TMC
08-02-2024, 03:40 AM
https://jacksonupperco.com/2024/07/30/the-four-best-curb-your-enthusiasm-episodes-of-season-twelve/
This was the hardest Curb to list to make — perhaps because I have the least amount of distance from it, but also, well, I just think there’s nothing great here. The episodic ideas are uninspired retreads of stuff we’ve seen before (both on this series and Seinfeld), poorly attached to elements of the situation, lacking the seeming spontaneity of early years, and seldom believably motivated by the Larry characterization (even in his broadened, fight-picking, catch-all form). In brief, the storytelling is tired, and even when it looks alive, it’s basically just doing “greatest hits” (like Larry vs. Susie), with slightly more weight only because of our mutual awareness of the show’s finality. Now, a lot of final seasons operate like this, but this description essentially fits the entire final trimester of Curb, following its long 2011-2017 hiatus, after which the series has had to more self-consciously play into its identity, rather than merely embodying it. It’s just gotten worse over time, and indeed, this year’s central arc is probably the series’ weakest, for while Larry running afoul of ridiculous bureaucracy might be funny, the whole process of getting him into a position where he can brush against Georgia’s recent Election Integrity Act feels contrived, with plot contortions that don’t serve the show’s sitcommery, for the idea itself is not backed by enough support from other elements within the series’ situation to offset concerns.
This was the hardest Curb to list to make — perhaps because I have the least amount of distance from it, but also, well, I just think there’s nothing great here. The episodic ideas are uninspired retreads of stuff we’ve seen before (both on this series and Seinfeld), poorly attached to elements of the situation, lacking the seeming spontaneity of early years, and seldom believably motivated by the Larry characterization (even in his broadened, fight-picking, catch-all form). In brief, the storytelling is tired, and even when it looks alive, it’s basically just doing “greatest hits” (like Larry vs. Susie), with slightly more weight only because of our mutual awareness of the show’s finality. Now, a lot of final seasons operate like this, but this description essentially fits the entire final trimester of Curb, following its long 2011-2017 hiatus, after which the series has had to more self-consciously play into its identity, rather than merely embodying it. It’s just gotten worse over time, and indeed, this year’s central arc is probably the series’ weakest, for while Larry running afoul of ridiculous bureaucracy might be funny, the whole process of getting him into a position where he can brush against Georgia’s recent Election Integrity Act feels contrived, with plot contortions that don’t serve the show’s sitcommery, for the idea itself is not backed by enough support from other elements within the series’ situation to offset concerns.