Episode 69 - Louie's Fling

Media. NI. You see that guy with it now, he's an actor that. I'm the only camp driver. In his place.

Good evening and welcome to night. Mister Walter's a Taxi podcast. I'm HP, your co host, and with me as always is my co host, Father Malone. Father Malone, how are you this. Evening, HP?

I think I think Louis de Palmas and the Epstein Files. I think you're right based on what we see him do all the shenanigans in this episode. But we'll get to that. We're talking about Taxi Season four, episode five, Louise Fling, written by Sam Simon, The Simpsons Own Sam Simon, and directed by It is True and directed by Hey. James Burrows is back after a few episodes of no James Burrows.

Harry's back just. In time for for a terrible episode. Good work, James. I was gonna say that same thing, Father Blone. There's nothing you can do to help us, James, but we appreciate your presence.

Maybe you can honk with laughter, and it's just that something funny is happening. So reminder, before we get into this, we're doing these shows in broadcast order, not in order of filming. So we begin Father Malone with the classic b roll of Riager driving in his cab. This, Oh, this is great. I love this.

You know, you could tell that they went out on the streets and just had him filming. They were talking to him on the radio and they're like, okay, just keep bring the mic up, bring the mic down, bring the mic up, so that they can just cut in any dialogue later. It's very utilitarian and this, obviously, I think this dates back to the infamous Angela's Back episode where Riger has to hit the street. Look, remember thee for Search of Angela. Yeah, we also got a New York skyline in silhouette here at the beginning, which was very lovely.

Yes, and we'll see that actually in the in the next episode as well. I think so Weirdly, as we're watching this, what you're describing came to pass. There's a looped exposition of Louis. He's crowing to Rigor about how how cold it is and how Louie's going to be cuddling with his girlfriend Zena while Riger is braving the cold weather in his cab. You know what I wrote here?

Would he announced that, yeah, uugh, Zena. That's that's exact. I didn't write that down. Well you'll see I did write something to that effect later. But I was actually kind of shocked that Zena is still in the picture.

I thought when we had the episode with take Me where You Cry, that whole business, I thought that was the last time we were ever going to see Zena. I thought they broke up after that. But here she is. I guess cheers hadn't gotten going yet, So I got to throw throw the missus the bone once a season. I guess so, and and you know, but so we cut it.

We cut inside of Zena's apartment. Zena's straightening up. Well, when Louis arrives with this paper bag, he's got take out, they're gonna they're gonna sit around and watch the Miss Universe pageant. Let me ask you bother them along side note, do you remember when things like the Miss Universe pageant and and and uh you know Miss Usa, those were a big deal. And maybe that dates back to the three network, you know, pre cable days, but those used to be a big deal, right.

I remember them being a big deal, but I remember never really caring to watch or. Yeah, yeah, no. Let me let me qualify this I didn't necessarily, I didn't care about it at all. I'm just saying the culture at large followed things like Miss America. Yeah, yeah, but I don't think they gave it any more heft than your average People's Choice awards.

See, I think it was a bigger deal. Remember when like Vanessa Williams and that whole scandal happened. I don't think that would move the needle these days, because frankly, I'm not even sure they broadcast these pageants anymore on television. I don't think they do well. No, because there's sexist nightmares.

Right, I guess that's this all is part of my point, Like the culture has kind of moved on, and I'm always fond of saying this is the time in the eighties of the monoculture, before things got so fragmented with the advent of the Internet and all this stuff. But back then, true, yeah, there was only so many ports to uh to harbor up when you're looking for entertainment on a random weekday night, because you know that it wouldn't be a weekend that they were showing the Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Universe. Remember that episode of Amazon of Amazing Stories with weird. Al the Miss Universe pageant where they announced that I think it's Dick Sean. I'm pretty sure it's Dick Sean.

Like they're having a pageant for it's just a regular like Miss USA kind of pageant, but they've announced it's Miss Universe. So he shows up and he's like, what the fuck you want an alien pageant? We've got aliens and it's it's a big pageant with ans. It was pretty good. That's his first acting role.

Al We're weird, Al Al al Jorgenson, Oh, Al al Jorgensen or Al I'm kidding. I'm talking out okay, but it would be really funny if it was Al Jargonson. Al Jorgenson, it would be great. Louis comes in, says height to Xena. He's got a very frisky tone.

