Tuesday night's episode of "Louie" on FX continued its blazing streak of sacred-cow slaughter, aiming for the fences with a cringeworthy dismantling of mankind's obsession with spiritual guilt. Finishing with a conversation between the 1977 adolescent version of Louie and his mother (who, in a stroke of Oedipal brilliance, is played by the same actress who played his date in the "Bully" episode) about how ludicrous established religion is, the recapping conversation ties a bow on the penultimate episode of the season for a show that's obliterated expectations and is finally getting Louis C.K. a dose of the semi-mainstream credit he deserves.
Titled "God," there's little doubt going in that we were about to experience a level of biting sacrilege that stood against any in memory. The opening vignette shows Louie entering a seedy restroom and finding a glory hole cut in the wall, with a sharpie-written label over it reading "Heaven" with an arrow pointing down. Louie ponders and ultimately puts the hole out of his mind, only to be completely thrown when an old guy comes in, discovers it and unzips. "Why not?" he asks. The hole says "Heaven," right?
Could there be a more perfect lead-in to an examination of the hazards of that old spiritual crapshoot known as organized religion? Computer says No.
Nearly the entire rest of the episode centers on a flashback to young Louie's life, wherein he and one of his friends are joking around in a religion class and are caught - with dire consequence. The instructor, a nun, concludes that the two boys are clearly not serious about educating themselves on the suffering of their Lord and savior. She brings in Dr Haverford, the local coroner (played with terrifying excellence by Tom Noonan), who gruesomely describes the infliction of Christ's wounds from his torture and crucifixion to his terrified congregation - in a church, no less.
To add permanent weight to the experience, the twisted doctor demands that Louie drive a nail into his friend's wrist. It's a mixture of self-loathing and perverse fascination to find myself wishing he'll go through with it, foiling the nun and doctor's cruel little parade of shame in horrific ways. He doesn't, and that's for the best of course, but for the rest of the class - and Louie himself, as we soon discover - it further cemented the myth.
Let's face it - growing up isn't all it's cracked up to be to an 8 year old kid. Sure, you can stay up as late as you want and eat whatever you want, but along with that come some hard consequences (like being a 350 lb insomniac by the time you're 25) and harsh realities - like the fact that unchecked fearmongering power riddled with superstition is what has passed for religion for time untold.
The younger Louie, however, has yet to be completely leveled by the steel-toed dropkick of life. Overwhelmed with guilt, he sneaks out of the house and back to the church late that night to "free" Jesus, pulling out the nails on the wooden Jesus on the podium. The relief and agonized guilt on the kid's face is ruinous to the heart - and made even worse when he's caught and the nun - the same woman who orchestrated the traumatizing crucifixion-lession field trip - calls the situation an act of vandalism.
Luckily, it seems that Louie's mom had come to pick him up, and rather than go buck wild on her son for breaking and entering, she injected a much-needed dose of practicality and logical ghostbusting.
"You are not bad," she tells the brainwashed and guilt-addled kid. "Listen to me, I am telling you this, you're a good kid. You make mistakes, you do bad things sometimes because I'm not done raising you," she told him. "But you're a good person."
Louie's naturally curious what the hell happened to Jesus then, and Mom does the best she can to stay neutral to the story. She reassured him that the story wasn't all it was cracked up to be. "If you ask me, this whole thing is a big cover-up. The whole thing is a bunch of ... malarkey."
So if she didn't believe in any of it, why did she put Louie in Catholic school? "I don't know... I thought I was selfish. Just because I don't have religion, not to give it to you? I mean, it's a big deal, religion. You might want it someday. But if I'd known it was going to stress you out this much, I never would've done it."
"So... there's no God," he says, more question than statement, after she tells him he doesn't have to go anymore.
"I don't know... I don't know. All I know is that you have to be good to people, whether there is or isn't. You have to take that on yourself. No one's going to watch whether you're good or not except yourself. It's all on you."
"Wow," the kid says, the door to reality kicked wide open.
Imagine how wonderful life could be if we all told our kids that.
The stand-up bits are never to be overlooked on "Louie," as they provide every bit as much topical fodder as the direct storyline - and more often than not casts the week's topic in a new light. Louie's recounting of the story of Abraham being commanded by God to sacrifice his son Isaac from the book of Genesis is spot on, and his diagnosis that God from the Old Testament is just like a really bad girlfriend is scathingly wonderful.
Next week is the double-episode season finale, and it seems like this whole ride is coming to an end far too soon. It's likely we'll see more laughs next week, as one would imagine Louis C.K. would want to tie up the year on a high note. Either way, a standing ovation thus far for a man who is doing absolutely everything his way, answering to absolutely nobody, free of writers and directors, and kicking ass at it.
It's going to be hell trying to fill the void on Tuesday nights during the downtime before Season Two.
Previous "Louie" episode reviews:
