoner: He is first introduced lighting up a blunt before entering his home. Even after he thinks he has knocked Barry out, the first thing he does before dialing 911 is light up yet another blunt. It’s possible that the only reason he wasn’t able to beat Barry in a fight is that his senses were dulled from being high.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lily]]
!!Lily Proxin
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jessie Giacomazzi

Ronny's daughter.
----

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Yes, really. Barry and Fuches openly question if she's human or [[HumanoidAbomination something else.]]
* AxCrazy: Acts downright feral once Barry [[spoiler:seemingly kills her father,]] stabbing him multiple times and even biting a chunk out of Fuches' face.
* BadassAdorable: Gives Barry more difficulty in a one-on-one fight than anyone else in the series. Including her father, a martial arts expert.
* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: As Barry comes to find out, hurting [[spoiler:and/or killing]] her father will make her go nuts on someone.
* UnstoppableRage: After Barry [[spoiler: seemingly kills her dad]], she goes mental on him, viciously attacking him with her fists, feet and anything she can get her hands on before she runs out of steam and exits the house.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lindsay Mandel]]
!!Lindsay Mandel
->'''Portrayed By:''' Jessy Hodges
Sally's agent, beginning in Season 2, who is one of Sally's only advocates and friends in the business.
----
* {{Hypocrite}}: She comes off as this in "710N", where on one turn she smells the air outside ''Beignets by Mitch'' and moans but turns to the long line and calls them losers for waiting so long for beignets, only to hungrily scarf one down after Sally emerges with a box: she turns especially feral when a woman on line tries to take the box.
* OnlySaneMan: In the rather surreal world of the show, Lindsay often feels like this: she is the only one of Sally's three agents in Season 2 who recognizes the disappointing nature of the roles she is getting, and when she recognizes Sally's talent for writing she makes an effort to help both her and her fellow classmates get work.
* WrittenInInfirmity: Although this is not acknowledged in any dialogue, Lindsay is visibly pregnant during the events of Season 3. This is because Jessy Hodges was pregnant with her and Creator/BeckBennett's child during filming.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Katie]]
!!Katie
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/ElsieFisher
A teen actress playing Sally's daughter on ''Joplin'', who suspects Barry is dangerous.
----
* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: She tells Sally about her honest observations of Barry as a violent man who wouldn't be good for her, [[spoiler:which causes Sally to think things over and then break ties with him.]]
* NaiveNewcomer: To the Hollywood industry in general, given that she immediately speaks up on Sally's behalf after hearing Barry berate her and is frustrated that there are no institutional channels to reprimand Barry's behavior.
* WideEyedIdealist: She sees Sally as an amazing role model and hasn't been as numbed by the various ongoing dramas as other people in the industry have.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: She is never seen or mentioned again after she [[spoiler:convinces Sally to break up with Barry.]]
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Jim Moss]]
!!Jim Moss
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RobertWisdom

A retired Vietnam vet and the father of deceased LAPD Detective Janice Moss.
----

* TheAce: He outsmarts just about everyone he comes in contact with.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Although Fuches can actually be good at manipulating people, he’s not as good as he thinks he is. Jim on the other hand, is actually a master of psychological warfare who managed to convince his own interrogator in Vietnam to commit suicide. He proves his superior skills by tricking Fuches into thinking he’s interested in killing Barry as a way to turn him over to the police. Interestingly, while Stovka killer himself when talking to Fuches, he already was deeply psychologically troubled beforehand and did it on his own accord. Moss on the other hand, actually persuaded a sane individual to commit suicide when he was being interrogated in Vietnam.
* AntiHero: Having lost the life of his daughter at the hands of Barry, Jim will stop at nothing to get retribution for his actions, even if it means using morally dubious methods such as psychological torture and manipulation of others.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: With Gene Cousineau's help, Jim lures Barry into going inside his house to kill him, as part of a successful set-up to have Barry arrested.]]
* BoringButPractical: He manages to [[spoiler:arrange the capture and arrest of both Fuches and Barry, simply by alerting the police in advance and luring them to locations where they can be easily surrounded]].
* ChekhovsGunman: He's introduced two-thirds of the way into Season 3 as part of Fuches' "revenge army", and ends up responsible for [[spoiler:both Barry and Fuches himself being arrested.]]
* CoolOldGuy: A retired Vietnam vet and probably the most moral character in the show. He loses a bit of the "moral" part when he starts employing dubious methods like psychological torture, but he still primarily remains concerned with bringing Barry to justice.
* CreepyGood: He has a sinister aura around him, considering that he was a psychological warfare officer and a skilled manipulator in his own right. But he's firmly on the side of the angels.
* DramaticIrony: He spends most of his on screen time trying to avenge his daughter's death, [[spoiler: even getting Barry arrested. At one point, he has Barry tied up in his garage and at his mercy, but Barry's muttering leads him to reexamine the evidence. He eventually exonerates his daughter's killer, at least in the public eye, and pins the blame on her boyfriend, who had also been trying to avenge her.]]
* HeroAntagonist: Probably the biggest challenge that Barry has faced and his actions are shown in a sinister light, but he is clearly on the side of good. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in season 4 [[spoiler: as he mentally breaks Lon O'Neil and threatens Gene over their interview]]
* LivingLieDetector: When he approaches Gene to ask about Barry, he instantly realizes Gene is lying to protect him. [[spoiler:After interrogating him, he gets Gene to change his mind and help the police put Barry behind bars.]]
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:In which the good deed in question was a brief moment of mercy. After Barry's genuine emotional breakdown from Jim's psychological torture, Jim begins to reexamine what he knows about Barry. Him following Barry's mutterings, coupled with Gene's own stupid decisions prior, leads Jim to conclude that Barry was being manipulated Gene and that Gene was really responsible for killing his daughter. This would lead to Jim unknowingly exonerating the man who killed his daughter.]]
* PapaWolf: He's trying to find whoever killed his daughter and bring them to justice.
* RetiredBadass: Jim isn't afraid of dangerous criminals like Barry Berkman, and manipulates someone as manipulative as Monroe Fuches.
* TheStoic: Unless he's interrogating you, Jim always retains his calm.
* TooCleverByHalf: He is incredibly competent at what he does, and that unfortunately causes him to make a costly mistake at the finish line. [[spoiler:He had Barry at his mercy, but the ease at which he captured him and Barry's very pathetic breakdown lead to Jim second-guessing if he had caught the actual culprit behind his daughter's death or merely just a disposable triggerman. Thanks to Gene engaging in some public self-aggrandizement at the worst possible time prior to Barry's capture, Jim comes to believe that Gene had orchestrated the whole thing and that Barry was just a pawn.]]
* TheVietnamVet: He became a POW during the war, even managing to ''convince his own captor to kill himself''.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: While Jim's quest to bring down Barry is righteous, his ways of doing so reach the point of borderline derangement.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sam]]
!!Sam
->'''Portrayed By:''' Joe Massingill

Sally's abusive ex-husband from her younger years. Although he only shows up in the show for a brief time in the second season, his impact on Sally's background plays a major part in her development and motivation as an actor.


* BitchInSheepsClothing: When he first shows up he seems polite enough, which might cast some doubt on whether or not Sally's recollection of events are true. Then his true colors are revealed and you realize that he's exactly the man Sally said he was.
* HateSink: Once the NiceGuy facade is dropped and Sam's true nature is revealed any redeeming qualities he might have go right out the window. He threatens Sally with legal action for using his abuse of her in her act, taunts Barry over their past relationship and is overall revealed to be the horrible, abusive person that Sally remembered.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: He only physically appears in the show for two episodes in season 2, but he is the major reason for some of the major issues that Sally struggles with. Furthermore, it's not until after Sally meets with him one last time that she decides to change her scene with Barry mid-performance because she doesn't want to appear weak, even if it's not the way they rehearsed or how the scene actually happened.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mike]]
!!Mike Hallman
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RobertCurtisBrown

Sally's first agent.
----
* BitchInSheepsClothing: He acts perfectly nice and friendly, but he eventually reveals he only took Sally on so she'd sleep with him in exchange for getting roles and drops her as a client when she politely declines.
* CastingCouch: He takes Sally on as a client with the expectation that she'll sleep with him in exchange for his services. When she politely rebuffs him, Mike drops her as a client.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Leo]]
!!Leo Cousineau
->'''Portrayed By:''' Andrew Leeds

Gene's estranged son and an organic farmer.
----
* CallingTheOldManOut: When Gene meets with him again, Leo calls him out for only doing it to soothe his own ego and not genuinely regretting his treatment of him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:John '''(SPOILERS)''']]
!!John Berkman Jr.
->'''Portrayed By:''' Zachary Golinger (child), Creator/JaedenMartell (teenager)

Barry and Sally's young son.
----

[[folder:Monroe Fuches]]
!!Monroe Fuches
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fuches_monroe.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You know, sometimes, you just have to shut up and do your fucking job."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/StephenRoot

Barry’s handler and HonoraryUncle, Fuches arranges Barry’s “jobs” and takes care of the business side of their work.

