Jerry dates a woman who lives with a man, then schemes with George to do half the work each of a relationship with her. Elaine gets into conflict with a woman at work and is exasperated at every man reducing it to a catfight. Kramer accidentally fraudulently claims a Tony. George gets a big severance package and decides to attempt the Summer of George.

Written by: Alec Berg & Jeff Schaffer
Directed by: Andy Ackerman

This one really feels like a classic-era Seinfeld coming in the later seasons. It was when Jerry and George consider the idea of splitting the work of a relationship in half – a ‘relationship intern’ – that I really clicked onto this; attempting to solve a classic banal relationship problem with a simple, elegant system built off a joking observation is just basic George and Jerry behaviour. There’s also the way that Lynette’s relationship with Lyle is never quite explained or looked out in any real detail, either; that not-quite-magic-realist tone where the behaviours aren’t impossible, but they’re very weird. Come to think of it, that also goes for Jerry and George – what they’re doing isn’t quite wrong, but it definitely ain’t right.

Meanwhile, Elaine’s story is a real have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too situation. On the one hand, what Elaine does to set the plot in motion is do something stupid; everyone from The Way of the Samurai to How To Win Friends And Influence People will tell you that unsolicited open criticism will blow up in your face, particularly if it’s someone you barely know. As always, I love how Julia Louis-Dreyfuss plays this – reflexively believing that if you just tell someone what you think, they’ll immediately listen; somehow both superior and naive. On the other hand, we have an incredibly rare case of the show actively criticising sexism in how it frames the joke of all the men interpreting it as catfighting as the violence escalates and escalates.

Now, Kramer getting into a conflict with the producer of that musical and eventually Raquel Welch is, while funny, closer in tone with the wackier later seasons; it recalls season six’s appearance from Bette Midler. But George’s plot manages to sit perfectly between the two in tone; I love its central thesis that George, with nothing acting upon him, will do nothing. He doesn’t plan far ahead and he certainly doesn’t act far ahead; a George at rest will remain at rest. This is another way in which he is quite ordinary; I think this is how most people go through their lives, muddling through in response to a bigger picture rather than actively causing it.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• “You had a good run. Took ’em to the World Series.” / “Eh, I gotta give the players most of the credit for that.”
• “That’s not a joke.” / “It’s a funny observation.”
• “I drank too much water in the shower.”
• “He’s a member of the Academy.” / What academy?” / “He didn’t say.”
• “Alright, that’s enough, I gotta go home and take a nap.” / “… It’s ten in the morning!” / “What can I say? I’m beat.”
• Petermen’s pleasure at being in the middle of catfight is so funny.
• “Woof.” / “You mean ‘rarr’?” / “Yes, that’s the one!”
• “A story like that’s gotta be true!”
• “And George, on the invitations–” / “I know, I know, don’t skimp.”
• “If you bring it up again, I’ll feed your genitals to a wolf!”
• George contemplating helping Jerry and imagining him saying “What’s the deal with airline peanuts?”, one of the few times he ever actually says this famous phrase. And it’s not even the real Jerry!
• “Did you shave your chest hair?” / “No.”
• “Keep your towel on!” / “What?” / “It’s a joke.” / “… Okay, that’s not bad.”

Biggest Laugh:

Next Week: “The Butter Shave”.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Next week I will begin the final season of Seinfeld, and assuming nothing goes wrong, I’ll actually be finished the first week of 2027, which will mark the ten year anniversary of my first Simpsons essay, back when this was just a Disqus channel we put together because the AV Club had gone downhill. After that, I’m going to do a series on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel. I’ll actually be doing both shows together – starting from season four of Buffy, doing an episode of each show together in the one essay. When that’s done, that will be the end of my essay series altogether. I won’t write anything to bring closure yet; the end is still nearly four years away. But I will say that it’s been a long, fun, very informative journey bouncing ideas around with you guys, and I look forward to that final jump with you all.