tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14164005348710298382024-03-05T00:57:53.523-08:00Notes from the DeathtourCarl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-86390966747629822622013-11-06T14:53:00.000-08:002013-11-06T14:53:39.789-08:00Season 3, Episode 12: The Suicide<div class="MsoNormal">
“A plane crash? A heart attack? Lupus? Is it Lupus???” -
George</div>
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The Suicide marks our introduction to Newman. He previously
appeared as a voice (played by disembodied voice extraordinaire, Larry David).
This marks his first physical appearance, as played by Wayne Knight. The
original idea for Newman didn’t call for him to be a recurring character. But
Knight was so great they decided to bring him back.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Suicide opens with Jerry and Elaine at the apartment.
They’re about to head out to dinner, which will be the last meal Elaine has for
three days as she prepared to take an ulcer exam. Over the course of the
episode she becomes more and more ravenous and psychotic with each passing
scene.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As Elaine scarfs down whatever is in front of her, Jerry
takes out the trash and runs into George in the hall. He asks him to take out
the garbage for him. George scoffs and continues to walk toward the apartment.
Jerry presses him to do it. “It’s just down the hall.” George mulls it over a
second.</div>
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“Give me two bucks. I’ll do it for two bucks.”</div>
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“I’ll give you 50 cents,” Jerry haggles.</div>
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“There’s no way I touch that bag for less than two dollars.”</div>
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Jerry says for 50 cents George can get a Drake’s coffee
cake, which, as a West coast guy, I have no frame of reference for. I assumed
(correctly) that this was an actual thing since they like to refer to real products
(like the Junior Mints). Drake’s Coffee Cake is a Northeast/Atlantic thing. And
since these DVDs are 10 years old, I have no idea if they’re still made.</div>
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<br /></div>
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George is all set for his vacation to the <st1:place w:st="on">Cayman
Islands</st1:place>. “Who goes on vacation without a job?” Jerry asks
rhetorically. “What, do you need a break from getting up at eleven?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Still in the hall, Jerry’s neighbor, Gina, comes out. She
flirts with him for just a second, but it’s one second too much as her
boyfriend comes out and catches Gina touching Jerry’s shoulder. An innocent
gesture, but not to the boyfriend. Gina leaves and Jerry decides to leave the
trash outside Kramer’s apartment. He knocks on Kramer’s door and quickly ducks
inside his own apartment. Kramer opens his door, looks down the hall, sees the
trash, picks up the bag, and brings it inside.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Inside Jerry’s apartment, George remembers having a dream
involving Gina’s boyfriend. He mentions that several paranormal things have
happened to him. Elaine suggests he go to a psychic.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Jerry is woken up at 3am by Gina banging on his door.
Martin, her boyfriend, tried to commit suicide by taking a bunch of pills. At
the hospital, Gina explains to Jerry that Martin tried to kill himself because
Gina told him it was over between them after he became jealous at other men
looking and talking to her, especially Jerry. Gina tells Jerry that she is
attracted to him. This, while Martin is in a coma two feet away. “Are you sure
he can’t hear us?” a suddenly worried Jerry asks. “Martin! MARTIN!!”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Gina wants to kiss Jerry, who is feeling a just a bit
uncomfortable with that. What kind of man is afraid of an unconscious man, Gina
wonders. “I’m a man who respects a good coma.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Kramer comes over to Jerry’s. He’s more upset that Martin
still has his vacuum cleaner than the coma. In Kramer’s world, there’s no coma
etiquette. After 24 hours all possessions of a coma victim are up for grabs.
“That’s why I’m trying to get that vacuum cleaner back. Because somebody’s
going to grab it!”</div>
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<br /></div>
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George and Elaine go see the psychic. Among the rubbish she
communicates to George:</div>
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“Who’s Pauline?”</div>
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“Pauline…” George thinks. “My God! My brother once
impregnated a woman named Pauline.”</div>
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“You think about her?”</div>
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“When I hear her name mentioned.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Psychic is about to tell George something very bad about
his upcoming trip, but Elaine’s pestering the psychic about her smoking while
pregnant upsets the psychic and she asks them to leave. George is in a panic
about the <st1:place w:st="on">Cayman Islands</st1:place>. “Plane crash? A
heart attack? Lupus? Is it Lupus?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Jerry’s made the move on Gina but as they’re leaving his
apartment, Newman is exiting Kramer’s. “Hello, Newman.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Jerry, George and Elaine are in the hospital waiting room.