* AbusiveParents: He views Barry as his son, and while he does love him in his own twisted way he still subjects him to a lot of emotional and financial abuse.
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: When Barry curses him out and tells him he's done being a hitman, saying he's like Jason Bourne, Fuches is seen cracking a small smile at the line.
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Does he die after saving John and having him reunite with Barry or does he live on? While the obvious Breaking Bad reference suggests the former, it is ultimately left up to the viewer to decide if Fuches lives or dies.]]
* AppropriatedAppellation: "The Raven" was a fiction Hank cooked up in anticipation of Fuches being the Chechen Mob's fall guy. [[spoiler: In season 4, Fuches embraces the persona while in prison, even getting a raven tattoo across his chest and referring to himself primarily by the nickname.]]
* AssholeVictim: A non-lethal version. But whenever he gets beaten up, falls, or is humiliated in any way, it's hard to feel sorry for him, considering what a manipulative scumbag he is.
* AtLeastIAdmitIt: [[spoiler:After his stint in prison, Fuches finally admits to himself that he is an evil man and leaves prison an ObviouslyEvil gang leader. This leads to him being disgusted by Hank, who hides his crimes behind an aura of civility.]]
* BaitTheDog: For a moment, it appears that he is genuinely upset by Barry's death at the airstrip. [[spoiler:Instead, he's upset that Barry didn't apologize to him for calling Fuches out for his behavior.]]
* BeardOfEvil: He sports a beard and is a ruthless, manipulative reprobate.
* BigBad: Although Goran has a great deal of power, it's really Fuches who's the true villain of ''Series/{{Barry}}'' due to his ruthless manipulations. [[spoiler: By the end of the second season, Fuches becomes the primary antagonist, actively trying to ruin the new life Barry has gained out of jealousy and resentment. Killing Fuches ends up being one of the driving motivations for Barry from this point on as well.]]
* BigBadEnsemble: With Goran Pazar in Season 1.
* BigBadWannabe: A rare case where he's both this and the actual BigBad. Fuches has the most personal enmity with Barry and he's crafty enough to be a genuine threat, but he's also an incompetent coward and he shoots himself in the foot just as much as he scores a win. It's only through sheer endurance that he makes it as long as he does.
* {{Blackmail}}: In order to force Barry's compliance, he threatens to expose Barry's real profession to the acting class.
* BreakThemByTalking: This is Fuches' special ability, even if he isn't quite as good at it as he thinks he is.
* ButtMonkey: Over the course of the first season, he's beaten and tortured by the Chechens numerous times, and any plan he makes to save his own skin almost invariably goes south. By the first season finale, Barry has stood up to him, beaten him badly, and only saved him from being killed by the Chechens so he can walk away for good, leaving him nearly powerless. It becomes worse for him in Season 2 and yet he deserves every single minute of it.
* CardCarryingVillain: Fuches is well aware that his and Barry's work is immoral and downright evil, he just doesn't care.
--> '''Client:''' I'm not a criminal. Someone could get hurt!\\
'''Fuches:''' [[BrutallyHonest Obviously someone's gonna get hurt. I mean, my guy's gonna kill whoever's in that apartment. That's part of the idea.]]
* TheChewToy: Suffers constantly throughout his screentime, but is such a reprehensible guy that the audience loves every second of it.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Fuches tends to betray the people he works for, though admittedly it's often forced by outside circumstances or done to people who would do the same to him (such as Goran and Hank). And in one case he betrays a client ''by accident'', having forgotten to tell him that Fuches sells the services of ''hitmen''.
* ConsummateLiar: Fuches can rattle off lies a mile a minute and convince people that he's being totally honest with them with ease. People can catch wise that he's not on the up and up - most notably Jim - but Fuches is still a very good manipulator.
* TheCorrupter: Played with. The first season implies that Fuches turned Barry into a hitman by exploiting his PTSD to manipulate him into going along with it. However, Season 2 reveals Barry was always violent - having shot Afghans who could have been civilians without remorse - and associated murder with positive validation due to his platoon's celebration of his skill at it.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: He's eager for his mentee's relationship to the point of being outright possessive. He even lies about having a terminal illness in a (failed) attempt to draw sympathy after he tries to sell Barry out.
* DirtyCoward: While Fuches presents himself as charming and confident, his façade always falls apart in the face of danger. He's incapable of defending himself or confronting any kind of threat, instead just running away from it and relying on Barry and others to bail him out of trouble. [[spoiler: In the season 2 finale, he offers the Chechens anything they want to hide him from Barry.]]
* EnragedByIdiocy: Taylor's near suicidal levels of stupidity infuriate Fuches to the nth degree.
* EntitledToHaveYou: A platonic example. Fuches believes himself entitled to Barry's love and wants to be the only significant person in his life. The knowledge that Barry has stable influences outside of him is what drives Fuches to turn on him.
* EntitledBastard: Fuches generally expects people to give him whatever he wants without even thinking of paying them back if he doesn't have to. It's most notable in his relationship with Barry; he consistently short-changes him and tries to stop him from pursuing acting, yet Fuches is genuinely surprised when Barry cuts ties with him.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Or in this case, a lesser evil. Fuches genuinely doesn't understand why Barry wouldn't want to kill people and the thought he may feel guilty about it never even occurs to him. As far as he's concerned, Barry is throwing a hissy fit for no reason.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Fuches does care about Barry to some extent, but that affection is possessive, conditional and wrapped in Fuches' own ego. While he's quick to try and screw Barry over or otherwise sabotage his life out of a mix of self-preservation and vindictive jealousy, he'll also demonstrate a willingness to drop this entirely if it gets Barry to come back to him. This is best exemplified at the start of season 4,[[spoiler: where he finally reconciles with Barry after two seasons of trying to ruin his life, even abandoning a lucrative protection deal with the FBI to do so, but only after Barry has apologized to him and admitted that his plan to start a new life in LA was a mistake]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** {{Subverted}} when he believed Barry killed Lily. He empathizes with him over having perform such a horrible action, but as soon as Barry reveals he didn’t kill her, Fuches says they have to and goes in search of her.
** He's genuinely horrified when he learns Stovka is [[YoungerThanTheyLook only 45]], laughing nervously and uttering a horrified "Jesus Christ!"
** He's clearly unnerved when Jim Moss talks about how he convinced an enemy interrogator in the Vietnam War to commit suicide.
** [[spoiler:He's disgusted by Hank's refusal to admit that he killed Cristobal and by his decision to use John as a hostage against Barry.]]
* EvilFeelsGood: Unlike Barry, Fuches gleefully embraces the life of a contract killer. The fact he doesn't have to do any of the real work and gets to keep most of the money doesn't exactly hurt either.
* EvilOldFolks: Fuches' exact age is never specified (Stephen Root was sixty-seven when the show premiered) but he's old enough to be the father figure to a middle-aged man who he's known since childhood and is a selfish lowlife who cares only about himself.
* EvilIsPetty: Fuches often tries to manipulate the people around Barry after he's rejected by Barry out of pure spite, even going as far as to ruin Barry's relationship with Gene by [[spoiler: revealing that Barry killed his girlfriend Janice]]. He also goes back to LA to try and ruin Barry's life more after realizing that Barry no longer cares about getting revenge on him.
* EvilRedhead: He sports Stephen Root's red hair, and Fuches is a ruthless, opportunistic bottom-feeder. He's not particularly competent, but still effective and weaselly enough to be a dangerous operator.
* EvilUncle: Barry considers Fuches an HonoraryUncle, but Fuches only sees Barry as a money-making tool and is consistently emotionally abusive and miserly towards him. Fuches does have some affection towards Barry, but it's consistently portrayed as being rather warped and focused mainly on Fuches's ego.
* {{Expy}}: As highlighted by the first season's illusions to Shakespeare, Fuches bares a lot of resemblance to [[Theatre/{{Othello}} Iago]]. Both are villainous yet charismatic manipulators who manipulate a returning soldier who trusts them into committing murder and lead a powerful figure to ruin - although Fuches's role in Goran's downfall is admittedly unintentional.
* FalseFriend: To Barry. Barry views Fuches as an HonoraryUncle and Fuches is more than happy to play the part, but he views Barry more as a meal ticket than anything else. It's implied that Fuches does care about him, but he's so possessive of Barry that he'll actively try to sabotage him to keep him under his thumb.
* FatBastard: He's a well-fed monster of a man.
* FatalFlaw: For all his boasting, Fuches is incapable of performing his own dirty work. It's this flaw the causes him not to shoot [[spoiler: Gene]], and instead seek refuge with the Chechen mafia, [[spoiler: before Barry guns them all down]].
** Ultimately, his possessiveness and inability to let go of Barry proves to be another of his core flaws and it makes him make a lot of stupid decisions. Many of his problems would be avoided if he simply left Barry alone.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Fuches acts like he's Barry's best friend, a chummy and genial guy who's looking out for him. It's pretty transparent from the beginning that he's a manipulative user who views Barry as a tool to make money, and has likely been lying to him for a very long time about the kind of people he arranges for Barry for kill. He shows his true colors in a very chilling moment when Barry excitedly remarks that he wants to be an actor; Fuchs becomes serious and stern, straight-up telling Barry that he's a killer and nothing more.
* FromCamouflageToCriminal: He apparently served with Barry's father in the military before moulding Barry into an assassin and arranging jobs for him.
* {{Gaslighting}}: He took advantage of Barry's PTSD and depression to turn him into a killer, telling him that the people he's killing are bad people.
* GreenEyedMonster: He reacts with simmering jealousy over Gene Cousineau becoming a father figure in Barry's life, and his actions don't seem solely motivated by the desire to bring Barry back under his control (although that's certainly a factor).
* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook: [[spoiler:Not that he wasn't already an utter reprobate working with crime families and all manner of shady people, but "the wizard" reveals that, after eight years, Fuches has finally become what he aspired to be since entering the system: the Raven, a gang boss respected by guards and inmates alike who's gained a reputation beyond the prison walls.]]
* HazyFeelTurn: [[DownplayedTrope Sort of?]] He seemingly starts to make a change once Barry tells him he was right about Cousineau all along. It seems to strike a chord with the old bastard, and he attempts to reconcile with Barry. Only [[spoiler: then Barry decides to turn State's Evidence and betray him and Hank to the FBI]], which shatters him. Then he ends up getting beaten when [[spoiler: Barry escapes]] and he refuses to give him up...though that has to do with the fact that he has no idea where Barry is or where he would be going. [[spoiler:Then in the time jump, he's come to terms with the fact that he's a bad person and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil decides to roll with it]]. But decides to save John's life because the little guy reminds him of Barry.]]
* HateSink: A psychological abuser who's turned Barry into a ruthless weapon, with few redeeming characteristics that almost all get subverted. [[spoiler:It makes it all the more surprising that Fuches himself realizes what a terrible human being he is in the final season and makes a legitimate attempt to do right by Barry for once.]]
* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:While in prison, Fuches realizes he's always been a horrible person and a poser, and comes to regret his treatment of Barry.]]
--->'''Fuches:''' [[spoiler:I used to think I was a soldier, ignoring the fact that I'd never fought in a battle in my whole life. I was a poser. And I fancied myself a 'mentor', fostering other men's natural abilities. But it wasn't until I was in prison, and I got beaten within an inch of my life day after day that I finally dropped the ''bullshit'', and just accepted who I am. A man with no heart.]]
* HiddenDepths: WordOfGod is that deep down, Fuches genuinely wants a family like Barry does, [[spoiler:which is why he marries a barista after getting out of prison following the TimeSkip.]]
* HonoraryUncle: He was a friend to Barry's father, and Barry has known him since the age of five.
* IgnoredEpiphany:
** [[spoiler:While leading Gene to Janice's body, Fuches looks genuinely guilt-stricken when Gene tells him about how directionless and depressed Barry was when he met him. However, this is immediately replaced by Fuches's jealous rage when Gene mentions that he's become a father figure to Barry.]]
** Fuches thinks of giving up his involvement with Barry and his desire for revenge twice in season 3, but doubles down on it after being reminded of Barry in some way.
** [[spoiler:While watching ''Film/RainMan'' in prison, he's struck by how similar he and Barry are to the characters of Charlie and Raymond -- but, instead of learning that he's been wrong to manipulate a mentally and emotionally vulnerable person for his own gain, Fuches seems to realize they're "family" and kindred spirits that need to stick together instead of selling out each other.]]
* IJustWantToBeBadass: Fuches desperately wants to be renowned as a dangerous badass and does his best to make himself appear more intimidating than he actually is. [[spoiler:He gets his wish after the TimeSkip, becoming a feared and infamous crime boss known throughout LA.]]
* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: His speech to Hank in the finale about how his experiences in prison led him to the epiphany that he is simply "a man with no heart" and that he should accept and embrace himself as a cruel gangster is followed by the most genuinely empathetic and selfless acts we see him perform throughout the show. He calmly and gently shows understanding when Hank appears about to break down and admit his fault in the death of Cristobal, with no sign of gloating or cynicism, and then rescues John and returns him to Barry without any expectation of reward or revenge.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: Fuches is entirely focused on himself and is perfectly willing to sell out anyone, even Barry, if it suits his own goals and their partnership has mainly consisted of Barry doing all the legwork while Fuches keeps almost all the money for himself.
* {{Jerkass}}: One of the biggest ones in the entire show. He's a deeply self-centered, uncaring, obnoxious, deceitful scumbag who will do seemingly anything to get his own way with no regard for anyone's life except his own.

