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| Left to right: Eszter Balint and Louis C.K. |
Welcome to the return of TV Recap on the FX comedy series Louie. After over a year off, Louis C.K. returns to TV with one of the most innovative, funny, and disturbing shows on TV. Join me as I chronicle season four's highs and lows and see just where he winds up next. His irreverent take is sure to keep you laughing and with back-to-back episodes, double your pleasure on a weekly basis with recaps every Tuesday and Wednesday unless specified. So join the fun, watch some of the most innovative TV out there and bring your own thoughts into the discussion.
*Right at the top, I want to apologize for this extreme lateness and alteration from the regular schedule. There were a series of personal events that kept me from meeting this week's deadline that will hopefully not be an issue in the future.
There's plenty to enjoy about Louie and there's something promising about what's to come. After "So Did the Fat Lady" turned in one of the show's greatest episodes, we begin the trek into the second half of the season. Yes, it is over half on technicality, but based on rumors going around, "Elevator: Part 1" is the start on a blitzkrieg of episodes that will chronicle essentially a singular story for the rest of the season. To many, this sounds a little strange for a series that prides itself on spontaneity. For me, it feels like the greatest thing that the series could do, especially after testing the waters last season with a three episode arc that ranks among the best on TV in any category.
The episode opens with Lilly (Hadley Delany) having a nightmare and convinced that she is currently existing in a better dream. This carries over to the following day when Louis C.K. takes her and Jane (Ursula Parker) to their mothers via the subway. After running through some rules, they hop on. Lilly is convinced that she is still in a dream and decides to hop off at the last minute. This causes C.K. and Jane to have to make an aggressive trek back to the initial subway in order to get her. C.K. yells at her for being inconsiderate. When arriving at Janet's (Susan Kelechi Watson) house, she handles the girls while C.K. heads back to his apartment.
There he runs into a situation regarding an elevator. An elderly woman named Evanka (Ellen Burstyn) is inside the elevator which is stuck between floors. Along with Patrick the repairman (Gary Wilmes), they are trying to get her out. At some point, Evanka asks C.K. to run to her apartment and get her medication. He tosses her the keys and he runs up to get it. He sees a relative of hers sleeping on the couch named Amia (Eszter Balint). Upon giving her the medication, Evanka wants C.K. to then go get her to inform her of the situation.
During this time, Patrick has called the fire department to come help. He doesn't want to risk her jumping out in case the elevator starts up again. As C.K. enters Evanka's apartment, he looks over the sleeping body and attempts to wake her. Amia doesn't react well and ends up attacking him with household items, which makes him flee to his room. He ends up running straight into his apartment. Amia later apologizes and gives him baked goods as an apology. The episode ends with C.K. doing stand-up on the potential of one of his daughters wanting to be a man.
Rating: 4 out of 5
While I enjoy recapping Louie twice a week, there is one issue with the recent format. The episodes are released in a sort of jarring manner. Where "Model"/"So Did the Fat Lady" feel like one concrete juxtaposition on beauty, splitting them up by weeks only makes it hard to focus directly on their connections. Thus is the case with "Elevator: Part 1." I can only really judge based on merit of the episode, which was solid for a Louie episode, but I feel like it was too much introduction and not enough meaty material. We meet Evanka and Amia, who may become interesting characters. The only thing is, we don't know that yet.
I understand that in theory, this is an argument that can be lobbied against season three's choice to make episodes that spanned a singular story. There was tensity with the Late Night story line that is rather impressive and could carry the weight when joined together. Maybe the choice to place the episodes twice in one night is where things begin to fall apart. There is a desire to be more cohesive and well built. Even if nobody expected this episode to lead into another, the tip-off of "Part 1" is too much of a tease to suggest otherwise. Yes, Louie episodes have ended before on this anticlimactic of a note, but with this seeming like the first chapter of a story, it could only question where to go.
