It’s been too long since the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm but this season is already looking to be the series’ best. This week’s episode ‘Palestine Chicken’ hilariously distils the bigger Palestine-Israel conflict into a battle between LA restaurants. Both sides come off as they should, medieval and ridiculous.
Here’s a snack from just a few seconds in a scene where Larry and his manager are enjoying a chicken dinner in a Palestinian restaurant.
Jeff: What these people should do is send their chicken over to Israel.
Larry: For the peace process. They’d take down all those settlements by morning. Believe me.
Larry: Looks like they’re planning their next Intifada at this table but look at this woman. Could be the next Mrs. David. What do you think about that?
Jeff: If by some chance she’d get over her anti-Semitism, odds are not with you?
Larry: Really? Know what it is? You’re always attracted to someone who doesn’t want you. Here you have someone who not only doesn’t want you, doesn’t even acknowledge your right to exist. Wants your destruction. That’s a turn on.
The ending is everything – the quandary that leaves us to struggle with our prejudices and beliefs. Larry David’s characters speak black and white but live deep in the gray.
So much truth, so little time. In one half hour episode, the whole quagmire is mixed and served. Not a tincture of reverence. Delicious.
UPDATE: The A.V. Club gives this ep an A+.
Shara: I like you.
Larry: What’s not to like?
Shara: Eh, you’re a Jew.
