Samples destroy our society on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'

As this week's Curb Your Enthusiasm opens, Larry and Jeff are discussing the death of Marty Funkhouser's mom, who happened to get hit by a car in her wheelchair. The conversation is cut short though as Susie walks in, and demands Larry offer her condolences for the death, because, she claims, she knew the mother better than Larry did. Larry and Jeff end up heading out before the fight gets too bad and Susie reminds her husband about the school interview later that afternoon for their daughter. This too turns into a fight as Larry's housemates, the Blacks, are going to be interviewing at the same school, and Larry is taking credit in advance should they get accepted.

Larry and Jeff head to the ice cream shop, where they watch a woman getting multiple samples. Jeff, realizing that he should not be having ice cream anyway, gets frustrated and leaves. Larry can do no such thing however as he is going to get ice cream for Cheryl, knowing that if he does, she will have sex with him. The sample lady ends up getting plain old vanilla, frustrating Larry to no end before he opts for the same flavor.

On his way home Larry bumps into Marty Funkhouser, who is out jogging. Larry, in a way only Larry can, chastises Marty for not returning his condolence phone call. Marty, who has been a little preoccupied, offers Larry fifty dollars that he owes Larry from a golf bet. As Marty gets the money out of his shoe, and is rather wet and smelly, Larry would rather not take it. Marty explains that this is the only time he is going to offer Larry the money though, so Larry, grudgingly, has Marty stick it in Larry's pocket.

When Larry actually arrives home he not only gets in trouble for not getting ice cream for the Blacks too (Loretta goes after him for that), he also learns from Cheryl that the sample lady from the ice cream store is Dean of Admissions at the school that Loretta wants her children to go to. Larry tries to defend himself, arguing that the sample lady was breaking one of the unwritten rules of society. Larry is harangued to the point where he agrees to go and apologize.

Before the scene ends though, Larry tries to get rid of the fifty dollars from Funkhouser, offering it to a painter who has just completed some work. The painter declines the money, taking $45.90, the rest of the money Larry had on him, instead. The woman at the flower shop, where Larry goes to buy apology flowers, will not take the fifty either. As Larry needs to bring followers to apologize, he grabs some from the roadside memorial where Marty's mom was killed).

The apology itself, when it occurs, does not go badly, right up until the Dean starts to look at fabric samples for a couch and begins ignoring Larry. Larry manages to stop from getting into a huge fight about it, and backs out almost gracefully. Sadly however, on his way back home, he grabs more flowers from the roadside memorial, giving them to Loretta and Cheryl.

The two women, thrilled with the flowers and the apology, forgive Larry. He is not out of the woods yet though, as Funkhouser rings the doorbell and tells Larry about flowers getting stolen from his mother's roadside memorial. Marty smells the flowers Larry has given Loretta and Cheryl, and knows they are his mother's. Quizzing Larry about the flowers, Marty figures out what has happened. Marty knows that there is a third bunch missing though and Cheryl promises Larry will get them to Marty. Marty storms out and Cheryl tells Larry to go get the last bouquet. Larry is willing to get them from the Dean, asking if he can still have sex with Cheryl if he succeeds. Cheryl is still willing and tells Larry that if he gets her some of her favorite perfume he still has a chance. Rather than going to the Dean first, he goes to the only store that sells the perfume, where a lady insists on sampling a plethora of fragrances. This leads Larry to losing out on the last bottle of perfume that was in stock.

At the school, Jeff and Susie are in the midst of their interview when Larry arrives. He spots the flowers in an outer office and indicates to Jeff and Susie to say nothing as he goes to steal them. As the Dean's assistant returns and is about to catch him, Larry shoves the flowers in a purse that is lying on the floor. Jeff and Susie's interview ends and the Dean leads them out. However, the Dean spots the flowers in the purse, which happens to belong to Susie. Outside, Jeff and Susie lambaste Larry, as their children will not be going to that particular school. Somehow, Susie still has the flowers in her purse and Larry gets them at the end of the conversation.

When he attempts to return them to Funkhouser, Marty gets angry because the flowers do not look as nice as they did before. Richard Lewis happens to be at Marty's paying his respects, and on his way out shows Larry table in the house that has on it some of Marty's mom's favorite things. Lo and behold, there is a bottle of the perfume Cheryl loves on it. Larry runs back into his house, yelling to Cheryl and waving the perfume bottle like a mad man.

At the funeral, Larry and Cheryl attempt to pay their respects to Marty, but as the two wait on line, Marty gets a whiff of the perfume. Knowing he is going to get into trouble, Larry freaks out, and remembering that Richard Lewis told him Marty's family would stampede each other for a quarter, he drops the smelly fifty dollar bill, calls out to the room about money being on the floor, and makes his escape as they swarm.

I cannot offer you a fifty, but I do think it would be great if you all swarmed on over to The TV and Film Guy's Reviews.

E-mail

• Digg
• Facebook
• Fark
• Yahoo Buzz
• Stumbleupon