(S06E10) "He probably read gerbil magazine and you're f*ckin' on the cover!" - Richard Lewis
Wow. That was all over the place and I loved every second of it. It might actually be the best season finale this show has had yet. Better than the incest survivors group. Better than the happy ending massage. Better than the restaurant that Larry helped open. Better than The Producers. Better than Larry dying and then snapping out of it. Why's that? Because for the entire 40 minute episode, there was only one question on your mind: Did he really stick a gerbil up his ass?
The only issue? We never got an answer. Sure, the gerbil was missing. But was it really in Larry's ass? It would explain his phantom anal tickle. The one thing that leads me to suspect otherwise is that had it really been up there, I'm pretty sure it would have started to rot or severely irritate him. This episode must have spanned a week! You can't leave a gerbil in your ass that long! I still can't believe he told Nurse Frau Farbissina that though. What did he expect to happen?
It sort of worked out for Larry though, whether that little fur-ball was in his butt or not. The Blacks' new house was ready, but rather than move out right away, they hung around for an extra day hoping to find the gerbil. No dice. It did, however, allow Larry to ask Loretta to go with him to Jeff's daughter Sammy's bat mitzvah. They went. They danced. They slept together. Larry adopted the family essentially and he and Loretta became this pseudo-married couple and even sent out holiday cards together! He was lonely... and they stayed. It's oddly sweet if you look at it that way.
Did you ever think you'd see the day that Larry David would join a black family? All of this was made even better by the fact that Cheryl saw Larry and Loretta dancing and she clearly looked angry/jealous. If and when the show comes back for a seventh season (it has to... right?), I'm sure we'll be seeing Cheryl come back for her man. After the way we saw Loretta yell at Susie though, Cheryl better be ready for a fight.
The big question? Is Larry doing all this on purpose, fully knowing that Cheryl saw? Knowing that this will make Cheryl jealous since he's living the life she always wanted, but with Loretta? However, there was no shot acknowledging that Larry saw Cheryl pouting as she danced with Glen. So maybe Larry really has fallen for Loretta. He can certainly be himself with her.
More stuff on my mind...
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Acting like a retard to scare people off... wow. Genius and horribly offensive all at the same time.
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What was the deal with Paula (I think that was her name)? She was sort of like the female Larry. Quirky, irritating... I just would have liked to see more of her.
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Having everyone think that you have a gerbil up your butt must be a horrible feeling. Actually... having a gerbil up your butt must be a horrible feeling.
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If the show does return, I hope that Richard Lewis' new sitcom plays a role in it or at least has an episode devoted to it. I just want to see some scenes from it because I imagine it being terrible.
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I loved when Jeff bet Larry to gargle some water in that restaurant. Reminded me of Ed and Mike's ten dollar bets on Ed.
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Jeff can sign John Legend but not Ben Stiller? Odd...
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I didn't like the bit about sign-in sheets at the doctor's office. That was already played out way back in season one in the episode "Interior Decorator."
Overall, a solid end to a so-so season. Once again, Leon was a huge reason for that. From "Mopey Dick" to that tiny, grey belly shirt he was wearing, any scene he was in was hilarious. Then he had that line about the gerbil taking an elevator up Larry's ass. Priceless. For the time being, I hope it continues to work out with Larry and Loretta, because any more new episodes need to have Leon.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
11-12-2007 @ 10:09AM
Steve said...
I thought the ending would end up showing Larry waking up and realizing the whole season was a dream.
Leon is great!
Nothing beat Loretta telling off Susie.
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12-10-2007 @ 7:35AM
popista said...
Man that was a GREAT finale. THe last four or five episodes were kind of depressing, but the ending was fantastic!!
I really hope that the writers can manage a way to keep Leon on the show, the Blacks are a priceless edition to the show and Leon is an irreplaceable character.
11-12-2007 @ 10:17AM
roy said...
Can't forget the line "I'll have a mental patient face-off with you any day."
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11-12-2007 @ 10:43AM
MacGuffin said...
About 20 minutes into last night's episode, I was wondering how is this thing going to end?
I don't think it was the best season finale this show has had yet. In fact, it isn't even in the top half, but it was super creative and very funny.
P.S. I loved--loved--Larry acting like a retard to scare people off. That was incredibly funny.
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11-12-2007 @ 11:13AM
Aredubya said...
I never thought they'd top the Producers finale for inventiveness and comedy, but there you have it. For pure improv, the gargling and "Ben Laden" bits were hilarious. But the final montage was so totally unexpected, but so entirely believable, it's just the dot in the "i" of genius. Thank you Larry.
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11-12-2007 @ 11:13AM
Aredubya said...
I never thought they'd top the Producers finale for inventiveness and comedy, but there you have it. For pure improv, the gargling and "Ben Laden" bits were hilarious. But the final montage was so totally unexpected, but so entirely believable, it's just the dot in the "i" of genius. Thank you Larry.
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11-12-2007 @ 11:14AM
Ned Vizzini said...
This is the dumbest post I have ever seen in my life. Was it written by a 7th grader? There is no analysis here.
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11-12-2007 @ 11:14AM
gigapup said...
I'm convinced that all of the stuff that happened after they started dancing, the "family" stuff, was all in Larry's imagination.
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11-12-2007 @ 12:23PM
Mel said...
I don't know about it being in his head. The establishing shot preceding Larry and Loretta in the bed seemed to make it clear that it was the next morning.
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11-12-2007 @ 1:19PM
Alan said...
