Kramer pledges to do a charity walk for AIDS. In the process, Jerry picks up a woman’s phone number off a donor’s list, only to find she is incredibly nice and selfless. Elaine discovers her preferred birth control is going off the market and stocks up on it. George spills information to Susan, risking his access to the loop.

Written by: Peter Mehlman
Directed by: Andy Ackerman

How much do you suppose Seinfeld set up Sex In The City? Obviously, Elaine carries some weight as the sole female lead of the show; a more modern show, even one made a mere few years later, would have more evenly distributed gender divide (look at Scrubs, which launched only two years after Seinfeld finished but feels incredibly fresh in comparison by having two female leads). But I think the show handles her extremely well, finding so many Seinfeldian nuances that are women-specific, and this is a classic, fantastic example. Interestingly, it’s a rare plot not based on anything specific – writer Peter Mehlman simply saw a birth control sponge was going off the market and his mind went from there.

Meanwhile, I enjoy how Jerry’s plot begins making the shallowness of the character explicit text. One of the interesting things about coming to the show for the first time in the 2020’s was seeing how it compared to its reputation; it’s always been sold as a show about selfish, shallow people, but this is largely an exaggeration that came from the show gradually becoming sillier; Jerry’s more sociopathic behaviour is a series of offhand jokes spread across many seasons that, even now, haven’t quite taken over the character himself. I think the show actually handled the gradual mutating of Jerry quite well; it was a series of jokes snowballing as opposed to ‘flanderising’ the way Simpsons characters did.

Finally, Kramer’s plot is hilarious to me for several reasons; the first is that it wonderfully zigs instead of zags when he does absolutely no practice for the walk only to get beaten up separately, and the second is how the ribbon argument actually plays out. It ends up working wonderfully as a metaphor for so many superficial expressions of progressive causes, like that fad for a blacked out avatar to signify support for Black Lives Matter, in which the symbol of a cause (a ribbon in this case) ends up becoming the reason for the cause in people’s eyes. It’s a great satirical gag, a better character gag – it’s perfect that Kramer would disagree just on principle – and completely Seinfeld that it’s part of a larger farce.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• Jerry’s lie about a speedboat is legitimately brilliant.
• George is so smug about knowing Jerry fakes his jean size.
• “I use Planet. It’s biodegradable and doesn’t pollute the oceans.” / “Yeah, the ocean’s getting really sudsy.”
• “Makeup sex is all I have left!”
• Great shot of George looking at Elaine incredulously as she explains spongeworthiness.
• Cedric and Bob come back. “Who?! Who doesn’t want to wear the ribbon?!”
• “You never run out, do you?”
• Fantastic, almost obvious comic potential in getting Michael Richards acting as if he’s had the shit beaten out of him.
• Elaine’s description of how she’ll search for sponges is a parody of a similar speech from The Fugitive.

Biggest Laugh: This episode has multiple examples to show that, while Seinfeld (comedian) may not be a good actor, he’s a great comedy performer, and this is my favourite.

Next Week: “The Gum”.