Jerry is worried that Newman with snitch to Martin when he wakes up. Elaine
looks like death and is hallucinating. George is upset with Elaine for ruining
his psychic appointment. Kramer comes over and tells the group that Newman is
upstairs in Martin’s room. George offers his <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Cayman</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Island</st1:placetype></st1:place>
ticket to Kramer.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry visits Martin and sees Newman keeping watch and Kramer
yelling at the comatose Martin for his vacuum. Newman implies that he will
bring Martin up to date on everything that’s happened while he was in the coma,
should he ever awaken. Jerry takes out a Drake’s Coffee Cake. Newman begins
salivating at the sight of it. Jerry mentions he has a second, but he’s saving
it. Newman cracks and promises not to say anything if Jerry will give him the
cake. Elaine runs into the room, unable to stand having to wait any longer for
her exam. She sees the Drake’s Coffee Cake (did they pay any money for this
show- It’s like that Burger King spot in Arrested Development at this point)
and tries to grab it from Newman. Jerry tries to stop her. In the scuffle,
Martin wakes up. The scene jump cuts to about 30 seconds later. Martin is
choking Jerry while Newman says, “They did it right in this bed, Martin. Right
here in front of you!”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Some time passes. George and Jerry are getting ready to take
Elaine out to dinner again. She’s had to start her whole fast process over
again. Kramer has returned from the <st1:place w:st="on">Cayman Islands</st1:place>.
He had a great time and recalls the entire trip to a dazed George: They were
photographing the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue right there at the hotel
pool and he played Nude Backgammon with Ella MacPherson. Martin and Gina moved back in together.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-39404732022834105102013-11-05T20:10:00.000-08:002013-11-05T20:10:02.272-08:00Season 3, Episode 11: The Red Dot<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Was that wrong?” - George</b></div>
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We begin with George and Jerry dropping in on Elaine’s
company holiday party. Jerry is there to return a watch that Elaine had lost somewhere
in the abyss of Jerry’s apartment (presumably between the seat cushions of the
couch where Jerry claims to have found it). Before Elaine sees them, Jerry
points out Elaine’s new boyfriend with whom she is having an office romance,
and mentions that he is a recovering alcoholic. “He’s been off the wagon for
two years.” </div>
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Elaine introduces Dick, whose first line is, “Is this the
guy?” Apparently well of aware of whom Jerry is, just a smidge territorial, and
a tad jealous that an ex of Elaine’s would still be friends with her. Elaine
also offers George a job at Pendant as a reader. All he has to do is meet her
boss, Mr. Lippman (now played by Richard Fancy).</div>
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<br /></div>
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George’s 30 second ‘interview’ with Lippman goes about as
well as a job interview for George could go. Lippman asks if George has ever
done any work like this before. “Well…you know, book reports.” Lippman, amused,
gives George a wry smile and asks who he reads. “Mike Lupica.” When pressed for
actual authors (poor Lupica), George comes out with Art Vandalay, an obscure
beatnik who authored Venetian Blinds, a ‘searing indictment of the dental
profession’ (according to the notes about nothing). George gets the job in
spite of himself, because it’s Elaine’s hire.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Dick, meanwhile, is having an animated conversation with
Jerry by the pot luck table. They’ve both put down their drinks on the table;
Dick’s cranberry juice and Jerry’s cranberry and vodka that he was holding for
Elaine. Dick, being one of those assholes whose manhood is always being threatened
by other men tells Jerry off, “I’ve got news for you. I’m funnier than you.” He
picks up a drink and walks away. Elaine and George come back and Elaine picks
up her drink, except it’s just cranberry juice. Jerry realizes that Dick must
have picked up her drink by mistake. He’s off the wagon! Or on it, thinks
Jerry.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Jerry escorts George while gift shopping for Elaine and
comes across a cashmere sweater marked down from $600 to $85. He asks the sales
clerk why the sweater has such a steep markdown price. She points out a very
small ret dot on it. George has talked himself into getting it. “I don’t even
think she’d notice it. Can you see it?”</div>
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“Well, I can see it.”</div>
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“Yeah, but you know where it is.”</div>
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“Well, what do you want me to do, not look at it?”</div>
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“Pretend you didn’t know it was there.”</div>
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“It’s hard fore me to pretend because I know where it is.”</div>
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“Well, just take an overview. Can’t you just take an
overview?!”</div>
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“You want me to take an overview?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Please.”</div>
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“I see a very cheap man holding a sweater trying to get away
with something. That’s my overview.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine is concerned Dick is drinking. Jerry asks if she can
smell the alcohol on him. She can’t and that is enough evidence for Jerry to be
convinced that he isn’t. At that moment Kramer enters and Jerry decides to use
him as an example. They have him take three shots of whiskey and smell him. The
results are inconclusive. Not inconclusive is the fact that Kramer is a
lightweight.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George comes in and gives Elaine the sweater. She’s elated
at the gift and can’t believe George would get it for her or that Jerry would
let him spend the money on it. “I tried to stop him,” Jerry replies ironically.
