Louie goes to a pot luck dinner.
At the beginning of Louie's fifth season premiere, Louie wonders aloud to his new therapist if he has gotten to the point in his life where he's just a boring asshole. Louis C.K. has done an excellent job at finding the humor out of every day interactions with every day people. But now, he and his character are getting older and falling into routines. He does his stand-up and he cares for his girls when he has them. And yet, there doesn't seem to be much excitement in his life anymore. When he's walking down the street, there's a street musician performing for the residents of New York City. He's getting all the attention. He stands out for a reason. He is offering something to the world that is fun and exciting. Louie offers a ton of wise and insightful humor when it comes to his stand-up routine. And yet, he is just an every day sort of man who doesn't stand out in a crowd. His life has become mundane which stands in contrast to the life of the street musician - whose music plays throughout the episode even though Louie is no longer near him.To fix these internal problems, Louie tries to go back to interacting with his regular social circle - aka the fellow parents of kids who go to school with Jane and Lily. He was a more active parent when it came to his kids and school when they were younger. Doing that led to him meeting Pamela - who is curiously absent from this episode even though the last season finale suggested the two of them actually trying a relationship. The state of them was a thought always on my mind throughout this episode. And yet, it never became overwhelming throughout the new hilarious situations and encounters Louie found himself in. It was largely a return to form of Louie's earlier seasons. He's simply trying to get back to that kind of excitement. After a show has been going on for five seasons, it does run the risk of becoming stale. I don't think Louis C.K.'s observational humor will ever do that though. And yet, it's also a nice reminder to see just how well the show can handle small and intimate stories like this one where Louie is thrown into situations that just outright confuse him while bringing the excitement back to his life.
Over the course of this episode, Louie realizes he's not as boring as he once feared. He's still seen as an asshole to other people. Because of him, Marina and her partner weren't able to have their baby the way they wanted to. He showed up late to their parent pot luck and with fried chicken when they really just wanted a dessert. The food that he brought really was irrelevant though. Pot lucks typical make such a big deal out of who is bringing what in terms of food. Louie saying he'll come at the last minute would be an annoyance to any host. And yet, it doesn't make a difference in the end. Sure, he attends the wrong pot lock at first and finds himself in some weird worship circle. They keep the fried chicken he spent his evening making which forces him to go get the fast food version for his actual pot luck. It still gets eaten and someone still managed to bring a dessert to the function. So, it's a lot of talk for no big reason which is exactly what the situation usually is in real life.
But Louie's adventures at the first pot luck aren't the highlight of his evening - even though they are weirder than anything else that happens. He agreed to all of this just to add some excitement back in his life. And then, it just leads to yet another sexual encounter with a beautiful woman. The only problem is that she is a surrogate for the over-demanding and opinionated lesbian hosts. It's no big deal but it is overwhelming. Julianne is nice to Louie in letting him share an Uber with her. Louie is then nice to her in making sure she got home safely and telling her the compliments that she needed to hear. He doesn't just see the pregnancy bump. This version of her is the only version he knows. And to him, she is still a very gorgeous woman. Those words are exactly what she needed to hear. As he says, sometimes it just feels so good to hear that you are beautiful. It can make a huge difference. Of course, things then get sexual which leads to her water breaking and ruining the evening for everywhere. That's typical how these things go for Louie. And yet, they are still incredibly profound and funny despite being five seasons in.
Some more thoughts:
- "Pot Luck" was written by Louis C.K. and directed by Louis C.K.
- Louie doesn't really care anymore whether or not there is another human existence out there in the universe. It is just too complicated for him. So he's just stopped thinking about it and wishes everyone else would too. Because answers could be more problematic than the general mystery.
- No big deal or anything, but Jane is now taking violin lessons through Juilliard! That just adds to the overall feeling that Louie is not doing anything exciting right now.
- Louis C.K. looks cooking montages. So it's no surprise that another one pops up in this first episode back. He put so much work into that fried chicken. The first pot luck really enjoyed it. The second couldn't care less.
- Marina really was the worst, wasn't she? And yet, she still had a point about Louie being an asshole.
- Celia Keenan-Bolger was fantastic going through the emotional transition in the hallway while Louie was in the bathroom. She didn't even care that he would finish quickly either. The emotions just overwhelmed her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She played all of that wonderfully.
