If it were any other series, last night could be counted as the moment 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' jumped the shark.

No, it's not because last night's episode was bad, it certainly wasn't. While 'Bare Midriff' wasn't quite on the level of this season's brilliant oeuvre, it was definitely funnier than television's usual sitcom fare.

What was so jarring about this episode, the thing that made the episode nearly dorsal-themed, were all the strange new additions it made. Things like a crazy 60s flashback featuring Larry playing an entirely separate character, and a napkin thief lineup so far out of the series' usual verite realism style of comedy that it could have just as easily popped up on a meta-sketch series like 'Mr. Show'.

These two pieces were so in contrast to the minute world David has tried so hard to construct over the series run that they were completely jarring. Sure, they furthered the social satire for which 'Curb' is so renowned, but it was in such a bizarre and exaggerated way they completely belied the series' tone and nearly served as a total distraction from the rest of the episode.

This remainder did feature its share of classic 'Curb' moments, none more surreal than an incident in a guest bathroom: Just when it seemed Larry David was out of ways to offend, he literally peed on Jesus. Yes, splashback from his pill-enhanced stream found its way into an oil-on-canvas Jesus' tear ducts and the owners of that paintings misinterpreted the urine-stained painting as a miracle.

But that wasn't the funniest moment from this pair of unwitting David victims. He first came into their home because it belonged to the mother of his and Jerry's former assistant - a young lady who spent all day distracting them with a doughy bare belly. David's confronting her over this semi-nude flab fest led to her quitting. Lucky for Larry she kept the love handles, because, in a punchline worthy of a Second City blackout, Larry saves himself from a rooftop plummet by grabbing that flab for dear life as the episode reached its close.

This final blow saved this episode from being a lower-tier entry in the 'Curb' canon. It was so funny and so perfectly reminiscent of all those great labyrinthine 'Curb' payoffs from year's past that it's easy to forget the hit-and-miss steps outside the Curboverse that left this episode a bit uneven.

Of course, it was also great to see Larry and Jerry offering a sneak behind the scenes at 'Seinfeld' as they riffed on minutiae in grand style for several moments in this episode. However, those moments only made me with the episode was more about nothing and less concerned with bizarre joke premises.

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Story by Andrew Payne

Starpulse contributing writer