A La Carte (Louie)

In March 2015, FX confirmed that the second episode of the season would be titled "A La Carte", and that it would be written and directed by series creator and lead actor Louis C.K., with producer Pamela Adlon receiving a co-story credit. This was C.K.'s 55th writing and directing credit, and Adlon's sixth writing credit.[1]

In its original American broadcast, "A La Carte" was seen by an estimated 0.47 million household viewers with a 0.2 in the 18-49 demographics. This means that 0.2 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode.[2] This was a 26% decrease in viewership with the previous episode, which was watched by 0.63 million viewers with a 0.3 in the 18-49 demographics.[3]

"A La Carte" received near critical acclaim. Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a "good" 7.8 out of 10 and wrote in his verdict, "'A La Carte' gave us some more great Pamela/Louie moments (cutting off his flashback, tricking him in the movie theater, etc) though it did seem like they were headed somewhere more serious as Season 4 came to a close. So this heart-to-heart may have been away to distance the series, a little bit, from the poignancy and pathos of last year. The s***ting the pants bit was amazing though."[4]

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "So far, this has been a back-to-basics season for Louie, and it's hard to imagine a more vintage-feeling episode of the show than 'A La Carte,' with its three vignettes – one wholly separate, the other two tying together at the very end – and mix of balls-out comedy, awkwardness, and pathos."[5] Brandon Nowalk of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A" grade and wrote, "From past episodes, I don't think Louie would say his mother doesn’t love him, but there is some overlap to the two stories. That's because 'A La Carte' isn't just about the life not lived. It's also about the life that's already been lived, most explicitly the cycle Pamela describes from friendship to divorce and alienation."[6]

Danielle Henderson of Vulture gave the episode a perfect 5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "There are three things Louie is struggling with in this episode: He's not sure if he can give the right advice to a new comedian, he's not sure if Pamela can be faithful to him, and he's not sure if he’s going to crap his pants at a grocery store."[7] Joe Matar of Den of Geek gave the episode a perfect 5 rating out of 5 and wrote, "Altogether, 'A la Carte' reinforces that Louie is going to continue to tackle whatever it fancies and will still chuck the occasional absurdist non-sequitur at you, but it's also not forgotten the sense of continuity that defined season four. It feels like a marriage of both versions of the show thus far and I love the way it's shaping up."[8]