Curb series 8

[Noodle Lizard]

That was a pretty good finale, if you ask me.

I loved

Spoiler alert

the gay kid

[close]

and the final image was hilarious (if a bit/very silly).

[NoSleep]

Nice touch having Jon Glaser of Delocated playing a doorman.[nb]The only thing missing was a fake moustache.[/nb]

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Susie's a horrible character at the best of times, but she was just being blatantly homophobic in this one wasn't she?

Even though the whole swastika thing was ridiculously contrived, I still loved Larry saying that Hitler "thought the Jews were a bit much."

[Little Hoover]

Nice touch having Jon Glaser of Delocated playing a doorman.[nb]The only thing missing was a fake moustache.[/nb]

Exactly what I thought.

[Tiny Poster]

There have been quite a few underwritten strands which didn't really go anywhere this season, haven't there? Jon Glaser's character and the terrible Jeff-taking-a-bullet plot from this week, for example.

[Little Hoover]

Yeah there's been so many thing where I've thought "oh I wonder how this is all going to tie together" and then it just doesn't. Although Brett Gelman's pig parker character sort of get's back-referenced in this episode, in the episode itself it just seemed odd and did serve any plot function.

[Noodle Lizard]

There have been quite a few underwritten strands which didn't really go anywhere this season, haven't there? ... the terrible Jeff-taking-a-bullet plot from this week, for example.

Well, it certainly wasn't the best subplot they've had, but it did go somewhere and get tied up.

[pliable oftentimes]

am looking forward to watching this entire season shortly

[Oops! Wrong Planet]

Yeah there's been so many thing where I've thought "oh I wonder how this is all going to tie together" and then it just doesn't. Although Brett Gelman's pig parker character sort of get's back-referenced in this episode, in the episode itself it just seemed odd and did serve any plot function.

The editing seemed more noticeable this season - the dialogue in the opening scene of ep9 (Mr Softee) at the restaurant table seemed to be cut too fast, and that also included the business with Jeff not wanting to share the fish and chicken, which fizzled out.  I also got the impression in the finale that Larry's miming the piano with his hands to Michael J Fox was designed to be misinterpreted by the other people in the club as a dig at Fox's symptoms, but that came to nothing.  Anyway, I think some of the eps could have done with being more than 30 minutes.

Aside from that, it's becoming a bit goofy too.  The scene with him and Susie in the car was amusing enough, but his reaction (as well as Susie seeming to go all out and yet not even realise what was happening) was a bit ...

I thought that was excruciating at the time.  Maybe deliberately so; David's way of acknowledging how ridiculous the car seat as dildo is, however amusing it was on paper.  There's nothing wrong with cartoonishness and going over-the-top - the sex with the Palestinian woman was a superb example - but the Susie orgasm thing just didn't [ha ha look what I'm about to write] come off.
Didn't like the Paris finale - perhaps it played funnier in America.  Better to end it on the gag about him leaving New York that mirrored his reason for flying there in the first place.

A strange mixed bag of a series all in all, with Palestinian Chicken the stand-out episode.

[Mr Faineant]

As much as I love curb, it pains me to admit it, but this season was quite weak. There were certainly good bits, and I enjoyed each episode, but it all felt a bit loose, overly silly, and contrived. And they didn't even bother with a season arc this time around, which is a shame. I enjoyed the finale quite a bit, though.

[kitsofan34]

I really hope they end it now. It's been great while it lasted but it's time to go now.

[Tiny Poster]

Yeah there's been so many thing where I've thought "oh I wonder how this is all going to tie together" and then it just doesn't. Although Brett Gelman's pig parker character sort of get's back-referenced in this episode, in the episode itself it just seemed odd and did serve any plot function.

I'm glad that they're actually giving plots to the supporting characters now, but that one was so tossed-off and badly executed.


"We call it... a bullet."


JEFF AND SUSIE REACT

[Little Hoover]

*obviously I meant to say "didn't serve any plot function"

[Tiny Poster]

Yes, excellent as Brett Gelman was in his scene, the only reason I can think that they put it in at all was for the Paris finale payoff. Again, pretty sloppy and tossed-off.

