Curb Your Enthusiasm season 9 episode 10 review: Musicals, paintball duels and 'incommensurate thank yous' in 45-minute finale
There were a ton of laughs in the season finale, but it wrapped up too quickly
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Your support makes all the difference.If the whole semi-autobiographical thing wasn't enough, there was a very meta moment in Curb Your Enthusiasm's season 9 finale tonight that basically showed how real life Larry comes up with material for the show, actor F. Murray Abraham annoying in-show Larry with his "outfit tracking", leading him to incorporate the moment into his musical - just as Larry presumably does with the sitcom.
This was all part of Fatwa!, which was very nearly realised as Larry rehearsed with Abraham and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The episode had the feel of the season 4 finale episode on Larry's opening night in The Producers, except Fatwa! did not go to plan.
All season I've admired Larry's ability to weave complete disparate elements, events and plot devices together into a coherent and hilarious narrative, but he outdid himself in this 45-minute special, colliding *deep breath*: incommensurate thank yous, maître d's' refusal to seat incomplete parties, the concept of outfit tracking, a Broadway musical, a distractingly large-breasted sign language assistant, fatwas, orgy-holding house guests, a paintball match, and a wedding.
Memorable exchanges tonight included Larry's insistence on redefining sign language, particularly with regards to the phrase "hold your horses", Leon introducing the phenomenon of "sleep fucking" (as in like sleep walking, though Larry confessed he has a hard enough time "wake fucking"), and Larry requesting an ambulance driver "make a quick stop".
By the time the out-of-work actress was standing in for Larry at Sami's wedding and Fatwa! was scuppered by Larry nailing Lin-Manuel Miranda in the mouth with a paintball gun, the episode was in full comedic swing and it was Curb at its best, though the finale ended with a bit of a whimper, a random bit on starting eating in a restaurant before everyone's got their food segueing into a closing scene where the fatwa finally comes for Larry.
It's a shame there wasn't something more final here, perhaps incorporating more characters and paying them off, as it could well be another six years before we get another season, if at all. Still, the fact that it holds the door wide open with a soft cliffhanger is probably a good sign. As executive producer Jeff Schaffer said after penultimate episode: "The end of next week's episode could easily be the final Curb ever — or not. It's built that it could go either way."
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