It’s difficult to write about an episode like this. I’m tempted to just write “Their smiling faces give me diarrhea” and be done with it, but alas, there’s stuff to unpack in “Untitled”. I don’t think I’ll ever really tackle the essence of the episode, but that’s okay; what definitely needs to be acknowledged is the fact that this is a great, surrealistic half-hour that has its foundation in both horror and comedy. I guess something like that is to be expected when you title an episode “Untitled”.
What stands out for me are the similarities between Louie’s nightmares and what’s actually been going on in reality this season. No, he hasn’t been humping a guy wearing a rabbit head, and no, he hasn’t been followed around by a ubiquitous flesh monster whatever-you-want-to-call-him. However, he has come across a woman who’s broken down into tears in front of him, he has watched someone become successful with his act–it wasn’t exactly stealing like this episode’s was, but similar idea–and he has talked to a doctor/therapist who ends up not really helping him or caring about what he says. In addition, last week’s ideas about emasculation and gender roles might play a role in his spiral dick this week, and Lilly and Jane have always been fairly essential aspects of the character’s life.
And so, this might all be the reaction of a man who simply can’t take it anymore, who has been beaten down time and time again. His daughters are growing up and forming their own “higher concept ideas”–Jane laments the unfairness of lobster treatment, and Lilly tells her father that she finds A Clockwork Orange to be artistic–and Louie hasn’t quite come to grips with that. So much of this show is about the mundanity of life, about the fact that we simply move on through action after action and event after event like a ghost. It’s fitting, therefore, that the source of these nightmares resides in the interaction between Louie and Barbara early on. Louie can make a difference here, but he decides to awkwardly shuffle out instead, and it’s something that dwells in his mind for a while. It’s not so much this woman in particular; rather, this is representative of Louie’s interactions with other humans in general, of the way he merely shuffles in and out of lives. With “Untitled”, CK expertly weaves the horror together with the comedy, the real with the surreal. The show continues to surprise us, and it’s 100% worth watching to see what other stuff he will come up with next.
GRADE: ____
OTHER THOUGHTS:
-The lyrics to the masterpiece of a final song:
I dreamed of little monsters crawling on my leg.
I fear they’ll come again if I go to bed.
I wish something else would be in my dreams.
Here come those little monsters crawling up my leg.
I dream of dying babies, and why do they smile?
I hate those dying babies. Why don’t they just die?
Their smiling faces give me diarrhea.
Please die, you dying babies, in my diarrhea.
My dreams. My dreams. My dreams….
-Louie just got Jamm’d, I guess.
-Loved DiPaolo’s “What do you think is causing these nightmares?” scene.
-I love the Jane scene where she goes on about sweating inside of her face and seeing electricity and electrons. Ursula Parker nails that.
-Any significance to the guy being naked? Perhaps representative of Louie’s naked, raw self leaping out at him? Eh, I don’t know. It’s late and I’m tired, but I’m still intrigued.
Photo credit: FX, Louie
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I concur- I literally had no idea what to make of this episode, but the various dreams, Lily revealing that she watched Clockwork Orange, Louie constantly waking up in rapid succession…it had this artsy, surreal vibe…sort of just like Clockwork Orange.
What a weird one. Some parts genuinely freaked me out which I didn’t expect. Not scary, just like… what? Huh? Yeah. A couple funny moments for me were Louie putting the blanket over the lady (I thought he was just putting it over her shoulders and instead he just puts it over her… haha) and then them suddenly banging in the montage at the end. And I just love Louie’s kids. They always crack me up. Kids on TV are bad more often than not, but these two are great.