TV Recap: Louie - "Pamela: Part 2"

Left to right: Louis C.K. and Pamela Adlon

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.

In the penultimate episode, we finally return to the "Pamela" story. Last that we saw everyone, Louis C.K. had controversially failed at raping Pamela (Pamela Adlon) by giving her a sloppy kiss. It is a moment that has caused controversy on the internet and has left C.K. with the claim that he is building to something greater. Everything he's done is building to a grander narrative. The only question is, what exactly does "Pamela" have to do with wrapping up a season involving body issues, foreign languages, and juvenile delinquency? That's not entirely clear in "Pamela: Part 2."

Upon apologizing for the uncomfortable incident that happened, C.K. asks Pamela out. After reluctantly denying him, she agrees to his demands. They go to an art exhibit that features elusive art that includes several fecal-based exhibits and a lot of people lying on the floor. After making fun of it, they decide to have dinner. After that, they head to Grand Central Park, where C.K. has planned them to sit underneath a meteor shower that wows Pamela. She falls for him hard and makes out with him.

As she is set to leave his apartment later that night, C.K. tries to deny her. She feels uncomfortable, but C.K. says that he wants her to leave if she's not willing to be with him. This leads to the two sending each other pictures of their underwear and other private areas. As things progress, Pamela teases him by asking if he wants to see everything. When he says yes, she lures him into the bedroom where the two spend the rest of the night.

The next day, Janet (Susan Kelechi-Wilson) drops the kids off. Much to C.K.'s surprise, he forgot that he was looking after Jane (Ursula Parker) and Lilly (Hadley Delany) that day. They eventually find Pamela in C.K.'s bedroom and begin hounding her with questions. The most notable one is if she is dating their father. She denies it and decides to go on insulting his physical appearance. Everyone laughs before deciding to get something to eat.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Left to right: Ursula Parker, Adlon, Delany, and C.K.

For the entire run of the show, there hasn't been a more reliable duo than that of C.K. and Pamela. Over the course of Louie, he has had many strange girlfriends and ones that seem to disappear with the closing credits. Even then, there has been one woman who has sat through it all. Well, she disappeared for most of the series only popping up randomly for the sake of insulting C.K.. However, she has long been dubbed the female C.K., and that is probably what the show needs. She exists in these episodes as the alternative opinion to that of C.K., who has seemed rather vocal on being strange this season.

The question was how things were going to bounce back after the "rape" scene that happened in "Part 1." The answer was oddly brushed over with Pamela not being all that offended. As it stands, people will find issues with it. However, there is still the feeling that this whole relationship isn't going to work out. We don't know why it needs to be told in three parts, but C.K. has ulterior motives and let's just humor him on it. In fact, that is how most of the episode plays. Friendly banter back and forth as the two come to terms with their strange, storied romance. While it is far less satisfying than season three's "Daddy's Girlfriend" arc (nothing really tops it), it works well for whatever is going on this season.

So the question is, what really is going on this season? How does "In the Woods" tie in to the grander themes other than to help explain why C.K. is sometimes a little bit of a delinquent? It doesn't really. It may have been a nice artistic exercise, but overall, it doesn't really add much. While "Elevator" gets explored more-so in "Part 3," I don't exactly get "In the Woods" and why it had to break up these three episodes. I am confident that I will be exploring this in grander detail in my TV Retrospective next week. For the time being, I find the energy great, but the show went into too much of a self-serving direction.
For most of the season, we have been seeing C.K. become more self-involved. Not in the spontaneous, experimental way that has been enduring. Instead, it has been about his emotional resonance with people and family. Even in the case where Jane was bad in school, it has felt glossed over simply so that C.K. could brave a storm and rescue his family. This is all a season of C.K. trying to make himself look greater than he is. I know that I haven't flat out given an episode a bad review, but tonally it does drag most of the preconceived notions down.

With "Pamela," it does feel like it only completes the idea of C.K. being important. He wows this woman by taking her to the park to look at shooting stars. He makes fun of artists (deservingly so) for doing terrible installments. It is still melancholy, but the hiatus seems to have taken the spike out of Louie in a lot of ways. He is still adding the French New Wave artisan to his narration, but they feel secondary to the ego. Even the idea that Pamela would humor C.K. by taking pictures of private areas seems a little bizarre, even given their relationship.

While "Part 2" isn't really that much of a problem here, "Part 3" has a lot of conflicts that I will likely get into. I usually like seeing Pamela around, but this just feels like a less interesting rehash of the "Daddy's Girlfriend" story of season three. Two cynical people being less cynical together. Not all that fun. It has weight for the barrage of insults that cap the episode, but everything in between is just enjoyable moments that feel like the show has come to the point where Louie is obsessed with Louie. Not quite the greatest route to go, if you ask me.