A drunk Kramer from 10 feet away remarks, “what’s that red dot on your
sweater?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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George is staying late at work and encounters the cleaning
lady. George gives her a long look as she’s cleaning his cubicle.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Suddenly we’re at Monk’s. “You had sex with the cleaning
woman on your desk?!</div>
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Says a beaming George, “I don’t know if it was the alcohol
or the ammonia, but the next thing I knew she was mopping the floor with me.”</div>
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“How was it?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The sex was okay, but I threw up from the Hennigans.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Good thing the cleaning woman was there.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine asks Jerry if George bought the sweater with the red
dot because he knew he could get a good price on it. Jerry says nothing but his
expression gives it away. Elaine confronts George and bluffs that Jerry told
her. George immediately turns to Jerry and asks how he could have squealed. “I didn’t
tell her you stupid idiot, she tricked you.” George turns back to a grinning
Elaine.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George re-gifts the sweater to the cleaning woman as a bribe
to keep her quiet. She goes on and on about how she’s loved cashmere ever since
she was a little girl in <st1:place w:st="on">Panama</st1:place>.
But it only takes a few minutes for her to notice the red dot.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This lands George in a meeting with Mr. Lippman, who gets
right to the point. “It’s come to my attention that you and the cleaning woman
have engaged in sexual intercourse on the desk in your office. Is that
correct?” This leads into one of my - and Jason Alexander’s as it turns out -
favorite George lines. Having been caught in a situation, George’s mind quickly
plays out all the scenarios in his head. You can see his eyes dart back and
forth from one to the next. His tongue runs across his lower lip as he finally
settles on a response: “Was that wrong?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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“I tell ya, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because
if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that
sort of thing was frowned upon…” </div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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Mr. Lippman fires George and before he leaves the office he
says, “She wanted me to give you this,” and tosses the cashmere sweater at
George’s face.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-55977854968966544092013-10-30T06:34:00.000-07:002013-10-30T06:34:22.851-07:00Season 3, Episode 10: The Alternate Side<div class="MsoNormal">
“These Pretzels are making me thirsty.” – Pretty much
everyone for a total of 10 times</div>
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<br /></div>
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Even though The Alternate Side is unquestionably most famous
for that oft repeated line from a non-existent Woody Allen movie, there are
several other gems scattered throughout the 22 minutes in this episode, though
they are sadly left out when most people recall The Alternate Side. So powerful
in our collective minds are those 6 words -these pretzels are making me
thirsty- tattooed to the episode that we disconnect completely the other
subplots from it. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Rewatching these early seasons I am finding that despite the
various plots of an episode being linked rather cohesively, and I can recall
each one individually from my past viewings, I am often surprised when two of
them are part of the same episode. There’s that “oh, yeah” moment when I link
them together as I’m watching it. In The Alternate Side it’s the scene at the
rental car agency. I love quoting –sometimes misquoting- Jerry’s rant from that
scene in my daily life but it never crosses my mind that it’s from the same
episode as “these pretzels are making me thirsty.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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The episode opens with Jerry and George walking into the
apartment. Kramer enters a minute later. Jerry’s car has just been stolen.
