Curb Your Enthusiasm: "Larry vs. Michael J. Fox" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

Curb Your Enthusiasm certainly ended its season on a strong note, with an hysterical episode that solidified the awesomeness of Michael J. Fox in a whole new way.

Seriously, how cool was Michael J. Fox to take part in this? Like anyone else who grew up watching Family Ties and Back to the Future, Fox is an integral, beloved part of my childhood. In real life, by all accounts, he's a great guy, who has had the terrible misfortune to be struck with a debilitating disease and has dealt with it with incredible grace.

…So how freaking funny was it to see him use all of that to fuel the idea that maybe, just maybe, he's kind of a dick who uses the fact that he has Parkinson's to get away with whatever he wants?

From the get go, it was amazing to see them "go there" with Fox's disease, starting from when Larry saw him shake his head towards him and wondered, "Was he pissed or Parkinson's?"

But things really escalated when Larry visited Fox who insisted, "I'm a head shakin' fool" and that, "It wasn't a Larry shake." A: This was all really funny stuff. B: Again, Michael J. Fox, you rule for so openly and humorously dealing with this situation. I mean, "I'll be back in two shakes…?" Wonderful.

Fox's simple, "Parkinson's" reply to Larry asking him if he shook up his soda on purpose was what completely cracked me up though, which continued in a later scene when Fox kept insisting that everything Larry felt was a slight was, "Parkinson's – It's all Parkinson's, Larry!"

Larry tries to see if he can score a deal on those sweet
Back to the Future Part II Nikes

The other two main elements to this episode were also very funny – namely Larry's interactions with his girlfriend Jennifer's extremely flamboyant young son and Larry's penchant for drawing Hitler mustaches on magazine photos, which he explained with the simple, "I just like to see what people look like with Hitler mustaches." Hey, people like what they like, right?

Kudos to the child actor who played Jennifer's son, Gary, who completely went for it himself, exclaiming, "Get a life, Jews!" and was through the roof excited about his new sewing kit. And yes, the swastika-adorned pillow sham was one hell of a way to mix homophobia and what Larry referred to as being "pre-gay" into one non-PC ball of funny.

Leon wasn't in this episode a lot, but he had a really great scene with Larry as they discussed starting a fight with Fox, that not only included the line, "Michael J. Fox about to be Michael J. F**ked up in a minute," but again crossed certain lines (and don't we love that they do?) when Leon observed that when it came to a fight against Fox, "That shaking s**t might come in handy. I don't know!"

Leave it to this show to get Mayor Bloomberg to not only play himself, but play himself telling Larry he wasn't welcome in New York. The bit with the violin was perfect – a stealth bit of set up that paid off brilliantly when it looked like Larry was openly mocking Fox, as he spoke at a fundraiser. Having Bloomberg evoke the real life love we all have for Fox, while Larry was stuck looking like the bad guy, was a classic Curb scenario.

My only quibble here was that Jeff and Susie's little storyline about whether he'd "take a bullet" for her or not was pretty undercooked - it seemed kind of thrown in to give them something to do in the finale. But everything else was strong enough that it was hardly a pressing issue.

Season 8 of Curb lacked the kind of overall story arc most seasons have had, but that being the case, it was much-appreciated to see the big callbacks to "Vow of Silence" here, as Larry once more flew far, far away to avoid having to go to a children's charity function – this time, all the way to Paris… With Leon in tow, of course.

After eight seasons and eleven years, this show continues to defy the rules of diminishing returns, and is still one of the funniest on TV. Which is why I'm breaking my usual rule of saying, "Okay, it's been enough time… let it go," and would be more than happy to see more Curb Your Enthusiasm, should Larry David continue to want to make it.