Curb Your Enthusiasm “The Blind Date”

Um, I don’t know about this episode.

So, a lot happens here.  Jeff, for some reason, shares with Larry that he had a sexual fantasy that suddenly involved Larry’s wife.  Why would he share that?  I don’t know, but it does lead to the episode’s closing joke where Larry’s own sexual fantasy is ruined when Susie Greene, wearing a provocative Halloween costume, suddenly appears and starts to berate Larry during his own attempts at enjoying himself.  That’s odd, but not bad.

The late Anton Yelchin appears as Cheryl’s teenage cousin Stewart.  He has a card trick he won’t share with Larry, but a mentally disabled guy manages to figure it out rather easily.  That’s fine, I suppose.

Larry and Ben Stiller get into an argument about where Larry will ride for a short car ride, and I’m not even sure why Larry would call Ben for roadside assistance in the first place.  Ben then quit the show because he did an ultimatum, and Mel Brooks for some unknown reason would rather stick with Larry.  Mel says he can get David Schwimmer as a back-up, and while I know Schwimmer is actually not a bad actor, having proven in Band of Brothers he could be more than Ross Geller, it sure does seem like a step down to go from Ben Stiller to David Schwimmer.  Huh, I wonder if Mel is trying to tank his show on purpose like the plot to The Producers.

I might find the mentally disabled guys a bit much, but they weren’t the most questionable thing in the episode.

And Larry is still doing chores for Michael the blind man, but at least he knows why beauty matters to a blind guy, mostly he wants to find someone special that no one else can see or something.

So, what’s the problem?  Well, Larry finds a possible replacement girlfriend for Michael in the form of a Muslim woman in a full burqa.  Her name is Haboos.  She’s played by Frank Zappa’s daughter Moon Zappa, and, uh…

Yeah, I don’t know how much of that I should be laughing at.  Haboos is a friendly and accommodating woman, but the accent is a bit thick, and yes, there’s some commentary about anti-Muslim racism when Larry forces Cheryl to wear the burka to a costume party and some asshole throws an egg at her, but I was thinking the whole time how much this character was a bit too racist in her general depiction.  Moon Zappa is apparently part Greek-Arab, but I felt a wee bit uncomfortable with this one.

That said, Larry does accidentally unmask her in the burqa with a stray umbrella.  The audience can’t see her face.  Michael can’t see anything.  But Larry can, and what he saw apparently didn’t look very good.

But Michael gives him credit for trying.

Eh, maybe Larry deserves to have Susie berate him in his own fantasies.