Jerry buys a new couch. George joins a book club, but finds it hard to read. He tries renting the movie, discovers a family has rented the only copy, and tries to join them. Kramer opens his pizza restaurant idea with Poppy; to get out of going there, Jerry provokes an argument on abortion, which ends up messing up Elaine’s relationship with her new boyfriend. Poppy pees on Jerry’s new couch.
Written by: Larry David
Directed by: Andy Ackerman
This may be the closest Seinfeld ever gets to resembling Always Sunny, which would take ideas like this and run away with them. What stands out for me here is that not only does this revolve around a contentious issue like abortion, it has a character express and be motivated by a specific stance on that issue, and it still feels nonjudgemental, if very absurd. Whatever qualities Elaine are separate from her political stances. In fact, roll with me here; it’s commonly found that neurotypical people tend to have more flexible moral stances than the neurodivergent, to the point that neurotypicals will do something they know to be wrong when they think nobody is looking (neurodivergents will more often thoughtlessly follow their morality). Elaine is fully prepared to throw out her principles right up until Jerry observes them, at which point she’s practically stuck in them. I choose not to question whether Jerry, George, or indeed Larry David are neurodivergent in some way, but I will say most of what Elaine does is how neurotypical people come off to me, and that’s why she’s so funny. It’s almost like she’s motivated entirely by face.
Meanwhile, George’s entire story kills me. As someone who effectively had to get back into the habit of reading properly with great effort, I kind of identify with his inability to get into motion. But we’ve noted before that George will start with a comprehensible emotion or motivation and then keep taking the most insane way through it, and this might be the best escalation of that. Renting the movie is already absurd enough; tracking down the family who has the only copy you know of is insane; asking them for food and drink and silence is unbearably deranged. Most people in this world are just trying to be comfortable at all times – working as little as possible, eating as much as they can get away with, feeling good all the time, as Kramer would say. George is a funhouse mirror reflection of that motivation.
TOPICS O’ THE WEEK
- Great moments in blocking: Kramer falling under the couch as it’s carried in. Kramer spills water all over Jerry, who ignores it.
- That’s David James Elliot as the hot mover. He’s most famous now for playing Harmon Rabb on JAG. We also see a very young Patton Oswalt as the video store clerk.
- Great little comedy performance from Seinfeld with this: “What kind of a person are you?” / “I don’t know.” He sounds genuinely concerned! Also some great comic performance from Julia Louis-Dreyfuss when she’s conveying Elaine in love, as well as the freeze on her face at the end.
- In giving a horrible, unwanted, unnecessary traumatic story in response to a banal social cliche from a stranger, Poppy has managed to predict the internet.
- The fact that George is specifically reading Cracked instead of Breakfast At Tiffany’s is such an inspired choice. He can’t even ignore the book with something as highbrow as MAD!
- Profound moments with George Costanza: “You’re not very bright, are you?” / “No I’m not. I want to be, but I’m not.” Jason Alexander sells the wounded, self-aware shame here, and it’s so funny.
- Kramer’s anger at Jerry and Elaine for bailing on Poppy is so funny and weird in that this is a side of him we rarely see. Michael Richards sells an actual
- “No games? What’s the point of dating without games? How do you know who’s winning or losing?”
- George bringing all his charm to insane questions always kills me.
- What’s really funny about having the book be Breakfast At Tiffany’s is that it takes like an hour to read, not just because it’s short but because it’s so simple.
Biggest Laugh: You know, people being openly sociopathic is something of a cliche now in TV sitcoms. I opened this series with an observation that people often say Seinfeld doesn’t seem revolutionary to them, specifically because so many people ripped off its approach and humour. But I find going back to it that Jerry’s lowkey smug indifference is so funny to me specifically because it’s handled so much more lightly than its successors. His joy in causing problems on purpose and ignoring the pain of others kills me in how casual both he and the narrative handle it; for something so influential, this is so novel to me.
Next Week: “The Gymnast”.