And what I wrote down for the moment is I don't like it. I don't like where this is going. Basically, this is a Xena episode. I don't like relationship Louis episodes. I don't there's I'm already my hackles are already up.

I'm ready for defensive posture on this. My second my second note is pink cashmere with a pink collared shirt and black slacks. No, is that what Xena was wearing. Yes, she's horribly attired. It's not a good look for Reappelman and unfortunately.

But but I don't. I don't like these episodes that deal with Louie's love left. I just don't. I don't like Louis out of his cage unless he's being an agent of chaos. If Louie's going to be centered in the episode, then it has to revolve around the garage.

As far as I'm concerned. I agree he's He's better in smaller doses as a like you said, as an agent of chaos who sows you know, discord amongst the Cabby's and and takes relish in that nothing too seriously perverse, you know, something fun like like like the the cab competition that he had with Alex or something that's a perfect example. But I don't. For some reason, I don't like the ones that focus on him because they're either too maudlin because they focus on his crappy childhood, or it's about what how low can Louis sink in terms of perversity. Those two things I hate.

So I think, you know, yeah, I'm not a big fan of them attempting to get us to cotton to Louie as decent human being. Deep down, Like, I love how fucking vitriolic and mean he is at all times, and I also know that he's a decent not a decent guy, but he's a character worth investing time and effort into. But come on, man, like, don't try and make me particularly when he's being a dick. He's like, this episode is so schizophrenic. It's like fifty percent him being an asshole and fifty percent like we're supposed to feel bad for him.

I think. There there are moments in other episodes. I think the last episode, remember they had he made the mouse trap and he was going to kill the mouse, but then he has this change of heart and he lets the mouse go free. It's not it's not a big deal. But you know, I'm fine sprinkling little bits of kindness in with the Louis, you know, all the bad stuff that he does, as long as it's not too bad.

But unfortunately, we cross some lines in this episode, and we'll get to that. So Zena approaches Louie to kiss him, and then we hear a loud wailing cry coming from the bathroom. It's Zena's friend Emily, who is very upset. She's going through something. Louis uh is so annoyed at this he just wants to sit down and watch Miss Universe.

That's im. I hated him here. I fucking hated him here. Yeah, because he's so rude. He's so dismissive of whatever this poor woman is dealing with.

Uh. It's like it's one thing to like to like, you know, hack on Tony even at his most vulnerable, but he's just walked into this situation. This woman is bawling her eyes out and he's acting like get the fuck. Out, shut up, bab Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And it's supposed to be adorable like oh that Louis that scamp, but it's not. He just comes off like truly uh ugly here he is it. They're they're they're looking for like Ralph Cramdon Honeymooners, like a get out of here, I'm trying to watch the tube. But he just comes off as really and not a nice person or bully exactly. Zena explains that Emily supported some guy named Adam for three years put him through art school.

Basically and then the moment he graduated, he left Emily for another woman. And this is what's got this woman, Emily completely. She shattered by this. As the former husband of an art art graduate. Let me just say that Mark was doing her a favor.

So Emily emerges from the bathroom. She's in tears. It's clear that she even says that she's been taking tranquilizers all day. She's a mess. She says she should go, but Zena says, no, you need to stay throughout this bit with Emily.

You're seeing louis doing his best to ignore the situation and just be plain rude. He's he's pantomiming like go go. He's just a jerk. He's trying to watch. I just meant, by the way, I just meant she's never getting her money back for his tuition.

I didn't mean students are bad. I I I dearly loved my wife. I knew what you meant, and I was having some flashbacks to her, you know, to to her in school. Look, it's a noble profession, it's a noble calling. But it's not it's not it's not profitable, right right.

That's not exactly a stockbroker on Wall Street, you know, prospects of earning money. But anyhow, uh, Louis even At one point, Louis even shushes Emily as she's talking to Zena, and there's something about getting shushed. I don't know about you father them alone. It just it makes me so mad because it's there's there's nothing kind or reasonable about you know, It's just I don't know, just gets me. Every time I would, I would tank them at their word.

I would. I would never speak to that person again. Pretty much. I'd be like, you know what, screw you, I'm out of here, and that that are in him a rebuke from Zena, a well deserved rebuke, I might add. Xena offers to get Emily a drink, but Emily says she shouldn't because of all the sedatives that she's been taking.

