Doll scene from episode 313 of LOUIE
September 28, 2012 4:17 PM Subscribe
I didn't want to like this (single link to a random clip from a show, devoid of context), but by the end I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.
Nice work.
posted by phunniemee at 4:28 PM on September 28, 2012
Nice work.
posted by phunniemee at 4:28 PM on September 28, 2012
is the joke that his doll is shit compared to the same one his ex gave his daughter? Or is the joke that dads will do anything for their daughters? Or is the joke that he doesn't give a fuck because he worked so hard to save christmas, but then had to go and plop down another $160 to get a unfuckulated one because, while children believe christmas is magic, adults know that it's just a paycheck they'll never see again in return for not being "that dad"?
posted by rebent at 4:32 PM on September 28, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by rebent at 4:32 PM on September 28, 2012 [2 favorites]
Good metaphor for parenting, but a little light ...
posted by mrgrimm at 4:33 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by mrgrimm at 4:33 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Funny, yes, but I actually found that incredibly moving. I've been a father for 20 years and that hit me hard.
posted by davebush at 4:33 PM on September 28, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by davebush at 4:33 PM on September 28, 2012 [2 favorites]
I think the joke is that he got it back into good condition (by working on it all night) before she opened it. I don't think he bought a new one (how could he - I figured this happened on Xmas eve ...)
Again, yeah, a little context would help.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:33 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Again, yeah, a little context would help.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:33 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
The joke is that they don't make a doll flesh colored crayon.
posted by phunniemee at 4:34 PM on September 28, 2012 [7 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 4:34 PM on September 28, 2012 [7 favorites]
I've been a father for 20 years and that hit me hard.
Yeah, if you ever want to imagine what parenting is like, watch those five seconds where his utter failure reduces him to tears.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:35 PM on September 28, 2012 [9 favorites]
Yeah, if you ever want to imagine what parenting is like, watch those five seconds where his utter failure reduces him to tears.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:35 PM on September 28, 2012 [9 favorites]
The whole episode is pretty hard to watch. Jesus, I was losing it at the end of that presents scene, and when he is dreaming of what his girls are like when they grow up.
posted by King Bee at 4:36 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by King Bee at 4:36 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Brilliant. Totally. I'm wavering between him and Ed Hochuli for the winner in my fantasy-man-crush league.
posted by amanda at 4:40 PM on September 28, 2012
posted by amanda at 4:40 PM on September 28, 2012
I seriously thought about eating a pinwheel cookie today, and all that went through my mind was "What will my daughters think of me in 20 years?"
posted by thanotopsis at 4:42 PM on September 28, 2012
posted by thanotopsis at 4:42 PM on September 28, 2012
This is fantastic. Pure, true. Nice work.
posted by jeffehobbs at 4:54 PM on September 28, 2012
posted by jeffehobbs at 4:54 PM on September 28, 2012
Or is the joke that dads will do anything for their daughters?
The joke is just whenever you try to do fix anything that have to fix and it just becomes a bottomless clusterfuck and you resort to ever more desperate measures that seem like they work but just create a bigger and bigger mess. And yeah, that's parenting and the doll is his daughter. On some level. Or something.
posted by fleacircus at 4:58 PM on September 28, 2012 [2 favorites]
The joke is just whenever you try to do fix anything that have to fix and it just becomes a bottomless clusterfuck and you resort to ever more desperate measures that seem like they work but just create a bigger and bigger mess. And yeah, that's parenting and the doll is his daughter. On some level. Or something.
posted by fleacircus at 4:58 PM on September 28, 2012 [2 favorites]
SPOILER:
Isn't this episode some kind of Louis-ified It's A Wonderful Life? It's got the Ghosts of Christmas Future, at least, and it ends with some "Auld Lang Syne".
posted by chrchr at 5:01 PM on September 28, 2012
Isn't this episode some kind of Louis-ified It's A Wonderful Life? It's got the Ghosts of Christmas Future, at least, and it ends with some "Auld Lang Syne".
posted by chrchr at 5:01 PM on September 28, 2012
Was too busy checking out the architectural details in Loie's apartment. That's pre war right there.
posted by Ad hominem at 5:05 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Ad hominem at 5:05 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
SPOILER
Is it me, or were the Chinese people not on the credit roll? What was up with that?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:12 PM on September 28, 2012
Is it me, or were the Chinese people not on the credit roll? What was up with that?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:12 PM on September 28, 2012
I'm a dad. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. I loved the crayon solution.
posted by Increase at 5:13 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Increase at 5:13 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Is it me, or were the Chinese people not on the credit roll? What was up with that?
