'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Season 8, Episode 3 'Social Assassin' Recap

For seven seasons, we've watched Larry David "say it like it is" and subsequently get in deep trouble for it pretty much every time. But Larry has always had a mission behind his meddling: he sees a problem and he wants to fix it. Now, in the third episode of season eight, we have a term for the misguided magic that Larry does. He's a "social assassin."

It's Jeff who gives Larry this title after he attempts to help Ron out with Eileen. Eileen insists on saying "LOL" instead of laughing, and it annoys Ron to no end. So, after being impressed with Larry's candor, he asks him to approach Eileen about it and "say it like it is." In exchange, Ron will forgive Larry the $573 in damages to his car.

Ron learns what we already know, though, that Larry is a very sloppy assassin. Eileen immediately knows that Ron put Larry up to it, and goes off on him. As Jeff puts it, Larry "bungled the hit."

But the main focus of the episode is on Al-Abbas Chicken, the Palestinian restaurant in town. Larry and Jeff find their way in there and discover that despite the anti-Israeli decor, the chicken is about the best they've ever had. They agree that it would be a great place for Jews to go to have an affair, but more on that later.

Larry has his eye on one of Al-Abbas' patrons, a lovely Palestinian girl with a not-so-lovely disposition toward Jews. He catches her eye when he and Jeff show up to the restaurant with Funkhouser, who insists on wearing his yarmulke. Larry and Funkhouser get into a scuffle that looks to the Palestinians like a Jew telling another Jew to get out of the restaurant, which they all thoroughly enjoy...especially the hot Palestinian chick.

The later sex scene between her and Larry is ridiculously funny. Unprintable, but hilarious. "Yeah, I'm an occupier."

The only events that truly roll together, though, are these: Larry and Jeff spot Eddie cheating on Juliet with Eileen in the Palestinian restaurant (hey, they said it would be good for that). Larry and Jeff agree not to say a word about it so that they don't risk disrupting their golf tournament fivesome. But when Sammie overhears the conversation, she gets an idea: hire Larry the "social assassin" to get Susie to stop smacking her lips and saying "aahhhh" whenever she sips something.

Larry and Jeff's efforts to keep the secret and save the golf game ultimately fail when Larry once again "bungles the hit" in approaching Susie. Sammie lets slip about the affair, and even though the guys just needed to finish the 18th hole to win, they're out. Somehow, I think we all knew they weren't going to win this tournament, didn't we?

The end has the Jews at Goldblatt's Deli protesting the opening of the Al-Abbas next door. The whole thing is the Arab-Israeli conflict and the "Ground Zero Mosque" all rolled into one. And, of course, Larry is right in the middle.