Louie on FX - Page 12

He added a 10pm show in Tampa, and I didn't need another hint.  Ticket bought.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph P. Brenner 

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/grantland/player?id=8099523

Just listened to that earlier today. I think I might be even more in love with CK than I am with Fassbender.

I was disappointed by the first episode of the season. Well, not the whole thing. Just the stuff with the woman. He gave her way too much dialog and it was really grating. The motorcycle stuff was cute, though. Didn't mind that part. I'm optimistic about the rest of the season, especially after watching those clips above, but I really think that first episode stumbled a bit.

I've become a huge fan of Louis C.K. over the past year, but I think sometimes people give him too much of a free pass, even when his show doesn't completely work. I believe he should be held to a higher standard after how talented and potentially brilliant he has proven himself to be time and again.

The message of the woman stuff in that episode was really obvious. Sometimes women overreact and overthink in relationships and their neurotic worrying makes men uncomfortable. Some men are too afraid to speak up in response and want to hang on to the relationship even if they know it has no future, because they're too insecure and needy to admit the truth.

This is part of the danger of listening to so many radio shows and interviews C.K. has done. I know so many of his philosophical ideas already that when he just regurgitates them in the context of his show, it's a bummer. But I'm sure he has a lot of surprises and really unexpectedly funny and insightful stuff to come later in the season. Despite being let down by the season opener, I still expect great things from this season.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naisu Baddi 

The message of the woman stuff in that episode was really obvious. Sometimes women overreact and overthink in relationships and their neurotic worrying makes men uncomfortable. Some men are too afraid to speak up in response and want to hang on to the relationship even if they know it has no future, because they're too insecure and needy to admit the truth.

Wow, that's a completely wrong-headed reading of that episode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bucho 

 

Just listened to that earlier today. I think I might be even more in love with CK than I am with Fassbender.

Here's his previous appearance:

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=7355722

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=7355735

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Dickson 

 

Wow, that's a completely wrong-headed reading of that episode.

It's the "women overreact" part of Naisu's post that seems grossly inaccurate. My interpretation was that everything the girl was sussing out and saying was right on the money. Louie is just too much of a pussy and intellectual child to say what he's feeling out loud, so she did all the work for him. That what you took from it too, Dickson?

Although, I actually agree that this wasn't a terribly strong opening episode. Marginally funny, marginally clever ... but not really exceptional in any way. But, hey, it's just the premiere. No doubt great stuff is coming.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zak chase 

 

It's the "women overreact" part of Naisu's post that seems grossly inaccurate. My interpretation was that everything the girl was sussing out and saying was right on the money. Louie is just too much of a pussy and intellectual child to say what he's feeling out loud, so she did all the work for him. That what you took from it too, Dickson?

 

Although, I actually agree that this wasn't a terribly strong opening episode. Marginally funny, marginally clever ... but not really exceptional in any way. But, hey, it's just the premiere. No doubt great stuff is coming.

Right, but his reaction wasn't in response to her overreacting and overthinking, it was in response to her being right.

amazing episode. Louie just sitting there reacting to the girl was sublime. Of course in order for the bit to work the woman in question never turned angry or mean, but it was still hysterical and had enough truth in it.

To those who found the woman grating or Louie's response mystifying....just live...get older, get married or have a long term relationship....and then come back to this and see how incredibly fucking funny it is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Dickson 

 

Right, but his reaction wasn't in response to her overreacting and overthinking, it was in response to her being right.

Yep.

By the way, "intellectual child" isn't really what I meant in that last post. More like "emotionally stunted."

Yeah, guys, I get the fact that the woman was supposed to be right. I was saying that in the context of the episode, this isn't made very clear, so she just looks she's overreacting to nothing.  We as viewers have no knowledge of what's actually going on in their relationship because we haven't seen it, and the Louie character does nothing to help us understand it, because C.K. thinks it's funnier if his character is too cowardly to respond.

The only reason I know she was right is because I know enough about the real Louie (not the character on the show) to know that he was using the woman character as a mouthpiece for his actual thoughts about relationships. I've heard him say what she said at the end of the episode (almost verbatim) on the radio. How are we supposed to know in the episode that her suspicions are correct?

If the Louie character would acknowledge it, maybe, but then we wouldn't have his "hilarious" inability to express himself. I think this is an example of the danger of Louis C.K. thinking it's funnier to make his character stupider than he is (something he's admitted to doing many times).

Sometimes it works (like when he's awkwardly trying to kiss women), but in this case, I don't think it does. He wrote himself into a corner here. The episode would make more sense if Louie spoke up, but C.K. is so committed to that running gag of inarticulateness that he had to make the woman practically talk to herself.

Like I said, it was grating and obvious. It's like him just lecturing us through that woman character, who comes across as hysterical and overreacting. And since I'd already heard him say the ideas he put in her mouth, it was boring to me. As I admitted earlier, part of my difficulty with enjoying this episode was being too familiar without Louie's point of view from other media. But even if I hadn't been, I thought that half of the episode was clunky and didn't work as a standalone piece.

