Curb Your Enthusiasm “The 5 Wood”

Well, this one is something of a mess.  It’s a funny mess, a very Larry David sort of mess, but still a mess.

I like this mess.

I sometimes suspect that the things that go wrong in Larry’s life are not always his fault.  Someone else does something, like not correct their kid when they go through Larry’s jacket and find a horrifying photo of a diseased tooth, and Larry just gets hit with the repercussions.  This episode, though, is all Larry’s fault from start to finish.  He’s only just met David Schwimmer, but he’s already annoying the guy with suggestions on how many cashews should go into Schwimmer’s father’s healthy nut snackpacks.

I dunno.  Four cashews in a bag of raisins does seem a bit skimpy.

But then there’s a funeral for Marty Funkhouser’s father, a messy locker, an offended American who claims to be Norwegian instead of Swedish, and a 5 wood golf club that appears to be Larry’s and was almost buried with the aforementioned dead man.  Or it was until Larry swapped it for one of Jeff’s generic clubs.  Or maybe it still was after the Funkhousers noticed the swap and found a cashew in the coffin.

I’m starting to think cashews aren’t worth it.

Now, all this ends with Larry, Jeff, and their wives getting kicked out of their country club, after which the women berate the men, saying that Cheryl now has nowhere to play tennis and they have “nothing” to do.  That would be about where I decided that I had zero sympathy for any of these people.  I mean, I am not much of one for outdoor activity or anything, but you know what I don’t need?  A country club membership.  This sounds a lot like how Cheryl and Larry bought a new house at the start of season two because of that wire hanging over their property in season one.  I get that Larry and Cheryl are rich, but these are not the sorts of problems most people deal with.  Just buy a new house?  You lost your country club membership and can’t, I dunno, play on a public golf course or a public tennis court?  Those things exist in L.A. right?

Well, maybe not.  Golf courses require a tremendous amount of water, and Los Angeles is basically in the middle of a desert, and there’s probably better uses for the water than to allow rich people to hit tiny balls with clubs.  I know this show is largely finding humor from the social embarrassment of the main characters, but I have a hard time finding much sympathy for the women.

Then again, this episode also has Larry’s dental hygienist’s trying to set something up and a dog biting him on the penis where a gay doctor might be interested in him.  Why do so many people find Larry attractive?  Oh well.  At least even he seems to see this as unlikely.