So many it sounds like a party. Yeah, So Zena insists. Louis opened the bottle of wine anyway, and Emily takes a glass of wine. She continues to prattle on. Emily does but and Louis, like I said, just doesn't care.

But he does offer some advice. He delivers some armchair psychoanalysis for Emily. He says because Emily's father drank. Louie's theory is that Emily is looking for that same craziness in her boyfriend's and it always blows up in her face. Emily, obviously addled by the sedatives and the alcohol, actually is struck by this characterization.

And thanks Louis for the insight. I thought that was a good analysis, and I was, well. No, but I think she's more receptive to that armchair psychoanalysis. No. I think the ads will play into her character later in the thing.

I think she's just taking a drink right here, so she's just on sedative certainly, But I think he's giving really good advice here, Like I liked Louis here for two seconds. Okay, see, and I keep thinking that louis playing the long game. But maybe I'm just looking. At He wants her gone, and he figures, let me just tell her what she actually is and that will hasten her departure. I guess that's a good point.

So finally Emily insists she's going to leave and she's going to go freshen up in the bathroom. But Zena insists to Louis that he call one of his calves to take her home. And what's more, she wants Louis to accompany Emily, so after some sweet talking, he reluctantly agrees. Louis agrees, and we cut to Riager in a cab picking away. Before we get there, we haven't mentioned a bunch of stuff that I'd like, okay mentioned.

First of all, he does say, Louis. When he pours her a glass of wine. He says, wash down the goofballs, which I always love to hear goofballs mentioned. Yea, you know, they just don't make him anymore, so always a great goofball reference. Also, Emily is played by Andrea Marcovici, who is the star of The Stuff, the Michael Moriarty horror movie from Larry Cohen, and she's one of the stars of Oliver Stone's feature debut, The Hand with Michael Caine about the Killer Hand.

Oh really, I didn't. I didn't realize that was his debut. And she's one of the stars of Voyagers. Do you remember Voyagers? Exclamation points the television series.

I don't what was that about. I think it ran for maybe eight episodes, but I watched every single one of them because it was about time travelers. Trying to fix the timelines featuring Mino Pelouse. Do you remember Mino Polouse? Give me some context.

Punky Brewster's older brother. He was acting long before her, and he was the star of this television series where this time traveler accidentally comes to our time and picks him accidentally, and they end up traveling through time where it's quantum Leap before Quantum Leap. I was going to say that sounds like, yeah, he's got. A device that when they get to a time I will tell him if something's wrong with the timeline or not. Then they have to figure it out, and they have to interact with all these historical characters, and there's tons of crazy character actors playing all these historical figures.

And the lead I'm forgetting his name right now. I know there's a Christian in there somewhere. He has the ignominious distinction of being the actor who put the gun with the blank to his skull and pulled the trigger, not realizing that the wadding was the same as an actual bullet coming out of there, so the air fractured his skull and killed him. He think there was some John Eric huck Hexum. I believe that is his name.

Yes, he was affaeanced to eg Daily at the time. I remember. Only reason I remember that name is because my mom subscribed to People magazine, and I think that was a cover story when that guy accidentally killed himself. It was a big It's a memorable last name, even though I did not remember it. Yes, I think I remembered everything else about him.

Wow, that's crazy. I totally forgot about that. I can't believe I thought of that name without even looking it up. So good on you bought them alone. Was there anything else you wanted to mention before we go into Alex taking them home?

Yeah. When Louis sits down on the couch next to her to give her the advice, he sits down on her discarded, gross, gooey tissues. Ugh. That's That's One thing I find kind of gross about this episode is because the woman playing Emily like all she's really called upon in this episode, and in fact, she appears in a future episode the same character. She reprises the same character, but my whole takeaway is that she spends it basically crying and sniffling the whole time, so she's always got, like you said, wadded up tissues with gross stuff on them, and it's just not a it's not a good look and it's not a good vibe that she she It's the character, it's not the actress's fault, but there's something about that that I always found a little bit kind of gross.

You'll notice by the way Louis protests right up to the last second, and I was agreeing with him because why would he have to go with her. It's one of his cabbies taking this woman home. If anything happened, he would fucking you know, have their heads. But anyway, the episode has to play out the way it plays out. It does, and I think that's that's somewhat believable because obviously Xena and Louie's relationship has always been rather tenuous.