Except we've seen two seasons of the Louie character, so we do know him.

Yes, I suppose that knowledge implies a bit. Still, I would have preferred if the conversation hadn't been so one-sided. The way it was written just got on my nerves. Anyway, I'm sick of being negative about this, so I'll say what I did like about the episode.

The whole motorcycle ordeal was very satisfying. I especially loved how New York was shot when he was riding around. If nothing else, this show is always beautifully shot...that's one way you can always be sure this show will be consistent. The writing is hit and miss (inevitable with how experimental and risk-taking C.K. is), but he always brings it as a director.

The conversation about her work was so money.

her 'bitching about work'

him "why dont you quit your job?'

her (slightly angered)  "why don't you quit your job?'

him (mystified and under his breath) 'I like my job'

That conversation has been replayed on endless loops and endless variations for as long as men and women have spent time together. The scene was elemental, it is summarized beautifully why marriages die and relationships change, and it was funny as hell. I dont think I have ever seen a stronger opening to a season of television.

Not only do I relate to a lot of his stand up material, but this show is so goddamn realistic sometimes it's scary. More so than any other comedy on TV.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/louis-ck-on-eating-pressure-and-providing-an-alter,82102/

Obama.

One of the outright funniest episodes of this show so far, but I'm still waiting for the A-Game.

Great fucking episode this week. Much better than last week's only half good episode. This is more the kind of thing I hope for from this show. Spectacular use of a guest star and I like how "Obama" is becoming like this show's catchphrase. My only (very minor) quibble is that as a continuity nerd, Louis C.K.'s blatant disregard for continuity is starting to upset me.

Last week, he crashed his motorcycle and got put in the hospital (the best part of that episode). Surely I wasn't the only one certain that the character was done with motorcycles after that. Yet this week he's just riding a motorcycle again like nothing happened?!? Come on, Louie! Give us SOME continuity, dammit. Also, Joe, I love the gifs.

That's not a continuity issue. Certainly he does love to mess with it, though. Which is a great part of the show, I think.

Anyway, great stuff.

The final scene was Louie at his ... I dunno, A-Gamiest? Dark, hilarious, raw and unexpected. Loved it.

I also loved his analysis of his daughter's joke.

That opening scene at the dinner table was so gentle and sweet.  Almost like he was saying, "Hey, I know what's coming up later, so here's a few minutes of cute girls telling knock-knock jokes."

Yes, HIs daughters in the beginning was definitely meant to balance out the shit to come. He called back to it during the credits.

Best episode so far. So dark, and at every pause you don't know which way he is going to go, and when you look at it again you realize that the way he went was the funniest of all possible ways.

Also: the French pop music to lull into a false sense that there will not be female-on-male oral rape and assault.

"...Yeah, sure."

I love his blatant disregard for continuity. It's a method of convienience, sure but he has to also know that it pisses of a certain (large) segment that use fiction and media as a feeble way to order their lives.

Is every Woody Allen movie supposed to happen in a canonical "Woody-verse"?

If there was a sit-com of Waiting for Godot, do you think Beckett would care about continuity? 

Well that's it ladies and gentlemen. Time to pack our bags.

Melissa Leo just raped Louis CK. Is there anything left for TV to do?

My own fault for spoiling the episode for myself via this thread, but turns out that made no difference. Holy shit, this was end-to-end brilliant, and Leo is a goddamn tornado. As for the newly recurring catchphrase, I love how Louis is using "Obama" as either clueless hopefulness and now also why anything is wrong, ever. Obama being responsible for men not reciprocating oral sex, that son of a bitch.

"Your sperms are dying in my mouth right now, goddammit!"

I'm just going to pretend that Leo won her Oscar for this performance rather than THE FIGHTER.  

So... is the use of the word "fuck" in cable network programming inevitable at this point? Because its exclusion seems like a bizarre formality to cling to after allowing that gloriously filthy exchange between Louis and Melissa.

Louie has explained in interviews how FX has these odd rules with profanity where he can get away with some extremely profane language, yet some words are off-limits. Sometimes the taboos are determined only by the personal preferences of executives. He's had many long, thoughtful conversations with lawyer-types about this.

For example, it's okay to say "suck a cock" or "cum on my balls", but he can't say "cocksucker" because some executive doesn't like that word. Also, "fuck" and "cunt" are just completely forbidden with no exceptions.

Doesn't really make sense given the other stuff he's allowed to say, and it's a bummer when it causes bleeping to obstruct his stand-up bits. What I find strangest is that apparently the bleeps are kept on the DVD releases. Can anyone confirm that?

Tonight's episode DESTROYED the previous two (neither of which did much for me). In fact, it may be my favorite episode of the series overall. Amazing half-hour of television, and when people call Louie CK a visionary and an auteur, this is what they're talking about. Hilarious, touching and awkward all at once.

