(Sorry I'm late with this, not for the usual reasons -- not liking it -- but because all the floors in my house are being replaced and I'm ... busy.)
Raising a child is fraught with ... oh, what the hell do I know about it I've not done it, but Louis CK has. Anyway, one morning he's brushing his daughter's teeth and she comes out with this while discussing the split custody parenting situation with him:
"I like mama's better. I like mama's better because she makes better food. And I love her more, so I like being there more."
Louie says OK, but as she turns her back to walk away he give her the finger. And so would I. And a couple scenes later he starts working on making better food. And so would I.
There are things that happen in tonight's Louie premiere (FX on cable, 10:30 pm) that you will never see on another TV show. Period. And I'm not telling you what those things are because I hate spoiling the viewing experience for you.
What you need to know about the new season of this show is that it's even better than last go-round, it may elicit from you moments of real clarity about your life and relationships, you'll be moved ... and for the most part you'll laugh right through every scene.
Tonight, Louie's sister Gretchen shows up very pregnant and it opens up an entirely new vein for the show creator/writer/director to drain. Family, failed marriage, body issues, trust ... it's like he's reading my journal, if I had one.
Something happens (not telling) that tests Louie in a way that I don't think has happened before, and the sequence is shot and edited masterfully, there's real urgency and compromises with higher powers that happen right in front of you in an instant and you will get so wrapped into it that you'll find your breathing labored and pulse racing.
And the denouement of it all will slay you, just cut you into pieces, into happy funny laughing pieces.
BTW, great performance by Yul Vazquez, who you'll remember as Bob, one of the two intimidating gays from Seinfeld (think AIDS Walk and armoire ... yeah, that guy). The whole sequence hangs on his work here and it's perfect.
This is just the first of four outstanding episodes that I got from FX (thank you Kristy). The rest are actually even better than this one. With these four half hours Louis CK cements the fact that he is clearly among the best in his field as a writer and director.
Years from now when Louis CK is among the most respected auteurs in film these shows with be held up as some of the best television produced in this era.
My comments on Louie's season two lead-in, Wilfred starring Elijah Wood and Jason Gann, after the jump.
I've kinda sorta already written about the pilot episode of this (at this link), which I got my hands on very quickly because I loved the Australian version so much and all that kvelling online can get you stuff, you know?
(Thanks Kristy.)
Just about a boy and a dog, right? Sure, if your dog talks, and drinks, and smokes more weed than, uh, Smokey Smokerson (I'm all about avoiding lawsuits with generic nicknames).
Wilfred comes into Ryan's life at just the right time ... he's about to off himself. And that would be a shame b/c Ryan looks just like that cute Elijah Wood from LOTR with those big beautiful blue eyes you could lose yourself in and ... wait, what? Oh yeah, he's about to kill himself but he's not really good at it and after a failed attempt he runs into his neighbor and her dog.
And when he looks at this dog, he sees this:
I like to think of Wilfred as Ryan's evil cheerleader. Whatever he is, he's exactly what Ryan needs PLUS a lot more of what Ryan could seemingly do without.
From Robert Lloyd's review in the LA Times:
David Zuckerman, who adapted the series, has written many, many episodes of "Family Guy," a fact I will not hold against him. (There is a talking dog on that show too.) Randall Einhorn, who directed most of the series' 13 episodes, has worked on "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation" (and another, less successful Australian remake, "Kath & Kim"). The tone they have set between them is original and effective.
Wood, who has not exactly been burning up the screen in the eight years since "The Return of the King" was released, has found his best role since doing the Puppet Master dance on "Yo Gabba Gabba!" As a soft-centered ordinary guy being led into dangerous places and self-awareness, he is not, after all, a world away from Frodo. And Gann is so good and funny, so casually canine, it would have been senseless not to import him for the role. But it's also an advantage that he's an Australian in an otherwise American context; it makes him seem a little exotic, a little more "other," and also a little more dangerous. His country has a long acquaintance with convicts, after all.
So start the night with a boy and his dog and end it with divorced white guy trying to make sense of it all. I highly recommend both.
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