** As vile as he is, Fuches is absolutely right to point out that Barry's attempts to claim moral superiority over Fuches and claim he is done with his old life are hollow. Over the course of season one alone Barry murdered two innocent people to save his own skin and did so entirely of his own choosing, not at Fuches' prompting. [[spoiler: While him forcing Barry to make a SadisticChoice between confessing to Janice's murder or let Gene take the fall for it is motivated by jealousy and spite, his point is ultimately vindicated when Barry refuses to make the only morally correct choice and turn himself in, instead planting evidence at the crime scene to frame the Chechens for the murder]].
** He also tells Barry that Taylor is an idiot who could get them all killed and that he's more trouble than he's worth. Sure enough, Taylor stupidly tries to bum-rush the (heavily armed) Bolivians and ignores Barry's protests, which gets him and Vaughn killed and leads to a lot of trouble for Fuches and Barry down the line.
** He bluntly tells Barry that Gene is never going to move past his murder of Janice, and that their relationship is irreparably destroyed.
--> '''Fuches:''' You destroyed that guy's ''life!'' You're never gonna move past it!
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He is a selfish, manipulative, scheming asshole who only cares about himself and doesn't really take any pains to hide it. However, he breaks down over Barry's alleged death at the airstrip… because Barry never had a chance to apologize to ''him'', despite the fact that Fuches has been using and abusing Barry for his own purposes up til that point. [[spoiler:He does develop a hint of a heart of bronze in the final season, finally deciding to prove that he does care about Barry by risking his own life to save Barry's son, John.]]
* KarmicButtMonkey: Fuches goes through a lot of humiliation and suffering, but he deserves all of it and brings a lot of his misery on himself. [[spoiler:After getting beaten up day after day in prison, he finally acknowledges how much of the pain he's brought upon himself. After getting out of prison, he ceases to be a ButtMonkey altogether.]]
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:He's last seen walking into the night after letting John go and exchanging one final glance with Barry. Downplayed in that, even aside from all the injuries and humiliations he suffered in the show, he also spent 8 years in prison and is now without any men to support him.]]
* KickTheDog: In general, his treatment of Gene is absolutely despicable. Gene knows absolutely nothing of his and Barry’s work, but for entirely petty, jealous reasons, Fuches goes after this innocent man just to get back at his protégé. His most infamous moment of this is [[spoiler:when he sadistically makes sure that Gene sees Janice's body, which he really didn't have to do if the goal was to pull a gun on this harmless old acting coach anyway.]]
* LackOfEmpathy: Fuches seems genuinely unable to empathize with people on a meaningful level. His relationship with Barry falls apart because Fuches just fundamentally can't comprehend why Barry would hate killing people, since he doesn't even see that as a problem.
--> '''Stovka:''' As long as I work for them, I am never free. My whole life, ever since a child, is death. [[DrivenToSuicide There is only one true way out.]]\\
'''Fuches:''' Yeah, I caught about half of that, Stovie. If you could take my cell phone out of my- my pocket here, I could show you one gal. She's Cherokee! She's really wild!\\
''[[[DrivenToSuicide gunshot]]]''
* LaserGuidedKarma: He tries to manipulate [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Jim Moss]] into getting revenge on Barry. His response? [[spoiler:He manipulates Fuches into getting himself caught by the police.]]
* LaughablyEvil: Fuches is a terrible person, but he's such an incompetent screw-up that it's hard not to laugh at him.
* NobleDemon: Again...[[DownplayedTrope kind of]], as Fuches is just as vicious and cruel when he exits prison as he was before and even [[spoiler: brutally kills the men who were sent to assassinate him.]] But surprisingly, [[spoiler: when confronted with Barry's son John, he selflessly shields the boy from getting shot and returns him to Barry, as a sort of way to atone for ruining Barry's life.]]
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: An interesting take on this trope, [[spoiler:as Fuches comes to accept that he's a horrible person and a manipulative scumbag after his stint in prison. He's disgusted by Hank's posturing that he's a successful businessman when he's a criminal just like him. He tells Hank after the guy [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech rightfully]] calls him out as the scumbag he is, that being in prison made him realize that he's an awful person, and that he's come to accept it, before asking Hank why he can't.]]
* TheLoad: Taylor points out to Barry that he doesn't actually need Fuches. Fuches barely does any of the work himself outside of handling negotiations - and even then, he's not that good at it - and frequently stiffs Barry on the money. Tellingly, where Barry is able to thrive just fine without Fuches after cutting ties with him in Season 1, Fuches struggles desperately without Barry to back him up.
* MadeOfIron: Which is just as well, because he gets beaten up constantly. In one season three episode [[spoiler:he gets gunned down before the opening titles]] and is back on his feet before the halfway point of the episode.
* ManipulativeBastard: Fuches isn't the Hannibal Lecter that he brags about being, but he's still very dangerous once he starts talking. He's turned Barry into his tool, for one thing, and it takes about the space of a day for him to go from being locked up and tortured in Goran's garage to sitting at the man's table enjoying a meal and giving advice.
* MeaningfulName: His surname sounds very similar to "fuchs", which is German for fox. Considering how sly and cunning Fuches is, it's very fitting.
* {{Narcissist}}: He has a massively inflated sense of self, consistently refuses to take responsibility for his actions or accept even the slightest bit of criticism, and consistently prioritizes his own well-being over others.
* NeverMyFault: Fuches never takes responsibility for his own actions or even considers that he could be wrong. Where even Barry at least acknowledges he has done objectively terrible things even if he never accepts the blame, the thought never enters Fuches's mind.
* NonActionBigBad: He's a [[ManipulativeBastard good schemer]], not a fighter, and any situation where he's tasked with physically defending himself tends to end poorly. [[spoiler:In the end, he can only scream threats at Barry while he's getting punched, and plead impotently with him as he's driving away. When Barry comes to kill him at the end of Season 2, he runs for his life utterly terrified. Averted in the series finale, where he ends up being the one to shoot Hank and fatally wound him.]]
* NoodleIncident: Fuches says his loyalty to Barry comes from an incident where Barry's father saved his life in Vietnam. Barry corrects him and says the incident took place ''during'' Vietnam, at a military barracks in Connecticut. Nothing about this event or Barry's father is ever explained any further.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Fuches can be pretty damn incompetent, and his run in Season 2 has him repeatedly screw up and get hurt, so it's easy to forget how dangerous he is. The reality is that he should not be underestimated, and he's an incredibly ruthless man who'll do virtually anything to snake his way out of a dicey situation.
* ObliviouslyEvil: WordOfGod is that he's genuinely unaware of the harm manipulating Barry into being a hitman has caused Barry. To Fuches, it was simply a successful job and Barry is quitting and throwing a temper tantrum for no reason whatsoever.
* OhCrap: While in the car with Detective Moss' father driving, Fuches slowly becomes more and more nervous as Jim ignores all of Fuches' attempts at manipulation to go after Barry and starts rambling about tangentially related subjects to what Jim mentioned. [[spoiler:He realizes to his distress that he can't worm his way out after the car has stopped and Jim is staring past him because Fuches has been driven over to the police station to be handed over to the cops.]]
* OpportunisticBastard: Fuches jumps at any opportunity he can to benefit himself, regardless of how immoral or self-serving it is. In the first season alone, he proves willing to start a gang war just to save his own neck.
* ParentalSubstitute: An interesting case where's he views himself as such and sees Barry - who he's known since Barry was a child - as a surrogate son, but he's also an extremely manipulative and abusive figure who gets very jealous when Barry starts seeing Gene as a father figure instead.
* PetTheDog:
** [[spoiler:One of his few redemptive moments is when he tries to warn Barry about the wire he's wearing.]]
** In the finale, [[spoiler:he shields John with his own body during the firefight between his and Hank's men and when he finally reunites with Barry, he lets him and John go. He even shields John's eyes from the bloody aftermath of the shootout.]]
* PhonyVeteran: Downplayed. He actually did serve in the military (as a cook), but he occasionally tries to make his service sound more impressive than it was and frame himself as TheVietnamVet. [[spoiler: In the series finale, he admits to doing this during his last standoff with Hank, stating he was a "poser".]]
* PrisonChangesPeople: [[spoiler:Eight years in prison changes Fuches from a crafty but incompetent and rather goofy small-time crook into a feared crime boss with a perpetually collected disposition. It also makes him surprisingly more reflective about himself, as in the series finale, he has a discussion where he admits to his cowardly and manipulative behaviors, not even defending himself when Hank insults him for those behaviors.]]
* PsychopathicManchild: He's probably the most unrepentantly amoral character in the whole show, but what's even more disturbing is that he acts like a spoiled child when he doesn't get his way, often [[EvilIsPetty sabotaging Barry]] out of pure spite.
* RedemptionEarnsLife: [[spoiler:He makes a decision to risk his own life to save John from Hank in order to do right by Barry for once in his life. Consequently, Fuches ends up being the only person to exit the resulting firefight alive and unharmed aside from Sally and John.]]
* TheScrooge: He's extremely miserly where Barry's comforts are concerned, and tends to reap the majority of the benefits from Barry's jobs and Barry living a fairly spartan existence.
* TheStoolPigeon: [[spoiler:When Barry is sent to prison in Season 4, Fuches not only willingly but voluntarily turns state's evidence, wearing a wire and trying to get a confession in exchange for Witness Protection; he dramatically discards the wire when he reunites with Barry and acts like the FBI forced him into it. Whether this was sincere or yet another ploy to manipulate his protege is unclear, as it's promptly inverted -- Barry escapes, and Fuches, who doesn't know where he is, is viciously beaten for ''not'' giving him up.]]
* TattooedCrook: Fuches is already a criminal, but on being released from prison in Season 4 he has many tattoos on his arms, torso and neck. This signals that he's grown [[TookALevelInBadass more dangerous]], as a hardened prison gang leader who's [[TheDreaded widely feared]] now with his own criminal syndicate outside as well.
* TooCleverByHalf: Fuches is a clever schemer and manipulator, but he's not as good as he thinks he is. Most of his success with wrapping Barry around his little finger is because Barry is already very susceptible to emotional control, not due to any special talent on Monroe's part.
** His scheme to amass a "Revenge Army", while succeeding in ruining Barry's life, is also fraught with mistakes and missteps that ultimately lead to his downfall:
*** He succeeds in convincing Traci, Taylor's sister and the leader of a biker gang, to kill Barry. After giving them Barry's name and address, Traci [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness promptly has him shot]] and leaves him for dead in the outskirts of LA, where he almost certainly would have died had he not been found by a nearby resident.
*** His shotgun approach to finding accomplices winds up [[NiceJobFixingItVillain inadvertently saving Barry's life]]. [[spoiler: After Barry is poisoned by Chris's wife, he's found on the verge of death by George. After some agonizing over whether to let Barry slowly or kill him himself in revenge for his son, George ultimately decides to drive Barry to an A&E and promptly [[AteHisGun kills himself]]]].
*** He finally contacts Jim Moss and tries to rope him in with information on how Barry was responsible for [[spoiler: his daughter's murder]]. Unfortunately [[AssholeVictim (or fortunately, depending on who you ask)]], Jim sees right through this charade and [[spoiler: [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter tricks him into getting into a situation where he can be arrested]]]].
** [[spoiler:Once he and Barry are in prison, his attempt to declare himself a new gangleader named "The Raven" and recruit fellow inmates to his cause, even giving them nicknames on the spot, is ''pathetic'', and he's considered a complete joke in the yard. He only gains a measure of respect due to circumstances beyond his control -- the guards viciously beat him after Barry's escape for information that he doesn't possess and can't give them, and the other prisoners take this suffering as Fuches being a tough son of a bitch who won't crack under pressure -- which he then turns into actual loyalty.]]
** [[spoiler:Once out of prison, he successfully insinuates himself into Hank's new business and blackmails his gang into a security contract. He then promptly ruins it by getting drunk at the celebratory dinner and congratulating Hank on what he perceives as a perfect coup against all of his "enemies", Cristobal included; when Fuches saw Hank's tributes to his former partner, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood he read them as insincere and a means of covering up the truth]], not that Hank genuinely wanted to memorialize him and may not have had any control over his death. Hank, furious and insulted at having this old wound reopened, calls the deal off.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: Post time skip, he's finally become the feared, respected criminal he's always wanted to be, fully embracing "the Raven" persona and amassing a small army of loyal thugs. One of his first actions upon his release from prison is to immediately and easily seduce a barista into apparent marriage.]]
* ToxicFriendInfluence: ''The'' toxic influence in Barry's life. Even when he doesn't want to do killings anymore, Fuches is the one that keeps him going through gaslighting and other tacts.
* TheVietnamVet: Subverted. He claims to have served in Vietnam, but Barry quickly corrects him that he served ''during'' Vietnam and never actually stepped foot in the country.
* TheUnfettered: Downplayed, but Fuches has become more vicious and comfortable with violence after his stint in prison, and fully accepts that he's an awful person, asking Hank why he can't accept it.
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:He's not immune to freaking out when things don't go his way, but he's at his most pathetic as he pleads with a fleeing Barry and especially when Barry goes on a killing spree just to kill him.]]
* VillainousUnderdog: Fuches is a hapless screw-up who frequently finds himself at the mercy of dangerous and much stronger opponents, from [[OneManArmy Barry]] to the Chechens, and survives solely through his manipulations and a lot of luck.
* WouldHurtAChild: He's perfectly willing to murder Ronny's young daughter Lily.
** [[spoiler: Averted in the series finale, where he shields John with his own body during the firefight between his and Hank's men and covers his eyes to keep him from seeing the aftermath before letting him go with Barry.]]
* WrongGenreSavvy: Throughout the first season, he's convinced that LA's various gangs are RuthlessForeignGangsters when in reality they err more on the side of PragmaticVillainy.

