George has left his car in the Yankee Stadium parking lot, leading his bosses to believe he’s working long days; his attempt to take advantage of this situation leads them to believe he’s dead. Elaine tries to hint to a childhood friend that she needs to wear a bra. Kramer hires a new caddy to improve his golf game, amongst other decisions. Jerry bounces between all four plots.

Written by: Gregg Kavet & Andy Robins
Directed by: Andy Ackerman

One simple little comic principle Seinfeld works well in is that attempting to avoid work will always create more (Community works in this area a lot as well, especially with Jeff). Well, I think a fundamental principle of comedy is that a person wants something and then doesn’t get it, to which this would be a subset. George’s schemes often run through this, especially when it comes to work; you know at this point that as soon as he tries to take advantage of his situation, it’s going to blow up in his face, and he probably would have done a lot easier if he just tried to work. It is kind of funny to compare to the tone of the show, too, which tends to be very business-like in its approach, getting through plot points as fast and unpretentiously as possible (this time, contrast with Community, which chases ambition in every scene).

What really gets me with Seinfeld is the scale of consequences; I’ve said before that Seinfeld looks at the world through the lens of anxiety and worst-case-scenario responses, and this is truly a spectacular problem. I suppose one way of looking at George is that he’s always running around trying to preserve what little he has, and this is what makes him both pathetic and weirdly sympathetic; he’s always bucketing water out of his life, even when he’s gaining anything.

Meanwhile, Elaine’s plot tickles me because she’s got the mixed problem of a) interfering with someone else’s life that doesn’t actually affect her and b) that life being absurd enough that you get where she’s coming from. One thing I’ve found that has reduced my anxieties and irritations with, you know, being alive is when I ask myself “In what way does this affect either my or someone’s ability to do what I want to do?”. For example, applying that to her problem this episode, Sue Ellen’s decision not to wear a bra definitely doesn’t stop Elaine from doing anything, it doesn’t stop anyone around her from doing anything, it has no effect on the environment or anyone’s quality of life – it just makes her distracting when she’s talking to her.

When you think about it, the absurd consequences of Elaine’s attempt to subtly change Sue Ellen’s behaviour feels as much of a kind of ‘punishment’ as George’s plot. We have to live in the world with people who aren’t really bad, just annoy the crap out of us, because if we try and control them, we just end up making things even worse for ourselves – which can be hilarious, admittedly.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• Jerry has a bit about golf cameramen. Interestingly, I’ve been told sports are a good practice for cameramen; by comparison, tracking the flight of birds for nature documentaries is much easier.
• “How? Because I’m an idiot!”
• Armin Shimerman famously did not have a good time on the Seinfeld set – he’s told a story of sitting between Seinfeld (comedian) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as they talked to each other, completely ignoring him.
• “Locking your keys in your car is the best career decision you could have made.”
• Jerry punches his phone up to answer it.
• “Guess I could have said just about anything there, couldn’t I?”
• “You’re just out for sex!” / “You’re just out for money!” / “AHHHHH!”
• Great parental instincts from the Costanzas – Frank is more concerned with Steinbrenner’s decisions running the Yankees and we have this from Estelle: “The kid was a human dynamo!” / “Are you sure you’re talking about George?”
• “Jerry, it’s Frank. Mr Steinbrenner’s here, George is dead, call me back.” This is one of Seinfeld (comedian)’s favourite lines in the series.
• “Aren’t you gonna tell your parents you’re still alive?” / “Aw, they could use the break!”
• Jackie’s exasperation with Kramer’s insane ideas always kills me.
• “Chaos does not work for the New York Yankees!”

Biggest Laugh: This is a very Simpsons moment of self-awareness from George.

Next Week: “The Seven”