[NoSleep]

I don't get what you mean "sloppy & tossed off" when it's clear, now, that the original pig parker scene was a set up for the last scene in episode 10 which may have been written into the series from the outset. Are we to demand all story arcs require a conclusion in the same episode?

[Tiny Poster]

In that it seemed perfunctory rather than "wow!". Compare to the "carwash cunt", Producers or Seinfeld season finales.

[danyulx]

Probably the second worst season, after 4. Still, better than most the shite out there, I enjoyed myself, which is enough. The best episode was the last one, with Michael J. Fox, very good, though the ending was rubbish. The Palestinian chicken one was really good too.

He should've knocked it on the head after the 'Seinfield reunion' season, went out with closure. But considering he never and ballsed that up, he may as well carry on now..

I must say I missed Cheryl.

[Tiny Poster]

Cheryl never did anything good other than act as a device to react to/set up Larry awkwardness. I much prefer the Larry/Leon dynamic.

[danyulx]

Probably just because I fancied her.

[Little Hoover]

I don't get what you mean "sloppy & tossed off" when it's clear, now, that the original pig parker scene was a set up for the last scene in episode 10 which may have been written into the series from the outset. Are we to demand all story arcs require a conclusion in the same episode?

No, but the scene shouldn't stand out as being jarring, it should still feel like it came out of the episode organically rather than feeling like it was only put in there so they could refer back to it in the last episode. There's probably better examples throughout this season that I just can't remember right now. That example just stands out to me because I enjoy Brett Gelman so much in other things.

[Tiny Poster]

No, but the scene shouldn't stand out as being jarring, it should still feel like it came out of the episode organically rather than feeling like it was only put in there so they could refer back to it in the last episode. There's probably better examples throughout this season that I just can't remember right now. That example just stands out to me because I enjoy Brett Gelman so much in other things.

The Jon Glaser scenes stood out too because they led nowhere. He didn't make good on his Michael J. Fox-aggression.

[Noodle Lizard]

I'm surprised by the sudden series 8 hate.  Was that last episode really so bad?

[Tiny Poster]

I really enjoyed a lot of season 8, but it had its flaws. Unlike a lot of others, I loved the Mr Softee episode, though not for the Susie money shot. Robert Smigel was excellent in his couple of scenes, the baseball plot came together well, and Sy Abelman really sold his part.

[pigamus]

I'm surprised by the sudden series 8 hate.  Was that last episode really so bad?

Yes, it was - but it was the ONLY shit episode in the whole season, IMHO. The season was fine otherwise. (And Susie's orgasm was great! It was great because Larry's girlfriend was clearly just enjoying herself, whereas every single one of Susie's moans said, "What the fuck....?")

The reason the finale didn't work is simple: they were so busy congratulating themselves for not patronizing Michael J. Fox that they forgot to treat him with some at least some semblance of respect. I thought every scene he appeared in was dreary, mean-minded, unfunny and depressing. The "Jeff took a bullet stuff" was shit, and the gay kid was just horrific. Did they find a deeply queer kid, or did they just ask a load of kids if they could act really gay?

I hated it.

[steellungs]

Finale sux lol

[QDRPHNC]

Just watched the Gervais episode. Has anyone noted how crap exposition is in this show?

Jeff: REMEMBER, Larry, I REALLY WANT TO SIGN Ricky Gervais and it would be TERRIBLE if he found out it was US LAUGHING at his SHOW LAST NIGHT, he would NEVER SIGN with me in a MILLION YEARS if he found THAT out!

Larry: I agree, that would really be AWFUL. Oh hey, there's Ricky!

[Little Hoover]

Well duh.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Finally got round to watching this season. Very patchy (strong points for me were Leon and that psychiatrist bloke), and the show has definitely gone too far into cartoonish/contrived territory (Seinfeld had a similar problem as it went on) but by and large I still enjoyed it. I think it helps that I watched all the episodes in one sitting though. I'd probably be disliking it more if I just watched one episode a week, by watching them all in one go it's not so bad if there's a weak episode because there's usually a decent one coming up straight after it, rather than having to wait a whole week. It ran its course several seasons ago, but I'd like them to still make more, having new Curb to watch is an enjoyable comfort even when they're mediocre.

[Utter Shit]

Completely pointless bump but I had to take a photo of this Guardian episode synopsis and post it.

[NoSleep]

Ah, that one.