TV Review: Louie 3.8, "Dad"
The closer Louie gets to his dad, the more unraveled the world around him becomes.
rating: 4.5
Advertisement
I was once told by a literature professor something to the effect that one should absorb art as if none of it were an accident. Thats a fairly daunting standard to live up to as a creator within any artistic medium namely because it invites the entire audience to hold the work under the most scrupulous of inspections. Im not unfamiliar with the sentiment that a piece of work of most any kind possesses a quality relative to that of ones perspective of it. In other words, the closer you look the more something falls apart. In tonights episode of Louie the entire universe showed signs of cracking under the weight of one assumption that ones father carries an insurmountable quantity of influence on ones world. I wont pretend to examine this episode as anything other than a novice critic applying vaguely psychological deconstruction methods according to rusty comprehensions of literary theory, but I think it may do the trick. Louie is a series which has the rare distinction of being among those which can withstand close scrutiny where the perception that each element constituting the work contributes to its overall statement. I cant help but feel compelled to acknowledge what I consider one of the most common criticisms of Louie, that its too busy trying to be arty and weird and isnt funny as a result. Granted each season tends to include a couple episodes which arguably toe the line to varying degrees of success: season one included the segments Mom, Dentist/Tarese, and God, season two had Eddie, Halloween, and Duckling, and this seasons had Miami and both parts of Daddys Girlfriend, all of which can be deemed pushing it even for Louies usual style of unconventional comic tragedy, but all of these episodes, Dad in particular, deserve recognition for juggling such heavy concepts with such profoundly worthwhile laughs. Dad was another episode which eschewed the usual opening credits this time in favor of Louies oldest daughter demonstrating considerable skill at the violin by playing an impressive and beautiful piece of music which is interrupted by Louies angry scolding commentary like Stop it! and Bullshit. The voice of Lucys father invading and decimating her admirable and moving performance was not only an absurdly amusing reference to CKs stand-up bit about stopping in the middle of New York City foot traffic to bend down and listen to his daughter tell him that, Sometimes dogs are brown, its also an apt symbol which sets the tone for the rest of the episode. The following scene in which Louie receives a phone call from his Uncle Excelsior in the middle of being humiliated and disrespected in an electronics store could be seen as the most out of place among the rest of the episode, despite the rule of comedy which states that out of shape men falling over is always funny. But really its the first in a pair of scenes which express how Louie feels in relation to his father. Not only does Louie characterize this relationship as one in which he feels embarrassed and neglected, but the first consequence of his uncles extravagantly shaming words from the Russian Tea Room, in which he compares the wretchedness of visiting Louies father to that of having unprotected sex with a prostitute, occur at the poker game during a discussion of Jim Nortons exposed adolescent extracurricular activities. The ridicule Jim receives of his acutely immature practice is marked as being a catalyst for Louie to process some of his emotions in regard to the notion of seeing his father. So not only does this prospect make Louie feel insignificant and vulnerable, but theyre inextricably connected to his associations with adolescence. Or perhaps the vomiting at the poker game occurred when it did because this is an environment in which Louie usually feels safe and comfortable, an environment of humor and light-heartedness, now comprised for a second time by the grossly captivating Sarah Silverman, which makes Louie feel confident enough that his body was able to force him to confront his delayed reactions. After his visit to the doctor (whom was not played by Ricky Gervais, something which disappointed me though I think was ultimately a good call) makes it abundantly clear that Louies physical symptoms are the result of a psycho-emotional ailment, deciding whether to visit his father, we start to see this prospects destructive consequences spill over from Louie to the external world around him: his drink spills on the plane ride to Boston, the city the planes attendant describes as being Louies dads home, he vomits on a car at the rental agency and is subsequently yelled at not only by the rental agency attendant in a very specific manner, but also by his suspiciously knowledgeable GPS, as well as by a frighteningly considerate and affectionate driver before his car window shatters unexpectedly. The closer Louie gets to his dad, the more unraveled the world around him becomes. Louie is the most successful utilizer of magic realism in TV since Six Feet Under both in terms of its comedic success and that of its ability to reveal the core of the issue at hand. Finally, once Louie is but a mere moment away from his father answering his door, Louie bolts away on foot at top speed before hopping on, albeit a highly fast and powerful machine, essentially a vehicle which resembles a childhood tricycle which takes him to a motorboat that Louie drives into the middle of the sea where he finally can be safely alone. At this point Louie laughs in an attempt at celebrating a victory, but he knows its a hollow one. I love the presence music exerts in Louie. Not only did Dad open with some gorgeous violin, but by its conclusion it shifts from the pulsing tone of dread used at Louies arrival at his dads to the action movie-esque guitar solo during the daring bike and boat ride escape, to a delicate piano solo upon his realization that even in avoiding his father Louie cannot escape his crushing and suffocating effects. The episodes closing is a stark contrast to its introduction, simple silence as the lone accent to Louies lonely defeat. We dont know any details about Louies father from Dad other than that its been two years since the character has seen him. Thats fine because the details arent what matter. What matters is Louies reactions to simply the idea of confronting his father. So earth-shattering is this prospect that it cant even be broached yet by Louie. It reminds me of how J.D. Salinger depicted the immense feelings his narrator of Seymour An Introduction held toward his dead brother by having the narrator avoid discussing his brother directly for the duration of the novella. Though these artists cant broach their respective topics directly, that doesnt stop them from getting their points across. The point of Dad is to express the significance a father has to his children, something CK has expressed throughout his career. The episode is so successful because it achieves this goal high on both comedic and emotional levels. This episode was by far the one for which my notes are the shortest, but it speaks volumes about how monumental a force ones father is even to the most hardened cynic, even one who believes normal includes a world view of boiler plate misery alone in the world, might as well be maggots sucking on a dead cats face, whats the point, nothing new perspective, one which CK somehow manages to nevertheless make look noble if not comically tragic.