Jerry makes up a voice for his girlfriend’s stomach and turns it into a running gag. Elaine gets into an on-again-off-again relationship with Puddy. George gets into a standoff with his work over the fake handicapped situation. Kramer hires an intern.

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

Man, this almost feels like a throwback to the pre-David seasons. The chief example of this, to me, is the Backslide; not just the minor relationship quirk of a cycle of breakups with someone you really care about, but that Jerry gives it a name. Classic Seinfeld is about observations about things we see every day; trying to quantify things that can’t or probably shouldn’t be quantified. Puddy and Elaine in particular is so funny to me because Puddy quickly reveals he actually gets Elaine pretty well; I cackled at him mentioning Elaine talking about being smarter than everyone else she works with, and even better that this aggravates Elaine. Like many queer and/or neurodivergent people, I’m often baffled by people who seem to get into relationships they seem to hate, but it almost makes a kind of sense here; going through the motions of a relationship, especially with someone who does understand you and the way things work.

Meanwhile, the whole thing with the voice kills me. The joke was, like many Seinfeld bits, lifted from reality; writer Spike Feresten made jokes to himself about his girlfriend’s butt talking to him, but Seinfeld (comedian) changed it to her stomach to make the joke on the characters for finding a dumb bit so funny, and I have to admit: it lands perfectly. We all have stupid jokes that are only funny to us, and the longer the characters commit to this, the funnier it becomes to me, especially as Jerry’s friends start becoming bored of it, to his despair. Fundamentally, it’s asking if we relate to a man committed solely to the bit, and I gotta say, I get it.

Speaking of commitment, we also have George sticking to a shitty job. It’s obviously absurd, but I also kind of admire George for sticking out a terrible job where everyone hates him just for the spite. Not to the extent that I would imitate him, of course, but it’s so funny to me as something only George would do; reminiscent of his father saying “They don’t want us there, so we’re going!” Certainly, as someone who has struggled to find work his whole adult life, I get the financial side of it and not wanting to look for another job. But I think of George describing himself as invigorated by this process; he has no skills but he does have sheer force of will.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• “George, you’re not really handicapped, are you?” / “I’ve had my difficulties.”
• “My Puddy? But we broke up.” / “And yet he continues to live.”
• Jerry throws out a belt that touched a urinal.
• “See, I come up with these things, I know they’re gold, but nothing happens. You know why?” / “No resources, no skill, no talent, no ability, no brains, no–“
• “You have any idea how many hours I waste in this apartment?” / “I could ballpark it.”
• “Sex – that’s meaningless, I can understand that. But dinner? That’s an hour.”
• “Yeah, that’s Jerry, you don’t have to worry about him.”
• Darin is named after Darin Henry, who worked as Larry David’s assistant before coming onto the writing staff after he left. He also wrote “The Problem With Popplers”, one of my top five Futurama episodes.
• “I’m a weed in Hitler’s bunker.” / “Little uncomfortable with the Hitler stuff.”
• “You know who loves funny stories? Puddy.”
• “I guess you can take anything but actual work.”
• The extensive notes from Darin are so funny – a classic case where you know a character so well that simply describing their actions can be funny because you can imagine it.
• “Mr Kramer says ‘Hey buddy’.”
• “So the gloves were right by the phone? That is funny.”
• “Not having to do all that, uh. Ya know, work.” / “Well, either way–” / “Callin’ you… and buyin’ you stuff.” / “David.” / “Hearing about how everyone at work isn’t as smart as you. It’s brutal.”
• “I was supposed to pick up Newman at the zoo twelve hours ago!”
• “I’ll see you in hell, Costanza.”
• “Darin and I are finally gonna test my bladder system.” / “You’re gonna drink the whole thing?!”
• Jerry with his cigar is an incredibly iconic image.
• “This is going to be a shame.”
• “I’m just so glad it’s back!”

Biggest Laugh:

Next Week: “The Serenity Now”