Agreed. Vanessa called him out on his bullshit, and he either caved to the pressure and grabbed her hand to shut her up or realized she was absolutely right and resolved to start doing the right thing.
At the very least he acknowledged her point and offered a step in the right direction. He’s not necessarily going to change completely.
I thought he just looked incredibly uncomfortable and did the only thing he could think of to make it stop.
Does anyone remember the old movie “Marty”? In it Ernest Borgnine plays a schlub, a loser who somehow winds up for the evening with a not-so-good-looking woman. It is obvious they enjoy each other’s company but he will not ask her out again because his friends say she’s a ‘dog’. At the end, he comes to his senses.
This movie came out in 1955. The films “Dogfight” (1991), and ‘Shallow Hal’ (2001) also had similar themes to that of this Louie episode with the fat girl. Seems the biggest difference in the Louie story is the girl gets to stand up for herself.
Yeah, that’s a theme on Louie: women speaking up and saying what they want make him very uncomfortable. He was also freaked out by the assertiveness of the model.
Hey, can someone give a brief recap on Pamela Adlon’s character, and why her return pissed off Louie? I know the basics, but I can’t understand why he looked so, well, betrayed at her return. She didn’t kick him that hard in the ass at the grocery store.
If I recall correctly, they met because their children go tothe same school. Louie had a huge crush on her from the start, but she kept him in the friend zone. Just as Louie thought things were going to turn, she decided to move to Paris and get back together with her son’s father. As she walked away from him at the airport terminal, she shouted at him to “wave to me!” But he heard it as “wait for me!”
I don’t think he was betrayed so much as completely unsure how to relate to her. He’s not only moved on to a new (probably equally unattainable) female crush, but he seems embarrassed by his former feelings for Pamela.
Essentially she completely jerked him around more than once in an earlier season.
Louie’s reaction to Pamela was interesting and unusual. He definitely seemed displeased with her from the outset. Some of that had to do with their history, sure, and I also agree with what **Nonsuch **said, but there is room there for other possibilities as well.
As their conversation went on, however, I definitely was getting a vibe that Louie was shocked and bothered by just how damned mean, mocking and belittling, Pamela was towards him. He hasn’t exactly gone through a character arc that specifically addresses him acquiring self esteem, but I got the impression that he was reacting to her along those lines anyhow.
Still love this show. It really makes you feel the emotions of the characters. And feeling those emotions both good and bad is what this show is about. It’s not about being sad or funny or dirty. It’s about heavy emotion in short bit sized segments. Very few tv shows have ever done that.
I just noticed that Eszter Balint, who plays Amia, also plays the Hungarian cousin from Stranger Than Paradise. That was thirty years ago! She’s only had six other roles since that movie.
She’s also a professional violinist who has released some albums. I absolutely loved the violin scene with Louie’s giddy response when it ended.
Okay, I’ll buy that. It did seem to me he was overreacting to (what I remembered of) their history and last time together, but could have been appropriately reacting to what she was saying to him at the diner. Especially since she kept making faces and rolling her eyes when she was telling Louie that she was up for trying the “boy and girl” stuff.
And I guess what ever show she was working on (‘Californication’?) is done filming. I have noticed that she kept her producer credit on the show since the last time she was on it, although I’m not sure just how much work that entails for her on a weekly basis. Especially considering how much of the show is personally handled by C.K. himself.
Me, too. (And on what other television show could such a scene have taken place?!?)
Just watched the first six episodes in a mini-binge, and I am blown away by the quality. Simply outstanding. So many affecting moments, both large and small. One of my favorite small ones is the look he gives the older daughter on the subway as he’s freaking out and she says “It’s not her fault.” It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but that one look of “Are you messing with me?” was perfection.
The fat girl soliloquy was unfiltered excellence. The reality is that despite the fact that their personalities are perfect for each other, Louie thinks he can do better and doesn’t want to settle. Having his buddy (Jim Norton) comment “Yuck!” about her behind her back to Louie surely didn’t help matters, of course. The sad truth is that Louie probably can do “better,” and he’s understandably holding out for that, but the “better” he finds won’t be as good of a match. Like his ex-wife; both actresses who played her are way hotter than fat girl, but clearly that relationship didn’t pan out. If he could get over his shame of riding a moped he’d almost certainly have a much happier relationship/life with fat girl.
The very last line of the six episodes left me howling with laughter, likely because of how great the previous two hours had been. The cannibal joke, where once you cross that bridge you then have to decide who and what part you’d eat. “I’d eat an old black lady’s tit. Because that’s way not me.” Ha!
She played his wife on Lucky Louie, his first sitcom on HBO, so it doesn’t surprise me that she gets a producer credit in any episode she’s a part of. Unless you mean she’s gotten the credit in every episode since her first appearance, even episodes she’s not on? IMDb lists her as a producer for four episodes.
I saw an interview where C.K. says that she helps him with the show. He mentioned that she gave him story ideas that made it into the show, but did not say what else she did. I’m guessing she has other behind the scenes responsibilities that we just don’t hear about.
I understand about their past (Pamela and Louis) - I think I even saw an episode or two of Lucky Louie when it first aired. I know that they’ve known each other for some time now.
So nothing from anyone on last night’s shows yet? Okay, here’s a few things.
How much of this is really happening, and how much is only in Louie’s head? I think we’ve touched on this before, but last night the whole “Hurricane Jasmine Forsythe” thing was very surreal. “We’re mourning the death of LeBron James. And the rest of the Miami Heat. And 12 million other people.” Obviously, the scene in the therapist’s office where he screams out the window was in his head.
Also, I felt bad for Louie after finally consummating his relationship with Amia. Was she disappointed that they slept together, or that Louie wasn’t that great? I’d like to think it was the former.
I have no idea what to make of the bizarre newscasts. I’m not sure if Louie is just inserting craziness into the story for its own sake, like a Seth McFarland joke, or if there is some kind of meaning to it. My only guess as to what it could mean is that characters are so wrapped up in their own lives and problems that it doesn’t matter at all what is on the news, they just go on the same. News is simply entertainment, content doesn’t matter.
The lack of communication in the Amia relationship is also frustrating, especially since Louie doesn’t talk about his feelings much to anyone, so we don’t really know what’s going on. My take on the final scene was that she was upset they had decided to make their relationship “serious” when she was about to leave, but that’s just a best guess.
I also miss Louie’s standup routines. There have only been a couple jokes shown, and they were kinda mediocre and rambling. Overall, I’m not enjoying the show as much as I used to.
Also, she kicked him in the ass and then said, yeah I’ll date you now and then kind of makes fun of him. Her attitude was pretty abusive.
I originally thought the same way about the fat girl soliloquy but the more I think about it, the more it sounds and feels like the lament of the ‘nice guy’ (see discussion here: Are extreme "nice guys" real? - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board ) except with a different excuse. Are they really perfect for each other? He’s a (even in the show I think) top level comedian/performer approaching the peak of his career who also is divorced and has two young children. I would think a good match for him would be a woman in a similar situation with similar life experience and status, not an apathetic waitress. Maybe I missed why they would be perfect for each other and not just friends.