But “Elevator Part 4” brings back the surreality with news broadcasts where the broadcasters use complete gibberish to discuss the impending doom of hurricane Jasmine Forsythe (which is a great name for a hurricane, by the way) and no one notices/minds Louie taking a break from the counseling session he and his ex-wife Janet are having to walk over to a window, open it, stick his head through, and scream his lungs out. And “Elevator Part 4” is hardly the show at its worst. In fact, it’s another really awesome installment of this mini-epic. It’s just also a completely bizarre thing that you can’t get anywhere else on TV. Something else I’ve had to reeducate myself on is incorrectly viewing this six-parter as a feature film (I’ve mentioned having to dismiss this way of looking at “Elevator” before, but I keep subconsciously doing it anyway). It’s interesting because it very much is a part of the “Elevator” series, but considering the relative lack of surreal stuff up until this point, if this were a film, it would be one that would totally lose its audience at by introducing sudden flashes of satirical unreality over halfway through its running time. However, we’re willing to get on board with the surreal stuff here because it was introduced at beginning of this particular episode. And yet! It’s still part of this overall pretty grounded six-part thing! You see what I’m saying?! It’s a weird show! The rest of the episode focuses on two scenes: one of Louie and Janet in counseling and then a flashback to an earlier time in their marriage. Both have a number of very funny moments and lines, but the flashback is particularly charming. It’s really sweet to watch a young Louie and his wife getting along really well because they both come to the realization that they could get a divorce now while they don’t have any kids, and it’ll be a good thing for everyone. Of course it’s also tragic because we know that, in this very scene, Louie manages to impregnate Janet, so they’re stuck dealing with each other forever after. The actors playing young Louie (Conner O’Malley) and Janet (Brooke Bloom) are both very good (especially Conner who gets Louie down pretty damn well), but I have to admit C.K.’s total disinterest in continuity makes this scene confusing. He’s got a big thing about casting whichever actor provides what he wants from a character, regardless of whether it makes any biological or chronological sense. This is why present-day Janet is played by Susan Kelechi Watson, an African-American woman, even though Louie’s kids are, and have been since the beginning of the series, about as white as white kids get. Complicating things further, Brooke Bloom, young Janet, is white. But, hey, another great episode of a weird-ass show. Den of Geek Rating: 4.5 Out of 5 Stars Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
