Playlist: NoHoBal Forever
A year after “Barry”’s swan song, we’re still swooning over the hit series’ signature enemies turned lovers.
Written by C.S. Harper
Images courtesy of HBO
Whether you’ve been a “Barry” die-hard since the pilot episode or jumped on the series after the internet proclaimed showrunner and lead actor Bill Hader a babygirl, the show had an undeniably successful four-season run. With three Primetime Emmy wins and 44 nominations, “Barry” spent five years sweeping through award shows — and winning over fans’ hearts with lovable hitman hijinks. Among the series’ most memorable elements is the relationship between villain-turned-antiheroes NoHo Hank and Cristobal Sifuentes, which tragically ended with both of their deaths in season four. In honor of “NoHoBal,” here’s a collection of songs to represent every stage of their relationship.
Relationship Stage: Rivalry
“enemy” by Charli XCX and “A BOY IS A GUN*” by Tyler, the Creator
In season one, Hank and Cristobal began as enemies by circumstance. The former starts as a high-ranking mobster in the L.A. branch of a Chechen mafia, whereas the latter leads the rival Bolivians. Despite their differences in the criminal underworld, Hank and Cristobal would inevitably bond over their mutual reputations as “nice guys.” After protagonist Barry helps the Chechens raid Cristobal’s stash house but fails to kill him, the Bolivian head honcho declares an all-out war on his competitors. However, the rivalry quickly falls to the wayside after Barry kills Chechen leader Goran Pazar and Hank succeeds him. Seeing no alternative, Hank partners with Cristobal, who welcomes his former archnemesis with open arms.
In their respective songs “enemy” and “A BOY IS A GUN*,” Charli XCX and Tyler, the Creator find themselves in a similar predicament. With hyperpop instrumentals and an auto-tuned croon, Charli explores the saying “keep your friends close but your enemies closer” to describe her conflicting feelings about a love interest. Lines like “I’ll admit, I’m scared … / Maybe you’re my enemy” mirror Hank’s initial distrust of Cristobal and the Bolivians. Likewise, Tyler begs his “motherfuckin’ dangerous” lover not to “shoot [him] down,” likening him to a gun that could go off at any moment. Like the multi-hyphenate rapper, Hank found himself drawn to Cristobal’s magnetic energy despite the dangerous implications of joining forces with his former rival.
Relationship Stage: Cat-and-mouse game
“I Know” by Fiona Apple and “The Other Woman” by Jeff Buckley
Having moved into the Bolivians’ stash house, Hank wastes no time to resume criminal operations as Cristobal’s business partner in season two. He quickly grows to admire his new ally, but there’s a new obstacle on the horizon: the Burmese mafia. To Hank’s discontent, Burmese chief Esther proposes an alliance among the three crime bosses to help the Chechens and Bolivians join the heroin trade. Cristobal moves forward with the proposition, leaving a jealous Hank to pine after his attention. The Chechen leader begins a dangerous cycle of betrayal and pursuit with Cristobal, training an army to kill Esther. After a botched assassination, Barry’s former business partner, Monroe Fuches, visits the Burmese mob’s monastery to mediate peace among the crime leaders. However, Barry — who had a falling-out with Fuches — shoots up the monastery in an attempt to murder him, killing Esther and ending Cristobal and Hank’s cat-and-mouse game as a result.
Perhaps no songwriter portrays unrequited love as well as Fiona Apple does in “I Know.” Accompanied by delicate piano keys and steady drums, the singer-songwriter rips her heart out for a man in another relationship. But Apple refrains from expressing jealousy, promising she “will ask no questions” about her lover’s intentions. In contrast, Jeff Buckley suggests contempt in his cover of “The Other Woman.” With angelic vocal delivery, he lists off every perfect attribute of a man’s side piece, from finding “time to manicure her nails” to enchanting “her clothes with French perfume.” Although Esther and Cristobal’s relationship is strictly professional, she plays the part of the other woman who sets Hank off in a jealous rage. Just as Fiona Apple admits that she “can’t help you out / While [your lover] is still around,” Esther’s death was necessary for NoHoBal to blossom.
Relationship Stage: forbidden love
“Where You Lead I Will Follow” by Carole King and “illicit affairs” by Taylor Swift
In season three, NoHoBal becomes official. After Barry kills most of their men in his murder spree, Cristobal and Hank find no one to turn to but each other. Their secret relationship initially feels wholesome, with adorable elements like matching fox and raccoon mugs and references to Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes from “Gilmore Girls.” But things take a turn when Cristobal’s father-in-law, Fernando, arrives in Los Angeles to restore order and attack the Chechens. The two mafias’ rivalry resumes, forcing Hank and Cristobal to protect each other from oncoming attacks. When Fernando finds out about their love affair, the Bolivians imprison Hank and force Cristobal through conversion therapy. Hank ultimately escapes, killing Cristobal’s wife to reunite with him.
