Louie picks up its game quite a bit in episode 2 of the season and features a wonderful guest turn by Melissa Leo.
The opening bit is an incredibly cute and endearing moment at the dinner table featuring Louie’s always reliable daughters. The sweet back and forth’s between father and daughters is a wonderful slice of life look at the simple nature of telling a joke and how age can affect ones perspective on what is funny. The scene was without weight and was mostly a set up to a great stage bit by C.K., but it had me grinning ear to ear and provided quite a few laughs to go along with a ton of heart. C.K.’s stand up bit here was also one of the stronger ones if you ask me as he got a lot out of a the silly premise his daughter came up with.
The meat of the episodes is dedicated to a double blind date between Louie and a set up made by the wife of one of his comedy buddies. Neither Louie nor his date have much fun at dinner, but when they get run out of the house by the arguing couple the two hit it off over a drink or two at the local bar. They have a couple laughs, but what follows is one of the dirtiest scenes ever put on cable television.
Leo comes to play and has that rugged naturalism to her that she can be great at; and thankfully never overplays things like she did in The Fighter. C.K. and Leo have an odd chemistry, but after she goes down on Louie in her truck the episode really takes a turn towards greatness.
The dialogue coming out their mouths is just filthy, and the two seem like they are having a blast going at it. The angle Louie comes from on why he won’t reciprocate orally is not only legitimate, but quite funny; though Leo calling bullshit is pretty fair as well. Leo is hilarious though as she tries to get Louie to return that favor and the lengths she is willing to go to range from obvious to shocking. I do wonder if we will see Leo again though as they seemed to leave things open for a potential second date; in another wonderful comedic beat.
This week’s episode provides a lot more laughs than the season opener, but didn’t quite dig into C.K.’s psyche like the premiere. That said, from an entertainment angle I think it more than surpassed what we have seen so briefly in the season. It might not be an all-timer for the show, but it was great to see C.K. get some wonderful work out a big time guest star (apparently one of 4 Oscar winners on the season) and I would love to see Leo show up on the show again. Now, just give us some more of Louie’s daughters already.
