TV in Review: Louie, “Daddy’s Girlfriend: Part I”

Part I of “Daddy’s Girlfriend” had me in its corner from the moment that Maria Bamford appeared on the small screen. Maria Bamford is one of my favoritist comedians,  quirky and original, and a comedian’s comedian. I’m not sure how those outside the comedy community regard her, but within that world of humor aficionados, it’s not uncommon to have veterans like Marc Maron who are simply smitten by the Bamford. (She was on her own episode of Maron’s WTF podcast and also appeared as a live guest not once but twice.)

MARIA: I hope nobody here is deeply religious. If you are, please just rest in the glory that I am wrong.

Louie obviously shares Marc’s mania, and he puts Maria on the list of women who catch his eye during this half hour. It’s not necessarily because of who these women are, although, as he’s spurred on by his daughters wondering why he doesn’t have a girlfriend. After all, Mommy has a new boyfriend.

The revelation is obviously scripted by a stand-up comedian, who knows that the biggest threat posed by the new boyfriend of an old lover is not a big penis, but the possibility that the new boyfriend could be…funny.

LOUIE: Mommy’s friend Patrick?

JANE: Yeah. He’s pretty funny.

LILLY: Daddy. When are you gonna have a girlfriend?

JANE: Yeah, when are you gonna have a girlfriend?

It’s not a relationship he talks about with his girls over breakfast, but Louie has a f*ck buddy thing with the fictionalized Maria Bamford, and it’s a beautiful thing, given that Maria is one of the few who can match Louie’s awkwardness with ease.

LOUIE: You wanna hang out?

MARIA: Hang out where?

The tension only gets worse once Louie broaches the possibility of getting to know Maria more intimately. You know, the kind of intimacy which involves meeting his children. That’s much more intimate than inserting private parts into private places.

MARIA: You really ruined my night. In two ways, now. You’re bad at sex.

LOUIE: Okay.

MARIA: You’re bad at it.

LOUIE: Okay.

MARIA: No. It’s one thing you’re not good at, Louie.

LOUIE: Okay.

Now one of the reasons I enjoy Louie is because Louis CK presents us with a life full of rejection — otherwise known as life — but he also presents us with the sweet and fragile dreams. Which one of us hasn’t gazed at someone’s clothed elbow and begun to fantasize about endless love? (Guys, please tell me that I’m not alone with Louie on this one!)

Louie falls for teachers at his kids’ school because of this fantasizing, and then he falls for a woman at the local bookstore. One of the many problems of Amazon is, of course, that one can no longer have that fantasy of making out with a woman who works at a bookstore as the books come crashing down all around.

It must have been fun and funny to have filmed that sequence. And another terrific casting choice — it’s Parker Posey!

What prompted Louie’s crush? Well, besides the fact that he goes through this episode fantasizing about every skirt that stands in front of a classroom, Louie is also struck by Liz’s literary acumen, as she advises him on which books to buy for his daughter.

LIZ: There are things, about being female, that at that age — it starts coming online. And so some of these books take these feelings, these big emotions — they let you take them out for a safe kind of spin, you know?

LOUIE: That’s massively helpful to me. And very terrifying. Like, deep fear.

The best part of this episode may be that we get to look forward to another episode with Parker Posey. I wish she could be a regular, but they just don’t have the budget. Oh well, I’m grateful for what we get, and it’s just two days before the big first date!

FX first broadcast Season 3, Episode 4 of Louie on July 19, 2012

SEE ALSO
Polentical: TV in Review: Louie, “Miami” (Season 3, Epiosode 3)
The TV Guy: Louie: S03E04: Daddy’s Girlfriend
phdtv: Louie S3 E4 – “Daddy’s Girlfriend (Pt. 1)”
Pop-Break.com: Review: Louie, Season 3, Ep. 4