Curb Your Enthusiasm: “The Lefty Call”
This was indeed the oddest episode of Curb I’ve ever seen. You know that’s the case when the most normalcy is applied when Larry defends Suzy. But good God, man, the thing with the toilet paper, Cha-Cha monitoring Larry’s bathroom activity, the barber beating Larry with the towel, the chef spiking the doggy bag of food and Leon’s bizarre lecture on self-respect…I’m at a loss. This was more like an It’s Always Sunny episode than any Curb I’ve watched. Did it work? Well, I don’t recall laughing once, but that could have been the result of being too distracted with the goings on to find any humor in it.
Is that Larry David or Branch Rickey?
Maybe I need to watch again, because we like It’s Always Sunny ’round these parts, but it was just so unexpected. If I wanted to see an episode of television revolving around a lead character’s bowel movements I’d watch South Park, usually the comedy on Curb is a tad more obscure or challenging in its observations, like a debate over who deserves a “thank you” after a couple treats another couple to a meal when only one of the giving spouses is gainfully employed.
Come to think of it, I probably didn’t like it. First off, I don’t really need these prolonged conversations with Tia Carrere. I understand Larry is just trying to dismiss himself from regular exchanges with her, unfortunately I’m hoping for the same. We’ve seen Larry do this several times in the past and its never been so drawn out. Maybe its the actress, maybe we’ve seen it one too many times…I don’t know. Either way, they shared about five scenes together and the only one that made me chuckle was the one over the phone, and even that wasn’t addressed until Richard referred to Larry as a “pervo”.
Not to be a completely discouraging, there were some things I appreciated last night. Namely, Larry’s description of barber shops, his confrontation of the “skinhead” (which, though predictable, was funny in its own right and reminded me of the third season finale where Larry is envious of all the senior high school students who shaved there heads as a sign of solidarity for one of their classmates with cancer) and Cheryl’s disbelief that Larry would use the non-environmentally sound toilet paper behind her back and the argument that ensued between her, the Blacks and Larry. Also, Larry’s repeated use of the name “Auntie Ray” does admittedly have me in stitches.
Still, I have to wonder that if between this and the flower stealing episode last week, has Curb seen its better days? We haven’t ever seen two mediocre episodes like this in this series, let alone back to back. I’ll still advocate for a seventh season (which is how many I believe Larry David worked on Seinfeld for) just to see the divorced years, but this doesn’t really stack up to what were accustomed to from Curb. And the plots seem too far-fetched and incredulous for what the series usually brings. I have no doubt its difficult to create innocuous social situations for Larry David to fret over, and they definitely set the bar really high in the first four seasons (sort of unfair to blame them for that), but at some point were going to need more believability and less desperation.
October 1st, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I watched the flower episode just last night, though of course it was a little on the corny side, I am still glad to see this series back. I have arguments with one specific friend of mine over which season is the best or if Curb is going downhill/uphill on each season, and I just see it as being overall consistently good for a show that really seems to try and grab those topics that just haven’t been touched (ie the sampler lady, which I find only gets touched on in a similar way when people are discussing Sams Club/Costco and how they go just to eat the samples throughout the store, but still, not really the same as an oversampler).
I can say however, that the flower episode did not touch the humor in the “jack off” episode, loved Larry and Jeff getting banned from each others houses.
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I know its a comedy, and while I stand by my original position that if a comedy delivers enough laughs, the the plot is obsolete. But, there is just so much unevenness to this season. So many of the scenes, particularly the one at the doctor’s office, were more cringe-worthy than funny, and they just seemed to fall flat.
As another example, take that scene in the perfume store, instead of having anything witty or off-color to say, he just rants and raved like an asshole. In past seasons it seems like he’s been able to present his case in a more coherent fashion and
And while the presence of Leon and his family has been akin to an extended “Crazy Eyez Killa” episode (minus the rapper parody), it just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. The displaced family seems to do nothing more than hang around the house, whereas the plots in previous seasons were more proactive (season two: the series; season three: the restaurant; season four: the Producers; and season five: the adoption). I guess that is where most of my complaints thus far are derived from. Instead of being an actual obstacle, the new characters are placed as nothing more than an unwelcome, ungrateful burden.
Also, I emphatically agree that episode two has been the pinnacle of this short season. No complaints or nitpicks on that one.
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:24 am
[...] It seemed the Curb writers were about ten steps ahead of me in getting to an unmarried Larry David. And it was all that we imagined it would be. Larry David seems to have some sort of subtle obsession with Xena: Warrior Princess. Remember when they referenced it in Seinfeld, Jerry’s dad claimed it to be the only show he watched, yet another peculiarity. This was definitely a return to form and counts as the second really commendable episode this season. No suspending disbelief, no outlandish premises, just great situational comedy. [...]