Reply to Topic
I came into this season a bit skeptical. I'm growing tired of the show being nearly entirely about Louie's relationships with women. I enjoyed "Model" and "So Did the Fat Lady," though the latter episode's climactic rant went from being insightful and frightening to preachy and average by the end. The first few episodes of the Elevator arc were mediocre compared to the show's regular, and I was getting really annoyed at that point, finding the show's sincere treatment of Louie and Amia's relationship offensive when positioned directly after "So Did the Fat Lady." My favorite part of the first three episodes of that arc was an opening scene that showed Louie romantically shopping followed by awkwardly delivering his creation to Amia's aunt.
It wasn't until Part 4 that i think Louie made its return. From the therapy scene through the elegiac flashback, it exemplified what Louie does best, which is finding social and personal truth through humor (something I was first moved by in the "Heckler" half episode). This episode was in many ways the defining and turning point of the arc. The opening scene instantly brought legitimacy to his relationship with Amia as well as set up hurricane Jasmine-Forsyth as, among other things, the impending emotional reality of Louie's current life. By tying this whole scene together in a single, modest take, he spatially, and thereby emotionally, ties Amia to his daily life and we remember that this scene begins at the TV. This brief scene felt like a revelation and was a key guiding point in the arc.
The show has since been brilliant, from the smaller comedy of Todd Barry's minutely hilarious and depressing daily life, to the hilarious yet also emotionally stark "reality" (I wonder about Hertz's involvement in one of Louie's most expensive scenes) of the hurricane hitting New York. With the most recent episode, Louie has cemented himself as America's historian of the present. The gender politics that now clearly have been the season's focus are continuously real, fascinating and terrifying. Tonight's episode is one 90-minute show, and for the first week, I'm not at all skeptical of the show's continued abilities.
It wasn't until Part 4 that i think Louie made its return. From the therapy scene through the elegiac flashback, it exemplified what Louie does best, which is finding social and personal truth through humor (something I was first moved by in the "Heckler" half episode). This episode was in many ways the defining and turning point of the arc. The opening scene instantly brought legitimacy to his relationship with Amia as well as set up hurricane Jasmine-Forsyth as, among other things, the impending emotional reality of Louie's current life. By tying this whole scene together in a single, modest take, he spatially, and thereby emotionally, ties Amia to his daily life and we remember that this scene begins at the TV. This brief scene felt like a revelation and was a key guiding point in the arc.
The show has since been brilliant, from the smaller comedy of Todd Barry's minutely hilarious and depressing daily life, to the hilarious yet also emotionally stark "reality" (I wonder about Hertz's involvement in one of Louie's most expensive scenes) of the hurricane hitting New York. With the most recent episode, Louie has cemented himself as America's historian of the present. The gender politics that now clearly have been the season's focus are continuously real, fascinating and terrifying. Tonight's episode is one 90-minute show, and for the first week, I'm not at all skeptical of the show's continued abilities.
__________________
Mubi
Mubi
