In its third season, Louie reaches an incredible level of quality. The show seamlessly combines loose, continuity-free episodes with deeply human stories of frustration, joy, isolation, and community. The result is an emotional journey for the viewer, not simply an "insert laugh here" experience. The run is completely unpredictable, serving up a different slice of life almost every week. It's ambitious, smart, and wholly satisfying.
I didn't always feel this way about Louie. I'm stubborn like that. I had heard the critical praise, but I just couldn't appreciate the first season. It seemed dull and uninspired. The second season, however, began to melt my cold heart. Here, the show became more free-form, embracing the idea that it didn't have to try so hard to be funny. Instead, it strove to be more honest, more direct. There was a peek into Louie the man, the figure beneath the sitcom stereotype. The protagonist suffered and struggled in ways that everyone has done. The show became universal, and I respected it a great deal more.
Season 3 completely shattered the ice surrounding my circulatory organ. Louie took the glimpse of honesty provided the previous year and widened it into a full-blown exploration. Take the episode "Daddy's Girlfriend, Part 2." Louie recognizes his loneliness and desire for meaningful connection, so he sets out to find himself a companion. The woman he finds, played brilliantly by Parker Posy, is lively and seemingly content. Liz appears to be the opposite of Louie, who is often sad, dissatisfied, and continually apprehensive. She takes Louie on a whirlwind tour of the city, showing him his hometown in a completely new light. For one night, he knows what it's like to live life on the edge.
However, just as Louie is beginning to think things might go swimmingly, he finds out that the woman of his dreams is emotionally broken and unstable. She, like him, is damaged, but in a different way. While he manages his loneliness through a focused apathy and finds comfort in love for his children, Liz channels her sadness into fleeting bouts of adrenaline-fueled giddiness. When this temporary burst of happiness fades, she can do nothing but sink into a depression deeper than anything Louie has ever known. The poor man doesn't know how to help her, or if she even can be helped. So, her smile fades and she walks away.
This is but a sample of the brilliance of Season 3's introspective characterization. Other outings, such as "Dad" and "New Years Eve" examine themes like complex parent-child relationships and the balance of death and beauty in Louie's life. Yes, this is heavy material, but the show treats it with just the right mix of respect and awareness. At the end of every dark episode, there is an uplifting message of hope and light.
All of this doesn't even take into account the lighter, "funnier" moments. I put that word in quotes because Louie very rarely hands the viewer its jokes on a silver platter. Sure, there is the occasional diarrhea punchline, but more often, the funny comes from watching this man live life. Life sucks quite a bit of the time. When one takes a step back from the day-to-day routine, however, one finds that a lot of this conflict is actually humorous. This is a truth that no other sitcom handles as well. Louie mocks the mundanity of life and asks the viewers to join in the fun. What they are left with, then, is a show that abandons traditional delivery patterns in favor of a cadence all its own.
This season experiments with serialization, linking the continuity of many episodes to tell multi-part stories. These are a resounding success, particularly the "Late Show" trilogy. Louie's pursuit of Jay Leno's late night gig results in a treatise on rising to meet insurmountable challenges, despite the low probability of success. Only the individual has the power to change his or her life, and one does not need the validation of others to grow stronger.
This is the best year of any sitcom I have had the pleasure of witnessing. Combining the aforementioned depth with wonderful one-off episodes featuring guest appearances from the likes of Robin Williams and Amy Poehler, Louie is perfect. There is no knowing where this crazy adventure will go next, but I can't wait to find out.
Cannon's Rating: 10/10
I didn't always feel this way about Louie. I'm stubborn like that. I had heard the critical praise, but I just couldn't appreciate the first season. It seemed dull and uninspired. The second season, however, began to melt my cold heart. Here, the show became more free-form, embracing the idea that it didn't have to try so hard to be funny. Instead, it strove to be more honest, more direct. There was a peek into Louie the man, the figure beneath the sitcom stereotype. The protagonist suffered and struggled in ways that everyone has done. The show became universal, and I respected it a great deal more.
Season 3 completely shattered the ice surrounding my circulatory organ. Louie took the glimpse of honesty provided the previous year and widened it into a full-blown exploration. Take the episode "Daddy's Girlfriend, Part 2." Louie recognizes his loneliness and desire for meaningful connection, so he sets out to find himself a companion. The woman he finds, played brilliantly by Parker Posy, is lively and seemingly content. Liz appears to be the opposite of Louie, who is often sad, dissatisfied, and continually apprehensive. She takes Louie on a whirlwind tour of the city, showing him his hometown in a completely new light. For one night, he knows what it's like to live life on the edge.
However, just as Louie is beginning to think things might go swimmingly, he finds out that the woman of his dreams is emotionally broken and unstable. She, like him, is damaged, but in a different way. While he manages his loneliness through a focused apathy and finds comfort in love for his children, Liz channels her sadness into fleeting bouts of adrenaline-fueled giddiness. When this temporary burst of happiness fades, she can do nothing but sink into a depression deeper than anything Louie has ever known. The poor man doesn't know how to help her, or if she even can be helped. So, her smile fades and she walks away.
This is but a sample of the brilliance of Season 3's introspective characterization. Other outings, such as "Dad" and "New Years Eve" examine themes like complex parent-child relationships and the balance of death and beauty in Louie's life. Yes, this is heavy material, but the show treats it with just the right mix of respect and awareness. At the end of every dark episode, there is an uplifting message of hope and light.
All of this doesn't even take into account the lighter, "funnier" moments. I put that word in quotes because Louie very rarely hands the viewer its jokes on a silver platter. Sure, there is the occasional diarrhea punchline, but more often, the funny comes from watching this man live life. Life sucks quite a bit of the time. When one takes a step back from the day-to-day routine, however, one finds that a lot of this conflict is actually humorous. This is a truth that no other sitcom handles as well. Louie mocks the mundanity of life and asks the viewers to join in the fun. What they are left with, then, is a show that abandons traditional delivery patterns in favor of a cadence all its own.
This season experiments with serialization, linking the continuity of many episodes to tell multi-part stories. These are a resounding success, particularly the "Late Show" trilogy. Louie's pursuit of Jay Leno's late night gig results in a treatise on rising to meet insurmountable challenges, despite the low probability of success. Only the individual has the power to change his or her life, and one does not need the validation of others to grow stronger.
This is the best year of any sitcom I have had the pleasure of witnessing. Combining the aforementioned depth with wonderful one-off episodes featuring guest appearances from the likes of Robin Williams and Amy Poehler, Louie is perfect. There is no knowing where this crazy adventure will go next, but I can't wait to find out.
Cannon's Rating: 10/10