Maybe things will flow together next week, provided that it is Part 2 and Part 3. As IMDb is where I am getting this information, there is subject to this being inaccurate. However, the only real thing that can be dissected as a concrete subject in this episode is the opening with the phenomenal subway sequence. It places all of the peril and energy that Louie can bring to an episode. He may be a loser in some ways, but he is a caring man deep down. Also, it seems like a logical excuse for him to yell at a kid, so thank the show for finding ways around things that should seem wrong.
But as a whole, this episode needs its other parts to feel like a whole. Besides the subway scene, it was C.K. trying to get somebody their medicine. The situation was absurd enough to be intriguing, but there has to be more weight than what's present. Who knows what Evanka and Amia will bring to the next topic. I am presuming that the elevator is only a starting point. Where can things possibly go? Maybe within the confines of a singular story the spontaneity will feel more focused, but more than anything, this leaves the question on where exactly it can go to possibly top where it has gone before.
The episode opens with Lilly (Hadley Delany) having a nightmare and convinced that she is currently existing in a better dream. This carries over to the following day when Louis C.K. takes her and Jane (Ursula Parker) to their mothers via the subway. After running through some rules, they hop on. Lilly is convinced that she is still in a dream and decides to hop off at the last minute. This causes C.K. and Jane to have to make an aggressive trek back to the initial subway in order to get her. C.K. yells at her for being inconsiderate. When arriving at Janet's (Susan Kelechi Watson) house, she handles the girls while C.K. heads back to his apartment.
There he runs into a situation regarding an elevator. An elderly woman named Evanka (Ellen Burstyn) is inside the elevator which is stuck between floors. Along with Patrick the repairman (Gary Wilmes), they are trying to get her out. At some point, Evanka asks C.K. to run to her apartment and get her medication. He tosses her the keys and he runs up to get it. He sees a relative of hers sleeping on the couch named Amia (Eszter Balint). Upon giving her the medication, Evanka wants C.K. to then go get her to inform her of the situation.
During this time, Patrick has called the fire department to come help. He doesn't want to risk her jumping out in case the elevator starts up again. As C.K. enters Evanka's apartment, he looks over the sleeping body and attempts to wake her. Amia doesn't react well and ends up attacking him with household items, which makes him flee to his room. He ends up running straight into his apartment. Amia later apologizes and gives him baked goods as an apology. The episode ends with C.K. doing stand-up on the potential of one of his daughters wanting to be a man.
Rating: 4 out of 5
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| Belint |
I understand that in theory, this is an argument that can be lobbied against season three's choice to make episodes that spanned a singular story. There was tensity with the Late Night story line that is rather impressive and could carry the weight when joined together. Maybe the choice to place the episodes twice in one night is where things begin to fall apart. There is a desire to be more cohesive and well built. Even if nobody expected this episode to lead into another, the tip-off of "Part 1" is too much of a tease to suggest otherwise. Yes, Louie episodes have ended before on this anticlimactic of a note, but with this seeming like the first chapter of a story, it could only question where to go.
Maybe things will flow together next week, provided that it is Part 2 and Part 3. As IMDb is where I am getting this information, there is subject to this being inaccurate. However, the only real thing that can be dissected as a concrete subject in this episode is the opening with the phenomenal subway sequence. It places all of the peril and energy that Louie can bring to an episode. He may be a loser in some ways, but he is a caring man deep down. Also, it seems like a logical excuse for him to yell at a kid, so thank the show for finding ways around things that should seem wrong.
But as a whole, this episode needs its other parts to feel like a whole. Besides the subway scene, it was C.K. trying to get somebody their medicine. The situation was absurd enough to be intriguing, but there has to be more weight than what's present. Who knows what Evanka and Amia will bring to the next topic. I am presuming that the elevator is only a starting point. Where can things possibly go? Maybe within the confines of a singular story the spontaneity will feel more focused, but more than anything, this leaves the question on where exactly it can go to possibly top where it has gone before.
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