Jerry’s going to call the car phone company to cancel his service. “Maybe you
should call your car phone,” George jokingly says. But Jerry does call the car
phone and the car thief (voiced by Larry David) picks up.</div>
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“Hello, is this 555-8383?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I have no idea.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Can I ask you a question?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sure.”</div>
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“Did you steal my car?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes, I did.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry learns that the thief didn’t break in to it, the keys
were in it. Kramer asks for the receiver. With a rather irritated look in his
eye, Jerry hands it to him. Kramer asks the thief if there is a pair of brown
gloves in the glove compartment (there is) and if the thief can mail it to him.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George learns about Sid, a rather straight talking, salty
older black gentleman who moves the cars on Jerry’s street from one side to the
other so they don’t get ticketed. I guess there are no garages near by. George
is still out of work and is a little envious of someone who can make so much
for so little work. Sid comes by to apologize and informs Jerry that he’ll be
out of town for a week. George leaps at the opportunity to take over for him
for the week. We also learn here that Woody Allen is filming on the block and
that Kramer is an extra.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry takes Elaine to get a rental car. He has a
reservation, but, of course, they don’t have a car and Jerry gets into it with
the rental agent. “I don’t understand, I made a reservation. Do you have my reservation?
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes, we do. Unfortunately we ran out of cars.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But the reservation keeps the car here. That’s why you have
the reservation.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I know why we have reservations.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I don’t think you do. If you did, I’d have a car. See, you
know how to take the reservation. You just don’t know how to hold the
reservation. And really, that’s the most important part of the reservation: the
hold. Anybody can just take them,” Jerry says, wildly grabbing invisible
reservations out of thin air. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine fleshes out her boyfriend situation with Owen, a 66
year old writer, to Jerry while in line at the rental agency, and wonders if he
is too old. “If you enjoy being with him, that’s what’s important,” Jerry
reassures her. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I love being with him…” Elaine rationalizes, mostly to
herself. “I mean, I like being with him… It’s okay being with him…” The scene
jump cuts to Jerry’s apartment. “I just don’t enjoy being with him.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine wants to know if she can get out of breaking up with
Owen face to face if she only went out with him 7 times. Jerry says it should
be face to face unless there was no sex to which Elaine simply sighs, “Hmm…”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George, meanwhile, is in over his head with the car parking
and Kramer’s walk on part in the movie is now a speaking role after he took a
pratfall in his scene which made Woody Allen laugh. Everyone else, George
especially, is in disbelief. Kramer plays out his scene; he turns to Woody
Allen and speaks the most famous lines from a non-existent Woody Allen film,
“These pretzels are making me thirsty.” The other three coach Kramer on how he
should say the line, each taking a different approach to it. Kramer decides
that none of them would make good actors.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later on, Elaine brings an unconscious Owen to the
apartment. Elaine wasn’t able to break up with him before he suffered a stroke.
Jerry calls an ambulance and debate what they should do to Owen to help him.
Inexplicably, they settle on force feeding him a cookie. As the sirens approach
they’re interrupted by screeching tires and a crashing of metal on glass. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The paramedics eventually reach the apartment after the
crash. Jerry learns from one of them that the car that hit them was his rental
car, driven by George.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
News of Owen’s stroke is big enough that it makes the newspaper.
Also making the newspaper article; George’s accident possibly making Owen’s
stroke worse and causing delays in Woody Allen’s production leading Allen to
“wonder if his days of filming in New York were over.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry returns to the Rental agency only to learn that the
insurance doesn’t cover the accident because he wasn’t driving the car and the
insurance doesn’t cover “other drivers.” “Other drivers? You’re whole business
is based on other drivers.” Jerry doesn’t win this argument leading him to exclaim,
“These pretzels are making me thirsty!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine breaks up with Owen while spoon feeding him his lunch
like a baby. The awkwardness of breaking up with a stroke victim leads Elaine
to stammer, “These pretzels are making me thirsty.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer loses his part in the Woody Allen movie the same way
he got it; by being Kramer.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-4584938540012027262013-10-23T17:33:00.000-07:002013-10-23T17:33:36.853-07:00Season 3, Episode 9: The Nose Job<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“You’re as pretty as any of them. You just need a nose job.”