"Is Larry doing this on purpose, fully knowing that Cheryl saw?" You, my fine blogger are obviously not a bald Jew in his mid-50's, so let me clue you in. Cheryl doesn't enter the equation. At the bat mitzvah, all he saw was Loretta, a woman who has put up with all of his pecadillos (as has the entire Black family) and shares his need of soft toilet paper. He asked her to dance because this all hit him seeing her sitting at the table. He took care of her family when it mattered and her yelling at Susie showed that she'll go to any and every length to back him up. Cheryl always took everyone else's side, even though he's right about 97% of the time. All his friends on the show looked at them dancing and were happy for him. All except Cheryl. After all, what woman out there wants her ex or soon to be ex to be happy? Shiksa dreck!!! Oh, and Ned up there in comment #7. How's the analysis??
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11-12-2007 @ 1:20PM
Rebekah said...
I cannot decide if the final sequence was real, just a dream or a "what if?" scenario? I can't believe we'll have to wait a whole year(or longer) to find out. Loved the episode and I do hope Cheryl tries to get Larry back next season.
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11-12-2007 @ 2:05PM
Nerava said...
i did notice that - when they were dancing everyone was looking and actually smiling .. it hit him I guess but it's just too weird that they are a family now? but they are cut from the same cloth [loud/rude/in your face] so it makes perfect sense and leon is the best brother-in-law a guy could ever wish for!! loved the ending but i have a feeling this was the SERIES finale and not the season .. anyone else?
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11-12-2007 @ 2:29PM
Jason said...
the series can't be over. There's still questions left unanswered... and we learned that Larry sees things through until the end. Hence, next season Cheryl and him getting back together.
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11-12-2007 @ 2:29PM
MacGuffin said...
Beyond all the speculation about Larry & The Blacks--was it real or was it a dream??--you can bet that next season will feature an entirely different story arc.
There has been very little story continuity between seasons. For example, there never has been any mention about the restaurant.
So I fully expect that Season 7 will be the last and best season with a killer series finale. Bad thing is we probably won't see it until late 2008 or 2009.
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11-12-2007 @ 2:54PM
jb58 said...
Great ending. Vivica Fox telling off a stunned Susie is one of CYE's all-time great moments.
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11-12-2007 @ 2:54PM
Tootough said...
Is it my imagination or was this a lot less episodes than in past 'Curb...' seasons? Perhaps something to do with Larry, a TV writing legend (Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, etc.) honoring the Writer's Strike?? Anyway, it seemed like the season just started! Seems too much of a coincidence for it to end virtually at the beginning of the strike.
In any event, for me the absolute funniest episode of all time of any season was the one where Larry pretended to be an Orthodox Jew in order to get Richard Lewis to the front of the kidney recipient's list. He didn't have a clue about Orthodoxy and his reactions at the top of the ski lift when the girl told him to jump were priceless!
Anyone agree?
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11-12-2007 @ 2:58PM
bruce said...
Larry just signed for two more 10-episode seasons, so this is not the end of CYE.
I thought it was a wierd ending, which distracted from it being funny. I thought Loretta and Leon were married. Are they brother and sister? I'll have to go back and watch the first episode to re-meet the Blacks. But assuming Leon and Loretta are married, are we supposed to believe Leon just let Larry have her, or that they're sharing her? Ehh... i don't buy that for a sec.
It also annoyed me that Larry did not sue the doctor's office for the blatant HIPAA violation (releasing his protected health information, no matter how funny it may be) and suing that guy for spreading the defamatory gerbil story around, which is slander to the extent Larry swears it is false. Not even a mention of a lawsuit by Larry was made, which is odd for a neurotic paranoid person like him. Larry seems like he would be a litigious person, and frankly I'd love to see Larry David involved in protracted civil litigation, it would make for a great story arc for another season. Lawyers, depositions, mediations, the ultimate trial. I was HOPING to see that this season with the Larry-Cheryl divorce.
I think this season would have been infinitely better had Larry and Cheryl split up, and she filed for divorce, in the first or second episode, and we had that be the arc for the entire season, culmulating in a divorce trial (rehasing old memories, and showing some clips but not so much as to mimick the seinfeld series finale). In this season, we didn't get to Cheryl leaving larry until the 7th out of 10 episodes. So we only had 3 episodes to deal with a topic of immense comedic potential, and one which I'd been hoping to see ever since CYE started. These guys getting divorced would be hilarious, and I never felt they belonged together anyway.
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11-12-2007 @ 2:58PM
Jonathan Toomey said...
Tootough --
Every season of CYE has been only 10 episodes. The fact that this season's finale coincided with the Writer's Strike is just a coincidence.
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11-12-2007 @ 3:12PM
Tootough said...
Jonathan, Thanks and I stand corrected. After I wrote that I checked the list of episodes and saw that CYE was 10 episodes this season as well. I guess I enjoyed them so much they went by in a flash! This show has brought me more good, healthy genuine laughter than any other on TV for a long, long time. Long Live CYE and Larry, Cheryl, Jeff and Richard! Larry, if your people show you this, keep it coming and we will keep watching!!
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11-12-2007 @ 4:05PM
pepper said...
Leon is Loretta's brother. He lives in LA, too, which made it weirdly funny that he stayed with Larry instead of taking his family members to his place. The ending was totally unexpected and yet so right for them all. Loved Loretta telling off Susie! The best. Glad to hear there will be at least two more seasons!
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