I don't think they were equity.
Great episode. Louie makes me happy to be alive and watching TV.
posted by pashdown at 5:15 PM on September 28, 2012
I don't think they were equity.
Great episode. Louie makes me happy to be alive and watching TV.
posted by pashdown at 5:15 PM on September 28, 2012
Is there some kind of setup for what happens here? First, girl opens present with doll. Then, cut to him trying desperately to fix a doll that is apparently the same, but whose eyes are pushed back inside the head. Then, cut back to girl opening presents.
I get the feeling you have to have actually seen this whole episode on TV to know what's going on.
posted by koeselitz at 5:22 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
I get the feeling you have to have actually seen this whole episode on TV to know what's going on.
posted by koeselitz at 5:22 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
The reason that resonated so much with me is that it's a perfect example of how pretty much all of my attempts to fix anything go.
You go backward and backward and backward and backward and backward and backward and backward until you want to scream.
I wired up my house for ethernet about 6 months ago, and that pretty much captured the essence of the entire fucking thing.
That was perfect.
posted by kbanas at 5:28 PM on September 28, 2012 [3 favorites]
You go backward and backward and backward and backward and backward and backward and backward until you want to scream.
I wired up my house for ethernet about 6 months ago, and that pretty much captured the essence of the entire fucking thing.
That was perfect.
posted by kbanas at 5:28 PM on September 28, 2012 [3 favorites]
Is there some kind of setup for what happens here? First, girl opens present with doll. Then, cut to him trying desperately to fix a doll that is apparently the same, but whose eyes are pushed back inside the head. Then, cut back to girl opening presents.
I get the feeling you have to have actually seen this whole episode on TV to know what's going on.
I did not see the episode, but I interpreted it this way - the initial scene with the daughter was his fantasy of how it would go on Christmas morning. Then he saw the eyes were all fucked up, and he was doing everything in his power to salvage his fantasy by having the doll be perfect.
With or without that context, I still appreciated the clip, so whatever.
posted by kbanas at 5:29 PM on September 28, 2012
I get the feeling you have to have actually seen this whole episode on TV to know what's going on.
I did not see the episode, but I interpreted it this way - the initial scene with the daughter was his fantasy of how it would go on Christmas morning. Then he saw the eyes were all fucked up, and he was doing everything in his power to salvage his fantasy by having the doll be perfect.
With or without that context, I still appreciated the clip, so whatever.
posted by kbanas at 5:29 PM on September 28, 2012
The summary I found on wikipedia says about this scene...
Louie is with his daughters on Christmas Day who are unwrapping their presents, while Louie remembers the trouble he went through to wrap them all up.
posted by orme at 6:02 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Louie is with his daughters on Christmas Day who are unwrapping their presents, while Louie remembers the trouble he went through to wrap them all up.
posted by orme at 6:02 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Jesus, what is so hard to understand? Devoted father drives himself to tears trying to maintain illusion of Magic Christmas (tm).
I laughed until tears. For the record, yes I have kids.
It is so fun to watch a genius who is so clearly hitting his stride. It's also so nice to see a person receiving praise and fame and really deserve it.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:31 PM on September 28, 2012 [3 favorites]
I laughed until tears. For the record, yes I have kids.
It is so fun to watch a genius who is so clearly hitting his stride. It's also so nice to see a person receiving praise and fame and really deserve it.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:31 PM on September 28, 2012 [3 favorites]
All I know is I want to smack PaleYellow since I am getting over a cold and still have a goodly bit of chest gunk. So there I am... "HAHAHAHAHAHA hack hack wheeze..."
posted by Samizdata at 6:33 PM on September 28, 2012
posted by Samizdata at 6:33 PM on September 28, 2012
Did anyone else notice Louis urinate on the doll at 3:10?
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 6:46 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 6:46 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Anyone who has stayed up till almost dawn assembling/repairing/jury-rigging the Special Gift for The Magical Child knows well the look on Louie's face (in the dawn scene) when he is awakened to share the Joy of Christmas. He is Genius.
posted by Surfurrus at 6:59 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Surfurrus at 6:59 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
This is the curse of those of us who are Last Minute Shoppers. There is no time to repent, your sins are on display for all to see.
posted by maxwelton at 7:00 PM on September 28, 2012
posted by maxwelton at 7:00 PM on September 28, 2012
I am a single mother. That clip is pretty much my life.
