Jane's phone texting and her enjoyment of the play ...

I've just watched the scene. It's played very well, actually, because certainly her clapping is not at all overtly displayed. But if you watch carefully, you can see, just before the cut, how her hands are making a motion which is quite plausibly interpreted as clapping. In my view, it is the most plausible interpretation.

Is it a slam dunk? No, it's a little too subtle for that. But, you said:

so why did she not clap once? That was a cheap ploy that didn't make sense, like most of these Louie episodes. Does he think about these episodes at all?

In other words, here you are quite positive that there was no clapping, and that therefore Louis CK had to have made some kind of amateurish bone-headed error (as he does most of the time, according to you), followed by a harangue about lack of professionalism and "cheap theatrics".

I note that later, you seem slightly less positive ("no, you really cannot tell she is clapping"), and still later you seem to allow even a little more room for the possibility that she could have been clapping ("and lack-luster clapping does not equal enjoyment or appreciation"). So you seem to have retreated a little from your attitude of absolute certainty in your opening post.

I suggest you try watching the scene again, this time with a mind open to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Louis CK knows a thing or two about crafting a show and creating continuity between scenes. In particular, the fact that her applause wasn't totally obvious in that scene lends itself to the ambiguity that he was after. (Obviously if she were shown applauding enthusiastically, that wouldn't have jibed with the next scene in which he lectures her.) If you watch the scene again (with hindsight), you might see that Lilly's expression is consonant with being her actually being fully engaged with the play, and it is a tribute to his craftsmanship and direction that none of this is obvious at first glance.

(Or, you could put your head in the sand and put me on "Ignore", as some other brave internet warriors on this board are wont to do when confronted with a POV in conflict with their own.)

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