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Louie - Barney/Never; Ikea/Piano Lesson

By: Ashley Chittock | Aug 11, 2012

It became obvious very early on that Louie was going to struggle to keep momentum. The first episode was passable, but every one that followed it was pure gold. CK's thoughtful and unique comedy has gone in an opposite stylistic direction to his rapidly increasing fame and fortune. Then, a few weeks ago, we were treated to two-parter Daddy's Girlfriend, and the quality of this season was taken to an entirely new level. Following that, the last two episodes felt distinctly weaker and left me a little disappointed that certain arcs weren't continued.

First up is Barney/Never, the stronger of the two episodes that features Robin Williams (looking significantly older than I remember from my childhood). Williams and CK are the lone attendees of a man's funeral, and they quickly bond over their distaste for their deceased acquaintance. The show displays some of its trademark surrealist elements when the news of his death causes everyone at his favourite strip club to break into tears, and the nonplussed looks of the two men act as decent comic foil to the increasingly strange backdrop. That said, this segment feels a little short. C.K. could have done so much more with a guest of Robin Williams' caliber and the character of the deceased man isn't fleshed out enough to give the strip club scene as much impact as it should have.

The second part of the episode is a straight-up season-one awkward Louie throwback. Forced to look after an eccentric child while his mother "has her vagina removed," the episode plays out exactly as you'd expect—the kid running Louie ragged with his weird demands. Of course, the kind Louie tolerates him and concedes to his wishes without getting angry, even when the kid literally fills the bath with poo, and it felt like a nice change of pace after the emotionally-heavy tone of season three so far. It's good to know C.K. can still kick back and write some big, dumb slapstick or cringe comedy when he doesn't want to take things too deep.

Ikea/Piano Lesson is the weakest episode of the show since the season premiere. It attempts to reintroduce a range of women Louie has interacted with in the past, but with only twenty minutes of screen time to work with, it executes the whole thing in a rushed manner. It's schizophrenic that really reminds me of Something Is Wrong, and although the show has the ability to make sudden stylistic changes and sometimes work, these two episodes just don't quite pull it off. It's like a whirlwind tour of characters you forgot about. Hey, remember that girl that cried when Louie spanked her? Yeah me neither. If the show wants to delve deeper into these characters, it should devote an entire episode to it instead of giving us five minutes. Daddy's Girlfriend and the recurring character of Pamela show that Louie's best character moments come from long exposure. These are some interesting characters C.K. has created, but he isn't utilizing them to their full potential.

The more of this show I watch, the more I realize that I want a Louie movie. Bring back Pamela, explore the character of Liz, take Louie to Europe. Whatever it takes, just give C.K. some serious screen time to work with. When the show focuses on a central point for an episode, it's fantastic, but now we've seen how well C.K. can do this, going back to the old schizoid structure feels disjointed. These two episodes might have been collectively weak in comparison to what came before, but what preceded it was so good that I can't hate it too much for not being able to live up to it. We should all be completely confident Louie will ride the midseason storm and emerge for a strong finish.

Also, an interesting thing to note is that there were no stand-up segments in either episode. Subtle changes to this show are afoot, I can feel it.

Rating

7.0