Terrorists, Tours, And Tourette’s: Season Three Of Curb Your Enthusiasm

Larry and the cast make any episode worth watching, but the thing which exalts Season Three to a higher level is the outstandingly awkward situations it creates for these characters.

Cheryl’s doctor recommends a laxative to help cure her cough; she follows his orders, and the laxative kicks in . . . while she’s stuck in a car wash. She is forced to leave the car mid-wash, amid soapy water jets and whirling buffer brushes.

Larry, feeling out of the holiday spirit on Christmas while his wife and in-laws celebrate, accidentally eats his in-laws’ cookie manger scene. He tries to make up for it the next day by hiring a live manger scene to greet them, but he only makes things worse by getting into a fight with the actor playing Joseph, right in front of his in-laws.

The absolute zenith of awkward situations comes at the conclusion of the final episode of the season, “The Grand Opening.” As with other finales in the series, the final episode brings together many of the guest stars from throughout the season but here, you have a special recipe for disaster in the works.

There is the chef given to outbursts in a kitchen that is open to the center of the restaurant; there is Larry having seen a whole senior high school class who shaved their heads in solidarity for a fellow student fighting cancer; and there is a Cold War between Cheryl and Susie over missed lunch dates together. (The most recent cause of the cancellation? A car wash mishap!) Yet still, everything seems to be humming along fine: the food is great, the turnout is standing room only, and the opening night guests are having a great time in the new restaurant. What could go wrong?

The chef has an obscene outburst, of course. The dining room falls silent, all eyes turning towards the open kitchen. Larry trying somehow to normalize the situation, shouts out an equally loud string of swear words. Looking to Jeff for help, Jeff follows suit. As does Cheryl, just as Susie enters (Susie thinks the curse words are meant for her, and follows up with a string directed at Cheryl!). Michael York follows suit, albeit in a stuffy, proper Englishman sort of way.

Eventually, everyone in the restaurant follows suit, shouting random obscenities. A one-time tearful widow is seen dropping joyous f-bombs; Jeff’s father cites a dirty playground chant; and Larry’s father starts flipping off the other people at his table. The real magic is how every character is unique in his or her swearing. (Cheryl’s father simply lists non-orthodox sexual positions.) Most bizarrely (and tellingly), Jeff shouts a string of body parts and their resultant fluids before adding “grandma” to the mix.

And there in the middle of it all is Larry, the patient zero of this storm of swearing, this cacophony of cursing, reviewing his grand beau geste. Perhaps that is the real heart-warming lesson of the third series. While Larry’s behavior often results in (at one point, literally) egg on his face, or on the faces of those near him, sometimes his brand of outspoken, neurotic behavior is just what is needed to set everything right.

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