‘Miami’ is one of those Louie episodes that kind of floats around different topics throughout, letting most of its intellectual work speak for itself through visuals and unspoken words between characters. If there’s a show out there mastering the art of facial tics and jazz-laden montages, it’s definitely Louie C.K.’s show, which laid out a towel and went to the beach in an episode with little plot, but lots of thoughts swirling around the calm center of the episode.
Most of ‘Miami’ continues this mid-life masculinity tour Louie’s been on this season: instead of being about mid-life crisis or sex life post-40, however, this episode was more about men being together, and how the adult mind processes connections to other people. Most of what Louie does with Ramon throughout ‘Miami’ is something us guys have done with our male friends all throughout our lives: gone out drinking and partying, hanging out on the beach, playing sports and what not.
But what makes those connections strong as children can be misconstrued when we become adults, and have to define the relationships in our lives – especially heterosexual males, who Louie very poignantly points out in a stand-up bit are the only sexual beings on planet Earth who are concerned with being mistaken for the wrong sexuality. And as a straight male, taking extra days on vacation to hang out with a new same-sex friend could be easily interpreted as something more – although I think it’s a bit of a cliche to do so, and its here that I ran into a few problems with ‘Miami’.
First of all, the homo-erotic tones were too overt from the beginning, when Ramon ‘saves’ Louie from the ocean, to the overly awkward conversation at the bar in the end. It’s pretty clear throughout by the shot compositions of Louie and Ramon that there was only one direction for the episode to go in, and shifts a little from being a montage-heavy travelouge of experiencing Little Havana and Miami, to an unnecessary episode about men and homophobia.
It was still a fun episode to watch, and handled with a lot more subtlety than most shows would bother with. But I don’t think there are a whole lot of shades and angles to take on the conversation, so it makes sense the final scene (where nobody will say the word ‘gay’) feel like the equivalent of Louie throwing up his hands and saying “Fuck how this episode ends, the journey was more fun than the destination” letting the scene die after a too-long exchange of stammering phrases and finger-pointing.
Take away the homophobic parts of ‘Miami’, though, and what is left is a uber-light episode of Louie feeling out of place in Miami, and having some awkward run-ins with non-Ramos related people. But ‘Miami’ is a bit of a misfire thematically, especially in its final third, where the uncomfortable tones that usually make Louie scenes so engaging hit somewhat of a false chord, leaving the episode feeling weighed down by the inevitable miscommunication about sexuality.
Grade: B-
Other thoughts/observations:
– Louie does such a great job with montages. Loved all of them tonight, especially the Cuban Benz ride across Miami back to the club.
– another big theme this season is Louie being misunderstood, and doing nothing to change it. Is it worth trying to alter people’s perception of your situation in life, or do other people generally not give a shit about anyone beyond what appears on the surface? Interesting societal question.
– One surrealist moment this week: the shirtless guy in the hotel, staring listlessly off into the distance. How do you really feel about the younger, partying types down there in Miami, Louie?
What did you think of ‘Miami’? Feel free to leave your thoughts/comments below!
I agree that the episode seemed to die rather than end, but the journey there was amazing. I did not catch the deeper meaning until I watched it a second time. In showing Louie the real Miami, Ramon saved Louie’s life even though Louie didn’t think he was dying. Much the same way a coworker introduced me to this show and saved me. But I knew I was dying of boredom.
To me it seemed this was a love letter to hispanic culture and to CK’s hispanic heritage.
I love Louis CK, think Louie is above Curb and just under South Park as my #2 favorite show, but last night’s episode just didn’t cut it for me. I’m not sure if it was the change of editor, or if Louie simply phoned this particular one in (hey not all 13 can be gems). The environment just seemed different- and I’m not talking because it’s Miami and not NY… the timing, the perspectives used- it just didn’t feel right.