So I could see her being like, you know what, if you're gonna be such a jerk about this, Louis, not only are you gonna get one of your cabs to take her home, but you're gonna go with her and you're gonna walk her up to her apartment. Personally, I could see her being like, you know what, screw you, Like I'm gonna take away Miss Universe from me one way or another. Tonight. You know, that's the only thing I think he would have sent it at that point, like I got her to you know, I made her happy. She's going home, she's gonna sleep it up.

Let me watch the fucking thing, you know. But it would have been a very different episode had he just stuck to his guns and just stayed home. But we'll see where this goes. So, so Riger's there, He picks the two of them up. Louis gives Rigor the address and settles back in the back seat with Emily.

He introduces Emily to Riger and cautions Riaga to take it easy because she just got dumped. And then Emily gets into this thing where she says that Riga reminds her of this ex boyfriend, and she starts getting becoming hostile. It's a Riga for no good reason, which I actually thought was kind of funny, but and she starts ripping old mementoes of the boyfriend in the back of the cab. She's kind of goes into this fit of anger directed towards his ex boyfriend. Finally, they arrive at the apartment and then Rieger insists that Louis walk her to her apartment because there's some discussion about how sketchy the neighborhood looks it's dark and what it's nighttime whatever.

I guess any any neighborhood can look a bit sinister at night. So Louis angrily agrees, but insists that Rieger has to wait for him there. So then we cut to the inside of Emily's apartment, which, frankly, Father Malone looks a little too opulent to be in this supposedly sketchy neighborhood. There's either oh no, no, no, no, that's not true. You get like a rent control apartment, man, you fucking squad and there Charles Groden lived in like a co op until like nineteen eighty.

Well, it's the opulence of the apartment that I'm raising some eyebrows with, because there's even a there's a narrow gold pedestal. It's like a five foot pedestal with a flower vase on top with flowers. I mean, who has that in their house. Well, she makes a good living, and she's you know, she has contractors come in and make it like good. And then you live in a sketchy neighborhood.

Nobody knows. I don't know it seems it seems a little income. You don't give up an apartment in New York City, HP. Yeah, but you do if it's dangerous to live there, is my point. No no, no, no, no no no.

Then then you know the rich people won't move in and drive up the prices. So we're looking for we're talking about gentrification. Then no anti gentrification. You don't want white. People coming around.

It's to become a geo. So I just thought that this this vase on the pedestal made it look like a museum. I thought it was a bad touch with the normally solid set decoration that we see on taxi. Emily thanks Louis for taking her home, and she even smiles when Louis makes a joke. He observes, hey, you're smiling now.

And then Emily, now she's really getting sort of addled with the with the drink and all the drugs that she's been taking. So she starts complimenting Louis and says that he's a wonderful man, and it stops him in his tracks. He's on his way out the door. But all of a sudden, you see that Louis has sex on his mind because he has that look of like, oh, okay, I sense an opportunity here. She's drunk, she's heavily sedated, And this is really where I, frankly I kind of checked out of the episode Father alone, because we've seen Louis do a lot of bad things in the course of four seasons so far up to this point.

I'm gonna say this is the worst thing that he does. Yeah, he has sex with a woman without her consentric. Without her consent because she's blisteredly, blisteringly drunk here and high, and and he helped supply that by pouring her a giant glass of wine when she's already said she was on a bunch of sedatives, even. Though that wasn't his intention in doing it. Then it's now like, oh, well, here's an opportunity.

When you see the light bulb go off in his head, there's no mistaking the situation. We can see how old and how you know, not straight thinking she is in this moment. And rather than be a gentleman and say I have to go home, I got to go back to Zena. Louis kind of about faces and very coyly, is like kind of slinking back over. It's it's terrible.

Emily ends up hugging him and then kissing him, and all of a sudden, they're straight up making out. They they they pull apart. Louie apologizes for a moment, but then Emily convinces him that she actually wants him to stay, and now they start making out all over again as we as we fade the commercial, so we cut to the garage. At this point, Louis asks Reager what he owes him for last night. Louis asks Riager how long it took him to realize he was gonna quote unquote score with Emily.

Rieger gets upset. He says an hour. He says it took him that long to realize that Louie would do something so low to Zena. And then Tony hears all this happening, and Tony is appalled that Louis would make Alex wait, but then Alex tells him that he doesn't even know what he's talking about, because then Alex explains to Tony that what he's really upset about isn't the fact that he had to wait for an hour. It's the fact that Louis spent the night with Zena's best friend.