I am also a single mother without cable so an FPP with a link to this, which I would have likely not seen and then realized OMG! YOU GUYS! LOUIE KNOWS!, is pretty much a Friday night maker, while I sit on the couch with a beer and another 7 seconds alone before the child gets home from basketball practice.
I am a single mother that loves Louie, obviously.
posted by youandiandaflame at 7:04 PM on September 28, 2012 [4 favorites]
I am also a single mother without cable so an FPP with a link to this, which I would have likely not seen and then realized OMG! YOU GUYS! LOUIE KNOWS!, is pretty much a Friday night maker, while I sit on the couch with a beer and another 7 seconds alone before the child gets home from basketball practice.
I am a single mother that loves Louie, obviously.
posted by youandiandaflame at 7:04 PM on September 28, 2012 [4 favorites]
is the joke that his doll is shit compared to the same one his ex gave his daughter?
It's nominally a comedy, but that doesn't mean that everything on the show needs to be a 'joke'
It's just about what it is to be a parent. I thought it was moving and real, like much of the show and his stand up act is.
The great thing about watching the man work is that one gets the sense that he's really just getting started as a film maker. Give him a few years and a feature film budget and he could easily make a masterpiece.
posted by empath at 7:29 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
It's nominally a comedy, but that doesn't mean that everything on the show needs to be a 'joke'
It's just about what it is to be a parent. I thought it was moving and real, like much of the show and his stand up act is.
The great thing about watching the man work is that one gets the sense that he's really just getting started as a film maker. Give him a few years and a feature film budget and he could easily make a masterpiece.
posted by empath at 7:29 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
what i like most is the Charlie Brown-like music. nice little way to punctuate the pathos.
posted by liza at 7:37 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by liza at 7:37 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
I don't think I'd ever watched an entire series of a TV show, but I furiously watched the first two series of Louie, rapt. It's probably the best videoed thing I've ever seen.
posted by threeants at 7:40 PM on September 28, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by threeants at 7:40 PM on September 28, 2012 [2 favorites]
If it helps to decode the clip: at the very beginning, after the girl unwraps the present, imagine a title card that says "Eight Hours Earlier..."
From that point, time progresses forward in a linear fashion until we are back where we started.
posted by ErikaB at 7:41 PM on September 28, 2012
From that point, time progresses forward in a linear fashion until we are back where we started.
posted by ErikaB at 7:41 PM on September 28, 2012
I read an interview with him recently where he was talking about the show and how the segments can last the whole show or just a few minutes so you never really know what's going to happen next. Kind of like life, nothing is wrapped up neatly in 22 minutes. (Thanks family ties for fucking up all my relationships expecting people to come to my door and explain their motivations for their actions, then perhaps hug it out). But I digress.
Anyway, I just watched that episode on Amazon today. I'm not that into the stand up 'bag of dicks' Louis CK, but his show, now with Woody Allen's editor, is just SO good.
posted by bquarters at 8:22 PM on September 28, 2012
Anyway, I just watched that episode on Amazon today. I'm not that into the stand up 'bag of dicks' Louis CK, but his show, now with Woody Allen's editor, is just SO good.
posted by bquarters at 8:22 PM on September 28, 2012
Watching that scene last night had me in tears from laughing so hard. The whole episode was amazing and somewhat dream like. In fact the whole season was amazing and somewhat dream like.
posted by Bonzai at 9:53 PM on September 28, 2012
posted by Bonzai at 9:53 PM on September 28, 2012
One of the things I find so charming and true about the show, is that after exploiting all of Louis' faults and demons for 22 minutes, in the end he's a really great father and his girls adore him. It really artfully lifts the whole thing to the next level.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:10 PM on September 28, 2012
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:10 PM on September 28, 2012
The glue in his eye is where I started to laugh out loud; I began to really fall apart when the head was glued to the couch, but seeing the mess on the face...well my own kids started wondering what was going on, they haven't heard me laugh that hard in a very long time.
I have done the all damn night thing before. The worst was putting together a bi-level plastic fort/treehouse with a slide. It was freezing ass cold outside on Christmas Eve and the cold made the plastic really slick and stiff, so you'd put the pieces together, reach over for a bolt, and they would pop apart. Then I was fumbling with the icy cold bolts that i couldn't feel properly because my fingers were numb - but you can't thread bolts with gloves on. I was sure I was keeping everyone in the neighborhood awake, too, with the worklights in the front yard and the occasional curse word or three.
