Grid Effect

Eventful weekend even if we skipped Jacksonville this year. Though, admittedly, watching the game on television (which was actually entertaining, usually it meanders for three hours and then you’re just thankful its over) and seeing the overhead shots of The Landing was painful, we got through it with only a few tears shed. Definitely a good television weekend, what with OSU, FNL and Curb all producing astounding results, we had plenty to entertain ourselves with despite skipping what’s usually the best weekend of the year.

Another solid episode of Curb last night. Even if it strains credibility that Larry David wouldn’t use the nomenclature in the title to convey his point or the doctor would be so reactive from the misunderstanding, there was plenty of substantive material here to make up for credibility issues.

Larry probably leads the most chaotic, tedious dating life of any near billionaire on the planet. This episode was like a giant half hour nod to Curb episodes past and Seinfeld, so when he went to pick up his opthamologist date and her living room was designed like a waiting room, and she conducted every aspect of her life like she does her profession, I shouldn’t have been surprised. I kind of get the impression Larry David conjured up this divorce plot just for this unspoken joke alone. Also, that is probably why it worked so well, it was never addressed in any manner, other than Larry’s self-realization.

One of Larry’s many attempted explanations.

Stemming from that concept, the misunderstanding when he asked the doctor to read the note she had written for him was probably one of the more creative puns we’ve ever seen on television. Not that for a second we believe anyone would use such suggestive phrasing as (explanations are in parenthesis so there are no misunderstandings for anyone who didn’t watch the episode), “I’m sick of all these brothers and sisters running around (his date had her siblings living with her), You can’t tell me your life wouldn’t be better without the Blacks (Larry has a black family living with him with the family name ‘Black’)”.

Again, the phrasing was weird, so I thought they were going to go the way of the Seinfeld episode where we found out Larry’s girlfriend was not only an “anti-dentite”, but racist and xenophobic to boot. Instead they went for the “Porno Gil” callback where Larry couldn’t read his friends directions, and a random stranger asked if a doctor had written them, since its universally known that they have shoddy penmanship.

But this was a great episode in which all the parts wove together nicely for a fitting result. And really, that’s all we ever expect from Curb. The series has proven it can thrive without Cheryl Hines, even if Larry cannot. I was surprised we didn’t see or hear from her at all, sans some archived footage. Is it sad or impressive that I could pinpoint the episode and what was transpiring in all of those scenes?

Other notes:

-JB Smoove was in rare form again. Or rather, it’s becoming more commonplace for his performance to outshine virtually everyone he’s on camera with. From the “stabbing” of Auntie Ray to the kazoo reference, he didn’t get as much screen time as usual, but what he had he used well.

-We were surprised they could get Ben Stiller for such a small cameo. Did they just agree to get whoever happens to be rolling by the studio then just throw there name into the fold after they found out who that would be? That was probably the smallest cameo in the history of cameos, especially considering how noteworthy the cameo is.

-The bald subplots never grow tiresome. As it seems to be Larry’s and George’s biggest insecurity.

-For those who may have not recognized, the woman playing the opthamologist was none other than Sue Ellen Mischke, played by Brenda Strong.

Another strong episode, even with the leaps of logic. That makes 3 of 8 this season that have been top-tier Curb’s and sets up the series to bat .500 for the year. Six seasons in, for any series but especially a sitcom, that’s a pretty strong percentage.