He had sex with Zena's best friend. I think we can agree that this is truly a new low for Louis. Just when you think he can't sink any lower, he somehow finds a way to surpass that. Louis doesn't think he did anything wrong, by the way, right in his mind across the board, he doesn't think he did anything wrong. Well, but that's par for the course with Louis, because he rarely takes responsibility for his actions until he's called on it by the person or persons that he's wronged.

And then, you know, sometimes not always, when he's confronted with this, he kind of realizes the error of his ways, But it does take somebody think. The problem here is not Louis. I think the problem is us for allowing Louis to get away with as much as he does as a character and praising and enjoying it so that when he goes too far and actually acts like a villain, we're like, oh, like, yeah, he's a villain. But there's a big difference between the the agent of chaos that you described earlier and somebody who is who's ruining people's lives, you know, and and being gleeful about it. It's one thing if he calls Tony a dummy and bets against him in a fight, and it's just a general jerk.

That's I can accept that. But when when when he's doing things that are affecting Zena, that are affecting this other woman, Emily, and he has he shows no remorse and in fact is gleeful about what he's done. That to me is is is beyond the pale. That's ugly. Louis does try to explain his side of things.

He says, and this is this is again this this kills me. He says that Emily was desperate and stoned. Those are almost his exact words. Oh yeah, he's ecstatic because he tells Rieger that he now has two women. It's a dream come true for Louis, that's what he.

Like. He doesn't think that this was just she was fucking drunken Stone like, he's a fucking lunatic. He needs to be locked up. At the end of this episode, he pulls out his address, but he's like, look, see I have two women's phone numbers in my book. He's a lunatic, like you said.

He He starts to evangelize to the rest of the. Cab around here, nobody would gather around. Tony should be like, do you know how many women I can get right now? Dummy? Seriously?

And you know what if if Wheeler was there, Wheeler would be like, two women talk to me when you have a factor of five on top of that, buddy, and one night because you know Bobby is you know. Tony could go take Zena if you wanted to. Like, what is he talking about? No question? No question?

So he he starts to evangelize. Louis starts to evangelize his good fortune, and that attracts a Lane to the conversation. She asked, what what's going on with Louis? She's out of the loop on this up to this point, but Louis tells the other guys not to divulge quote unquote guy talk to Elaine Riager. Immediately he hears this and immediately responds by telling Elaine exactly what happened that Louis having a fling with Zena's best friend.

Elaine is predictably offended by this, and she basically yells at Louis and says she's glad that he's gonna lose Zena because he doesn't deserve. Zena heard this, It's very appropriate. Louis sort of in a way threatens her that, you know, no one here is going to tell her about this, and Elaine says, look, somebody somewhere will finally have had it with all of your antics, Louis and will tell Zena about the affair. It may not be me, but some trust me, someone will tell Zena. And this kind of gets under Louie's skin and he insists now that he's going to go to see Zena himself and get it over with.

So we cut back to Zena's apartment. Zena asks Louis what happened last night because she was worried. Louis says, he's credit to Louis. Credits to Louis that he tells her he. Does, and not in such a roundabout fashion, but he is.

Right out with it. And I admired that at least about him in this episode. Sure, but if not a little blase about the repercussions after the fact, because he. Oh, yeah, you know right, so he has to box a fucking Chinese food blase. He tells Zena that he and Emily went for a hammock ride last night.

That's his his. Maybe not the best way to tell her that. Yeah, and Zena is shocked by this, he says, She says, there's no way that she can still be friends with Emily anymore. And like I said, Louis is super casual. He's in the background, he's he's bopping around with this takeout container.

That Emily actually did have a hammock. I thought it was possible, Well it could have been maybe, like I could see like one of those what's one of those the bamboo wicker chairs in the corner, and maybe a hammock somewhere else. Those were very friendly. She grew up a board ship, you know what I mean, it's just what. It's a merchant marine or something.

She had a hammock. Yeah, maybe you know, like one of those actual merchant marine hammocks, which is just like this canvas coffin turned into like a perogi, you know. Yeah, those things are exceptionally hard to get in and out of. I would not I mean, I could take the regular like swaying in the backyard hammock like yeah, sure, I'd sleep on that. But like I said, Louie is just kind of idally eating Chinese food in the background, he's he doesn't care.

