Louie: Season 2 [Blu-ray]

• Factory sealed DVD.

The second season of Louis C.K.'s un-sitcom delves even deeper into the humor and pathos of life as a standup comedian and divorced her of two girls. Sequences range from the mundane (Louie tries to explain the basic unfairness of life to his younger daughter, but ultimately succumbs to her furious preadolescent sense of justice) to verging-on-absurd (Louie gets picked up by a woman for sex after a performance, but ends up lost in the suburbs of New Jersey). While driving through the country, he sings along with full abandon to a song on the radio while his daughters watch, half-fascinated, half-horrified; he goes on a talk show to debate a young Christian reformer about masturbation; he discovers a duckling in his baggage when he goes on a USO tour to Afghanistan; he tells a woman he's in love with her despite her blunt statement that she is not attracted to him. In short, C.K. wrestles with the extremes, the everydayness, and the humiliations of being an adult American male in the 21st century. In one episode, Louie comes off the stage and finds an old friend waiting, a fellow standup comedian who never made it and who is planning to kill himself (played, with brutal directness, by Doug Stanhope). C.K. grapples with this subject without moralizing; he pleads with his friend not to kill himself, but he's unable to come up with any compelling argument why the guy shouldn't do it. Somehow, the result is not depressing, just a little sad and a little sobering. The line between comedy and dismay has never been thinner, to the point that some viewers may wonder if this is comedy at all--but for others, Louie's careful balance makes it both funnier and richly humane. Louie: The Complete Second Season features an abundance of guest stars, including Joan Rivers, Dane Cook, Steven Wright, and Chris Rock, all playing deadpan versions of themselves. The only disappointment is that there are only a few extras: a promotional featurette and a handful of episode commentaries from C.K., full of his engagingly rambling mixture of technical details and thoughtfulness. Louis, your fans want more! --Bret Fetzer