Louie: Elevator part 2
May 21, 2014 6:21 AM - Season 4, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Louie takes a basket of food to the woman from the elevator and goes out with her niece, who doesn't speak English. Jane has a problem at school, which means Louie and his ex have to talk it out.
Perhaps it's because the show speaks to me personally, but I find myself transfixed by this story. The way Louie is depicted struggling with himself to be a good person is something you don't see very often on television. It's far more than the sad-sack act that it appears to be on the surface.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:40 AM on May 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by ob1quixote at 8:40 AM on May 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's hard to talk about this one without talking about the next one too, I watched them back to back and now can't even remember what happened in each one. I tried to look up reviews/ recaps to see which was which and they are all lumping these two together, too- I wonder if we should maybe start doing that with posts? Anyway, my comment is on both of them together:
I feel like the way in which things are kept somewhat confusing, dreamy and nonsensical is a really interesting way to add a powerful emotional buildup to moments that would otherwise seem to be totally coming out of left field. I really like it. It keeps you paying attention and in a heightened state of emotion all along so you're ready to react fully when something happens, be it scary or hilarious or moving which I love that he manages to do all of almost seamlessly. Like the part with the violins- if that just randomly happened in another show it would seem kind of weird but in Louie-world it was completely moving, I was practically in tears. You never have to suspend your disbelief for any particular thing because you're suspending it all along at this point.
I'm also intrigued by the Jane storyline and super impressed with her performance although I feel like I have an inkling of where it might be going and it makes me nervous. Maybe I'll be wrong. We'll see. And the part where Louie and his wife are in the office and the principal leaves so they can talk- wow- that was also a really great and painful moment. So good.
I think this season is just going to get better and better. I am so glad he took the time off, and glad that it's finally back, the extra time seems to be paying off.
posted by GastrocNemesis at 9:50 AM on May 21, 2014
I feel like the way in which things are kept somewhat confusing, dreamy and nonsensical is a really interesting way to add a powerful emotional buildup to moments that would otherwise seem to be totally coming out of left field. I really like it. It keeps you paying attention and in a heightened state of emotion all along so you're ready to react fully when something happens, be it scary or hilarious or moving which I love that he manages to do all of almost seamlessly. Like the part with the violins- if that just randomly happened in another show it would seem kind of weird but in Louie-world it was completely moving, I was practically in tears. You never have to suspend your disbelief for any particular thing because you're suspending it all along at this point.
I'm also intrigued by the Jane storyline and super impressed with her performance although I feel like I have an inkling of where it might be going and it makes me nervous. Maybe I'll be wrong. We'll see. And the part where Louie and his wife are in the office and the principal leaves so they can talk- wow- that was also a really great and painful moment. So good.
I think this season is just going to get better and better. I am so glad he took the time off, and glad that it's finally back, the extra time seems to be paying off.
posted by GastrocNemesis at 9:50 AM on May 21, 2014
Also, so obvious it almost goes without saying, but watching Ellen Burstyn on this show is a total joy.
posted by GastrocNemesis at 10:00 AM on May 21, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by GastrocNemesis at 10:00 AM on May 21, 2014 [3 favorites]
I am so entranced by this show. It unmasks so much regular tv as just going through the motions. I'll post more coherent and specific comments once my critical faculties have returned.
One thing I can say is that I appreciate it so much when enough time is set aside for a character to frankly talk things out in a way that so many other shows never dare to do.
posted by umbú at 10:09 AM on May 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
One thing I can say is that I appreciate it so much when enough time is set aside for a character to frankly talk things out in a way that so many other shows never dare to do.
posted by umbú at 10:09 AM on May 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
You could take all the Elevator parts 1-6 (I think someone said there would be six) and cut out the commercials and tie them together and release it as a feature in theatres and I still would pay 16 bucks to go see it even though I would have watched every episode twice by then.
posted by dogwalker at 11:35 AM on May 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by dogwalker at 11:35 AM on May 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
dogwalker, I would have to agree. I believe he's becoming one of the greatest cinematic storytellers of our time.
posted by STFUDonnie at 3:20 PM on May 21, 2014
posted by STFUDonnie at 3:20 PM on May 21, 2014
Great pair of episodes. I'm starting to really enjoy this show again after what I consider the "transitional" season 2.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:27 PM on May 21, 2014
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:27 PM on May 21, 2014
The actress who plays Louie's younger daughter is just phenomenal. I have to figure some of that is dumb luck, much like Kiernan Shipka on Mad Men, since she had to be like 5 or 6 when she was first cast and I can't imagine they could gauge how deep her talent was at that age. Everything about the scene on the park bench, from her mannerisms to her tone of voice, just felt so natural I couldn't see the acting at all.
