Episode Commentary: The Smiley Face
Last week’s episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm†was easily one of the best in the show’s history.
This past episode was easily one of the worst.
With all of the momentum the show had going for it, it’s a wonder what went on during the writing of this debacle of an episode. For one, Larry’s sexy new Palestinian lover has completely disappeared, replaced by the always-beautiful Rebecca Creskoff, a hostess from Larry’s favorite restaurant. While that’s not a problem as far as the eyes are concerned and Creskoff is talented, the total lack of continuity right from the start will make viewers go, “Wait a second.â€
The rest of the episode, you’ll just wait for something funny to happen. If sun block pranks and men named Dino help induce laughs, you’ll love this episode.
If not, you’ll wonder what happened to a show that was at its comedic best just a week before.
Sure, Curb doesn’t always have a logical story structure, but this time, this shift in story hurts this episode tremendously. After such a strong episode, why would you want to erase any and all remnants of it?
Above all else, it would have been nice to see the ramifications of Larry’s actions last week. Also, it would have been funny to see Funkhouser in his new Jewish persona again.
Add in weird roles by Hollywood veterans Michael Gross and Harry Hamelin, who do nothing to induce laughs and sadly, this episode never gets going.
Larry and the rest of the cast try hard to get laughs, but overall, this episode is pretty flat. The only times there’s even a remote snicker is at the end, when Larry, in spite of several warnings to stop dating the hostess of the restaurant [Jeff and Richard exclaim a few times during the episode, “You don’t **** where you eat.â€] gets served a bad meal.
While it’s obvious that Larry won’t learn his lesson here and continue his future shenanigans, lets hope that he and his creative team don’t serve up another stinker like this one.
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