Elaine convinces Jerry his new girlfriend has fake breasts. George, frustrated he’s not getting anywhere with his girlfriend, accompanies her to her aunt’s funeral.
Written by: Peter Mehlman
Directed by: Tom Cherones
Seinfeld is an incredibly consistent show; the number of bad episodes can be counted on one hand. So when I say this episode is the show firing on all cylinders, it’s less about the spectacular setpieces – although this episode has at least two incredibly iconic moments – and more noticing the subtler comic storytelling. “The Implant” is just as line-for-line funny as any other episode, but it contains a few really good grounding rules for comedy that pushes the experience to the next level; there’s one move Seinfeld has been doing for a long time, when we get a late callback to the beginning of the episode as Jerry fails to get on his comfortable side to hit on Sidra.
But there’s also a few subtler moves. I particularly like Elaine hearing about Jerry’s breakup with Sidra secondhand, because it’s a straightforward comic move – we know Jerry so well that whatever we picture will end up being funnier – but it also significantly speeds the story up. Instead of hearing Jerry describe it to Elaine (which would be reasonably funny), we hear it in the unbelievably funny context of the sheer coincidence of Elaine running into Sidra, and it means Elaine can blow up the situation further by lying to her.
I also enjoy one of George and Kramer’s schemes blowing up when it turns out the airline isn’t stupid and doesn’t take bereavement claims on good faith; plotting in general is at its most interesting when all parties involved are acting as intelligently as possible, and while this isn’t strictly necessary for a comedy, it means we get the old-fashioned Seinfeld joy of watching George commit to a bit (“His wife of forty-four years!”).
This mixture of craft and playfulness is what keeps me coming back to this show and why I think it’s so beloved thirty years on. Technically, as long as it hits these one-liners and a few great setpieces an episode, Seinfeld is doing its job, but this extra care to layer on funny details and connect them in interesting ways makes the experience more joyful and alive.
TOPICS O’ THE WEEK
- “Why would I be a leg man? I don’t need legs. I have legs.”
- Elaine being smug about recognising fake breasts and Jerry’s pride in his gaydar are that typically human quality of being proud about observing fairly banal things in life, and the fact that the former is definitely wrong makes it even funnier.
- “This chick’s playing Confederate money.”
- “I was hoping to compile an admittedly rudimentary scrapbook.” = I suspect this line has some of Jerry Seinfeld’s editing over it, because the word ‘admittedly’ makes it a thousand times funnier.
- “There’s no emergency.” / “JERRY, COME OUT, IT’S AN EMERGENCY!”
- Jerry Seinfeld remarked that “They’re real and they’re spectacular” was one of his favourite moments in the show because it was a very rare case of them ending a story on a massive button. And the last three words were improvised by Teri Hatcher!
Biggest Laugh: Interestingly, while this popularised getting mad about double-dipping chips, studies have found that dipping the second time adds no more germs than the initial dip. Timmy’s getting upset about nothing.
Next Week: “The Junior Mint”