I don’t like awkward situations. I avoid them at all cost. When I first saw Curb Your Enthusiasm, it seemed that it was all awkward situations. I hated it. And I was so sure in my hatred.
I hated Larry for the vehement anger that he showed — he would almost burst a blood vessel at times. I hated the rough language, and the crudity. I hated the inevitableness of the situations — like a nightmare that you wanted to shake yourself awake from…
And then it started to grow on me. I decided that I was avoiding too many situations from the comfort of my clicker; this was supposedly intelligent nasty awful television. Perhaps I should give it a proper hearing — at the very least it might help me de-sensitize myself a little.
And now I love it. Larry is obnoxious, and insensitive, and crude; but he’s on a noble mission. He sincerely wants to do the right thing — and do right by his friends, but he suffers the curse of an innate honesty. He can’t help himself. He has to say what he says.
It turns out, he’s a lovable prick.
There’s also the situation where the characters live. This, Hollywood, where there are meetings, and lunches, and money that is never an issue — and it’s all about nothing — yet it’s all so important.
It’s also completely chaotic, but not really — like an explosion in reverse. The random messy bits all fall into place like a Japanese puzzle by the end of the episode — and by the end of the season all those puzzles fall into a perfectly formed box.
Larry’s world is a rough place, but nobody gets killed. Friends stick together no matter how much they hate each other. It’s really quite touching, but you’ll never see that in it, if you just drop in for a moment.
Pure genius.
Disclosure Triangle 