Zena yells at Louis at this point, tells him to leave. She doesn't want to know him anymore. She's finally had it. Louis tries to convince Zena that Emily was a temptress who seduced him. Louis then goes on to add like, well, how long does Zina think that this thing with Emily will go on?

For implying that he's not just going to break up with her, like this wasn't just one night, this one night fling for Louie, He's implying that he's going to continue to see Emily at least for a while. He might as well have said I flew here on a new zeppelin that was commissioned by the Gillette Corporation. That's how fucking insane he sounds. It's it's created a one night stand with a girl who's fucking completely blitzed out of her mind, and now he thinks they're like what dating? He is delusional.

I mean the whole scene with him in the garage where he's so ecstatic about having two women's phone numbers. This is this is kind of a status thing for Louie so, but it's just it's so icky and reprehensible that there's no way that anyone can get behind him on this. So him saying this to Zena is the straw that breaks the camel's back. She flies into a rage. She grabs a bunch of Louie's stuff because he's been living there, and kicks him out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

So then we cut back to Emily's apartment where Louis sweet talks his way to having Emily let him in. Louis says he's got this armload of junk. He says he's going to get the rest of his stuff when he moves in with Emily. Emily. Yeah.

Meanwhile, Emily has finally come to her senses. It's the next day, and she's obviously the sedatives have worn off. She's not She's thinking clearly for the first time. And how many of a sudden lives with Sam Simon On when he was writing this episode. This is such a weird episode.

I just he is normally so reliable, and he's a funny guy, and he has the track record to prove it. I just don't know where this the the the genesis of this episode came from, and why it took such a weird I don't know. I guess maybe some writers aren't afraid to show Louie's uglier side. But it's not pleasant to watch. It's just not.

Was the mood at Taxi like we did they know they were going off the air, like where they just you know, grabbing from the bottom of the pile at this point. I mean, it might be that because we've had a lot of episodes where Louis is very much on the periphery, which I think you and I we've already said we kind of agree that that is sometimes where Louis shines because he's a little bit of a seasoning that you put on the episode to make it better. But maybe I could also see, not that I have anything to base this off of, but I could see like Danny DeVito saying, like, hey, can you give me something more to do an episode that I can kind of sink my teeth into a little bit maybe comedically. It's just this was not that.

There are plenty of ways to to do a Louis episode that are really funny. Remember the episode where his his mother he puts his mother in the nursing home and he has that that party with all those weirdos that are sitting it was hilarious. So he was actually sympathetic in that episode, and it was damn funny. This is not the way to do a Louis episode. Emily, like I said, has come to her senses.

Now she looks at Louis. She doesn't see the same person that she saw the previous night, because she's no longer drunk and on all these pills. Goofballs. Emily tells Louie, under knowing certain terms, that last night was a mistake. She shouldn't have had that, all those pills and that wine.

She tells Louis in the light of day, Louis, you're disgusting, and who can argue with her? Louis protests. He tries to argue for staying, but then Emily tells Louis that her boyfriend, the one that she was so broken up about, wants her back and he's going to be there at any minute. Louis says he's lost Zena. Emily is all that he has left, and at that point the buzzer rings.

Emily says, I'm going to go stall him. You take the freight elevator out do the cellar like this ignominious exit that he has to sneak out of the building. Seriously, I thought for a minute maybe he was gonna have to like hide under the bed like he did. Remember when his boss's wife picked him to have a fling with and he was gonna they're never gonna see him again. Remember he had to hide.

Where We were sympathetic with him in that one. So now we cut back to the garage. It's it's late at night. Alex is the only one there. He's standing after the side reading a newspaper.

Louis walks in, completely pathetic. He's still carrying this armload of crap from Zena's apartment. Louis sees Reeger and thanks, thanks God that Alex is there. Louis tells Alex that he's at the lowest point of his whole life. Zena threw him out and Emily finally sobered up and doesn't want him anymore.

Now he has nothing. Alex is disgusted at Louis and he tries to leave, but Louis is now hysterical and he won't let Alex leave. Louis realizes that he's lost Xena, but Rieger says there's something obvious that he can do to fix this. But then he stops himself and he says, now, you know what, I'm glad Zena is finally getting rid of you, Louis, because you're getting your just deserts. Louise starts to cry, wishing that he didn't do what he did, and Alex, seeing this, takes pity on him and tells Louis that go and tell Zena that you've given up Emily for her, and you promise her that you're going to spend the rest of your life making this up to Zena.

