Curb Your Enthusiasm Review: The Burlesque Dermatologist

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What Larry David perfected on Seinfeld, and continues to excel at on Curb Your Enthusiasm, is bringing multiple story arcs full circle. "The Safe House" was a perfect example. It went above and beyond, bringing each plot line conclusion to the forefront within the final five minutes.

The numerous stories included Larry reaching behind the women for the ice cream, Richard Lewis dating a burlesque dancer for her breasts, watching over the stranger's laptop, the battered women living down the street from Larry and racial profiling.

The Larry David Face

In one of the final scenes, we witnessed Richard pulling the exact same freezer move that LD did. Of course, with Dale there instead of the house mother, Richard was in for a much more harmful fate, which led to the lack of a Breast Blowout on Lewis' last night of pleasure with the Double D's.

The other three plots came together so nicely, beginning with Larry's fall leading him to accidentally admit that Leon was abusing him. That, in turn, ended up harming the African-American who returned the computer he was supposed to be watching for Larry because the cops showed up looking for the harmful Leon. The police, like everyone else on this show apparently, couldn't tell the difference between the African-American Leon and the African-American with the laptop. Full circle.

Of course, Curb is hilarious for reasons aside from structure. 

"The Safe House" gave us plenty of one-liners and ad-libbing. Between Larry admitting Lewis would be the one to drive him to suicide, Funkhouser wanting to do a hands in after they all decided to go watch Richard's girlfriend dance, and Leon telling Larry that he knows all of his security codes, there was plenty to get caught up in over the half hour. And only Larry David would go to a strip club to check the women for moles!

Like we will be doing all season here at TV Fanatic, let's now take a look at some of the arguments LD got himself into this week, and see how we might have handled the situations...

The Chubby Hubby
LD's Stance: Ask the women at the freezer to move aside, and then reach in behind them.  Later, comment that they should have serious conversations in a different aisle.
My Perspective: I am all for asking them to please step aside, but in real life they would have done so without you having to ask. If they did not, there is nothing wrong with reaching behind them. I do disagree with LD's idea that they should move their serious convo to another aisle. All they really need to do is keep these moments to the middle of the aisle. You won't impede another shopper's progress that way. Grocery stores take place on the edges. 

The Laptop
LD's Stance: He decided to watch the computer for the stranger until he had to leave and then asked someone else to do the same for him.
My Perspective: Absolutely not. Yes, agreeing to watch the laptop for a few minutes is fine. Once you have to depart, you definitely do not leave it in the hands of another stranger. You bring that laptop up to a manager of the store. If it is something much less expensive, fine, but anything over $100 in value, you bring to someone you know is a professional. When the original stranger comes back and doesn't see his computer, he will immediately look for the manager. The other option I could agree with is to take it with you yourself (if you can look up the individual's contact information on the computer itself).

The Dog Dump
LD's Stance: When an individual lets his dog dump in your yard, you have every right to yell at him and there is no need to apologize for that.
My Perspective: I am right with LD on this one. I am not a dog owner, so I have much less wiggle room than most on this situation. This is something that both the dog and the owner of said dog deserve a good screaming at for. Once? Fine. But three times? No way.

As always, here are some of our favorite quotes from "The Safe House." Check out all the best one-liners at our Curb Your Enthusiasm quotes page.

Funkhouser: Have you set a day aside when you're gonna finally look at her face? | permalink
Funkhouser: We ought to do this more often.
Larry: Come to disgusting strip clubs? | permalink
Richard: How did you see a small mole from where you were sitting?
Larry: Well I have breast vision. | permalink
Woman: Do you want to apologize to my dog? Because you really yelled at my dog.
Larry: Yeah, it's very hard to apologize to a dog because they're a stupid animal. | permalink
Larry: I have no problem with crying in a grocery store. I would suggest, however, the next time you feel overwhelmed by something, to go to a different section. | permalink
Man: So you think all Black people look alike?
Larry: I think all computers look alike. | permalink

The Safe House Review

Editor Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
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Rating: 4.6 / 5.0 (17 Votes)

Dan Forcella is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.

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Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 8 Episode 2 Quotes

Have you set a day aside when you're gonna finally look at her face?

Funkhouser

Richard: A lot of people call me who are suicidal.
Larry: I don't think you'd be my suicide call.