- Kramer</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidy0OgQpsdK_eCDkE3FDjkyYskOaw_yZjobio0c1aNLj2_q6GzBJaKDUYkhxGhLL0_64tBadf3rDg3R-fWylj31UTTnO1uJC9e_g2D10h7L3fZuDn4BrdKll3vZep4MHvwlsWhoPZ58f3S/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.09+-+The+Nose+Job.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidy0OgQpsdK_eCDkE3FDjkyYskOaw_yZjobio0c1aNLj2_q6GzBJaKDUYkhxGhLL0_64tBadf3rDg3R-fWylj31UTTnO1uJC9e_g2D10h7L3fZuDn4BrdKll3vZep4MHvwlsWhoPZ58f3S/s400/Seinfeld+pic+3.09+-+The+Nose+Job.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry and George are standing at a newsstand discussing
their respective girlfriends. Jerry’s new girl, Isabel, is a very attractive
actress with a very pedestrian mind that he met in an elevator, which is a very
unlikely place to meet a person. “You’ve got less than sixty seconds. That’s
like dismantling a time bomb,” George exclaims, impressed by Jerry’s quick
work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George’s girl, Audrey, is a smart, intelligent and
attractive woman with one distinct physical flaw – her oversized nose – and
it’s a characteristic that George isn’t sure he can over look. But for once,
George is completely aware of his shallowness and his own physical
shortcomings, and is even attempting to overcome it. “I should be grateful that
someone like her even looks at me.” If only George could have harnessed this
semi-enlightened thinking for more than 30 seconds he could have been a
semi-successful individual instead of… well, George Costanza.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later, our fearsome foursome and Audrey are at Jerry’s
apartment. Kramer is still trying to get that jacket with magic-like properties
(Kramer thinks women find it irresistible) back (see the previous 4 episodes
for that sub-plot). He’s concocted another <st1:place w:st="on">Mission</st1:place>: Improbable plot to get it back, this
time with Elaine impersonating the jacket owner’s daughter and Kramer playing
her fiancée, Peter Von Nostren. George’s response to this preposterous plan:
“Why don’t you just commit yourself already?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Audrey notices a stamp on Kramer’s hand. Kramer explains
that he was at a nightclub the previous night and plans to go back tonight, but
doesn’t want to pay the cover charge. “You wouldn’t believe the women at this
club,” he tells Jerry. Audrey mentions finding the amount of attractive women
in <st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place>
intimidating to which Kramer casually says, “You’re as pretty as any of them. You
just need a nose job.” This sets off the other three, especially George who’s
embarrassed and nearly chokes on his pizza, and Elaine who’s offended. Audrey,
obviously aware of her own body, seems to take it in stride.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Audrey discusses the nose job with George who downplays his
own interest in her getting the surgery, not wanting to come off as
superficial. But after thinking it over, Audrey decides to get rhinoplasty
surgery, and makes the big reveal in Elaine’s apartment with all four
characters present. When she removes the bandages, Jerry, Elaine and George all
recoil their faces and through gritted teeth proclaim their approval. Kramer,
however is the only one to make an honest assessment. “You got butchered.”
Audrey runs off to the doctor. Kramer gives her a ride.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile Jerry is having his own issues with his
girlfriend, Isabel, the attractive but simple actress. “I’ve never been so
repulsed by someone mentally, yet so attracted to them physically at the same
time. It’s like my brain is facing my penis in a chess game. And I’m letting
him win.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’re not letting him win,” George comes back. “He wins
‘til you’re forty.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“And then what?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“He still wins, but it’s not a blowout.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry’s solution is to have Kramer throw out Isabel’s number
for him but later begs Kramer to give him the number back. Kramer throws the
ripped up pieces of paper with the number on the floor. Jerry gets on his hands
and knees desperately trying to pick up all the pieces and fit them together as
Kramer berates him. “Look at what you’ve sunk to. Look at what you’ve become. Look
in the mirror, because you need help, Jerry. You need help, because I can’t
stand by and do it anymore. It’s turning my stomach! I can’t stand around here
watching you destroy yourself!! It’s eating me up inside!!!” Kramer puts the
exclamation point on this scene by slamming the door shut behind him as he
walks out only to come back in 3 seconds later, retrieve the bowl of cereal he
came for to begin with, and walk back out again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Audrey breaks up with George, who has become even more
obsessed and uncomfortable around Audrey’s nose after the botched surgery.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry, caught in a chess battle between his brain and penis,
suffers through rehearsing a scene from a play with Isabel and a really bad
southern accent. Eventually, Jerry’s brain wins the chess game and Jerry breaks
up with Isabel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer and Elaine go to retrieve the jacket posing as the
jacket owner’s daughter and fiancée. Kramer is in full Kramer mode here
accessorized with a pipe and checkered jacket. The mission is going
successfully until the landlord mentions Kramer’s mother and says some less
than flattering things about her. Kramer’s facial expressions slowly change
from upset to anger to rage after each comment from the landlord until he can
no longer take it any more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer and Elaine recall the rest of the scene from Monk’s.