[[folder:Taylor Garrett]]
!!Taylor Garrett
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b10bbe8f_3c18_41df_810d_84077b8d45df.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Dale Pavinski

A former Marine who's introduced to Barry through Chris, only to end up causing trouble when he forces his way into Barry's business.

* AffablyEvil: He's an AxCrazy asshole, but he does genuinely like Barry and see him as a friend. He never seems to intend to make anyone uncomfortable either, but he never realizes how off-putting his behavior to other people around him.
* ArcVillain: The biggest problem for Barry for a few episodes of the first season.
* AxCrazy: Due to being a ShellShockedVeteran who's too much of a meathead to properly address his issues.
* BaldOfEvil: He's a shiny-headed maniac.
* BeardOfEvil: He sports a beard and is much more openly violent and sadistic than Barry or Fuches.
* BloodKnight: ''Very'' enthusiastic about shooting people. And, [[spoiler:provided he doesn't plan the operation]], he is ''very'' good at it.
* TheBrute: He's a burly meathead who winds up mostly being used for grunt work and serving as Barry's
* ClusterFBomb: Tends to drop these.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the BloodKnight. Taylor deeply enjoys fighting and killing, but while he is good at grunt work, his obsessive need for action winds up making him a liability to Barry and Fuches.
* DissonantSerenity: His [[BlackComedy casual mentions of murder]] in Barry's answering machine messages.
-->"Barry, Taylor. You didn't kill those Bolivians yet, did ya? I really wanna kill them with you, so, give me a buzz. Bye."
* FearlessFool: His tactic of storming headfirst into a firefight and viewing the use of cover as a vague suggestion at best is what eventually ends up doing him in.
* {{Foil}}: To Barry. Both are ex-Marines with severe psychological problems and a willingness to kill outside of war (and great skill at doing so). However, while Barry is cognizant of his issues, hates his current life, and handles dangerous situations cautiously and tactically, Taylor is an unpredictable BloodKnight who ignores his issues and recklessly charges into danger.
* HiddenDepths: PlayedForLaughs, but Taylor accurately points out the manipulative and abusive relationship between Barry and Fuches, and this is after they briefly met.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: He genuinely doesn't seem to comprehend how obnoxious his behavior is or how it tends to put people off.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's quite crass and unpleasant, though a lot of it comes from him [[InnocentlyInsensitive not understanding how obnoxious his behavior is.]]
* JerkassHasAPoint: For as much as an unpleasant jarhead as he is, Taylor is dead on about how toxic Barry and Fuches's relationship is, even advising Barry to cut him off (admittedly by killing him) which Barry comes to agree with.
* LeeroyJenkins: Although he's capable of following strategic orders, he would much rather rush into battle headfirst. He even shouts "Leeroy Jenkins" as he does this. Trying to do this at the airstrip, where there is no cover and the Bolivians can see his van coming from miles away, gets him killed immediately.
* OddFriendship: With Chris. Chris is a friendly family man, while Taylor is a brutish meathead with zero impulse control.
* TheMillstone: Barry temporarily takes him on as a partner, but Taylor's near suicidal levels of stupidity make him an active detriment that culminates in the catastrophic bum-rush of the Bolivians.
* MirrorCharacter: He's basically a dumber, more violence hungry version of Barry.
* MultipleGunshotDeath: He's killed when the Bolivians riddle him with bullets during his bum-rush.
* ShellShockedVeteran: It's mentioned that he was kicked out of his PTSD support group. His incredibly aggressive and nigh-suicidally destructive behavior points to him having some unresolved issues, although he's too dense to really be aware of them.
* SixthRanger: He joins Barry and Fuches halfway through Season 1, albeit by forcing his way in and with neither of them really wanting him to be there.
* TheStarscream: He never acts on it and it's motivated more by concern for Barry, but he offhandedly suggests that Barry kill Fuches and take his rightful share of the money.
* TooDumbToFool: It's plain as day to him just how toxic and lopsided Barry's relationship (both professional and personal) with Fuches has become, as well as how easily Barry could get out from under Fuches if he really wanted to.
* TooDumbToLive: He takes near-suicidal risks, culminating in his decision to bum-rush the Bolivians despite the massive risk he's taking. Sure enough, he winds up being shot dead.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His suicidal bum-rush on the airstrip doesn't just result in his death - it leads to Chris having to kill a Bolivian to save Barry, and thus to Barry having to kill Chris to stop him from going to the police. Had Taylor just listened to Barry, the rest of the show would turn out substantially different.
* WildCard: His unpredictability and stupidity means Taylor absolutely cannot be trusted. He's loyal to Barry, but he'll disregard his orders without warning and at one point suggests the two murder Fuches and take his share of the money.

[[folder:Hitman]]
!!Hitman
-> '''Portrayed by:''' Shaughn Buchholz

An unnamed contract killer taken on by Fuches as a replacement for Barry after Barry cuts ties with him.

* BeardOfEvil: He's a hitman who sports a ratty beard.
* ButtMonkey: In his brief screentime, he goes through a lot of misfortune. He mishandles his rifle, is given the wrong code to a safe by Fuches, inadvertently shoots himself in the leg via a ricochet, and is finally gunned down by the police.
* TheChewToy: He goes through a lot of brutal injuries, and it's PlayedForLaughs.
* MultipleGunshotDeath: He's riddled with bullets by the police.
* NoNameGiven: He's never actually named onscreen, and credited only as "Hitman".
* StupidCrooks: He proves to be deeply incompetent during his brief screentime. He fails to handle his gun properly, accidentally shoots himself in the leg, and fails to even retrieve the item his and Fuches's client had hired them to get. Though the last one is admittedly on Fuches, who failed to give him the right code.
* SketchySuccessor: Barry was a veritable OneManArmy who could take out multiple armed combatants. This guy has difficulty shooting an unarmed man and winds up getting himself killed by the police.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: He's only around for a single scene before being killed off.
[[/folder]]

!!!Gene Cousineau's Acting Class

[[folder:Gene Cousineau]]
!!Gene M. Cousineau
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cousineau.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:''"If there is one thing I learned in my life, you can't control what other people are going to do."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/HenryWinkler

Eccentric and pedantic, Cousineau is a Los Angeles acting teacher who is revered by his students.

