What I’m Watching: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 8, Episode 9 “Mister Softee” (B+)

In the penultimate episode of this season, Larry continues to rub everyone the wrong way and make friends with people no one seems to like. It’s no surprise that he would manage to abuse his relationship with his therapist and then get charged for treatment out of the office. I recognized Fred Melamed, who played Sy Ableman in “A Serious Man,” as Dr. Thurgood, and I liked his analogy about realizing that teachers don’t live in school when you run into them out of the classroom. His continuous dropping of names of patients was amusing, mostly for the rise it got out of Larry. Bill Buckner did a great job playing himself, getting heckled on the street because of his famed error and then missing the catch as Larry tosses him the ball to keep it away from Jeff. Having him catch the baby thrown from the building was a perfect ending for that particular storyline. The Mister Softee issue wasn’t as funny as it could have been, but I did enjoy its connection with the love seat in the car that gave quite an insanely and rather inappropriately good ride to Larry’s date, to Leon, and to Susie, which horrified Larry so much that he crashed into one of the Kryptonite ice cream trucks. Larry’s suggestion that Leon wear glasses so that people would think he was smart was something just right for this show’s universe, and it proved to be plenty entertaining and pretty darn effective at that.