Kramer grabbed the landlord by the collar and Elaine pulled him off. But Kramer
ends up with the jacket…and Audrey…and Audrey’s new nose, courtesy of Kramer’s
doctor.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-10260374008518958792013-10-21T19:39:00.001-07:002013-10-21T19:39:23.311-07:00Season 3, Episode 8: The Tape<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Does she know?”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“No.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“How did it happen?”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“I can’t say.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Well, why can’t you say?”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Because I promised her.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“I thought you just said she doesn’t know.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“She doesn’t.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“So how can you promise her?”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Because she asked me too.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“What is this, an Abbot and Costello routine?” - George & Jerry</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrcyA-jnE8cAVOy5KV0yaIOkc_VrSt6Ism8Mft6qrrwEulCfVvA92W_RxhYj6huckAUgpSAyyJ8d73YdxGkUfawbdgNtGkhtzrYaocxayt6npdfYj6flHwrxpyQeUm8ePVLWetbMfI1_C/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.08+-+The+Tape.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrcyA-jnE8cAVOy5KV0yaIOkc_VrSt6Ism8Mft6qrrwEulCfVvA92W_RxhYj6huckAUgpSAyyJ8d73YdxGkUfawbdgNtGkhtzrYaocxayt6npdfYj6flHwrxpyQeUm8ePVLWetbMfI1_C/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.08+-+The+Tape.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After watching a special on CNN, George is interested in a
hair growth product from <st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place>,
and calls, long distance, the clinic responsible.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer enters with a video recorder his friend Specter gave
him. “He’s becoming a minimalist.” George asks and Kramer confirms that Specter
is his friend who likes fat women. “Doesn’t the fat fetish conflict with the
minimalism,” Jerry points out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry, while listening to a recording of his stand up act
the previous night, discovers an erotic message left by one of his audience
members on his tape recorder. George and Kramer listen to it as well. George is
especially enthralled by it. “This is like a Penthouse letter.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry and George meet Elaine at Monk’s. George let’s slip
about the mysterious woman on Jerry’s tape recorder. Jerry gets called to
another booth by a friend of his leaving Elaine to pester George about the
message. “She had this throaty, sexy kind of whisper,” George tells her. He
puts his menu up to his face completely obstructing his view of Elaine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Really? Like, uh… Jerry, I want to slide my tongue around
you like a snake,” Elaine moans. George slowly peers over his menu at a
grinning Elaine. Elaine tells George not to tell Jerry that it was her. George
suddenly becomes attracted to Elaine (and really, why wouldn’t he? Julia was
pretty sexy). “So what about this bald thing?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Oh, some bald thing, I don’t know,” George mutters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George finally gets in touch with the hair restoration
clinic in <st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place>
but not speaking any Chinese (the episode uses the word Chinese, not Mandarin
for the language) he has difficulty communicating his desire to buy the
product. Luckily, Kramer has ordered Chinese food and they have the delivery
boy translate. Kramer also has his camera and films the gang, pretending that
he’s filming a documentary on Elaine, an adult film star. Elaine hams it up for
Kramer’s camera and using her sexy voice talks about costarring in a movie with
George. This both flusters and arouses George, compounding his attraction to
Elaine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George’s cream arrives but there’s one problem: it smells
bad. George wears it for a few minutes (he’s supposed to wear it all day) but
takes it off when Elaine says she’s coming over. A few minutes later she
cancels and George rushes into the bathroom to put the cream on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry thinks he’s found the woman on the tape and arranges a
meeting but comes back disappointed when she wasn’t receptive to his advances. George,
wearing a ten gallon hat to hide the cream he’s wearing, eventually breaks it
to Jerry and Kramer that it was Elaine on the tape after also telling him that
he’s become attracted to her. Knowing this they all listen to the tape again.
