Louis C.K. recently won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and this was deserved as Louie is one of the most inventive and ingenious shows on the air. Thursday night, Louie's third season wrapped up in what has to be the best single episode of this season, "New Year's Eve." It's a simple story that has ties to many of the strongest episodes this season while servicing Louie's central theme this year: connection.
It's easy to forget that Louie is a comedy, as the show is not afraid of maudlin or naturalistic moments. In fact the first shot of this episode is of a depressed and cowled Louie holding a cup of coffee. His look is forlorn and immediately you wonder what is bothering him. The camera pulls back and you see the girls opening their Christmas presents. The ensuing flashback sequence with Louie preparing the perfect Christmas gifts for the girls was the funniest sustained bit in quite some time. I truly appreciated the cursing that he used when faced with an insurmountable obstacle--mine involves the b-, wh-, sl-, c- and d-words. And while I have never taken to literally pissing on my sworn, inanimate enemies, I have cut them and set them on fire.
But Louie is blue, Janet and her new husband/fiance are taking the girls overseas for three weeks, and he will be left alone for the holidays. A phone call and Mexican vacation invitation from his sister Debbie, does little to cheer him up, and in fact makes him feel even more alone. The pity in Debbie's voice is palatable; Debbie is played by Amy Poehler, who is given little to do here, but says more in a pause than most other actresses do with a sentence. In a funk, filled with Hostess Sno-Balls and local newcasts, he has a dream wherein he imagines the girls meeting when they're older, not really knowing each other and barely tolerating spending time with their older, sadder, pinwheel-eating dad. At one point Older Jane asks, "Why didn't he try harder to be less alone?" Which causes Older Lily to reply, "We're probably fucked up from having that kind of dad." He awakens to hear the local anchors, Fanny Chapcranter and Flappy Howserton, do the annual "More people kill themselves on New Year's than any other time of the year" story.
Invigorated and eager to make a connection with his sister and her family, he decides to go to the airport and take the flight to Mexico City. On the way he has a surprise encounter with Liz, Parker Posey's character from "Daddy's Girlfriend." The Liz-Louie pairing was Louie's most successful adult pairing this season, and immediately Louie and the audience lighten. Of course easy happiness isn't the universe's plan for Louie, and tragedy strikes. In a legitimately terrifying moment, Liz collapses in front of Louie. She is transferred to the hospital and is able to say one irony-filled "Bye?" before dying and Louie is left alone for the countdown to the new year.
Louie goes to the airport to catch the next flight to Mexico City, but instead at the last minute decides to go to Beijing, China instead. One of his gifts for Jane on Christmas morning was a book, The Story About Ping, by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese. While reading the book to Jane, she casually remarks, "It looks like its so nice to live on that river." The story is about a young duck name Ping that leaves his houseboat every morning with his 67 relatives to forage along the banks. At the end of the day the ducks process back onto the boat, with the last one receiving a swat on its backside. One evening Ping is to be the last one, and afraid of the swat, he elects to hide on the shore. When he wakes the next morning, the boat and his family are gone.
The parallels to Louie are obvious; if Louie is too afraid of a swat on the rump or the death of a loved one, then he will be left behind and die alone. Brilliantly C.K. doesn't tell the full story of Ping, instead allowing the story's sense of family and connection and the romantic attraction of what the Yangtze River represents to be the bridge into Louie's psyche.
Once in Beijing, Louie goes on a quixotic quest to see the Yangtze and realize Jane's off the cuff remark. He soon finds that he can't make a connection here either. After a winding Beijing alley montage akin to the regular opening Greenwich Village parade, Louie finally finds someone who understands him. It's a man in a truck filled with ducks (I couldn't count them, but I'm going to believe that there were 67 ducks in that truck).
When he gets to the Yangtze, it is near the head, and barely a trickle. In no way is it the majesty of Jane's dreams or Weise's pictures. Disappointed again, he wanders along until he is drug into a house where a family is having dinner and the language barrier is great. Instead of being a source of embarrassment or ridicule, the scene is warm, fun and funny. Half a world away from all he knows Louie shares a bowl of noodles, and makes a connection, and immediately we are reminded of the brilliant "Miami" episode earlier this season. Cue a swelling version of "Auld Lang Syne," pull the camera back to capture the Chinese mountains and I now have a new favorite New Year's episode of a TV series.
I can't say enough good things about this series and this episode. Louie took a lot of chances this season by conforming more to the standard sitcom format. There were serialized elements and continuity for the first time of any length, but instead of being constricting it was liberating. By giving a face and voice to Louie's ex-wife Janet, by establishing Parker Posey's Liz, by making Louie struggle to make a credible adult relationship all season, the payoffs here were so much greater. I think "New Year's Eve" works as a perfect stand alone episode of Louie, but I can't divorce myself form all that has gone on before, and I know I am richer for it.
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