* AdaptationalNationality: [[spoiler: In-universe, he's [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade portrayed as an]] EvilBrit in the "Mask Collector" movie.]]
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler: Does he kill Barry out of revenge for Janice? Because he's broken and has finally snapped? Or because he overhears that Barry is going to turn himself in, which would make it clear that Gene was not the mastermind behind either Barry's crimes or his capture -- and thus would rob Gene of the very last reason why anyone would pay attention to him? Or did he think Barry was armed and, knowing how quickly and suddenly he can decide to kill, just shot him to be safe?]]
* AntiHero: Gene's not the best guy in the world: he's self-absorbed, arrogant, slimy, an AttentionWhore, and short-tempered. However, unlike the rest of the main cast he at least tries to do the right thing and shows surprising compassion at times.
* AttentionWhore: His primary failing, and the reason, along with his prima-donna behavior, for why Gene's career went nowhere as a younger actor. Part of his motivation to become an acting ''coach'' seems to be the ability to claim some measure of credit for his former students' successes. Henry Winkler has even gone on record as saying it's almost a drug for Gene.
** [[spoiler:While Jim Moss is able to shame him into participating in the sting operation, Gene can't resist capitalizing on the notoriety the murder case gives him in Season 4; in spite of Moss's warnings that it'll disgrace Janice's memory and complicate the trial against Barry, he gives a Vanity Fair reporter an exaggerated account of his time with Barry that lionizes himself (in the form of a ''repulsively'' hammy one-man show, no less).]]
** [[spoiler:Even if he's still prickly and eccentric, after spending nearly a decade on a kibbutz, a reformed Gene publicly comes out against the proposed movie based on "true events" in the hopes that he can get the project shut down; though Tom praises him for crusading against Hollywood, Gene is dismissive, showing it's not done out of vanity. He finally seems to have shaken his ego for good... until an agent tells him Daniel Day-Lewis wants to come out of retirement to play the Cousineau role, at which point he just can't help himself, and takes on the role of an unofficial consultant to the production. It promptly gets him nabbed by the LAPD.]]
* TheAtoner: {{Zigzagged}} as Gene does genuinely want to atone for his past misdeeds and bad behavior, and even takes the steps to make up with the people he's hurt in his life, but his ego often gets in the way and hinders his ability to truly change his ways.
** A terrible father to Leo during his childhood, he reaches out to him as an adult and they connect and repair their relationship.
** After he gets a second chance in Hollywood, he tries to make amends with those he wronged as a hothead young actor. His success is somewhat mixed, as while he's clearly enthusiastic about making up with all the people he's wronged, his actions occasionally come off as condescending and self-serving, especially to a former girlfriend of his that he had blacklisted. Though, when he realizes that a simple apology doesn't make up for how much he ruined her career, he helps give her a major comeback and payday, at his own financial expense.
** [[spoiler:A possible interpretation of his motives for giving up Barry in a sting. Previously, he'd been willing to cover for him in order to keep Barry's hush money and further his career, until Jim Moss interogates him and berates him for covering for his daughter's murder.]]
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: He desperately wants people to think the world of him and, after [[spoiler:the truth about Barry becomes public knowledge, wants people to think of him as a cunning mastermind who nailed Barry singlehandedly. It works... by convincing Jim and the LAPD that he's been the real mastermind behind Barry's crimes all along.]]
* BunnyEarsLawyer: For as much of an eccentric egotist as he is, Gene genuinely knows his stuff about acting and is a fairly competent teacher.
* ChekhovsGun: Owns one, courtesy of his old friend Rip Torn.
** In the third season premiere, [[spoiler: he attempts to threaten Barry with it after learning the truth about Janice’s murder, but the poorly-maintained weapon falls apart in his hand.]]
** While hiding from Barry in Season 4 [[spoiler: after he escapes prison, he accidentally shoots his son Leo through a door believing him to be Barry. Leo survives, but does not forgive his father.]]
** [[spoiler: In the last episode of the series, Gene shoots Barry in the head with this gun and kills him. He ends up going to prison for the murders of both Barry and Janice.]]
* CloudCuckoolander: Gene is about as strange as you'd expect an old acting teacher to be, often offering bizarre advice or going off on little tangents about his long-past glory days, to say nothing of his aggressive dating strategies.
* CoolOldGuy: Subverted. His acting class and especially Barry view him as such, seeing him as a worldly figure with a lot of insights on the world of Hollywood. This is true to an extent, but the reality is Gene is a has-been - albeit a charismatic one - who scuttled his own career long ago and is trying to relive his GloryDays.
* CruelToBeKind: His first scene is humiliating Sally in front of the whole class in order to get a stronger performance out of her. He's immediately kinder when she's finished her substantially improved scene.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Already teetering over the edge of despair upon seeing his name dragged through the mud after the police publicly accuse him of masterminding Janice Moss' murder in the GrandFinale, seeing that his own son has done an interview accusing him of having tried to murder him causes him to break down. He briefly snaps out of it upon hearing Barry in his home, only to then shoot him, collapse on the couch and seemingly shut down entirely.]]
* DirtyOldMan: Comes across this way when he shamelessly flirts with the decades younger Janice Moss. At the same time though, his interest in Janice is more than sexual, with his courtship being unexpectedly sweet.
* EveryoneHasStandards: He's uncomfortable with Sally wanting to perform a scene from ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' at Ryan's memorial because of its subject matter.
--> '''Gene''': "I just don't think we should evoke child molestation at a memorial."
* FailedAttemptAtDrama: His attempt to [[spoiler: threaten Barry with a gun]] was going really well until [[spoiler: his weapon fell apart.]]
* FatalFlaw: His ego. It's what caused his career to go up in flames prior to the events of the series, and even after that he's proven easy to manipulate through base appeals to his ego. He becomes more self-aware of this after his career revival in season 3 and tries to fix his behavior, [[spoiler: only to backslide in season 4 after the fame of being the one who caught Barry goes to his head, setting off a chain of events that end with him accidentally shooting his own son and fleeing the country.]] [[spoiler:Though he ''tries'' to let go of his egotism after a long period on a kibbutz and sincerely fights to stop a movie based on Janice's murder, an agent telling him he'll be played by Daniel Day-Lewis causes Gene to backslide; this in turn, along with how he's sensationalized his relationship with Barry, gets him accused and ultimately imprisoned by the authorities of being the secret mastermind behind her death.]]
* GoodCounterpart: To Fuches; both are older men who take on a father figure role for Barry, mentoring him in a career he might not have chosen otherwise. However, whereas Fuches is manipulative, selfish and disguises his cruelty as care, Gene is occasionally rude but, at heart, wants what's best for Barry. [[spoiler:In the final season, he ends up transitioning more towards being a {{Foil}} for Fuches, due to Barry's actions basically destroying what friendship they had, while Gene's own poor decisions wind up removing the positive traits he's tried to develop. Fuches enters the final season a changed man who makes peace with Barry over how badly he treated him, while Gene becomes a shell of his former self who ends up killing Barry and paying dearly for the impulsive act.]]
* HeroWithBadPublicity: [[spoiler:By the end of the final season, Gene is widely believed to have put Barry up on murdering Janice and attempted to kill his son over the Chechen drug money. As a result, an InUniverse movie released years later depicts Gene as a criminal mastermind while Barry is portrayed as a sympathetic patsy. Gene is also imprisoned for life after killing Barry.]]
* HiddenDepths:
** Though his manner of teaching may often leave a lot to be desired, Gene's not a total hack, managing to get genuinely stronger results from his class and giving Barry sincere and effective mentorship to better himself as a person.
** Despite previously being described as a bad actor, Gene proves this notion wrong when he [[spoiler: pulls off a performance convincing enough to make Barry head straight into an ambush.]] He also gets a lot of hype with some guest spots Barry gets him on some shows, changing the state of his career practically overnight.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: [[spoiler:In-universe, he is depicted in the "Mask Collector" movie as a criminal mastermind who manipulated Barry into killing for him and the Chechens. The reality, of course, is very different. It's interestingly also a case of an in-universe accidental CompositeCharacter, as his movie depiction actually takes on the role that Fuches held in reality.]]
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: Gene was once a rising star and won acclaim for his acting roles, but his prima donna behavior led to him ruining his own career. By the time of the series, he can't even get a role as an extra and even his family wants nothing to do with him. [[spoiler:By the end of the series, Gene is blamed for Barry's crimes and sentenced to life in prison.]]
* HypocriticalHumor: After Ryan Madison's death, Gene is outraged when Barry suggests putting on "costumes and wigs" to have fun to celebrate him rather than mourning. At Ryan's memorial service, however, Gene's students do exactly that while he looks on proudly.
* ICouldaBeenAContender: Had the makings of a great actor, but his between his ego and his deplorable treatment of everyone around him, he wound up becoming a washed up acting coach with a class mostly full of untalented saps.
* IgnoredEpiphany: From the second season onwards, Gene genuinely tries to become a better person but he's hindered again and again by backsliding into narcissism and selfishness.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: After having a JerkassRealization, Gene tells Barry to change his "truth" performance from his first meeting with Cousineau to his first kill in Afghanistan. Gene is trying to overcome his self-absorption, but he doesn't realize that doing so is reminding Barry of his trauma.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Gene's criticisms can be cruel, but more often than not he's right about how his students need to improve their acting skills. Notably, he points out to Sally that she is genuinely a good actress, but she's hindered by the fact she wants her scenes to be all about her all the time.
* JerkassRealization: When Leo points out that Gene makes everything about himself and even his attempt at reconciliation is motivated by his own narcissism, Gene realizes how much of a {{Jerkass}} and AttentionWhore he really is and starts making efforts to improve. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, the media attention he gets in Season 4 for helping to bring Barry in causes him to backslide into his worst qualities, and it costs him everything by the end.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Cousineau is not necessarily an easy person to get along with. He can be extremely cruel in his criticisms and he's enormously egotistical, but he does generally have good intentions. When Barry is having a minor FreakOut on stage due to the students mocking him for sympathizing with someone who would commit murder, Gene rushes onstage to calm everyone down and attempt to offer Barry some comfort, though he obviously thinks it stems from the war rather than Barry's ProfessionalKiller job. He also genuinely loved Janice, was heartbroken by her disappearance and was broken completely on finding her body. Also, he truly does care for his son Leo even after he abandoned him. Out of the show's leading men, he is the only one shown to be genuinely attempting atonement [[spoiler:after his near death experience with Barry]] by reaching out to those he's done wrong and trying to make amends for his behavior. [[spoiler:Even though his fate at the end of the series is caused by his own poor decisions, the fact that he has been trying to fix things only makes what happens tragic.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: A series of very poor decisions motivated primarily by ego such as not disclosing the $250,000 he received from Barry to the police, shooting his own son, and being lured in to downplaying Barry's crimes by the promise of high profile interest in the Barry biopic, ultimately leads to Gene being falsely accused by police and former friends of running a criminal drug operation, personally having Janice killed by Barry, and ultimately being sentenced to life imprisonment while the world at large regards him as a monster.]]
* MayDecemberRomance: With Janice Moss, who's a few decades his junior.
* {{Narcissist}}: Very much so. He has a a sense of grandiosity about himself, thrives on attention, and very much concerned with making sure people perceive him in a good light. He does genuinely try to change, but he struggles with his narcissism and backslides frequently.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** Gene is actually a pretty talented guy with a lot of insights into the art of acting, and his chops are good enough to [[spoiler: fool Barry into incriminating himself]], but his ego and past nasty behavior alienated anyone who would want to work with him. Though, to his credit, he has started to [[TheAtoner make amends]] with the people he hurt in his past.
** [[spoiler: His fate at the end of the series is a big example of this. His neglect to mention that Barry had given him Chechen drug money, his inability to help himself when it comes to gaining publicity, and shooting the man who was just about to turn himself in to save him all seal his fate. He becomes TheScapegoat for Barry's crimes and is sentenced to life in prison for crimes he didn't commit.]]
* OhCrap:
** [[spoiler:At the end of season 2, Gene recovers from his breakdown enough to remember that Fuches told him it was Barry who killed Janice.]]
** He has a similar reaction in "forgiving jeff" when he [[spoiler:accidentally drops the cylinder of the gun he was using to threaten Barry, leaving him completely helpless against a dangerous assassin.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: The details aren't entirely clear, but it seems he did essentially abandon his young family to pursue his career. When he tries to reunite with his grown son, he's met only with anger and exasperation. [[spoiler:By the end of Season 2, his repeated efforts to reconcile with his son Leo seem to have paid off as the two appear to be on pretty good terms.]]
* ThePrimaDonna: He has a nasty reputation as such around Hollywood and it's why he now largely focuses on teaching since no one wants to work with him or is willing to hire him, even as an extra.
* TheScapegoat: [[spoiler: Due to some poor decisions and neglecting to explain key information, Gene becomes the primary suspect in Janice's murder. Worse, he then shoots and kills Barry, who was ''just about to finally turn himself in for his crimes'', thus taking away his chance to clear his name, leading to Gene going to prison for the crimes that Barry and Fuches committed.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In season 4, [[spoiler: after Barry escapes from prison, Gene flees the country to escape Barry's retribution for turning him in to the police.]]
* SinkOrSwimMentor: Subverted. He makes a lot of threats and ultimatums to garner a reputation as this, but the truth is that he's far more forgiving and wants to give his students harsh lessons to help them grow.
* SmallNameBigEgo: His class thinks the world of him and Cousineau certainly swans around like he's [=DeNiro=], but the truth is far more brutal. He's still struggling to make it, auditioning for roles that amount to being a glorified extra. Although he's been in the industry for some time, it seems that he's mostly been in the periphery of people with real success and has no real reputation to his name beyond his book (which he hawks at every opportunity). The full extent of this becomes apparent in "limonada" when Barry tries to get him ''any'' part in ''anything''. Cousineau's backstage actions and behavior have rendered him persona non grata within Hollywood, to the point that Barry struggles to get him a role as an extra.
* TookALevelInKindness: Though he hasn't completely shed off his {{Jerkass}} skin, it's made clear that Gene is a far nicer and more agreeable man today than he was in his youth. He continues to get nicer during the series, gaining more interest in his students, especially Barry, and trying to right his wrongs from long ago. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he couldn't shed his narcissism enough to stop himself from making a series of poor decisions that would lead to his life completely collapsing at the end of the final season.]]
* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: [[spoiler: Being put through the ringer for the entire final season causes him to finally kill Barry in the final episode moments after Barry decides to turn himself in to prevent Gene from paying for his crimes. Had Gene not given into whatever motivating emotion had pushed him into doing the deed, he would not have ended up in prison for life with the world believing he was a monster.]]
* TragicHero: [[spoiler:Gene wants to be a better person, but his narcissism ultimately results in him losing everything and being framed for Barry's crimes.]]
* UnknownRival: He has no idea that Fuches views him as competition for the role of Barry's father figure.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Him reflecting on Barry's [[IgnoredConfession "improvisation" of being a vet who becomes a hitman]] leads Janice to realize that Barry was the hitman all along, [[spoiler:and the resulting confrontation gets her killed]]. He acknowledges this in "ben mendelsohn", wondering if [[spoiler:he had just kept his mouth shut, Janice might still be alive]].
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Became closer with Barry than any of his other students, beaming with pride over the man he's becoming. [[spoiler: After finding out that Barry murdered his girlfriend, he's far less chummy with him.]]

