‘Louie’ Contemplates Comedy as Art in Season Five Finale (TV REVIEW)

[rating=9.00]

Whenever Louie delves into multi-part episodic structure, we know a subtle revelation is afoot. For the season five finale, that revelation comes by way of sudden comedic death — metaphorical and actual — ahead of a poignant moment of fatherhood, nicely exaggerated without overreaching. “The Road: Part One” showed Louie as a weathered, perpetually bothered road warrior with just enough drive to trudge forward — questioning the point of it all, aside from nominal monetary gain. “Part Two” slightly flips that narrative, with the same Louie trudging the same direction (anywhere but still) but with an overzealous host of new problems (or, more likely, just redecorated versions of the old ones).

Instead of an airport greeting in the form of an overimpressed, actively starstruck limo driver (see: part one), Louie is met with the indifferent young daughter of the club owner upon his arrival in Oklahoma City. As revealed in the first installment, Louie is being forced to share a condo with the club’s opening act — dubiously named “Kenny.” Though Louie eventually ends up bonding with the egregiously disgusting, fart-joke-championing comedian in a moment of sudden emotional vulnerability, Louie’s distaste for every aspect of what Kenny is and what he represents is immediately and unapologetically apparent. We get the sense that not only is Oklahoma City not the place for an artist of Louie’s caliber, but “the road” in general — an unforgiving, shared-condo nightmare for the increasingly isolated artist — certainly provides none of the comforts or rewards (again – aside from nominal monetary gain) Louie presumably dabbled in as a younger comedian.

During Louie’s brief moment of connection with Kenny, Louis C.K. allows the character to finally — without surrealism, absurdism, or metaphor — to directly address his thoughts on comedy as an art form, and the potential toll it’s starting to take on his personal life. In a way, we get the sense that Louie, if only for a brief moment, almost envies the simplicity and mindlessness of a comedian like Kenny. In tears, Louie eventually confesses — in his own way — that the work of a comedian like Kenny is certainly funny, but not art. Kenny seems to agree, even taking the assertion further by stating that comedy shouldn’t be art at all.

As we see Louie return home to his daughters, we don’t get the sense that he took any of Kenny’s whiskey-infused words to heart — not permanently, anyway. However, we do get the feeling that Louie is perhaps re-evaluating his place in the comedy pantheon. If the road never ends, why not take the occasional detour?

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