George convinces Jerry to invest in a stock tip, and Jerry tracks it as he takes a three-day trip with his girlfriend. Elaine has a relationship with a guy who has two cats.

Written by: Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.
Directed by: Tom Cherones

This opens with what will become two classic elements of Seinfeld: a reference to Superman and a Seinfeldian conversation. With the former, it’s always tickled me that Jerry is such a big fan of Superman despite not only sharing none of his qualities, but not even trying to imitate any of them. The latter is obviously much more important though; in visiting and revisiting works of the early Nineties, I’m fascinated by how many of their blockbuster works specifically use banal conversation as a major element, with the three major works I can think of being Clerks, Pulp Fiction, and Seinfeld. Obviously there were works exploring pop culture and banal problems long before these three – Annie Hall of 1977 is an origin point for all three of these works, particularly our beloved Seinfeld – but there is a visible pre- and post- Smith/Tarantino/Seinfeld era of pop culture, and audiences often point to those three as a source of it, as if they gave people permission to talk about those topics.

Even outside that, I notice a lot of great Nineties television is built around deliberately creating discussion and dissection of a topic. The X-Files and Star Trek: The Next Generation were like engines built to generate discussion between characters. I wonder if there was something in the water at that time; I remember how the early 10’s were referred to as the Golden Age of television because everyone was talking about Breaking Bad and Mad Men, but I feel that the early Nineties is underrated as a time for thoughtful television. Swinging back around to our show here, I enjoy how it sets up deep dives into topics most other shows wouldn’t touch – while it doesn’t come up here, one of my favourite recurring elements is comparing the complex system of rules for romantic relationships with the unspoken free-for-all of platonic.

This particular episode is mostly about the decline of Jerry’s relationship with Vanessa. One thing that tickles me about the shallowness of the characters is that it’s a bit more complex than it’s made out to be – we watch Jerry desperately trying to tease out any source of conversation from Vanessa, and he comes off as mildly terrified of being alone with his own thoughts – as if he needs to surround himself with someone less shallow than he is. It’s actually pretty sympathetic to watch him trying to provoke her into saying something – anything! – to fill the void around him the way George effortlessly does.

Unfortunately, I have less to say about the rest of the episode. I’ve never bought stock, so I can’t relate to that plot or speak to its realism – although I have come dangerously close to visiting a guy in the hospital so I can get something out of him – but the structure of the plot doesn’t bring out the full absurdity of the situation. The solution feels too sitcommy when the imagination of the show will become more vivid, and the pacing is still too slow; it occurred to me how important the music is to setting the tone of this show in that it feels like it’s not being deployed enough to move us from scene to scene. I think things will really pick up right from the first episode of next season.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• Jerry’s opening and closing sets this week are both pretty funny.
• We get another bit of funny clocking when Elaine scratches her nose with her spoon. I also enjoy the way Julia Louis-Dreyfuss expresses her arch scheming as she considers hiring a hitman to take out her boyfriend’s cats.
• What do you think of the idea of speeding up a relationship with a trip? Technically, Jerry succeeds wildly at his goal, burning through a weak relationship in three days rather than a tedious couple of months at best.
• Jerry’s bafflement at Kramer’s delight at the stock not working out is very funny and relatable to me, as a guy who has seen people take schadenfreude in absolutely random situations.
• We get another dry run of a more famous moment in how Jerry’s confrontation with the dry cleaner will be redone more spectacularly with the car rental place in “The Alternate Side”. Interestingly, I’ve had better luck with businesses taking responsibility for things like this the past couple of years.

Biggest Laugh:

Next Week: “The Ex-Girlfriend”