TV Review -- Louie

Louie
Dr. Ben/Nick
FX Tuesdays 11 p.m.

This really should have been up a while ago, but I'll try to get a review of the fourth episode up soon so I can catch up with the shows live. However, I think it's been somewhat beneficial that I'm behind in these reviews, as it's given me a chance to see each episode twice so far, which gives me a better sense for which jokes really work and what each episode is really about.

And what is this episode about? Well, there's a couple options. On a surface level, it's about getting old. The opening stand-up segment talks about the downward spiral into old age, as C.K. remarks about how his body is basically slowly falling apart. It's not one of his funniest bits, but the episode quickly livens up the material by showing C.K. visiting a doctor who happens to be an old-friend of his, played by Ricky Gervais in a role that fits him to a tee. The interaction with the receptionist is pretty funny and very relatable (again, I could easily imagine that as part of a Seinfeld episode), and C.K.'s bafflement is great: "Do people like come here and steal medical treatment?" Then Gervais enters, and the next couple minutes are essentially a doctor-from-hell joke showcase that's just plain hilarious - C.K. asks Gervais to examine him, to which he says, "I know what's wrong with you. AIDS!" and laughs hysterically. It's a bizarre, widely different tone from the rest of this episode, but it's a testament to the strength of the show and its writing that it can transition so easily between the absurd and the everyday. The next stand-up bit is also just average, though it does bring up Seinfeld comparisons again in it's reference to Indian giving (I suppose it's also possible that I just think everything in life is a Seinfeld reference, which is mostly true). However, we get something slightly different here, as the camera follows C.K. as he wraps up his set and then stands aside to watch his comic friend Nick (from the previous episode) do his act - though not before we learn that black people don't tip.

Nick is utilized pretty damn effectively here. His stand-up bit is somewhat funny, and then gets downright uncomfortable when he brings up assassinating Obama. As a bleeding-heart "liberal fag" myself, I think Nick is a complete idiot, but he reminds me a lot of my uncle - and it's clear that his character is a great foil for C.K. Nick knows he's not very smart, but he's smart enough to sense that something is wrong with the way things are, and he takes this out on liberals and C.K. himself. Oh, and he's also a very proud person, and all this combines to make the fight between him and C.K. almost painful to watch. It's not comedy-violence - this is two middle-aged, overweight men scuffling in a bar, and Louie again showcases it's devotion to reality here by having Nick end up in the emergency room with a cut hand. At the hospital, C.K. and Nick have a discussion about marriage and their age, which ultimately reveals what I think Dr. Ben/Nick is getting at. C.K. wraps up the episode by talking about how a friend from the country came in to New York and was horrified at the sight of a homeless person, while he didn't even notice him. This reflects on the conversation between C.K. and Nick in the hospital - C.K. finds it very difficult to see that his friend's life is no better than his. The episode starts with C.K. expressing a huge degree of self-loathing about his body and his age, but it concludes on a message that suggests that his real problem is that he can't see that everyone faces some form of similar problems. Regardless, this is an episode that's a little front-loaded in terms of laughs (though the stand-up at the end has some good moments), but the back half is just as relevant to what this show is, even when it isn't delivering the laughs.

Grade: A-

"This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me, seeing that. And my dad hung himself in front of me. Whilst masturbating."