Episode 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Season 8, Episode 1 - 'The Divorce' Recap

If you had hopes at the end of last season that Larry and Cheryl would patch things up, forget about it: the first few minutes of the season eight premiere of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" sees the two almost making up, until Cheryl causes a ring stain on the wood table. That's enough to set Larry off again ("Do you respect wood?"), which is enough for Cheryl to leave. Again.

So, "The Divorce" is on. Larry has a seemingly adept lawyer (played quite entertainingly by Paul F. Tompkins) named Andrew Berg, who assures Larry he's getting the good part of the pie, whatever part that might be. But later in the episode, Larry makes a shocking discovery: Berg is not Jewish! The horror! There's one tier of the traditional "Curb" house of cards in place.

At lunch with Jeff, Susie, Funkhouser and Nan, Funkhouser tells Larry that he's going on a long trip to London, and Nan notes that she's never been. Larry convinces her to go, which earns him a scornful look from Funkhouser...put screw-up #1 on the board. Later, Funkhouser will decide to get a divorce, which leads to a pretty funny scene as Jeff laments that he's the only one of his friends who doesn't get to have a divorce.

Lunch also sets up a couple of other important encounters. When Larry gets the buffet and shares with Jeff, a restaurant manager informs him that he'll have to pay for two buffets. In steps a lawyer named Hiram Katz (unlike Berg, most unmistakably Jewish) who gets them out of the predicament and impresses Larry greatly.

Joe, the owner of the Dodgers, also comes in and commiserates with Larry about their divorces (he has Berg as his divorce attorney also), and invites Larry to sit in the owner's box with him. He also mentions that his daughter, Keira, will be stopping by Larry's house to sell him some Girl Scout cookies.

That leads to what may be the funniest scene in the entire episode (or recent memory), as Keira gets her first period while selling Larry the cookies. This being "Curb," she announces the fact out loud, and Larry rushes upstairs to grab some of Cheryl's tampons. But since Keira doesn't know how to use them, Larry has to coach her through the bathroom door. Larry's confusion and ultimate "eureka" moment when he discovers how tampons actually work is pure gold.

But when Joe learns about the encounter, he's upset enough with Larry to withdraw his offer with the tickets. They patch things up eventually, though, when Larry learns about Berg's non-Jewishness and goes to warn Joe about it. Luckily, Larry knows just the guy to replace him...Hiram Katz.

Are you ready for the house of cards to collapse? Larry and Funkhouser head to Dodger Stadium to sit in the owner's box, but find that Joe has lost the team in the divorce, thanks to the ineptitude of Katz. When Larry realizes what this means, he rushes over to the office to try to stop Katz and Cheryl's lawyer from signing the papers...but he runs into Joe at the elevator, who punches Larry square in the nose. Luckily, a passer-by has just the thing to stop the bleeding...a tampon. It's then, of course, that Cheryl finds Larry lying on the floor with a tampon up his nose and informs him that she got the house.

Sadly, the very end of the episode doesn't end with as much of a bang: Larry and Leon are complaining about having to leave the house when the doorbell rings, and a whole gang of Girl Scouts are there to collect the money Larry owes them. He refuses, which causes a Girl Scout riot, trapping Larry in the house. It doesn't tie in as well with the rest of the episode, but Larry's face is pretty priceless.