This bit of continuity in a show that usually throws continuity to the wind implies Jasmine Forsyth may actually become a credible threat to our characters. “Elevator” didn’t dip into surreality much until Part four showed up, but now I’m starting to become a bit worried that this sweet and simple story about Louie dating a girl who has to return to Hungary is going to be climactically upended by her getting blown off the face of the earth or something. The biggest highlights of his monologue are his joy over getting a free donut every time a particular waitress is working at his regular diner and (the crux of the tale) how important it is to him that he manages to get a club owner to replace the piece of paper on his dressing room door on which his name has been incorrectly spelled “Todd Berry” with the correct spelling (a difference of one letter). The absurdity of everyone in the club crowding around to hear Todd’s story and applauding for his petty victory makes this scene all the funnier. I can’t be too mad at an episode with an awesome Todd Barry monologue, but I do wonder if all this Barry came at the loss of furthering the plot of Louie’s troubles with his daughter Jane and ex-wife, Janet. I talked a few episodes back about how great I thought it was to see a character as young as Jane get some genuine development, instead of her just being a precocious and/or troublemaking kid, as kids so often are in fictional media. But her issues aren’t even addressed in this episode. The final scene is also good. It’s both sweet and a little difficult to watch Louie awkwardly operate when the time for hot and heaviness arrives. And it’s sad to see (even if we, like Louie, can’t understand Hungarian) that Amia clearly believes they’ve made a mistake in sleeping together. The next episode will finish “Elevator” out. Let’s hope the small bird who died of sadness is the last casualty of this six-parter and that things with Amia end satisfyingly.