[[folder:Sally Reed]]
!!Sally Reed
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reed_sally.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"I know what it’s like to be freaked out. It’s like when I shaved my head for I Never Saw Another Butterfly without realizing how limiting that was gonna be for other castings. We all lose track of what’s important sometimes."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Sarah Goldberg

An aspiring actress, Sally befriends Barry during Cousineau’s class and they quickly start dating.

* AbusiveParents: Sally's mother is absolutely apathetic and neglectful towards her, showing no concern when she has a panic attack and caring more that she used Sam's name in ''Joplin'' than the fact that Sam abused Sally. [[spoiler:Sally proves to be not any better with her son John, whom she drugs with various substances to avoid having to care for him. To her credit, she does clean up her act, acknowledge her faults as a parent, and by the second time jump, has a much healthier relationship with her son.]]
* AttentionWhore: Her core flaw is her ego, which constantly drives her to put herself first and be the center of attention even when it's inappropriate. Barry's tearful line delivery during their ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' performance finally [[CharacterDevelopment moves her]] to accept that she can't always do this, and she graciously performs in a two-person play with Barry where they will have equal focus. However, [[spoiler: she changes the scene halfway through during a public showcase, which again allows her to outshine Barry entirely (whereas the scene was originally more balanced) and get an opportunity to create a show.]]
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Sally deeply wants to show off her acting talent by playing a particularly challenging role, being drawn to plays like ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' and ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' among others. [[spoiler:She gets her wish in the worst possible way by having to pretend to be a totally different person while on the run with Barry, now with her career dead in the water and with no way of getting the praise and acclaims she wanted.]]
* BigEgoHiddenDepths: She's arrogant and selfish, but clearly carries a lot of self-hatred over her perceived cowardice when dealing with her abusive ex-husband.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: She's very bubbly and perky at first impression, but in practice she's petty, mean, insecure, can't handle someone else's sadness, and ''really'' can't handle someone else's success. The fact that she's had so many boyfriends looks less like socializing and more like a warning sign...
* CastingCouch: Her agent tries to pull this on her; she rejects him, he tries to play it off as a joke... and subsequently drops her.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The pilot depicts her as a genuinely nice and wholesome person who goes out of her way to befriend Barry. It wasn't until the second episode and onwards that it was established that her perky attitude was largely an act, and she was a much nastier person beneath. WordOfGod is that this was the work of Sarah Goldberg, who persuaded the writers to make Sally much more flawed than their original vision of the character. [[spoiler:Rather amusingly, her depiction in Barry's incredibly inaccurate biopic, ''The Mask Collector'', seems to be based off of her characterization in the pilot.]]
* CosmicPlaything: Almost everything that can go wrong for Sally does, oftentimes due to things out of her control. She is the architect for a lot of her own misery, but an equal amount of it is from sheer bad luck.
* DamselInDistress: [[spoiler:She and John get kidnapped by Hank's men in the penultimate episode.]]
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the MoralityPet LoveInterest. While Barry considers Sally to be one of the primary things motivating him to change as a person, Sally doesn't know that he views her as such, and is made uncomfortable on the occasions where he makes it more obvious. Furthermore, Sally is consistently shown to be a very selfish person with her own mountain of personal problems, which, combined with her lack of insight into Barry's past, often causes her to unintentionally be much more harmful to his emotional well-being than she is helpful.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:After leaving Barry, she finally finds success and happiness as a high school theater teacher while reconciling with her son John. While she's still shown to have some issues, such as being insecure over John's approval and rejecting a date out of fear that he'll turn out to be yet another abusive partner, things are finally looking up for Sally.]]
* EvilIsPetty: [[DownplayedTrope Evil's a stretch]], but Sally is a {{Jerkass}} who tends to take out her own petty jealousy on the people around her and often takes mild slights way too personally.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Despite being furious with the executive who immediately cancelled her show, Sally is horrified by Barry's offer to target her with psychological warfare. [[spoiler: This winds up being subverted later on though, as she seeks him out so that he'll target Natalie with his aforementioned tricks.]]
** [[spoiler: After narrowly surviving the shootout between Fuches and Hank's men. Sally finally tells Barry that he should take responsibility for his crimes and turn himself in. When he declines, she finally has enough of him and leaves with John.]]
* FatalFlaw: [[GreenEyedMonster Envy]], along with her [[ItsAllAboutMe ego]] and AttentionWhore tendencies often cause the most problems throughout the series. She can't stand the idea of people not praising her or other people succeeding over her. [[spoiler: She ultimately decides to go on the run with Barry in season 4, despite her being given several opportunities to maintain a promising career in Hollywood, because none of her options will allow her to become a leading lady again, at least not right away.]]
** She also isn't able to be honest with herself about her feelings of shame and emasculation that she felt after her abusive marriage to Sam, so she overcompensates by being an egotistical, narcissistic bitch.
* FreudianExcuse: She spent much of her young adult life in an abusive marriage and escaped it by running away rather than actually standing up to her ex. Both of these events have caused her to subconsciously believe herself to be a weak person, which she overcompensates for through her hawkish and abrasive attitude. On a less dramatic note, she has spent years failing to make a name for herself as an actor despite having some talent, which has made her prone to leaping at every chance at fame the first opportunity she gets, no matter what the consequences of doing so may be.
** In the first episode of season 4, it's revealed that her mother is ''very'' cold and dismissive of her, ignoring her obvious mental distress and clearly not believing that Sam truly abused her.
* GreenEyedMonster: She's deeply envious of others' success, particularly of Barry when he lands a film audition in season 2 and admits how jealous of him she is while having a long emotional breakdown.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Subverted. On the surface, the blonde Sally is a sweet and bubbly woman; however, she's actually something of a {{Jerkass}} prone to being rather petty and mean-spirited.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** Sally criticizes Barry for not incorporating her acting choices into a scene, when she rarely does the same with anyone else and often tries to hog the limelight entirely.
** In "forgiving jeff", Sally tells Natalie that she can't feel empowered as a woman if she doesn't bring up other women with her. But when Natalie [[spoiler:runs her own TV show after Sally's was cancelled, Sally corners her in an elevator and monstrously vents her anger at Natalie, calling her a cunt who has nothing to say and who's never struggled her entire life.]]
* ISeeDeadPeople: [[spoiler:She constantly hallucinates the biker she killed in "starting now." He appears as one of the students in her acting class, his voice threatens her in "the wizard" and she sees his face in a police officer in "a nice meal."]]
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Sally has an ego the size of the San Fernando Valley and is extremely sensitive and reacts badly to any perceived criticism or affront to it and it's gradually revealed to be her way of coping with the trauma of her abusive marriage and her shame at not asserting herself and growing up with an extremely callous, emotionally abusive mother.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: She genuinely doesn't understand why performing a scene from ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' - a notoriously depressing play centering around pedophilia - at Ryan's memorial service might be inconsiderate.
* ItsAllAboutMe: She is incredibly self-centered and is prone to fixating on her own problems even in situations when she ought to be trying to help others. More than once, while talking to Barry, she completely fails to notice that he is upset or not receptive to what she is saying and just proceeds as if they are on the same page, which makes her annoyance with Barry when he's not incorporating her acting choices into his performance ("not listening") [[{{Hypocrite}} a tad ironic]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Albeit one that is portrayed fairly sympathetically. [[ItsAllAboutMe Sally is incredibly self-centered]], which, when combined with her desperation for fame, often causes her to act cruelly toward and be demanding of the people in her life. This is particularly notable in her relationship with Barry, where she alternates between being dismissive of his talents, envious of him stealing her spotlight, and frustrated by his refusal to take part in scenes that make him uncomfortable for her sake. With all that said, it's made clear that she genuinely ''has'' suffered through a lot in her life, which makes it hard to completely dislike her.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** Sally accurately points out many times how misogynistic Hollywood is, and how it's pigeonholed her into degrading roles that often lack agency.
** When Barry behaves like a CrazyJealousGuy at Taylor's suggestion, Sally calls him out on it and directly calls it out as toxic masculinity and a major red flag.
** While she handled it in the most inappropriate and self-destructive manner possible, Sally was also absolutely right to be upset and furious at ''Joplin'' being cancelled less than a day after it's premiere despite it's positive reception purely because a studio algorithim claimed it wasn't reaching enough of an audience and at how the executives discarded a story they previously had confidence in over it and at their completely callous attitude in doing so.
* JerkassRealization: [[spoiler:In the series finale, being held hostage by [=NoHo=] Hank and forced to confess her true identity forces Sally to realize that she has been a bad mother to John. After the final TimeSkip she seems to have improved their relationship.]]
* KillingInSelfDefense: [[spoiler:She kills one of the biker gang members in the Season 3 finale. While definitely self-defense, as he was strangling her, she's emotionally traumatized by the experience.]]
* LadyDrunk: Sally by season 4 and "tricky legacies", when she's [[spoiler:married to Barry and living under a fake identity, her dreams of stardom long dead.]] She buys booze at gas stations and chugs from the bottle before she even gets home. At home, she is given to more drinking and {{Thousand Yard Stare}}s.
* LoveInterests: Barry's love interest.
* LovingAShadow: She clearly doesn't love Barry so much as she loves his adoration of her and constant praise, which draws her back in despite how toxic the relationship is. [[spoiler:After the TimeSkip, their relationship falls apart when Barry shifts to focusing on John for his adoration and love instead.]]
* NeverMyFault: Absolutely ''refuses'' to admit that she was unjustified in [[spoiler: screaming at Natalie for "stealing her show," even though she ''cornered Natalie in a stopped elevator'' to call her an "[[CountryMatters entitled fucking cunt]]" and Natalie's show bears no resemblance to ''Joplin'' besides starring a single mom and daughter. Even when her agent drops her as a client over the incident, Sally insists that all she did was tell the truth and she doesn't want to work with "liars" who say otherwise. She also after the poor reception of her "apology" video tries to blame her agent despite the fact, her agent had tried to warn her not post a video or say anything yet. The fact that she even acknowledges she's been a poor parent to John in the final episode is momentous for the very fact that she typically refuses to believe she's in the wrong. It seems that understanding her own faults allows her to psychologically heal afterwards, as she's shown in the final TimeSkip to have become a much more stable person with a healthier relationship with John.]]
* OutlawCouple: [[spoiler: Runs away with Barry after he escapes custody in "it takes a psycho"]]
* ParentalIssues: Her parents aren't the most supportive to her. Her mother is completely unsympathetic to the abuse she's faced from Sam, and her father, though he tries his best, is too dim to have a real conversation with her.
* ReallyGetsAround: When warning Barry about the ramifications of sleeping with fellow acting class students, she mentions casually that she's done so "a million times."
* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler: Due to Barry becoming more manic and aggressive in Season 3, Sally ends up experiencing her own sanity deteriorating to the point where she screams at and alienates both Natalie and Lindsay after believing they've wronged her (even asking Barry to help her {{Gaslight}} the former). She also beats a biker to death in self-defense with a baseball bat, the brutality of which shocks even ''Barry''.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: After she kills one of the biker gang in self-defense, she flees LA for Joplin, Missouri.]]
* SecretlySelfish: She tends to use seemingly good causes as an excuse to indulge in self-aggrandizement and showboating. It's first demonstrated in the second episode, where she uses Ryan's wake as an excuse to try and showcase her acting ability by performing a scene from ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' despite both Barry and Gene pointing out it's grossly inappropriate.
* SelfServingMemory: Played for drama. Sally has constructed a false narrative for how she left her abusive husband that depicts her as confronting him directly to call him out on his behavior rather than running away from their home in the middle of the night as was actually the case to avoid having to acknowledge the feelings of helplessness that she experienced when doing so.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Sally is suggested to have genuine talent as an actor, and is considered to be the best of Cousineau's students ([[BadBadActing admittedly a low bar]]), but she carries herself as though she were a hidden genius rather than an undiscovered actor of decent ability in a town filled with thousands of them.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Her good looks get her agent to attempt sexual extortion. And the fact that she's good-looking means she's never really had to try in a relationship, leading to her emotional stunting.
* StepfordSmiler: While we only see it in her honest retelling of her abusive marriage she fell into this role to survive her husband's temper, reassuring him that everything was alright when he would feel guilty after hurting her. [[spoiler:When Barry starts to get more abusive and manic in season three, she starts to slip into this again.]]
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: [[spoiler: Following a tarnished reputation and dire career future, she promptly decides to run away with Barry despite knowing full well about his violent nature and criminal activity]].
* ThrowTheDogABone: [[spoiler:Her mental health had been in very steep decline throughout the entire show due to the sheer number of traumatizing events she had been beholden to, but the timeskip following Barry's death shows that she managed to recover and find happiness. By the end of the series, she's a respected theater director at a school and has a much healthier relationship with John.]]
* TookALevelInJerkass: Hits a new low in Season 3 when she corners Natalie to scream obscenities at her and then not only refuses to accept responsibility for actions, but tries to [[spoiler: get Barry to pull a MindScrew on her after previously being disgusted by his offer to do so on a different target]].
* TookALevelInKindness: [[spoiler: By the second time jump, Sally seems to have a better and healthier relationship with John, and has become nicer and happier in the mean time.]]
* TragicHero: Sally has genuine talent and just wants to be a successful actress, but her egotism and insecurities always result in her ruining her own chances.
* TraumaButton: Being yelled at seems to trigger her PTSD. When Barry yells at the class during an argument over ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' over his own killings - which the class believes is about what he did in Afghanistan - Sally is notably on edge and afterwards is the only one who doesn't sympathize with him. When Barry berates her in "limondada", she shifts to being demure and apologetic in what is clearly a trauma response.
* TroubledAbuser: She berates, talks down to, and at one point even slaps Barry after they start dating, which is implied to be because her own history of domestic abuse has warped her perception of what constitutes a healthy relationship. [[spoiler:In season 3, after Barry yells at her and she later gets angry because her show gets canceled, she yells at her "friend" Natalie in a very similar manner. The framing of the scenes is even similar with her pushing Natalie up against a wall.]]
* UngratefulBastard: When one of her friends convinces the casting director of a show she's starring in to cast Sally in a guest role, rather than be grateful for the opportunity Sally is enraged that she doesn't get to play the main character and throws a tantrum afterwards.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: She and Barry start dating quickly and break up soon after, but Barry still pines for her. During the TimeSkip at the end of the first season, they've rekindled their relationship. [[spoiler: They break up in Season 3, after Barry's outburst at her office. But then get back together in Season 4 following Barry's escape from prison and after a [[TimeSkip time jump]], now have a child together.]]