Elaine comes over and confesses to Jerry it was her. “I know, George told me,”
Jerry says without missing a beat. George confesses to Elaine that he is
attracted to her. All three guys stare at Elaine. Creeped out, Elaine leaves.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-52885693446531567132013-10-17T18:38:00.003-07:002013-10-17T18:38:26.357-07:00Season 3, Episode 7: The Cafe<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Maybe the test was gender biased. You know, a lot of
questions on hunting and testicles.” - Jerry</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM88yo01YkGcoklql8f4QBTzUJ86NQqq44fuzkM63gc9i2uVQJkRtuLtmqYV-zJmgp0ruCFqNVSdMAdPI0Zu0-RamGD3prQm3VE5KcrXIAGCujfDbesjHPMkJ_6SPvV9YhSpkAMAOznW1/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.07+-+The+Cafe.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM88yo01YkGcoklql8f4QBTzUJ86NQqq44fuzkM63gc9i2uVQJkRtuLtmqYV-zJmgp0ruCFqNVSdMAdPI0Zu0-RamGD3prQm3VE5KcrXIAGCujfDbesjHPMkJ_6SPvV9YhSpkAMAOznW1/s400/Seinfeld+pic+3.07+-+The+Cafe.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After two rather unconventional episodes we see a return of
the familiar formula. George’s story is about his new girlfriend’s IQ test that
she’s created and wants to try on George, which he is not enthusiastic about
because she’ll find out he’s a moron. “People think I’m smart, but I’m not
smart.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Who thinks you’re smart?” Jerry asks. His story is an
obsession with a new restaurant that’s just opened up in the neighborhood run
by Babu Batt. Jerry, in a fit of compassion, is troubled that he’s never seen
anyone go into Babu’s establishment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer, meanwhile, is hiding from a man whose jacket he’s
been wearing for the last two years. In fact, he was wearing the jacket in the
previous episode, The Parking Garage. The story here, as explained in The
Parking Garage, is that a man left it at his mother’s house and Kramer took the
jacket.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine, explaining that she has a high IQ, helps George
cheat on the IQ test.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is another episode that is a lot funnier than I
remember it being when I was younger. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So Jerry watches Babu’s from his apartment through
binoculars, like a scene out of Rear Window. Elaine asks why he’s obsessed with
this restaurant. Jerry likens it to watching a “spider in the toilet struggling
for survival.” George enters with an SAT book. He’s still nervous about the IQ
test and what it will mean for his relationship with Monica. After Jerry
reminds George of a time in college when he cheated on a test and Elaine
mentions her high IQ, George gets the idea to cheat again via the same method.
He’ll pass Elaine the test out of a window.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry has lunch at Babu Batt’s Dream Café. He’s the only one
there. Jerry, thinking he’s great guy helping out a struggling restaurateur,
dishes out superlatives and heaps praise upon Babu to make him feel better. He
even has an internal dialogue about how no one else does things for other
people.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George started the IQ test with Elaine pacing back and forth
outside the window waiting for George to pass her the test. After Monica leaves
the room and George locks the door he passes the test to Elaine who takes it to
Babu’s. Then Kramer joins them and explains his situation. He doesn’t want to
give it back. “Anyway, it’s been two years. Isn’t there a statue of limitations
on that?” he asks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Stat<b>ute</b>,” Jerry
says with emphasis on the ending of the word.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Statute of limitations,” he elaborates. “It’s not a
statue.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No. Statue.” Kramer is sure.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Fine, it’s a sculpture of limitations,” Jerry concedes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer bothers Elaine about this. “Statute,” Elaine says.
“Well, I really think you’re wrong.” Kramer continues to bother her about the
IQ test, not really understanding why she would take a test for George. George meanwhile
reads The New Yorker as he waits for Elaine. She comes back with the test but
it has pasta stains all over it from Babu spilling the plate on Elaine’s table.