He's not afraid to go wordless for long stretches of episode.

I thought the lifeguard would not like his comedy and have to ask himself if was worth saving a lousy comic instead of an astronaut or brain surgeon.

He didn't go there, but there was enough space that he let that joke almost tell itself.

Loved the third episode as much as the second. Very happy to see this season getting into a groove after the disappointing first episode. Even though I enjoyed the whole episode, what I liked most was what Louie showed us during the closing credits.

He must have realized how ridiculous it would look for him to attempt to direct an episode while wearing swimming trunks in a real body of water, with his crew around him holding equipment in swimming trunks as well. That visual was simultaneously funny in an adorable way and just fascinating for the technical feat it showed.

I always get a kick out of the behind-the-scenes stuff in the closing credits (like the alternate takes of the bottle drop or actors trying to nail their lines) in past seasons and I thought this was the best instance of that yet.

I kept waiting for the reveal that Ramon was interested in Louie, but I guess I should have given him more credit than that.

Loved last nights episode. Probably my favorite episode of the entire series so far.

It was funny, I was expecting the Ramon loves Louie bit during the first 10 minutes, instead we get Ramon thinks Louie wants him and is uncomfortable......which was brilliant. Louie is taking on PC cliches...setting us up and then knocking us over. First the female rape bit, now this?? And I still maintain that the first episode was great. There has been a lot of great comedy out there recently, but what Louie is doing is art. Can't wait until the next episode.

Thinking about the last scene and Louis' joke, this is a very potent episode. In the end Louis would rather Ramon think he wanted to fuck him than admit he just wanted some companionship. That ultimately, emotional openess and admition of vulnerability is the biggest faux pas for men.

That episode was wonderful!

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelios 

Thinking about the last scene and Louis' joke, this is a very potent episode. In the end Louis would rather Ramon think he wanted to fuck him than admit he just wanted some companionship. That ultimately, emotional openess and admition of vulnerability is the biggest faux pas for men.

I think you are probably right, but a little % of his reaction was due to not getting into detail of "he didn't mean to say that scenario", that's way he let his ex-girlfriend broke with him.

I think there was room for intpretating a certain ammount of reluctance to appear homophobic to the point of not even announcing his heterosexuality.

"I'm not-"

"But, I'm not-" 

"I'm not..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by dr.cyclops 

I think there was room for intpretating a certain ammount of reluctance to appear homophobic to the point of not even announcing his heterosexuality.

 

"I'm not-"

"But, I'm not-" 

"I'm not..."

I read that completely differently. I thought his reluctance to say it was more based in being PC.....sort of harkens back to the Seinfeld "not that there is anything wrong with that".

I read it how Stelios read it: That Louis was slightly embarrassed Ramon thought he was gay but was even more embarrassed about the real reason he was sticking around -- because Ramon was a cool guy who was showing him things he had never seen before and making him feel alive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3nnui 

I read that completely differently. I thought his reluctance to say it was more based in being PC.....sort of harkens back to the Seinfeld "not that there is anything wrong with that".

No that's exactly what I was trying to say as well ("No homo").

lol, at rereading the thread, I actually completely agree with cyclops....i was disagreeing with stelios.....another quick response fail.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zak chase 

I read it how Stelios read it: That Louis was slightly embarrassed Ramon thought he was gay but was even more embarrassed about the real reason he was sticking around -- because Ramon was a cool guy who was showing him things he had never seen before and making him feel alive.

CK does a stand-up bit in a similar vein, and as a guy who's moved into a new area, it's so true - that whole "hey dude, I had a GREAT time hanging with you, and I really like you, can we be friends?" conversation is just, well, kinda weird - or at least uncomfortable, because you're putting yourself out there for rejection. 

And I think that was part of the point as well - the final conversation was uncomfortable because Louie didn't want to appear to be anti-gay, and also didn't really want to open himself up for rejection - though instead of staying an extra couple days and having a weird end to it, it probably could have been avoided with a "hey, what's your #, I'll give you a call next time I'm in town." 

Hmm, my reading of the episode is that Louie actually was sexually and emotionally attracted to Ramon. He was trying to convince himself that he just wanted companionship, but realizes deep down that it's more than that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z.Vasquez 

Hmm, my reading of the episode is that Louie actually was sexually and emotionally attracted to Ramon. He was trying to convince himself that he just wanted companionship, but realizes deep down that it's more than that.

Interesting. I feel like the whole, "look at those hotels full of lonely people", moment and the hitting on the girls at the party was meant to imply that Louie really enjoyed Ramon's close knit, familial culture.

I like that we are discussing this likes it's Raymond Carver or John Cheever story from a lit. class.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dr.cyclops 

I like that we are discussing this likes it's Raymond Carver or John Cheever story from a lit. class.

Why not? It can support it, both in the text itself and in between the lines.