[[folder:Sasha Baxter]]
!!Sasha Baxter
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/99cafc14_0e2c_4696_87ff_c6f4f00eaf7a.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/KirbyHowellBaptiste

A student in Gene's class, and Barry's coworker at Lululemon.

* ActorAllusion: She vehemently refuses to play an Australian. Her actress played an Australian in ''Series/TheGoodPlace''.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: She's fairly nice to Barry and even helps him get a job to support himself, but in private texts she dismisses him as a "jarhead."
* NoodleIncident: For reasons she doesn't care to discuss, she is disgusted by the idea of playing an Australian.
* PutOnABus: She doesn't appear in Season 3.
* TokenMinority: She's the only British member of Cousineau's acting class.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Downplayed. She's not actively mean, but by Season 2 she's grown very frustrated with Barry due to his socially awkward behavior and even dismisses him as a "jarhead" in private texts.

[[folder:Natalie Greer]]
!!Natalie Greer
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barry_natalie.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"You're thweetie??"'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/DarcyCarden

A student in Gene's class.

* AngstySurvivingTwin: PlayedForLaughs with her scene about absorbing her twin in the womb.
* BeleagueredAssistant: Becomes this to Sally on the set of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Joplin]]''. She then gets one of her own after becoming a showrunner herself.
* TheDogBitesBack: After putting up with Sally's abusive behavior for almost three seasons, Natalie [[spoiler: records Sally while she is screaming at her in an elevator and sends it into a tabloid which essentially nukes Sally's career.]]
* LargeHam: Of all the students in class (who are all pretty big hams themselves) Natalie is probably the worst of them.
* NiceGirl: While she has her snarky moments, Natalie is overall a genuinely sweet and supporting person and friend to Sally. This is best shown after Joplin is cancelled and Natalie goes to console Sally as she breaks down in the bathroom. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Just don't push it.]]
* SitcomArchNemesis: To Sally, as the two of them occasionally clash over assigned roles. By season 3, [[spoiler:Sally thinks she can take out her frustration by privately venting at Natalie for taking her perceived role as a showrunner at [=BanShe=] but Natalie records the entire thing and uploads it to the internet.]]
* WealthyEverAfter: After the TimeSkip in season 4, [[spoiler: the show she allegedly had poached from Sally has become a huge success and turned Natalie into an A-list showrunner.]]

[[folder:Nick Nicholby]]
!!Nick Nicholby
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/427fa2b4_35c9_425e_b539_06330689a01e.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/RightorDoyle

A student in Gene's class, and one of Barry's roommates.

* AlliterativeName: '''Nick''' '''Nich'''olby. Also counts as an AlmostFamousName, as the spelling of his first and last names are the inverse of ''Literature/NicholasNickleby''.
* CampGay: Un-self consciously flamboyant.
* LargeHam: Second only to Natalie in his hamminess.
* WeightWoe: His scene in the Season 2 finale reveals his past struggles with bulimia.

[[folder:Ryan Madison]]
!!Ryan Madison
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/66a6486f_c5bf_4dfb_b05c_f6913978180d.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/TylerJacobMoore

The acting student whom Barry is hired to kill.

* TheAlcoholic: Possibly. Sally mentions he has "like, 7 DUI's."
* MauveShirt: Developed a little before dying at the end of the pilot.
* MrViceGuy: He had an affair with a man's wife, but outside of that comes across as a genuinely nice and friendly guy.
* NiceGuy: He's a friendly, jovial guy who goes out of his way to make Barry feel welcomed.
* PosthumousCharacter: He dies in the first episode, but everyone continues to talk about him and his importance.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Despite only interacting with Barry a few times and quickly getting killed by the Chechens, he introduces Barry to the acting class and spurs on Moss's investigation into said class.

!!!Los Angeles Police Department

[[folder:Janice Moss]]
!!Detective Janice Moss
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/janice_moss.png]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/PaulaNewsome

A police detective who starts seeing connections between Ryan Madison's murder and the activities of the acting class.

* CassandraTruth: The only one who consistently believes the murderer is one of Ryan's fellow actors, while her fellow cops are content to draw increasingly wilder conclusions about Ryan's criminal connections. She eventually finds the evidence she needs, but is too late to stop Barry from catching up to her.
* DeadpanSnarker: She's quite prone to snarking, particularly at her rather inept colleagues.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Janice's investigation gets almost as much focus as Barry himself, and drives the plot just as much as he does.
* FakeGuestStar: Paula Newsome is listed as part of the recurring cast, but she appears in almost every episode of the first season and is essentially the {{Deuteragonist}}.
* HeroAntagonist: She's one of the biggest dangers to Barry, but she's far from a bad person. She's just doing her job, and trying to do it well.
* KilledOffscreen: The camera cuts away as she and Barry exchange gunfire, but his survival and calm attitude afterward indicate that she was indeed killed. In Season 2, Barry confirms that he did in fact kill her.
* KnightInSourArmor: After Loach's marriage falls apart, she admits to a colleague she knew it would happen since divorce is pretty common for homicide detectives.
--> '''Moss:''' I mean, come on! She's a human being and he's a homicide detective.
* LikesOlderMen: If her attraction to Gene is any indication.
* MayDecemberRomance: With Cousineau, who is much older than her.
* NiceGirl: She's somewhat stern, but she's actually a fairly nice person who only becomes frustrated when dealing with obvious incompetence.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Barry tries to convince her of this after she finds out the truth about him. It doesn't work.
* OnlySaneMan: She's the only member of the LAPD who isn't an idiot. Loach is mostly absorbed by his own personal dramas and everyone else is pretty incompetent, generally forcing her to take the initiative.
* PosthumousCharacter: Her death casts a shadow over much of the plot of Season 2 and 3.
* SacrificialLion: She's a main character in all but name, making it all the more shocking when Barry kills her to get away with his crimes. It establishes both how ruthless Barry is and that AnyoneCanDie.
* ShutUpHannibal: She delivers a pretty impenetrable response to Barry's assertion that they're not that different.
-->'''Barry:''' Janice, you can, because we want the same thing. We, we wanna be happy. We want love. We want a life. And we're doing it, Janice. We're the same.
-->'''Moss:''' But we're not. We're not the same, Barry. 'Cause I'm a cop and you're a [[PrecisionFStrike fucking murderer.]]
* SurroundedByIdiots: She rightfully takes this view since most of her colleagues really are that stupid. It's most noticeable with the two techies, who are lazy morons seemingly incapable of doing their actual job.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: An upstanding woman who just wants to get to the bottom of a few brutal murders. She would be one of the protagonists if the one she was after wasn't Barry himself.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: She's an upstanding, good-natured woman who is murdered by Barry so he can escape punishment for his crimes.

