Curb Your Enthusiasm

The opening episode to the eighth season certainly delivered the laughs which is why I gave the episode a high score. However that does not mean the episode is not without its problems. The biggest problem for me was that it was very predictable. I knew that once Larry's attorney told him he had a great divorce settlement, Larry would mess it up in some way. As far as Larry having a problem with the fact that his attorney is a gentile, I have seen that before forty years ago on episodes of All in the Family. Funny, but flawed.

I have watched all seven seasons of curb, so I have a fairly solid classification of good and bad episodes. This episode was fun to watch, and see all the little plots take their course. However, I didn't laugh really at all, there weren't really any laugh out loud moments. The theme of divorce dragged down the comedy, as divorce is not really entertaining, especially when Larry is getting the short end of the stick. On the bright side, the trailer for the next episode made me laugh more than the entire episode did. So I won't worry just yet.

I don't think there's a show that I've consistently liked as much as "Curb Your Enthusiasm," at least in the comedy realm. Even if the show follows a strict format and seems to never stray from it, Larry David sure does know how to get laughs. And in the Season 8 premiere (insane that the show is on Season 8!), we get more of Larry David being perceived as a jerk and saying the wrong things and just annoying everybody. I thought the premiere was starting to show a few signs of aging, and there were moments that I thought weren't typical "Curb" quality, but overall, it's insane to say that the episode wasn't at least entertaining.



One thing I noticed about the episode was the way it screwed around with the typical format of the show. For the first time that I can remember, we get a quick reminder of what happened in last season's finale, where Larry questions Cheryl about leaving the rings on Julia Louis Dreyfuss' table. We quickly jump a year ahead, where Larry and Cheryl are getting a divorce. Larry has a great Jewish lawyer, so he's excited to get a great settlement, but he begins to change his mind about lawyers after he meets a charismatic Jewish lawyer at a restaurant. It doesn't help that Larry learns his current lawyer isn't Jewish but instead Swedish ("I got Sweded!") In the midst of all of this, Larry actually convinces Funkhouser to divorce his wife. In fact, divorce is a pretty heavy theme of the episode, as the title hints at. Larry is friends with the owner of the Dodgers (played here by Gary Cole), and he's going through a divorce as well. He offers box tickets to Larry for introducing him to his current lawyer. Oh, and the owner has a daughter who sells girl scout cookies, and while visiting Larry to sell them, she has her first period, leaving Larry in charge of teaching her how to use a tampon.



I'm pretty sure I've set the stage for the episode, and the fun of the episode is to watch how Larry David weaves everything together. Sure, it's not as graceful as most of his other episodes are, but it's funny, there's no arguing that. Some highlights that jump to mind: Larry pondering whether or not a woman would notice if he was faking a tic with Cheryl, Leon's whole rant to Funkhouser and Larry about divorcing women, the mention of a young Larry with a 'fro on a motor scooter… for a half hour comedy, there's a huge amount of individual scenes that stand out. We also get the perfect set-up to lead into Larry, Funkhouser and the Greens moving to New York. And I must admit, I absolutely love the fact that Leon is still following Larry everywhere. "Curb" without Leon would be an absolute shame.



I think the season will get better and better as time goes along. That's not to say that this episode was bad or anything. It was just one of the weaker premieres the show has had. But man, Larry David still can make an audience laugh eight years into the show.

Curb Your Enthusiasm, America's best sitcom, returned tonight and delivered a half hour full of laughs. Was it one of the best season premieres ever? No, far from it, but it was still a funny way to start off what might be the show's last season. Larry ended up losing in every regard, not too shocking there, but some of the storylines show that might be losing his creative genius and that is more problemsome than seeing a repeat of something done on Seinfeld before.



The supporting cast really did not come through tonight. Jeff had a few lines, as did Leon, but not up to par and Marty and Suzie were disappointing in their brief appearances. But Larry was funny in nearly all of his encounters.