Summary
Curb Your Enthusiasm tackles some risky topics in “Ken/Kendra”, and Larry’s reputation continues to take several serious hits ahead of his court date.
If you were wondering about Larry David’s take on having sex with women who ultimately end up transitioning into men, “Ken/Kendra” has an answer for you – as with everything else, he only cares insofar as it relates to his insecurities. Season 12 of Curb Your Enthusiasm has been pretty relentless in highlighting those insecurities and continues to be in Episode 9, to wonderfully comedic effect – though perhaps it’s less funny for a cameoing Bruce Springsteen, who gets COVID from Larry and has to cancel dates on his tour.
A Happy Ending
Larry comes off worse in this episode than he usually does, and it’s weirdly less his fault than it usually is. This is in keeping with the final season’s ongoing theme of prompting the audience to consider what kind of guy Larry is, and the reason it’s funny and worthwhile is that not only do we not know, he doesn’t either. He’s a flawed dude who can’t keep his mouth shut, but he’s also not terrible and can frequently be good. But in a trial that hinges on how he comes across, Larry’s going to have his work cut out, and thus so is his new lawyer, Sibby Sanders.
Sibby is already worried about how Larry comes across, and more so when “Ken/Kendra” opens with him inadvertently offending a masseuse named Chunhua by asking for what she perceives to be a happy ending. In reality, she had only worked for 35 minutes of the hour she was paid for, and Larry was just asking for any ending, not necessarily a happy one. Either way, Chunhua is offended, and the only way to get her off his case is to introduce her to Bruce Springsteen, who wants to meet Larry after he made a liberal folk hero of himself by giving Auntie Rae the water bottle in the season premiere.
Floor Sex
Upsetting Chunhua also upsets Cheryl, who recommended her to Larry and bursts in to accuse him of asking her for a happy ending in front of Sibby, and this isn’t the only way Larry annoys his ex-wife in “Ken/Kendra”.
As it turns out, Larry likes to have sex on the floor. The reason is that nobody wants to stay on the floor afterward, so he doesn’t need to cuddle and be intimate with his partner post-coitus. Larry used the same trick on Cheryl when they were married, and she’s appalled by it. Similarly, restaurant owner Lorenzo, whom Larry confronts after witnessing him change his eatery’s hygiene grade from a C to an A, is disgusted by the concept, especially since it was responsible for what he insists was an unfair rating (one of his employees had floor sex in the middle of the restaurant.)
Bruce Springsteen Gets Covid From Larry
The floor sex thing comes out through Bruce Springsteen’s manager, the titular “Ken/Kendra”, who used to hook up with Larry when he was a woman (Larry’s awkward squirming at this realization is, probably wisely, the only commentary he makes on the transition.) But it pales in comparison to Larry’s biggest problem, which is giving Bruce Springsteen COVID after bickering with him over which glass of water was his.
Springsteen has to cancel some dates on his sold-out “Farewell” tour and tells the public it was Larry who gave him COVID, so his standing plummets even further. In his isolation, Larry finally gets around to reading a manuscript that Les McCrabb wrote, which Larry pretended to have read when he bumped into him in the street because he was faffing with his zipper. McCrabb is played brilliantly by Matt Berry, and the zipper thing is another of those weird Curb-isms that isn’t a major plot point but crops up a few times throughout the episode just so someone can argue about it.
Larry’s Reputation Reaches An All Time Low
“Ken/Kendra” ends with Larry’s public standing reaching an all-new low thanks to the Springsteen thing. Determined to get off the hook with Chunhua, Larry takes her to meet Springsteen at his home where he’s recuperating. However, the place is swamped with concerned fans who’re paying tribute outside with signs and gifts, like he’s dead. Larry forces Springsteen to pose for the picture and then tries to get out of Dodge, but his car is mobbed by furious fans. Yikes.
Mere weeks away from his court date, Larry seems to be annoying everyone, and any goodwill his accidentally altruistic acts garnered has long since disappeared. The theory that the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm will end with him in prison is looking more and more likely each week.
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