It turns out she is a legitimate violin prodigy as well.
posted by The Gooch at 9:54 PM on May 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
It turns out she is a legitimate violin prodigy as well.
posted by The Gooch at 9:54 PM on May 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm married to Louie and Louie C K. He and Mr. Vitabellosi are so so similar in what they say and think. And after watching this episode, I think Louis has been watching this household for years now, because what the daughter says about teachers and school is almost verbatim what my stepdaughter was saying in our house circa 2011. "The teachers aren't smart."
We live in a decrepit city, and Mr. Vitabellosi had to have a conversation with his ex about private school. Mr. Vitabellosi grew up in the projects in East Harlem, but he was the one pushing private school. And the one who could (just barely, newly) afford it. His daughter was starting to hate school. Her opposition was well-thought-out, well-articulated and not at all wrong. And her opposition was framing her, from the school's perspective, as a "problem." It was only going to get worse in middle school. Our mantra is "we don't need her to compete with China, we just want her to continue to love learning."
I heard Louis on Fresh Air this week, and he talked about his fears that he would never see his daughters again if he got divorced. The fear for fathers is real and terrible.
Louie also talked about the subway scene, and they played the clip of him yelling at the daughter. He talked about needing to scare his kids in situations in which they should be scared but don't know enough to be. He said something like "you have to create that reaction in them, they have to feel scared." Mr. Vitabellosi has said something so similar. There's only been, maybe, two or three occasions when he's yelled like that -- and always when his daughter had put herself in danger and didn't know enough to realize it. He said "you can't logic it out and convince her it was logically dangerous, because she was operating under her own logic, which already concluded that it wasn't dangerous. My yelling at her is the only way to upset her. And when she thinks about doing it again, I want her to remember feeling upset about it, and not do it."
Louie is getting so much right, stuff that just doesn't show up anywhere else.
posted by vitabellosi at 5:02 AM on May 23, 2014 [7 favorites]
We live in a decrepit city, and Mr. Vitabellosi had to have a conversation with his ex about private school. Mr. Vitabellosi grew up in the projects in East Harlem, but he was the one pushing private school. And the one who could (just barely, newly) afford it. His daughter was starting to hate school. Her opposition was well-thought-out, well-articulated and not at all wrong. And her opposition was framing her, from the school's perspective, as a "problem." It was only going to get worse in middle school. Our mantra is "we don't need her to compete with China, we just want her to continue to love learning."
I heard Louis on Fresh Air this week, and he talked about his fears that he would never see his daughters again if he got divorced. The fear for fathers is real and terrible.
Louie also talked about the subway scene, and they played the clip of him yelling at the daughter. He talked about needing to scare his kids in situations in which they should be scared but don't know enough to be. He said something like "you have to create that reaction in them, they have to feel scared." Mr. Vitabellosi has said something so similar. There's only been, maybe, two or three occasions when he's yelled like that -- and always when his daughter had put herself in danger and didn't know enough to realize it. He said "you can't logic it out and convince her it was logically dangerous, because she was operating under her own logic, which already concluded that it wasn't dangerous. My yelling at her is the only way to upset her. And when she thinks about doing it again, I want her to remember feeling upset about it, and not do it."
Louie is getting so much right, stuff that just doesn't show up anywhere else.
posted by vitabellosi at 5:02 AM on May 23, 2014 [7 favorites]
Late chiming in with this, but I think this episode confirms that the name of the character is spelled with an "s" at the end? (At least for this episode, as all of the real-world/fictional-world interplay seems pretty fluid throughout the series.)
posted by nobody at 7:13 AM on May 27, 2014
posted by nobody at 7:13 AM on May 27, 2014
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As for this one: the Jane subplot, coupled with the Subway Rules thing from last week, just blew me away. That kid is good.
posted by Etrigan at 6:24 AM on May 21, 2014