"What's 'real' got to do with what we do?" Jerry Seinfeld to Larry David.
What indeed? That line appears early on in "The Bare Midriff," one of the stranger Curb Your Enthusiasms I've seen, yet still something of an improvement over the last two episodes.
It was an interesting mix. We spent a lot of time on Larry and Jerry's obsessions over social rules (Who should slide over in the restaurant booth when a third person arrives? How loudly should one honk at another driver?), but also saw some flat-out craziness (the flashback to 1963, the fake miracle, Larry getting arrested for stealing napkins, Lewis getting run over by Maureen's mom, Larry saving himself from a fatal fall by grabbing Maureen's belly).
I said last week that I wanted to see more of the Seinfeld reunion plot, and we got that this week, sort of. It's clear now that Larry and Jerry are having as much trouble writing the reunion show as Jerry and George did with their pilot. (Although, judging by the white board in their office, it seems like maybe Jerry and Larry have too many ideas to work with, where Jerry and George had too few.)
I'm looking forward to seeing the whole cast together again to actually rehearse this thing, which should go about as smoothly as Maureen's mother's honeymoon.
Some other thoughts:
- This episode was pretty overstuffed with characters (Jerry, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Maureen, her mother, Richard Lewis), but it still would have been nice to see Jeff and Susie.
- I love how Larry David continues to push this idea that bald people are an oppressed minority.
- During the discussion with Jerry about honking, I'm surprised Larry didn't pitch his story about the Aamco commercial -- from waayyy back in season one -- as a plotline for the reunion.
Tom Coombe
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