Louie: "Country Drive"

Season 2, Episode 5

Louie, father not-so-extraordinaire

More than anything, Louie wants to make sure that his kids grow up with a proper sense of morality. He’s long since given up on himself, and half the time he’s not even sure why he’s supposed to teach his kids the things that he does, but he does it anyways because he wants to be a good father, and that’s the way that it’s supposed to be done. He doesn’t care about conforming to societal norms, but he knows of no other way to properly raise them, and he cares too much about his girls to fuck it up by being a social rebel.

Louie’s relationship with his daughters is the key of tonight’s episode, the linking chain that connects all the various pieces. He takes them on a trip to see their great aunt Ellen, because hey, kids are supposed to see their elders, and he tries to get them to rock out to The Who’s “Who Are You”, because it’s an awesome song, and all kids need to have an appreciation for classic rock. Once he gets there, he both tries to foster a sense of compassion and respect while downplaying Ellen’s outdated/racist terminology. Much like reading Mark Twain, fathering is a bit of crapshoot for Louie, as he is always trying to balance the good in life with the bad, but his girls aren’t quite old enough to see life as anything other than black-and-white.

If this episode has a fault, it’s Aunt Ellen, who plays up far too many of the old person stereotypes to work into the nuanced interactions we see between Louie and his daughters. She’s old! She’s frail! She’s racist! She dies! All of these things pretty much became inevitable once Louie revealed that she’s “97 years old” and “was born in the 1910s.”

Now, I like what Ellen was supposed represent, both as another learning tool for Louie to use with his kids, as well as a sign of his own parental incompetence, so on that level, she played well, and viewing her only in those terms helps to swallow the shallow characterization. But what I’m a bit surprised/disappointed in is that the episode didn’t attempt to deal with Ellen’s death after the second act break. It’s not that I think C.K. was wrong for doing so – it would have made for a really dark episode, and those child actors had probably been through enough hearing Louie drop the f-bomb and Ellen say “nigger” – but it was a tad disconcerting to come back for act three and be dropped into a comedy bit that closed out the episode.

But luckily that narrative jump stayed within a much tighter theme, so I’m willing to forgive that bit of inconsistency based on the episode’s strong message. Tonight’s episode may have avoided outright humor in many places, instead giving us pathos, which we’ve seen before, and scene that we’re just straight up charming, which something new. It would be one thing for Louie to attempt its hand at new tones this season, but the fact that it does so while maintaining its strengths at pathos and theme is even better.

Quotes, Etc:

I appreciate that this episode used the unedited version of “Who Are You”, but under exactly what context would Louie hear that song on a road trip with his kids? Satellite radio, I guess?

It might be a little thing now, but I like how the show has been deepening the two daughters’ personalities this season, with Lilly being withdrawn and dark, and Jaye loud and bratty, as I feel like this could lead to some strong material for C.K. to play with later on.

“We have a rule if they get their fucking teeth brushed, and the goddamn ‘jamas on…”

“I can’t sit on my daughter’s bed and say ‘nigger’ all night, and then put them to bed.”

“I’m channeling Bill Cosby right now.”