Louie Recap (Season 3, Episode 7): “IKEA / Piano Lesson”

Louie gets crabs and meets some old friends in FX’s LOUIE

(Note: I used to refer to the character as Louis and the show as Louie so it would be easier to know which one I was talking about but since this episode showed that the character was also called Louie I will now refer to the character as Louie and the show as LOUIE. I will still refer to Louis C.K. the creator as Louis C.K. Okay; I hope that all makes sense.)

Despite the seventh episode of LOUIE appearing to be two stories (“IKEA” and “Piano Lesson” respectively) it is technically three: “IKEA,” “Piano Lesson” and then an unnamed third story with Sarah Silverman and Marc Maron which isn’t really related to the other two. I think the lack of connection is what makes this episode of LOUIE weaker than the rest of the season so far. C.K. has done many episodes with multiple stories before but the episodes have usually had a cohesive theme that connects the stories together. It is difficult to see the theme of this episode as each of the stories seems fairly standalone aside from the fact they take place in chronological order, but each of the stories sort of deals with continuity and nostalgia and the past, so maybe that’s it. Regardless, “IKEA / Piano Lesson” doesn’t work as well as similar episodes in the past, which is a shame because there’s a lot of good stuff in it.

The first story, “IKEA,” brings back Dolores from the second season, who was the woman Louie had to buy groceries for and then had an awkward sexual encounter. He runs into Dolores again and ends up going to IKEA with her in return for a blowjob. Because Dolores is a lunatic, she breaks down in the middle of the store after Louie rants about a rug and Louie is forced to awkwardly comfort her. This story ends with Louie and Dolores driving back from IKEA and Louie deciding he’ll take the blowjob at a later date.

The second story, “Piano Lesson,” begins with Louie welcoming a piano teacher into his home. He has decided that if his daughters don’t want to learn it then he will. The lesson is interrupted by a phone call from Maria Bamford, who Louie slept with a couple of episodes ago, who tells him that one of them has given the other one crabs. Louis apologizes to the piano teacher and rushes to the pharmacy. While waiting for the pharmacist to prepare his shampoo, he listens to an elderly woman have a conversation with a pharmacist about her toiletry habits. Louie then rushes home and applies the shampoo.

The third story presumably picks up where “Piano Lesson” left off with Louie sitting down to watch some TV. He finds himself preparing stand-up comedy from the 80s and is confused/disgusted/terrified at how different he looks. Sarah Silverman also appears and Louie phones her up to tell her about it. The two talk about the past and after Marc Maron appears on the show, Louie tells her that the two haven’t been friends for 10 years. Something makes Louie realise that the falling out was his fault and he goes to Marc’s house to apologize only to discover that he did the exact same thing five years ago and the two still aren’t friends. Huh. Unfortunately, this story comes off as a weaker version of the Dane Cook episode from last season, mainly because the C.K./Maron relationship isn’t as well known as the C.K./Cook relationship (I’ve even listened to the podcast with C.K. and Maron and I can’t even remember what happened). However, the idea that Louis has forgotten that he’s already apologized and still hasn’t done anything with Marc is a great one and a nice ending to a mixed episode. I hope the second half of the season comes together a lot better.

Image credit: FX

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