Preview: Louie Episode Four - So Old/ Playdate

Louie Episode Four
So Old/Playdate
11PM EST FX

Louie finally gets lucky tonight, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. He lodges a common complaint onstage, that he’s feeling old and has lost his sex drive. But then he’s approached by an attractive 26-year-old blonde who is attracted to the fact that he’s old and he’s given up. And that he smells a bit. Maybe like failure.

The concept is funny, short, and over when it needs to be. No need to drag it through the whole episode.

Second scene is Louie at a PTA meeting, something it might be hard for fans of his stand-up to imagine. The parents all argue about how the kids should be spending their time (Dancing? Sleeping?). “This place is stuck in the 70s,” says one parent. “Who still teaches math anymore?”

Louie brings up the fact that school sucks, and that’s how it’s supposed to be, to dead silence. It’s a concept apparently no one has considered, but one that bonds him to fellow single parent Pamela, played by Pamela Adlon. Louie and Pamela immediately set up a playdate for the kids, and wind up drinking wine and talking about life and parenting, often with the kids nowhere in site.

The conversation would be a real downer if Louie and Pamela weren’t both enjoying the opportunity to finally talk to another adult who wasn’t spazzing over some new age topic.

Adlon, who also played Louie’s wife on Lucky Louie, is an consulting producer of the series, and it’s obvious she and C.K. work well together. Their scenes together make you wonder what could have been if Lucky Louie had gone to a second season. Their repairing is a happy occasion.

Interspersed in all of this are short segments of Louie with his therapist, a deadpan rude and absurd David Patrick Kelly (yes, the same David Patrick Kelly who once taunted, “Warriors come out and play-ee-ay!”).

Like many of the people from whom Louie seeks advice, he is not only no help, he makes things worse. Maybe Louie is depressed because he’s fat. Has he ever thought about death and gotten an erection? No, but thanks for mentioning that you have.

There is no big moment in episode four like the poker game in episode two or the fight with Nick Di Paolo in episode three, but the playdate comes close. But really, there doesn’t need to be. The laughs are there, and having one “big moment” per episode would start to drift into formula, something episode four helps to break up a bit with a few more segments in different settings.

Looking forward to episode five, and hoping to get that to preview for you again.

When you see the episode, leave your comments below. I am enjoying the series thoroughly so far, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.