At long last, the ninth season of Larry David‘s Curb Your Enthusiasm comes to a close, bringing closure to plotlines that characterized this season.
We start with a day rehearsal of the fabled Fatwa! musical, with both Larry and Jeff in awe of how well it’s gelling. Larry does have a few nitpicks, with the more pressing issue being how he wishes to see the original theme he wrote for the show restored into it, which Lin-Manuel Miranda isn’t receptive to. However, Lin-Manuel does have a favor to ask of Larry: his cousin, Valentina, and her husband are visiting town, and he was wondering if Larry would mind letting them stay at his home. Our bald lead agrees to the request, although he’s deeply disappointed with Lin-Manuel’s unceremonious “thank you.”
Larry, Jeff and Susie arrive at a restaurant that night per their reservation. The hostess refuses to seat them until the whole party arrives, however, which annoys them. While they’re waiting, Larry informs Jeff that he “got that paintball thing secured.” Susie inquires, with Larry explaining that he’s taking the crew to play paintball this Saturday. Upon confirming that this game will occur on this upcoming Saturday, Susie reminds Larry how Sammi and Victor are getting married that day. Larry tries to brush this off, noting how she sent him “too many things,” but he’ll figure it out and attend both events.
All three begin succumbing to their hunger when Larry notices a woman sitting by her lonesome. He approaches her, assuring her he’s not attempting a pick up, noting, “I don’t pick up, I put down.” After relaying his request to her, we then cut to a four-member party composed of Larry, Jeff, Susie and the woman, Marie, who claim their seating reservation. She introduces herself to them, remembering Larry as the man with the fatwa placed on him. Larry says he resolved that issue, though Jeff is somewhat skeptical that it’s really over. Marty Funkhouser finally arrives, at which point Larry tells Marie to leave since she successfully performed what she was recruited for. She leaves, telling Larry that he can call her if he ever needs an actress. Larry and Susie both express the desire for an apology, since Marty was 20 minutes late, to which he offers a quick, perfunctory “sorry.” Larry dismisses it, and the conversation eventually leads into Marty bringing up his dead nephew whom Larry killed. Susie suggests they all order some wine, which successfully breaks up the tension.
The entire crew thank Larry for his generosity the next day, all of whom are thrilled to play paintball. The cameraman can’t attend as he has a gig, but Larry offers to give him the money so he can play, too. Another cast member, however, notices that Larry re-wore the same pants as yesterday, irking our hero. Lin-Manuel happily informs Larry he got a signer so blind people can enjoy the show, something Larry questions the effectiveness of. Lin-Manuel’s cousin and her husband arrive, both offering an unconvincing “thank you” over Larry’s generosity. Larry tells Lin-Manuel how his family is “missing a thank you gene or something.”
This rehearsal doesn’t go over as well, as a majority of those in attendance, including people on-stage and off-stage, are too distracted by the voluptuous signer. Lin-Manuel, believing the show wasn’t working, believes his character’s motivations aren’t convincing, whereas Larry believes the signer is why the rehearsal went poorly. “Men will look at tis over anything,” he comments. Both men argue over whether it’s the scene or tits holding Fatwa! back. Lin-Manuel wins, affixing an unapologetic “sorry.”
Valentina and Cody show up at Larry’s house as he’s lamenting how he’ll be overpaying the cameraman. He gives the unexcitable pair a tour of his home, suggesting that he has two guest rooms if they’d prefer that arrangement. They don’t, taking offense to the notion that a husband and wife wouldn’t sleep in the same room. Larry apologizes for offending them, which the couple deem unsatisfactory. They retire upstairs to the “one bedroom.”
Susie’s excited for the wedding, boasting to Larry about all of the cooking she’ll be doing in her new kitchen. She asks Larry if he solved his scheduling dilemma. He initially acts as if he cares for Sammi, but he does agree to attend her wedding. Victor’s deaf parents arrive, with Larry acting characteristically to them. Marty’s late again, however, and Susie doesn’t want to serve food until he arrives, riling the hungry Larry. Susie introduces Victor’s father, Paul, to other people, although he walks back to Larry when he notices the hand gestures Larry is making to Jeff. Larry tries to explain the situation with the shapely signer when Marty finally returns, who offers a cinematic apology. As the meal begins, Paul and Susie discuss the potential of hiring an interpreter for the wedding.
After a brief clip of Larry and the crew workshopping a new bit based on tracking outfits, we cut to Larry’s house at night. The happy couple is contaminating Larry’s domain with incense when he gets a knock on the door. It’s another young couple who’re there to see his guests. The next day, Larry awakes to see his house a mess, with garbage littered everywhere. Afterwards, Larry’s late for the paintball game, and he quickly grabs different, unworn pair of pants.
Larry frustrates two of his peers at the game upon his arrival, and he has a rather explosive confrontation with Lin-Manuel which attracts everyone’s attention. This cumulates into a duel between the two, with the two walking ten steps each while Jeff walks Sammi down the aisle. Larry’s pants fall down, accidentally causing him to shoot his paintball into Lin-Manuel’s mouth. Meanwhile, Susie’s furious at Larry for not being there as the signer’s cleavage distracts all of the men, including Victor and his dad. Susie notices and kicks her out. Larry rides with Lin-Manuel to the hospital, sort of making amends before realizing he’s missing the wedding. He calls Marie, asking her to deliver his speech. Susie, however, was not satisfied and kicks Marie out.
The next day, everyone’s seated at a restaurant when Jeff reveals that Lin-Manuel’s not interested in the musical anymore. Larry’s singing the song he wrote when he leaves, drawing the attention of a Muslim man who doesn’t believe the fatwa is over. The episode ends as Larry is chased across the city.
While it wasn’t a perfect conclusion with some threads dragging a bit, this was overall a fun end to the season. It isn’t an episode that can be fully enjoyed without seeing the prior nine episodes, but it blends facets from satisfactorily. Personally, all I’m hoping is that we receive news soon that Larry wants to return for a tenth season.
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