Jerry meets his accountant and is disturbed by his sudden sniffing; investigating with Kramer, he decides the accountant is a drug addict. Elaine meets a man after her feels her jacket material, only to argue with him over a missing exclamation point in a note. George’s father gets him an interview for selling bras, only for him to blow it by feeling the wrong woman’s material.

Written by: Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld
Directed by: Tom Cherones

One of the upsides of simple, farcical plotting over formula is that, ironically, individual moments stand out so much more. This episode has at least three deeply iconic moments: “I base my whole life on knowing D is the biggest!”, “Feels like a Tuesday,” and “Here’s to feeling good all the time,” and they hit so hard because a) they’re contextualised within a clear story and b) there’s nothing else like them in the series (except “Feels like a Tuesday” and I’ll get to that). What’s really funny is that Seinfeld‘s simple plotting has been allowed to grow naturally into something really complex; this episode manages to brilliantly weave together and repeat actions like melodies in jazz, with the episode opening, closing, and middling with the feeling of material, as well as the repeated use of exclamation points across stories.

I want to note the whole “Feels like a Tuesday” conversation in particular because that’s the best example of what came to be known as Seinfeldian Conversation, in which characters have meaningless conversations about nothing. The funny thing about tight, fast plotting is noticing when that plot suddenly stops, and Seinfeld is fantastic at finding the single funniest things to stop the plot with. It’s funny because they’re right – some days do have a feel! And yet this is still an incredibly dumb, inane conversation to have, particularly when Jerry is trying to concentrate on something.

I also think George’s plot is worth looking at as a whole. This really dives into the toxicity of their family relationships; everyone in the room is driven, on some level, by the desire to win. Win what? Well, that’s what makes it toxic. I love watching George do everything he can not to get pulled into his parent’s bullshit, only to be dragged kicking and screaming; though I must admit, Frank concedes he’s wrong as soon as he sees the evidence. I’m also particularly tickled by him trying the charming move and failing – George is constantly looking for that one move or trick that’ll get his head above water, and constantly finding the world does not react predictably.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• “Found it in the back of my closet.” / “I think that’s what the back of closets are for.”
• Jerry, Kramer, and Newman makes for a fun trio scheming together. Newman is fundamentally a big kid for Jerry to bully around.
• Michael Richards as Kramer goes for some big moves here and executes them very smoothly. I particularly like his exaggerated reaction to Jerry’s accountant using the bathroom. Though obviously the most famous part is him managing to drink beer and puff a cigarette at the same time.
• Although you can’t ignore Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, who manages to put her whole back into scoffing.
• “Well, maybe I don’t use my exclamation points as haphazardly as you do!”
• “Who goes around feeling people’s material?! What can be gained by feeling a person’s material?!” I love this because I think variations on it all the time by behaviour I’m baffled by, and the phrase “What can be gained” sums up a lot of the character’s bafflement by behaviour. “How can you consider this action reasonable?!”

Biggest Laugh:

Next Week: “The Bris”