Kramer falls for Jerry’s girlfriend. Elaine becomes attracted to a man after he declares he doesn’t want kids. George believes members of the board are talking about him when he’s not in the room, so he keeps a tape recorder in his briefcase.
Written By: Peter Mehlman
Directed By: Andy Ackerman
One of the terminal ironies of George Costanza’s life is that he does everything he does… to stop people talking about him. If people do talk about him, he would prefer they say nice things, but without that, he’d rather not be noticed at all, and of course he only takes actions that draw even more attention to him than he ever would have faced. You could say that George keeps reaching beyond his grasp; Elaine does, of course, point out that he could simply ask what happened to his briefcase, but he’d rather gamble big and try and get the minimum amount of embarrassment and effort for maximum results, which naturally gets him the maximum amount of embarrassment. Once again, I think of beloved commentor Raven Wilder‘s observation that the friends aspire to the minimum amount of responsibility in life.
Meanwhile, Elaine’s story fascinates me, and not just because choosing not to have children has become much more of a political hot button with the so-called ‘population collapse’, as both economic pressure and less social pressure has led to fewer people having children. This is a classic case of a person falling into what I will, without bothering to look up, call the Hipster Problem. That is to say, Elaine and Kevin have chosen a stance, not because they really believe it, but because someone is so annoying about the other side. It’s interesting how consistently Seinfeld takes the stance of people not believing in things without that being annoying or nihilist; it helps that it’s the protagonists who don’t really believe in things, and that they’re the butt of the joke.
TOPICS O’ THE WEEK
- Jerry and George are wistful about prison. “Maybe someday.”
- “But because it comes out of your baby, it smells good!”
- “That’s pretty paranoid.” / “Yes it is.” / “I like it!” / “I thought you would.”
- “She can bring home the bacon and fry it in the pan!” / “What does that mean?” Love that Jerry eventually picks up the word in his description of Pam.
- “I once told a woman I enjoy spending time with my family.”
- “You really think you can manipulate that beautiful young woman like the half-soused nightclub rabble that lap up your inane observations?” There’s an extent to which Seinfeld is secretly the great American novel, with Newman getting the lines from it the most.
- Great moments in acting from Seinfeld (comedian): his disgust the moment he realises Newman is attracted to Elaine.
- Elaine drops a reference to her haircut from last season.
- “When did you build this thing?” / “Yesterday. Took the day off.” Love George’s half-embarrassed attempt to speed through that explanation.
Biggest Laugh:
Next Week: “The Bizarro Jerry”