Season 11 is the only season of Curb I haven't watched yet, and it's... decent. I don't really have any glaring issues with it, but it's probably the most boring season of Curb. Not that I don't have much to say about it, I definitely do, but this was probably the first season of Curb to not make me feel all that much.
The main premise of Season 11 is Larry pitching a show about his younger self to a bunch of streaming services, a solid idea until you realize it's just Season 2's plot all over again. There is one wrinkle, however. When a burglar falls into Larry's pool, his brother blackmails Larry by forcing him to cast his daughter (Maria Sofia) in the show, despite her being a horrible actor. I'm not a fan of this storyline at all, Mario Sofia's acting is cartoonishly bad, to the point where it feels like the show is trying too hard. But halfway through, this season completely changes course to be more about Larry dating a councilwoman named Irma to repeal a law and fire Maria Sofia. Unfortunately, Irma isn't much better. Once again, she's intended to be annoying/unappealing, but that doesn't make me like her any more. And while Maria Sofia at least didn't show up too much, once Irma comes onto the scene, the season becomes entirely focused around her.
I think what really killed this season on the story front was how busy it was. The decision to essentially cram two different storylines into a single season means neither of them get fully developed, so I didn't really end up caring about either of them, and it didn't help that the finale felt unusually unsatisfying for the series. Thankfully, Season 11 isn't entirely a wash on the storyline front, because for the first time in the whole series, Leon actually has a subplot! This was such a pleasant surprise, after three seasons of not really getting much to do, Leon finally had a much bigger role, and his storyline about trying to find another Mary Ferguson was genuinely hilarious. However, just like all of the other storylines this season, it doesn't feel like it gets enough screen-time. As for the comedy, there really isn't much to talk about. I still found the season funny, but not uproariously so, and I was rarely impressed by a storyline like in the last two seasons. On the bright side, Vince Vaughn became a main character this season, and I think he's a great fit for the show, even if his presence doesn't really elevate Season 11 too much.
While I found much of this season to be pretty average, there was one episode I really liked:
IRASSHAIMASE: This was hands down the funniest episode of the season, and not being connected to the season's arc, it felt like an episode from the first five seasons in the best way. Larry's screaming contest with the sushi chefs, eating food while someone's having a heart attack, the secrets, the jokes about praying, Freddy's eulogy, it was one of those Curb episodes where everything just clicked.
Overall, Season 11 of Curb Your Enthusiasm was the least interesting season of the whole show. Its main story arc tried to do too much, so none of the storylines made any impact, and the humor was pretty average, lacking the creativity of any previous seasons. With a twelfth season on the way, let's hope that one's an improvement.
2/5 Stars
My ranking of the Curb Your Enthusiasm seasons (so far) is:
7 > 10 > 6 > 4 > 2 > 3 > 9 > 8 > 1 > 11 > 5
My ranking of the Curb Your Enthusiasm finales (so far) is:
7 > 6 > 10 > 3 > 4 > 9 > 1 > 2 > 8 > 11 > 5
And my ranking of the Curb story arcs is:
- Seinfeld reunion (Season 7)
- The spite store (Season 10)
- The restaraunt (Season 3)
- The Producers (Season 4)
- The Blacks + Cheryl breakup (Season 6)
- The Seinfeld curse show (Season 2)
- Fatwa! (Season 9)
- Larry in New York (Season 8)
- Young Larry + Maria Sofia + Irma (Season 11)
- Adoption + Richard's kidney (Season 5)
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