[[folder:John Loach]]
!!Detective John Loach
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/90dc92e1_61f8_4126_81ea_5b612c435d8b.jpeg]]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/JohnPirruccello

Detective Moss's partner, who assists with her in the murder of Ryan Madison and several others, finding a link to one of the actors, Barry Block.

* AssholeVictim: It is really hard to not cheer when [[spoiler:Ronnie kills him with a kick to the face, snapping his neck in the process]]. Considering how much of an asshole he had been at that point, and the fact that he was going to kill Barry and make it look like he had a gun, it was cathartic to watch.
* BaitTheDog: [[spoiler:He comes off as a SympatheticInspectorAntagonist at first, but it's eventually revealed that he's only after Barry to blackmail him into killing his ex-wife's lover out of petty jealousy.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Initially just an amusing and reliable sad sack who seems like a HeroAntagonist, he reveals himself to be a petty, self-absorbed, and angry man who's willing to kill to solve his problems.]]
* BumblingSidekick: Janice is a very competent cop, whereas Loach is a perpetual sadsack still preoccupied with his wife's divorce. After her death, however, Season 2 reveals that he's actually very competent.
* CorruptCop: Oddly enough, not as corrupt as you might think. [[spoiler:He only wants to use Barry to kill his wife's lover... and when he thinks the job is done, he tries to kill Barry to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: [[spoiler:He blackmails Barry to kill Ronny simply because he's jealous his ex-wife has started a relationship with the man.]]
* HeroAntagonist: In Season 2, he now ''knows'' Barry is an assassin but cannot prove it. [[spoiler:Becomes less heroic when it's revealed he just wants Barry to kill the man who stole his wife away.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He's grumpy, but it seems like Loach genuinely wants to see justice done and avenge Janice's death by capturing Barry. [[spoiler:However, it's revealed he's only doing it so he can blackmail Barry into killing his ex-wife's new boyfriend out of jealousy.]]
* NeckSnap: In "ronny/lily", [[spoiler:he receives a kick to the face. The force of which snaps his neck and kills him. Oddly enough, this is not done by Barry but by a Taekwondo master named Ronnie, someone Loach was paying Barry to kill and who was sleeping with his ex-wife.]]
* NotSoAboveItAll: [[spoiler:As it turns out, he isn't the grumpy yet good-hearted lone detective seeking justice for Moss: he's an absolute mess of a human being who only wants to find Barry so he can blackmail him into killing his wife's new lover.]]
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Loach is played as a joke of a cop throughout season 1, but in the wake of [[spoiler: Detective Moss' death]] he proves to be frighteningly competent. He tracks down Fuches and arrests him when he continues to do hitman work without Barry and then manages to catch both men and have them dead to rights to being arrested. If justice for [[spoiler: Moss' death]] had been his actual motivation for arresting Barry, then Loach would have been the hero of the story that brought Barry down.
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Come Season 2, he's after Barry, but he's just doing his job and he's working alone to get Moss' killer. [[spoiler:It's then averted when it turns out he doesn't care about Moss more than he cares about getting Barry to kill his wife's lover.]]

[[folder:Mae Dunn]]
!!Detective Mae Dunn
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/SarahBurns

Loach's partner after Moss has been killed.

* AdvertisedExtra: Credited as a main cast member in Season 3 despite still being a minor character with no individual narrative focus.
* HeroAntagonist: Like Moss before her, she's a likable and sympathetic person who just so happens to be on Barry's tail.
* NiceGirl: Is hapless, but a genuinely nice woman who is kind to Loach's ex-wife [[spoiler: after Loach and his ex-wife's boyfriend seemingly kill each other]]. It is one reason that both other characters and the audience often underestimate her.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Comes off as a cheerful naive woman but is more savvy and capable of reading Barry than she looks.

[[folder:Charlie Simmer]]
!!Detective Charlie Simmer
->'''Portrayed By:''' Cameron Britton

An incompetent LAPD detective.

* TheDitz: He's a slack-jawed moron who can barely be bothered to do his job.
* LazyBum: He's almost always playing video games instead of doing his job, and refuses to put in even the barwst minimum of effort. When tasked with accessing Hank's lipstick cam, he realizes it needs an adaptor and then proceeds to spend the next day slacking off instead of simply buying it.
* TheLoad: While Loach is genuinely helpful to Janice in spite of his numerous hang-ups, Simmer is just a useless moron. He doesn't actively sabotage Janice through his incompetence, but his refusal to do his job drags on her investigation into Ryan's murder.

!!!The Chechens

[[folder:Goran]]
!!Goran Pazar
[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goran.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:349:''"My daughter is having sleepover and we are being too loud."'']]
->'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/GlennFleshler

The leader of the Chechen mob in Los Angeles, Pazar hires Barry to handle an embarrassing situation.

* AffablyEvil: He's very ruthless and not to be trusted, but Goran's an amicable and straightforward guy for the most part. He's even polite to Fuches while informing him that he is going to betray and murder him and Barry at the first opportunity.
* AlasPoorVillain: Goran is a ruthless mobster, but he's a loving father, spited husband and he spends much of his time being awkwardly put-upon by incompetent or treacherous associates. When he's killed by Barry, the camera holds on his body in a manner that lends his death weight.
* BaldOfEvil: He's bald, and the head of the Chechen mafia.
* BigBadEnsemble: With Fuches for Season 1; Fuches has the malice, Goran has the muscle. He still comes across as far less dangerous due to being a sympathetic PunchClockVillain.
* BoomHeadshot: Barry kills him by shooting him in the side of the head. He doesn't die right away, either, instead floundering for a few seconds as his nervous system goes haywire.
* BrutalHonesty: He's generally quite blunt and makes his feelings known to everyone. One memorable instance has him quite casually inform Fuches he's going to have him and Barry killed.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: He has a habit of betraying his allies, particularly those who have only been hired by him and are not official members of the mob. He orders Paco killed the second he's [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]] and nearly does the same to Fuches and Barry before the former narrowly talks him out of it.
* DeadpanSnarker: He's quite sardonic and prone to making witty remarks.
* TheDyingWalk: After being shot in the head by Barry, Goran takes a few steps forwards before sitting down on a nearby chair and dying.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He dotes on his young daughter.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Goran is ruthless, but he isn't excessively sadistic. He's disgusted when he learns that Barry once stabbed a guy in the balls, and doesn't even want his wife's lover to be murdered in such a way.
** He finds Vacha way too creepy to be trusted. At least part of this is because he's so ObviouslyEvil he's not useful for anything that requires subtlety, but Goran seems genuinely intimidated by him.
** He's genuinely regretful after learning Cristobal would have shared the stash house with him, both because it will lead to a gang war between them and because all the bloodshed was completely unnecessary.
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Series/TheSopranos Tony Soprano]]. Both are overweight, burly crime bosses who balance their family lives with their profession, are something of a MeanBoss while still being a fair employer, and frequently engage in macho posturing.
* FatBastard: He's fairly overweight, and he's a ruthless gangster.
* FatalFlaw: Despite enjoying PragmaticVillainy, his desire to be seen as a powerful crime boss is what makes him susceptible to Fuches' manipulations. This eventually leads him to order the raid on Cristóbal's airstrip and demote [=NoHo=] for being too polite and "weak," both of which [[HoistByHisOwnPetard lead to his death and the near-destruction of his mob]].
* FriendlyEnemy: After actually meeting Cristobal, he admits he's a "super-nice guy" in spite of the fact the two are about to go into a gang war.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: His decision to raid Cristobal's airstrip and his demotion of Hank set off a chain of events that leads to his death.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He believes that [[ConsummateLiar Fuches]] is trustworthy and a reliable source of information, and that [[AffablyEvil Cristobal]] is a violent maniac. He only realizes how badly he misjudged them when it's too late.
* KickTheMoralityPet: He spends most of the first season treating Hank like his best friend, making his angry outburst and demotion of him all the more shocking.
* LaughablyEvil: He's a ruthless mob boss, but the duality between his occupation and him being a loving family man is frequently played for comedy.
* MeanBoss: He's quite prone to belittling his men which even Hank isn't safe from. He never crosses into being a BadBoss, but he noticeably stops caring about the men that Barry killed when he proves a viable asset to the Chechens.
* NoSympathy: He has absolutely no sympathy for Vacha wanting revenge on Barry for killing his brother, bluntly telling him that he doesn't care and to let it go.
--> '''Goran:''' Oh my God, no one cares. It's so boring. Every day, "he kill my brother"!
* OnlySaneMan: He tends to be the only member of the Chechen mob to use common sense and rely on PragmaticVillainy.
* PragmaticVillainy: He's outraged when Vacha reveals he's been stalking and photographing Barry. Not because of any moral reason, but because Barry is both a useful asset and that Vacha has inadvertently supplied a lot of evidence that the police could use to tie Barry to the Chechens.
* PsychologicalProjection: He believes Cristobal is a ruthless mob boss much like himself who won't compromise with anyone out of fear of looking weak. In reality, Cristobal would have agreed to share his stash house with Goran had he simply asked, sparing a lot of death and misery.
* PunchClockVillain: He's a dangerous mob boss, but he's also a loving father who doesn't let his criminal activities completely rule his life. This is used to humorous effect, such as when he conducts a serious meeting with Barry and Fuches [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes while at his daughter's dance recital]].
* TechnicianVsPerformer: The Performer to Barry and Fuches' technician. Goran is fixated on dramatic gestures such as his idea of mailing a bullet to the colleagues of a murder victim, where Fuches and Barry are comparatively more straight-forward and practical.
* UnwittingPawn: Fuches plays him like a fiddle for most of the season, convincing him that waging war on the Bolivians is better than just killing him for Barry's failure. This eventually results in his death.
* VillainCred: He has a lot of respect for Stovka, practically worshiping the ground he walks on and clearly being in awe of him the entire time.
* VillainousFriendship:
** With Hank. The two get along like a house on fire, and much of the first season's comedy comes from the two bantering with each other. However, Goran eventually severs their friendship after Hank's obvious concern for Barry's well-being makes him decide that he's weak.
** He forms a brief one with Fuches, until he realizes Fuches has been manipulating him and simply feeding his ego.
* VirtueIsWeakness: He admits in a fit of rage that he views Hank's polite and obsequious personality as a sign of weakness.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Goran believes he's in a serious crime drama akin to ''Film/TheGodfather'' and ''Film/{{Scarface}}'' where grand power plays and extravagant methods of murder are the norm. Unfortunately for him, he's in a dark comedy that deconstructs this sort of genre and where organized crime is portrayed as almost mundane and boring work.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: He's very fond of pulling this trope. He has Paco killed the second he's given Goran all the vital information he has, and he intends to kill Barry and Fuches once they kill Paco until Stovka's suicide forces him to make do with them.