Curb Your Enthusiasm “The Acupuncturist”

OK, here’s an episode I suspect has not aged well.

See, Larry has a pain in his neck, a nice change since he is usually everyone else’s pain in the neck.  Regardless, Larry is seeing an acupuncturist, a man of Japanese descent who says that his family has been practicing acupuncture for generations.  Larry promises to give the man $5,000 if his neck gets better, and nothing if it doesn’t.  The acupuncturist agrees, then sends Larry some orchids for some reason.

So far, so good.  But Larry begins to wonder if this is a Japanese thing–at the end of the episode when Larry and the doctor argue over whether if Larry’s neck is a little better if that counts–but then Larry decides to ask a waiter at a Japanese restaurant if the orchids is a Japanese custom or not, the waiter seems like such an ugly stereotype, especially when he takes offense to Larry’s hitting him with a glass of water since the waiter didn’t know he’d set his sleeve on fire.

Yes, Larry got in trouble for doing something good.

I am left to wonder how racist this episode is in its depiction of these Japanese men, either the waiter or the acupuncturist.

Then again, this episode also has Ed Asner as an older man, the father of one of Larry’s old friends, who decides to change his will because Cheryl is just so charming.  Apparently, Cheryl works at a wildlife charity.  I guess she had to do something.  But it was odd seeing a scene play out between characters that were not Larry or one of his usual supporting cast as Asner’s old man argues with a lawyer pal of Larry’s because Asner showed up to change his will on Casual Friday, and for the old man, casual attires means he’s not a real lawyer.

Then the old man dies when the waiter sees Larry and throws some water at him, but Larry steps aside.

Why is Larry blamed for that?  Oh, right.  People blame him because he’s a horrible misanthrope.  I keep forgetting since those are such unreasonable reactions that work well for an over-the-top improvised sitcom.