Great TV While High: Louis by Louis CK

Louis CK is a stand-up comedian, writer, and filmmaker at the top of his game. His self titled television show on FX is currently airing its fourth season, and there have been many hilarious and incredibly written episodes in the last several years that warrant watching from even the most casual comedy fans.

However, it’s the latest episode that aired on June 9th that should make the most waves in the Weedist community and makes it worth a special mention. This is the 11th episode of the currently airing fourth season of this extremely well-written show, and it’s titled “In the Woods.” The previous sequence of episodes was a seven-part arc that is easily the best Woody Allen film in years, with spectacular commentary on a wide range of issues including dating, family, rape and so much more that television rarely covers (even in its current golden age.)

Louis is shocked when he sees his daughter smoking some weed.

This latest, double/extended episode, serves as Louis CK’s personal history with marijuana. The episode begins with Louis, who has already established himself as a grown adult dealing with the challenges of parenting many times in this series, catching his 12-year old daughter smoking pot at a show he attends with his fellow comedian and friend Todd Barry. Using a realistic flashback, a commonly used device throughout this current season, Louis is able to show the audience his experience with marijuana and how it shapes the way he decides to treat his daughter’s use.

Jeremy Remar guest stars as a marijuana dealer who ends up hooking a young Louis up with “a ¼ oz for $10… is that OK?” The amount astounding Louis’ young friends, including the bully who ends up toking with him and turning into a friend. When he gets it, young Louis tells his friends, “I’m not gonna sell it. I’m gonna smoke it… and share it,” like any good Weedist would. Even when one of their friends get caught later in the hour and denounces the “druggie” lifestyle, Louis still defends his friend and asks the bully, “Why do you have to hit everybody!”

In this incredibly cinematic episode, Louis even writes his science teacher into the fray, who acts as a Walter White/father figure, to both serve as a wealth of grown-up knowledge and a final source of vindication for his marijuana use. Young, redheaded Louis steals scales from his science teacher to trade for weed from Remar, who ends up telling him that, “You’re a criminal now… you think you’re innocent because you’re a kid? You did this, Louis. What’d you do? You got caught…”

When he has to face the consequences from his principal, however, his teacher covers for him and insists that Louis is one of the brightest and best kids in his class.

Real talk from a drug dealer.

It’s an amazingly succinct commentary on drug use, criminal activity and marijuana use as a ridiculous addition to those first two categories. Louis CK has made a television episode that sums up exactly where we are here in America right now. Even after his teacher covers for Louis stealing the scales, the principal calls him back in the office and tells him that one day he will have to answer for his actions.

Right before he confesses to his teacher at the end of the school year out of guilt, his mother tells him that because of his drugs, “You’re boring. You’re sullen. You’re vacant. You show me no love.” In the end, after we as the audience have been shown everything that leads up to his current state of thinking, Louis can only tell his daughter that “I’m here… and that’s all I got.” Because in the end, we all know that’s all he can really say.

The episode is dedicated to Phil Hoffman, a recent and very brutal victim of drugs much worse than anything that marijuana can even do. This dedication serves as the final piece of a beautiful statement about how drugs should not be a substitute for happiness for young people, but instead an enhancer that should be used in moderation.

Louis is a great comedy show that has taken scripted television comedy to the next level with its current season. The latest episode only further solidifies its place on the list of the greatest TV shows being produced right now.