Ep 2. 2. Louie, Draw me a Snail

Louie is a television series that follows the life of comedian Louis CK as he navigates his career and personal life. In season 1 episode 2, titled "Louie, Draw me a Snail," Louie is asked to draw a snail by his daughter's teacher for a homework assignment.

The episode begins with Louie spending time with his two daughters, where one of them asks him to draw her a picture of a snail for her homework. Louie is immediately put on the spot, admitting he can't draw snails. The next day, he attends a parents' meeting where the teacher pulls him aside and asks him to draw a snail for her class too. Feeling pressured and embarrassed, Louie agrees to draw the snail.

Louie's struggle to draw a snail becomes a running theme throughout the episode. He attempts to draw multiple snails at his home and office, but none of them are satisfactory. He routinely talks about his inability to draw a snail with his friends and even with a date he meets up with. Through all of this, Louie is clearly becoming more and more anxious as the deadline for the homework assignment approaches.

However, drawing a snail isn't the only problem Louie is facing in this episode. Louie takes his kids to a Chinese takeout restaurant, where a man rushes inside with a gun and holds everyone hostage. Louie and the others inside the restaurant are forced to confront their own mortality as they are held against their will. The incident leads to Louie experiencing rampant anxiety and deeply fearing for the safety of his children.

The episode is a powerful look at the anxieties and challenges of everyday life. Louie's fear of not being able to draw a snail may seem small in comparison to what he and others are dealing with in the hold-up scene, but it is a relatable metaphor for the larger struggles we all face in daily life. By the end of the episode, Louie produces his drawing but it's not the best. However, he doesn't receive any criticism from his daughter or her teacher. Instead, his daughter is overjoyed with it, seeing all the details in the snail he drew. This provides Louie with a moment of relief from the constant worrying he had felt up until that point.

Overall, "Louie, Draw me a Snail" is a nuanced and dramatic episode that highlights the pressures and expectations we place on ourselves in day-to-day life. The episode is both relatable and moving, and it's easy to empathize with Louie as he struggles to balance his own inadequacies with the various pressures and anxieties he faces.