Hank and Cristobal sacrifice everything for each other, and singers Carole King and Louise Goffin do the same in “Where You Lead I Will Follow.” As the theme song of “Gilmore Girls,” the track is a proclamation of familial love. With universal lyrics like “I will go / To the ends of the earth / ’Cause darling, to me / That’s what you’re worth,” this ode to the mother-daughter bond also applies to star-crossed romances like NoHoBal. On the other hand, Taylor Swift’s “illicit affairs” captures the essence of forbidden relationships. “That’s the thing about illicit affairs / … It’s born from just one single glance / But it dies and it dies and it dies / A million little times,” pop’s reigning queen muses over tender guitar strums. Swift’s candid songwriting points toward NoHoBal’s unsustainability, foreshadowing its inevitable end.
Relationship Stage: Betrayal
“I’m Your Man” by Mitski and “Javelin (To Have and to Hold)” by Sufjan Stevens
At first, season four brings a light at the end of the tunnel for NoHoBal. Now living in New Mexico, Cristobal suggests that the couple abandon their life of crime to start a sand importation company. Despite Hank’s initial hesitation, the pair convinces two local gangs to join them in this enterprise, seemingly ending their criminal lifestyle. However, Chechen second-in-command Batir tracks down Hank and threatens that the mafia will kill him unless he rejoins them. The former mobster sees himself left with no choice but to turn on Cristobal. He kills his business partners by suffocating them to death in a silo of sand, almost accidentally murdering his boyfriend in the process. A horrified Cristobal breaks up with Hank, but a Chechen member shoots him dead before he can leave for good.
Cristobal’s death shocked viewers, and even the show’s writers vehemently opposed it. With such a contentious plot element, it’s only fitting for music by heartstring-tugging songwriters Mitski and Sufjan Stevens to accompany it. Both artists capture the brutality of romantic betrayals through gut-wrenching lyricism. In “I’m Your Man,” Mitski uses parallelisms to convey her ruthless double-crossing. “You believe me like a god / I’ll destroy you like I am / … You believe me like a god / I’ll betray you like a man,” she sings solemnly over a cacophony of barks and vocalizations. Hank initially has a similar remorseless attitude toward turning on his business partners, but he becomes utterly distraught at the unintended consequences on his relationship. Likewise, Stevens expresses guilt about his betrayal in “Javelin (To Have and to Hold).” The singer throws a metaphorical spear at his significant other, describing the prospect of his loss as “a terrible thought to have and hold.” But Hank doesn’t have to imagine such a thing — his new reality takes a toll on him, ultimately leading to his demise.
relationship stage: eternal devotion
“A House in Nebraska” by Ethel Cain and “Amor Eterno” by Rocío Dúrcal
About halfway through its run, season four jumps eight years ahead. At this point in the storyline, Fuches has completed a prison sentence for his involvement in Barry’s career as a hitman, and Hank has founded a sand importation business called NoHoBal. Shortly after his release from prison, Fuches moves into one of the company’s properties. But after he drunkenly taunts Hank about Cristobal’s murder, they begin a feud that culminates in a standoff at NoHoBal’s headquarters. Fuches promises to leave once and for all if the CEO admits to killing his boyfriend. Hank begins doing so but backtracks and insults Fuches, who fatally shoots him in front of a statue of Cristobal. In one of the show’s most iconic shots, Hank stumbles at the base of the statue and grasps for its outstretched hand as he lets out one final breath.
Although Hank accomplished Cristobal’s dream of leaving the criminal underworld, his death continued eating at him eight years on. In the seven-minute heartbreak anthem “A House in Nebraska,” Ethel Cain looks back at a failed romance with lyrics that perfectly align with NoHoBal’s storyline. “And it hurts to miss you, but it’s worse to know / That I’m the reason you won’t come home,” she laments over droning piano keys. Similarly, the Latin classic “Amor Eterno” grapples with everlasting love in the face of loss. In the chorus, Rocío Dúrcal belts, “Tarde o temprano estaré contigo / Para seguir amándonos” (“Sooner or later, I’ll be with you / So we can continue loving each other”). Dúrcal acknowledges that she can only reunite with her loved one in death, an idea that “Barry” echoes in Hank’s final scene.
Despite Cristobal Sifuentes and NoHo Hanks’ short-lived romance, fans of the show will always immortalize the lovable villains as favorites in the “Barry” universe. Check out the playlist below to continue reminiscing on NoHoBal.