A while back I said that the best Curb episodes, like this season's "Vehicular Fellatio," form a complete full circle. Those episodes are almost like a comedy ourobourous, and, for me at least, they're usually the best to watch: surprising, funny, inventive. The fun in the ourobourous episodes is that you know the snake is going to eat its tail—you know that vacuum-sealed packaging is going to surface again at the end of the episode, for example, or you know that you'll see Officer Krupke again—but you're just not sure exactly how it'll happen. Tonight's episode was just one of those full circle episodes, but something about it just felt, well, off.
I think my disappointment in the episode hinges on the fact that so much of the episode hinged on the "I'm Larry David and I enjoy wearing women's underwear" joke. Much of this depends on an individual's personal humor barometer, but I just don't think seeing Larry David in pink panties is that great of a comedic payoff. It's a gag that sounds funny, that in theory seems like it would be funny, but then when you see it, eh, it's just kinda silly. The sight of Larry David in pink panties just fell flat—which is a shame because as soon as Fat Boy told Larry that, in order to keep Susie's wrath at bay, Larry had to pretend to wear women's underwear, we knew that the image of Larry in ladies panties was going to pop up on our TVs before the half-hour was up.
In fact, I found the build-up to the grand finale sight of Larry in all his be-pantied glory much funnier than the sight itself. There were a lot of hilarious exchanges in that build up: Susie's look of complete disgust when regarding Larry's behind; Larry fidgeting his underwear in front of Susie; The acting pep talk that Fat Boy gave Larry ("You're Larry David and you like comfort in women's panties.")
And there were a lot of hilarious, non-panties-related exchanges in this episode as well. In general, when it comes to plotlines about things that Larry wears on the lower half of his body, I thought the Banana Republic pants plotline to be a funnier one. From "Seriously, what's worse than trying on pants?" to Larry wearing the pants to the Seinfeld reunion auditions the next day, to Jerry commenting, "Why hold a hat when you could just wear the hat?," to Larry's spectacular fight with the Banana Republic sales clerk ("I won't call you Hester!" is the ultimate Scarlet-Letter-related comeback and should be used in all future fights that reference The Scarlet Letter), it was clearly the more hilarious plotline. Even the sight of Larry wearing khakis with the security tag still attached is somehow funnier than Larry in hot pink panties. Go figure.