When Louie first aired, I had difficulties getting into the show. The cynical outlook of Louie was tiring at times. Now, I can definitely say this is one of my favorite show. Louie is poetic, clever, funny, troubling, moving and annoying all at the same times. The array of emotions that Louie takes you through is simply amazing. Louie is a great artist and I am grateful HBO is giving him the space to be such a great artist. My life would not be the same without Louie.
I was tempted to give it a 9 because the first 4 seasons might technically be better, but if this isn't a 10, what could possibly be? Very intimate, very human, and you might actually laugh out loud. Louie CK is a gift. Laugh at him and laugh with him.
Louis CK is a great comic actor, writer and director. The character of Louie is exquisitely crafted in his creator’s mind and on the page long before he delivers his lines. It’s insufficient to call Louie an everyman. He is far more complicated than that, and far funnier as well. If Sam Beckett were still around, he’d be rolling in the aisles.
It's a funny show, fundamentally, but not always, by intention. Not everything works, or works equally well; like Louie, Louis is only human.... Louie is a thought process made flesh.
The turmoil of such [relationship] arrangements, the anxiety and surprising limitations of being personally unbound by societal norms, has been a key part of Louie's inimitable perspective since its inception; here this anxiousness stirs up new perspectives on Louie's ability to forgive and his unique style of courting.
[The first episode] seems to prefigure a humdrum season of more conventional, gag-based humor, but beneath its self-contained farce the episode actually complicates C.K.’s pet themes in small, potent ways. And it’s ultimately a perfect setup for the story arc that follows in the next few episodes.
The new season is a more straightforward affair over all, reminiscent in tone and structure of the show’s brilliantly mordant first three years.... As Louis C.K. reinvents the classic sitcom in his own elliptical, cerebral style, he seems to be in his absurdist theater phase, or his surrealist short-story phase--Kafka on the Hudson. (Louis C.K. still writes, directs and edits every episode.) At that level of ambition, some things work and some don’t.
Louis C.K continues to prove that Louie is the best comedy right now. The writing is sharp as always and even more honest than before. There are a lot of everyday problem in our society that is smartly written into half hour comedy show.
Michael Rapaport's performance in episode 2 is truly extraordinary. Louis C.K. finds that sweet spot once again between the absurd and the heartbreaking. It wasn't a "funny" episode, but it was a great piece of writing and acting.
It's unlike any show on television. That being said, it is not laughter-inducing funny. That's not even subjective. Louie deliberately does not put humor into 90% of the show. It's important to Louis, the writer, director, producer, and editor of the show that the plot be able to turn on a dime or even depart from reality. With this knowledge, nothing can be taken seriously so you can hardly relate to it on a dramatic level either. The herky-jerky nature of the script is exhausting. The entire production is difficult to digest. It's worth is the random pieces of screenplay that are interesting, but it will assuredly not flow together. So frustrating for a high-caliber comedian, who is a master of making the difficulties in life relatable and funny on stage, to make jokes on his television series so few and far between.
Also, I'm really tired of the "Life isn't fair. Deal with it" motif. I realize there are a lot of idiots out there. Louie acts like its a revelation that things don't always go the way you want. For realists, it's defeat before the battle begins. Tedious.
As much as I love Louis CK the comedian and that I really like Louie season 1-3 I had some trouble with season 5.
All the humanist, humorous, mildly self deprecating side of Louis CK that was central to the show has been replaced by something much darker. There is so much misery and self hatred that the character and situations are hardly relatable.
I don't think that's a conscious artistic decision either: the season has been produced on a significantly tighter timescale than the previous ones, and there's definitely a feeling that the show has been hurriedly put together, with a lot of sloppy writing and poor acting - seriously Pamela Aldon is awful, just remove her once and for all.
I score this season 2/10 because here and there you may have a chuckle, but overall it's abysmal :(