Curb Your Enthusiasm (Final Season!) Premiere Recap: A Trip To Atlanta Lands Larry In Big Trouble — Grade It
The following contains spoilers for Sunday's premiere of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
There are two things I can't and don't want to believe. First, that this is the very last season of Larry David's exquisite Curb Your Enthusiasm, and second, that in the Season 12 opener, Maria Sofia is a huge star.
Yes, Larry's new series Young Larry is a hit and it's made Maria's star power rise in Hollywood. And when L.D. gets an invite to make a paid appearance in Georgia at the birthday party of prominent businessman Michael Fouchay (played by District 9's Sharlto Copley), Maria Sofia's invited too, much to Larry's dismay.
A heads-up for the rest of the season: Larry is still dating Irma (Tracey Ullman). After being told that she shouldn't experience any big changes in the next six months that might sabotage her recovery — yep, that includes a break-up! — Larry begins counting down the days to when he can finally kick her to the curb for good.
When Larry, Leon and Maria Sofia touch down in Atlanta, they head straight to Auntie Rae's house for a visit. Rae tries on Larry's glasses but winds up stretching them out, so after he throws a hissy fit, she offers him a temporary replacement pair. (Prettaay, prettaay, prettaay stylish, if you ask me.)
At his hotel, Larry drops his glasses in the toilet while he's trying to fix them, which leads to a cringeworthy conversation with one of the establishment's housekeepers. He inquires whether pulling things out of the toilet is part of her domain, since part of her job is to clean them and her hands will be in the bowl anyways. Needless to say, she's wildly offended and Larry's on his own.
At the party, Larry is his usual curmudgeonly self, nagging one of the guests about why some people can call her "Brookie" while others she's just met must refer to her as "Brooke." That and his general standoffish existence lead him to completely bomb the appearance, which as faithful viewers of Curb for nearly a quarter of a century, we absolutely revel in.
When Larry returns to his hotel, he finds the housekeeper throwing all of his belongings off of the balcony. Why? A ten dollar bill accidentally flew into the toilet, which caused her to see red. (Larry can be a jerk, but he's not that big of a jerk... or is he?)
Jeff calls Larry to tell him that Fouchay doesn't want to pay up, so Larry heads to his office to smooth things over and get his appearance fee (donning his attractive new cat eye glasses, of course). "I really did the best under the circumstances of a person who hates people and yet had to be amongst them," he tells Fouchay.
Larry turns on the charm enough to convince the guy to pay. But later while he's conversing with Leon, Maria Sofia's dog butt-dials Fouchay, who overhears Larry talking all sorts of smack about him. Whoops!
Before they head to the airport to fly home, Larry finds Auntie Rae in a polling line to return her snazzy glasses. She's hot and thirsty, so Larry (because he's a nice guy sometimes, alright people?!) grabs her a bottle of water from his car. But since that's against the law in Georgia, he's immediately arrested over some measly H20.
So what did you think of Curb's final season premiere? Grade the episode below, then sound off in the comments!