Still Enthusiastic

I get the feeling Larry David ends each season of Curb Your Enthusiasm figuring it will be the last.  All that work, he's tired, is it worth it?  Then he gets some time off, has new ideas, and decides to take another plunge.  He's certainly not doing it for the money.

All this would explain how his season finales often give the impression of being the series finale. Last season, the seventh, was all about the Seinfeld reunion.  It ended with the divorced Larry seeming to return to his wife.  This season starts at that point, and it turns out it's an illusion.  Larry's still impossible to get along with, and they're splitsville.

In real life, David got (and has stayed) divorced, but I assume he figures there's more comic gold in a free man about town anyway.  In fact, all the male characters are now free, except Jeff--couldn't lose Susie as a regular, I guess. (It's never been explained exactly why Leon keeps hanging around, but David doesn't worry about such logic as long as the laughs are there.  I guess if Fonzie can stay above the garage, Leon can live with Larry.)

The first episode of season 8 may not have been a classic, but it's still nice to have CYE back.  It dealt with divorce, tampons and girl scout cookies.  The only disappointing part (unless you wanted to see Larry and Cheryl stick together) was the lawyer confusion.  Finding out his attorney, Berg, was Swedish, Larry dumps him for a real Jew.  Not bad, even if we've sort of seen it before.  But then we get the very conventional sitcom ending where it turns out the Swede would have been a better lawyer.  I guess even Larry can only go so far.