Curb Your Enthusiasm - "The Hero" Review

The Man in the Cape + David Brent = SHITSHOW

Curb Your Enthusiasm this week portrayed Larry's arrival and life in New York, and unsurprisingly, it's pretty much the exact same life he had in LA, with all the random minutiae and bullshit with all the random people. And yet, the new setting breathes a little fresh air into a TV series that didn't really need any, but is welcome nonetheless. The absence of most of the supporting cast in the new setting, including Funkhouser, Lewis, and Leon, allows an episode with near-exclusive focus on the show's two main characters, Larry and Jeff. The plane sequence was mildly amusing at first, but quickly turned hilarious when Larry "saved" the stewardess from a drunken airline patron and was applauded emphatically by the people aboard, much like when he argued with Funkhouser in "Palestinian Chicken", and even managed to score a woman out of the deal, though Susie noticed his oversized shoelaces and assumed that was definitely the cause. This led to a funny dinner scene where Susie first split up the couples most likely to undermine him, and then blew the whole thing intentionally when Larry started having a fit. In addition, Larry displayed his penchant to grab his food when he sees it, offending the waiter, who later blew a deal Jeff had with Ricky Gervais (who I'll get to in a minute), as well as his decision to bring bread to a dinner party instead of wine. Due to the depleted supporting cast, much of the episode had him clashing with Susie, and it reached a head when they argued over the aisle seat in Gervais' play, leading to Jeff losing him. As for Gervais himself, he was funnier in action than in words (like that stupid scarf he was wearing), but kind of disappointed me, despite his character's somewhat douche-y nature and his ability to screw Larry out of money and a woman. That led to the conclusion, which may have been just as perfect as the ending to "Vow of Silence", when Larry, seeing Gervais and the woman being mugged, decided to actually be the hero, and used the rock-hard bread that he brought to the dinner party earlier to beat the guy into submission. I laughed hardest at this, and it sealed it as a good, if not classic, episode. In other news, Leon returns next week, and appears to follow Larry to NY to (surprise, surprise) mooch off him again.

"The Hero" - 4/5 stars