I got it done though, about 5 a.m. - an hour before the kids got up. I was pretty haggard, and seeing Louis CKs face...man...I have been there.
posted by Xoebe at 10:38 PM on September 28, 2012 [5 favorites]
I have done the all damn night thing before. The worst was putting together a bi-level plastic fort/treehouse with a slide. It was freezing ass cold outside on Christmas Eve and the cold made the plastic really slick and stiff, so you'd put the pieces together, reach over for a bolt, and they would pop apart. Then I was fumbling with the icy cold bolts that i couldn't feel properly because my fingers were numb - but you can't thread bolts with gloves on. I was sure I was keeping everyone in the neighborhood awake, too, with the worklights in the front yard and the occasional curse word or three.
I got it done though, about 5 a.m. - an hour before the kids got up. I was pretty haggard, and seeing Louis CKs face...man...I have been there.
posted by Xoebe at 10:38 PM on September 28, 2012 [5 favorites]
I read a couple of reviews that mentioned that crazed look of his in the opening scene as Louis being depressed when, as Xoebe points out, it seemed clear to me he was working on zero sleep.
posted by Bonzai at 10:41 PM on September 28, 2012
posted by Bonzai at 10:41 PM on September 28, 2012
The child actors on that show are just fantastic.
And, really, Louis's acting is shockingly good. Contrast him with Jerry Seinfeld, who had good material but always seemed like he was on stage doing a set.
(So funny that this post comes in the middle of a Friday night Louie marathon...)
posted by LordSludge at 10:53 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
And, really, Louis's acting is shockingly good. Contrast him with Jerry Seinfeld, who had good material but always seemed like he was on stage doing a set.
(So funny that this post comes in the middle of a Friday night Louie marathon...)
posted by LordSludge at 10:53 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
This season I would say is a little more uneven than Louie's been in the past, but still brilliant and unlike anything else on the air.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
But, man, the run of the last three episodes. So good. And even if you ignore the context for why Louie is so depressed... Just this episode. The way him desperately trying to put the doll together and eventually succeeding but it exhausting him, and then the spur of the moment trip to China to put himself together, culminating in that gorgeously shot moment in the shack, laughing and feeling at peace. So beautiful.
posted by sparkletone at 11:39 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
SPOILERS FOLLOW
But, man, the run of the last three episodes. So good. And even if you ignore the context for why Louie is so depressed... Just this episode. The way him desperately trying to put the doll together and eventually succeeding but it exhausting him, and then the spur of the moment trip to China to put himself together, culminating in that gorgeously shot moment in the shack, laughing and feeling at peace. So beautiful.
posted by sparkletone at 11:39 PM on September 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
Did he really go to China just for that episode? Or was it filmed somewhere else? And was that really the Yangtze river?
posted by Obscure Reference at 1:55 AM on September 29, 2012
posted by Obscure Reference at 1:55 AM on September 29, 2012
The credits list a China crew, so I am assuming they really went to China. (I was watching the credits closely as I was wondering the same thing.)
posted by wittgenstein at 6:24 AM on September 29, 2012
posted by wittgenstein at 6:24 AM on September 29, 2012
The Yangtze runs nowhere near Beijing. So maybe it's a joke on the language barrier and/or Louis' character's apparent geographic cluelessness, or you can imagine he travelled onward from Beijing to the river. With Louie, it doesn't really matter, does it?
I don't want to make an entire song and dance about the uncredited Chinese, but they did have speaking roles, just not in English. I mean, "Old Louie" and "Other Woman in Toy Store" were credited. Did someone already do an English translation of the Chinese bits? (I did catch the guy saying "Měiguó", apparently inquiring about Louis' character's country of origin.)
About the doll, the fact that we see the unwrapping first makes the viewer focus on the process, not so much the outcome. It's the same thing Columbo did with identifying the killer at the beginning: it turns the "whodunit?" into a "howcatchum?".
My favourite bit this season was Mr. Dall's lobby, where the actress changing between shots made me go "Huh, why would Louis do this, surely it can't be an oversight, they can't be so strapped for cash or time that they hired a different actress to do the closeups" and then the freight train/double bass drone came on in the background and I thought, "This is strange, like something straight out of a David Ly- oh, you clever bastard."
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:28 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
I don't want to make an entire song and dance about the uncredited Chinese, but they did have speaking roles, just not in English. I mean, "Old Louie" and "Other Woman in Toy Store" were credited. Did someone already do an English translation of the Chinese bits? (I did catch the guy saying "Měiguó", apparently inquiring about Louis' character's country of origin.)
