Curb Your Enthusiasm: Protect Ya Neck

Ever think you’d see Larry David in women’s underwear? To think — there was once a point at which he didn’t consider himself an actor! That’s some method seriousness there, him throwing caution to the wind and saying, “Well, here’s my junk.” We suppose you have to respect that. With the penultimate episode coming next week — and the much-awaited true Seinfeld reunion on deck — we take a look at the most outrageous moments in what we’d argue was the best episode this season.

3. Panties in the Greene glove compartment. Of all the wives to be angry at you for leaving panties in the car, Susie Greene has to be the worst. So you can understand Jeff’s predicament, and why he begs Larry to claim that they were HIS panties. Larry agrees — “You’re a great fucking friend!” Jeff beams — but Susie doesn’t believe him, because Susie isn’t a complete moron. Also: We’re not sure how “Larry wears women’s underwear” explains why there are panties in Jeff’s glove compartment.

2. Elisabeth Shue as someone other than Elisabeth Shue. We previously discussed how famous a celebrity has to be to play themselves and not a character. One would think Elisabeth Shue is famous enough, but nevertheless she plays Virginia Sloane, an actress friend of the Greenes who’s auditioning for the part of George’s wife in the Seinfeld reunion. Virginia Sloane is apparently a prominent actress, because Jerry Seinfeld says, “I’m surprised someone like her would even be in this.” (It’s impressive, by the way, how much Jerry has shown up this season; unlike the other Seinfeld cast members, he’s been in multiple episodes, with multiple scenes.) We’re guessing it was intended that Shue play herself, but she balked because of her plotline: Her husband, during a drunken lunch, asks Cheryl if she would be interested in a threesome with the couple. (Shue’s actually married to Davis Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning director of An Inconvenient Truth.) Cheryl tells Larry she didn’t take the offer seriously, but the husband — who Larry, of course, barges in on and confronts — implies otherwise.

1. Car crash or cunnilingus. According to Larry and Jeff, those are the only two ways you can injure your neck. So when Victoria is forced to turn down the role as George’s wife (Jerry loved her) because of a neck injury, Larry and Jeff go to check out her car, which isn’t dented. And so, in Larry’s crazy brain, she must have hurt her neck performing oral sex on Cheryl. He “confronts” Cheryl about this, who storms out of the restaurant (obviously) even though Larry tells her she now has the part. Not that Larry is too concerned, because Jeff needs his help: Susie officially doesn’t believe him. So Larry forms a plan that involves a cop mock–cursing out some children and a pair of pants he walked out of a clothing store wearing. Next thing you know, Larry’s taking off his pants, and there’s the Larry David junk. Finally, Susie believes the story, which leads to the single funniest moment of the season so far: In the last shot, Jeff rings Larry’s doorbell, wearing a neck brace. “Larry, you have to tell Susie I was in a car accident!”

More Recaps:
Alan Sepinwall says, “the payoff at the end was perfect, and a rare instance on Curb of everything coming together to benefit Larry, rather than cause him more problems.”
We have to disagree with Amelie Gillette, who writes at the AV Club that “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.”
TV Squad is so wrong, claiming that the perfect final scene of Jeff in the neck brace was unnecessary.

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