Maybe that'll work. Maybe Zena might talk to her friend Emily at some point and realize that none of what is about to try and do is true at all. And obviously it's you know, the whole thing is a fucking ruse true. But as far as Hail Mary's go, this is all that Louis has. Alex is right, this is the only chance that he might have to save his relationship.

I mean, it implies a little white lie, but that's all he can do. So hearing this, it's like a switches flipped and all of a sudden, Louis stops crying and he perks up and he says, oh, that's a great plan. I'm going to do that, and he kind of cruelly I thought Louis says that he knew that some crocodile tears would cause Alex to have pity on him, and he gets up to leave, and Rieger is really really mad at himself. He stands up and he's like, damn it, you know, how could I I fall for that again? And he's upset with how he let this happen.

And then just before Louis leaves, he actually with. A tire iron. It's killing Louis to Palmer and ridding the world of yet another rapist. It would have been an interesting ending, but what Louis does is he basically whispers to Alex, look, the tears were real. And then as Rieger watches Louise skulk out of the garage mercifully, Father Malone, we fade the black.

That's the end of the episode. We don't have to see Louis this thing play out where he goes to Zena's house and whatever. So that's like my death wish ending. It would have it would have certainly livened up the ending. Charles Bronson impression.

Sure, I wish it was dead. There's something about like he took He takes the word dead and makes it two syllables. I think that's one of the keys to a good Charles Bronson. I can't do it, but that's a good one. So that that is it for Louis Fling.

Now, Father Malone, we're gonna talk about yellow lights. What doesn't yellow light mean? Reminder, we grade each episode on a scale from one to five yellow lights. One is the worst taxi episode, five is the best taxi episode. And as is our custom, we're gonna kick it to you first.

What do you give Louis Fling, Father Blone? Pizzeria yellow deep dish yellow light. Yeah, that's right, some pizza skin yellow lights. Here. I don't have anything.

I've said everything I need to say about this poor, poor excuse for a taxi episode. There have been worse. This one at least did have some laughs, and there were moments of performance that I enjoyed, Like everyone is like doing their best with this fucking horrible screenplay. I'm with you one hundred percent. Like I said, I gave this one yellow light.

As I said before, I hate Louis relationship episodes, and I hate Zena episodes, and I hate seeing how low Louis can possibly stoop, like what's the how can we lower the bar for Louis even more? I find that very uncomfortable to watch. What a cocktail? Huh right? And this, frankly, this is an episode that I never ever revisit, so on that basis almost alone.

This is one yellow light for me. This was my first time this one, by the way. And probably the only time you'll ever see it. Never gonna watch this one again, so thank you for that. So one yellow light from me, one yellow light from Father Malone.

That's gonna do it for this episode of night, mister Walters, followm alone. Where can folks find you when you're not clocked into the garage? Go to midnight Viewing. I do way too many fucking episodes. I got three goddamned episodes out this week.

HP. Go to midnight viewing. It's on all your podcasters and whatever, or a Patreon dot com slash Father Alone. That's there's even more stuff there. So that's where you can find me.

And we're doing a bunch of stuff and you know, I don't know with Star Trek Fest and blah blah blah. Yeah, Father Malone is the hardest working man in podcasting, I guarant I am. Actually, you know what, I'm not gonna be modest. I am now, thank you. I believe that.

So, as as Father Malone said, we're in the midst of trek Fest where we're covering the entire Star Trek film franchise, from the original series films all the way through the jj Abrams movies and even some detours along the way. So please check out me. Let me say that if you go to the Patreon channel, we do away missions we're calling them, which are sort of tangentially related to Star Trek. And we just did our first one, which was two episodes of Colombo, one featuring Nimoy and one featuring Shatner, and that was a blast. So anyway, it's great stuff.

We have fun doing it, and I think if you'd like Star Trek, I'm sure you'll be delighted as well. I also host the Noise Junkies music podcast, and I also have a band campsite hpmusicplace dot bandcamp dot com. So thanks again for listening. Everybody, Please feel free to subscribe to this podcast, write a review, or rate us. We'd love to hear from you.

In fact, if you want to send me an email, the address is hpmusicplace at gmail dot com. From follow alone to myself, thanks again for listening, and we'll see you again next Time Its hockey