About the doll, the fact that we see the unwrapping first makes the viewer focus on the process, not so much the outcome. It's the same thing Columbo did with identifying the killer at the beginning: it turns the "whodunit?" into a "howcatchum?".
My favourite bit this season was Mr. Dall's lobby, where the actress changing between shots made me go "Huh, why would Louis do this, surely it can't be an oversight, they can't be so strapped for cash or time that they hired a different actress to do the closeups" and then the freight train/double bass drone came on in the background and I thought, "This is strange, like something straight out of a David Ly- oh, you clever bastard."
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:28 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
Shit on my father's balls!
posted by gorgor_balabala at 6:32 AM on September 29, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by gorgor_balabala at 6:32 AM on September 29, 2012 [4 favorites]
I know that complimenting "Louie" is almost cliche at this point, but that final episode, which took the viewer through about every possible human emotion, ending with a well-earned moment of bliss, was just wonderful.
The doll scene reminded me of buying one of my stepsons a trampoline for his 11th birthday. I left work a little early on a Friday with the idea that I could surprise him with it by the time he got home from school that afternoon. I finally finished putting it together that Sunday. The breaking down in tears part was most relatable.
posted by The Gooch at 10:39 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
The doll scene reminded me of buying one of my stepsons a trampoline for his 11th birthday. I left work a little early on a Friday with the idea that I could surprise him with it by the time he got home from school that afternoon. I finally finished putting it together that Sunday. The breaking down in tears part was most relatable.
posted by The Gooch at 10:39 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
A commenter over on Alan Sepinwall's review gave this translation for the last scene:
Translations starting from the truck driver (they are all speaking a northern accented Mandarin Chinese):posted by Sibrax at 11:30 AM on September 29, 2012 [3 favorites]
"I don't understand what you are saying".
"Yangzi river?" (another commenter said he took him to the wrong place- this is not entirely correct- the way he said it "Jiang he" is a colloquial description for the two great rivers in china- yellow and yangzi- tho he may have taken him to a tributary at best- yangzi does not pass through beijing, tho he may have driven a FAR distance judging by the mountains)
"I'll take you there, get in my car". "Follow me", "Careful", "This it- jianghe", "I'm heading back".
Family dinner scene- (starting with the man in the hat)
"Hey, Foreign bro is here! Please sit, sit!" "Give him a bowl", multiple people saying "eat eat, it's good!"
man sitting across- "Hey, what country are you from?" guy standing next to him- "where are you from? USA, England, France?"
Man in hat- "you're welcome to come to my house in beijing whenever to visit."
And for what it's worth- Louie actually pronounced the words pretty damn well =P Cept when he said France - second word sounded like melon (hence the laughter =D)
For a pointlessly context-free clip from what turns out to be a painfully unfunny basic cable show that most people have never heard of that was surprisingly not as bad a stepping on a lego.
posted by mikoroshi at 3:15 PM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by mikoroshi at 3:15 PM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
Mikorosi, the show won two Emmys last week. It is acclaimed, and it is popular.
posted by juniper at 5:09 PM on September 29, 2012
posted by juniper at 5:09 PM on September 29, 2012
juniper, so did Two and a Half Men.
posted by mikoroshi at 5:57 PM on September 29, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by mikoroshi at 5:57 PM on September 29, 2012 [2 favorites]
Oh no you didn't.
posted by amanda at 7:08 PM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by amanda at 7:08 PM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]
It's interesting to see the varied responses to this show. This season, and particularly the last few episodes have cemented this show as one of my favorites, maybe ever.
I mean those David Lynch episodes. Oh. My. God.
It is an unusual sensibility and humor, but I love, love, love this show and Louis CK.
posted by insert.witticism.here at 11:36 PM on September 29, 2012 [2 favorites]
I mean those David Lynch episodes. Oh. My. God.
It is an unusual sensibility and humor, but I love, love, love this show and Louis CK.
posted by insert.witticism.here at 11:36 PM on September 29, 2012 [2 favorites]
The opening scene was great. Reminded me a lot of this old sketch from MadTV years ago.
And the whole episode was pretty awesome, too. Mikorosi, u trollin'.
posted by Down10 at 5:07 PM on September 30, 2012
And the whole episode was pretty awesome, too. Mikorosi, u trollin'.
posted by Down10 at 5:07 PM on September 30, 2012
I think mikorosi was pretty spot on, and I like Louie.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:06 AM on October 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by mrgrimm at 9:06 AM on October 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
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