“Barry” has taken risks from the beginning, which is certainly true in a fourth and final season that picks up where the third left off, with the arrest of his hitman-turned-aspiring actor. That paves the way for an even darker season that accentuates the ensemble aspect of the show while leaning too heavily on blurred lines with flights of fancy.

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

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

The consequences of his arrest affect both sides of that equation, from his acting teacher Gene Cousineau (played by Henry Winkler, still a huge mix of ego and neediness) and his girlfriend Sally (Sarah Goldberg) to the gallery of petty criminals in his orbit, including Fuches (Stephen Root) and NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), who has improbably found love over the course of his travels, while somehow turning “Barry” into a four-syllable name.

“Barry” has always struggled with the discomfort of having a protagonist who murders people, and the question of empathizing with his namesake becomes particularly acute in these episodes with the character in prison. When Barry asks, “Are you mad at me?” With an almost childlike naivety, it’s easy to forget, at least momentarily, some of the horrible things he’s done, even if the revenge-minded Jim Moss (Robert Wisdom) can’t.

Hader (who directed each episode) also excels at darkly humorous sight gags, which are augmented in the new season by some hysterical cameos from real Hollywood figures, including director Guillermo del Toro, made even funnier by how random they seem to be.

That said, the show’s surreal digressions and detours into fantasy are more distracting, in a way that sometimes feels a bit too precious. The saving grace, consistently, is the strength of the cast, even if prison creates impediments to their interactions.

HBO made most, but not all, of the season available, and the series effectively keeps the audience on edge and guessing where it will all end and how (or if) its various threads will connect.

The likelihood of a happy ending for everyone in “Barry” land never seemed to be in the cards, but Hader and co-creator Alec Berg seem determined to go out on their own terms, however good (mostly) and sporadically frustrating it may be. That’s why it’s hard to get mad at a show that takes such exhilarating creative risks, even with a season that’s not as cold as before.

“Barry” begins its fourth and final season on April 14 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO, which, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.