Jerry tries to buy back his old watch from Uncle Leo, and his mother gets irritated when he won’t hit on a pretty woman. George tries desperately to work out a pilot deal with the NBC executive. Kramer poses as Elaine’s boyfriend.
Written by: Larry David
Directed by: Tom Cherones
Every week, I am amazed by the insanity of George Costanza. I don’t just mean the absurdity of the action, but by how comprehensible his actions are. Beloved commenter Raven Wilder remarked that George has two modes: unwarranted arrogance and pathetic self-loathing. I think one could also say he aims way too high, getting himself in trouble, and then tries way too hard to get out of it. I can recognise his desperate attempts to be helpful – like trying to be a personal TV Guide here – because I recognise that as something that I do (and try to catch myself doing these days), but he also has the moves of excessively complimenting whoever he’s talking to and talking up his own skills with as many words as he can get away with.
This is what makes him such a compelling character. Multiple people have remarked that George does what we in our lowest moments have contemplated; he is all id. If Seinfeld has a clockwork construction in its plotting, George is a spanner thrown in the gears. He tears through the world as destructively as possible and we watch parts fly off and collide with other people. George is our own personal bad example. George is why we have self-restraint.
Meanwhile, of all things, I found myself thinking how Elaine really is the Everyman of the group. Jerry is how most neurotic people aspire to think of themselves – constantly observing human nature, delighted and exasperated in its presentation, gleefully indulging in their observations. I was struck by how Elaine expected her impulsive lie to turn out; she doesn’t really think through how it’ll work and is surprised by Kramer actually working on the lie of him being her boyfriend, which strikes me as something Jerry and especially George would work out.
Early in the episode when Jerry and his dad are arguing over paying for the meal, Jerry’s dad says “Don’t worry about it!”, which I think is also Elaine’s attitude and the attitude of people in general. Avoid stress by simply not thinking about it – just react to things as fast as you can within the moment, and then it inevitably blows up when it collides with reality and doesn’t play out the way she unthinkingly expects it to. Of course, this is in counter to someone like George, who wildly overthinks it, so there’s no real perfect solution.
TOPICS O’ THE WEEK
- “Here’s what happened last week in case ya missed it.” This is an endearing way to set up the recap.
- Continuity is funny. It really expands the basic structure of the series.
- Kramer meeting the psychiatrist is hilarious because it’s not quite Kramer being too insane for a psychiatrist (which is hacky – the only time I’ve ever liked it is on that episode of the British version of The Office) and it’s not quite the psychiatrist running rings around him.
- “That’s true.” = iconic.
- “I’d be very curious to know how you’d pick up a check with no money, ‘coz if this works the whole monetary system’s obsolete. We’re back to wampam.” It’s moments like this that I really relate to Jerry, because that’s pretty much how I’d word that sentiment.
- There are multiple scenes here cutting from a character doing something to Jerry doing the exact same thing. It doesn’t pay off to anything but it’s a neat way to connect scenes.
Biggest Laugh: In his own way, Kramer is also a purely reactive creature.
Next Week: “The Bubble Boy”.