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December 7, 2005
The End for Curb Your Enthusiasm?
A lot of people are complaining that this year's Curb Your Enthusiasm just isn't as good as previous seasons. I think it's hard to compare against Season 4, which featured a number of ongoing plots that offered plenty of comedic situations: Larry getting a "free pass" from his wife Cheryl to have an affair on their tenth anniversary; Larry trying to fulfill this goal with a filthy mouthed Arabic woman hilariously portrayed by Gina Gershon; and playing the lead role in Mel Brooks' The Producers. The last episode took this joke further than I would have believed possible, as Larry David really did perform some musical numbers from the Broadway hit.
In the just concluded Season 5, Larry David doesn't have such monumental tasks to overcome. Instead he has a quest to find out if he was adopted, if his dog is a racist, and if he can figure out a way to avoid donating his kidney to Richard Lewis. Larry David's curmudgeonly persona on Curb is just as selfish as the fab four on Seinfeld. If this season was about anything, it was about Larry's undeniable selfishness. His best friend throughout the series, the comedian Richard Lewis, is experiencing kidney failure. At the bottom of the donor list, Lewis needs a new kidney pretty quickly. Larry and his manager Jeff get tested and sure enough, they are both viable donors. After a childish game, Larry is selected to make the sacrifice for his friend-but he just can't bear to give up his organ. One of the best episodes has Larry pretending to be an orthodox Jew so that he can buddy up to the doctor heading up the kidney donor program. Larry takes things to such an extreme, that he invites the doctor to Aspen (Larry hates to ski) and even swaps wives with Jeff (because Cheryl is a shiksa). The scene where Larry concocts a story about his life with Susie is funny, but it's even funnier when Larry tries to crawl into bed with her. I always thought there is a great deal of sexual tension between Larry and Susie.
The last episode resolves the Richard Lewis situation in an unexpected way. Larry's private investigator tells Larry that he is adopted. His real parents live in Arizona, and on their first meeting, Larry realizes that they are not Jewish. This revelation turns Larry's world upside down. He enters the world of Protestants with abandon, accompanying his newfound parents everywhere. When a church visit makes Larry revisit the meaning of friendship and self-sacrifice, he rushes back home to give his kidney to Lewis. Things go wrong, as they always do when Larry tries to do unselfish deeds. Richard Lewis winds up healthy on the beach in Hawaii (sipping drinks with a healthy babe) while Larry is on his deathbed. The Rabbi from Season 4's "The Survivor" shows up and asks Larry if he wants to be forgiven for anything he had done in the past. We see all the myriad ways that Larry has been mean to people throughout the past five seasons. And then Larry dies. He dies, and goes to heaven. Dustin Hoffman appears as Larry's guide to the afterlife. Heaven is a pretty good place: Ben Hogan wants to play golf with Larry and Marilyn Monroe is a big fan of Seinfeld. Larry even got a hall pass from Cheryl to fool around until she arrives. But Larry cannot even make Heaven work out properly; an argument with the Guide sends him back to the land of the living.
This episode gives us more insight to Larry's wife. I love Cheryl Hines-I think she's cute, sexy, and sweet. But I can't understand why this woman remains married to such a creep. Let's face it; Larry David's character on the show is somewhere just below Basil Fawlty in terms of meanness and cruelty. In one episode, Larry tells Cheryl that if he knew a nuclear bomb would be detonated in Los Angeles, he wouldn't wait to pick her up and get out of town. When they are re-writing their wedding vows, Larry doesn't like the clause that says they'll be together forever-he thinks they'll just be together on Earth, not Heaven. Larry makes big deals out of small things, like when Cheryl wants him to go to a bar for a drink before dinner. And the whole "free pass" thing is just too wild for a sweet girl like Cheryl. But now we know why Cheryl has endured all this cruelty for so long. When Larry's heart stops beating during "The End", the first thing that Cheryl does is ask the lawyer how much money Larry left her-and to make sure that Jeff repays Cheryl for a debt. OK, this makes more sense now: Cheryl married this mean old man for his Seinfeld money!
Is this The End of Curb Your Enthusiam? Larry David said in a Sept. 2005 interview that he wasn't sure. This sure feels like a farewell episode to me. I think this series has been consistently original, bold, and funny, but maybe it's time for CYE to disappear while it's on top. Nuff said.
Comments
The answer to every dilemna...WWLDD (What WOuld Larry David Do?). I just got a WWLDD t-shirt - best gift I ever got! CYE has given me a whole new perspective on life - here's to Larry, going another season!
Posted by: Michael | December 13, 2005 2:56 PM