When Monica comes to collect the test George concocts the best George story
ever. Monica asks what happened to the test. George, in the most smooth and
casual manner, answers, “Oh, I spilled some food on it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Food? What food?” Monica asks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What are you talking about?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Where did you get food?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“From my pocket.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“From your pocket?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I had a sandwich in my pocket.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“And coffee?” she says examining the paper.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes, had some coffee,” he nods.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Where did you get the coffee?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Where did I get the coffee? Where do you think I got the
coffee? At the grocery store.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“How did you get there?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I walked.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“How did you get out of the apartment? I didn’t see you
leave.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I climbed out the window.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You climbed out the window?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Of course.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why didn’t you go out the door?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The door?” he asks as though only a lunatic would think to
do that. “The window’s right here.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry tells Babu that he might have more luck with the
restaurant if it were Pakistani themed. He’d be the only authentic Pakistani
restaurant in the area, an idea that appeals to Babu and he agrees to renovate
immediately.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Turns out all the distractions led to a poor test from
Elaine, George’s IQ is only 85. Elaine agrees to cheat again to prove the first
test was a fluke. “You should have seen her face,” George says of Monica. “It
was the exact same face my father gave me when I said I wanted to be a
ventriloquist.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine takes the second test at Jerry’s while he eats at the
new Babu’s. Jerry doesn’t catch on at first but Babu is not pleased to see
Jerry; he stares a hole through him while he’s eating. After Jerry mentions his
shrimp is stringy. This sets Babu off who blames Jerry for the restaurant
failing. He hasn’t had any customers since he rebranded as a Pakistani
restaurant. “You bad man. You very, very bad man.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While Elaine is taking the test Kramer bursts in and locks
the door behind him. The man who used to own his coat has found him and won’t
leave until Kramer returns it. Elaine has to get back to George but Kramer
won’t let her leave. Her tardiness causes Monica to catch the two of them
cheating on the test and when Elaine finally arrives Monica is waiting for her.
“Let’s hope you do better the second time.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The gang watches Dream Café shut down and we see where
they’ve ended at. Kramer doesn’t have his jacket. Elaine’s IQ is 151. They
discuss where to have dinner. Mexican? Italian? Chinese? Jerry finishes with,
“you know what’d be great…”</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-35204552545941353482013-10-16T10:36:00.001-07:002013-10-16T10:36:43.863-07:00Season 3, episode 6: The Parking Garage<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“There’s elevators all over. Everything looks the same!
We’re like rats in some experiment!” - George</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNoRtLRmLIkcsF4JnQaAK5ubw1eyWUVn5mh7IyS_xyRDsN3utYFk8YLI3-yC1RyDDS-PWHtilB4ThjE4OVBg0Z91CVDyJc4hf8P4Ta2GzhIN-mfZyLN8NHgs69dIlK_efnMSMMg7F-e7ly/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.06+-+The+Parking+Garage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNoRtLRmLIkcsF4JnQaAK5ubw1eyWUVn5mh7IyS_xyRDsN3utYFk8YLI3-yC1RyDDS-PWHtilB4ThjE4OVBg0Z91CVDyJc4hf8P4Ta2GzhIN-mfZyLN8NHgs69dIlK_efnMSMMg7F-e7ly/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.06+-+The+Parking+Garage.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 3<sup>rd</sup> season has gotten off to a great start
with classic after classic and the trend continues with The Parking Garage.
This was the second straight episode of the production order to take place
entirely outside Jerry’s apartment (although they didn’t air back-to-back).
That was done so they wouldn’t have to take down and put back the set for
Jerry’s apartment twice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Similar to The Chinese Restaurant from season 2, The Parking
Garage takes place on a single set, though not in real time, and is essentially
the same in structure: a loose plot which follows our characters as they
encounter other people within the setting, almost vignette style. In order for
there to be some sort of motivation to find the car, Elaine has Goldfish which
can only survive in their plastic bag for so long, and George needs to meet his
parents for their anniversary. Jerry has to go to the bathroom, and Kramer is
carrying a heavy air conditioner (and he really was per Michael’s method acting
policy).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I won’t bother recapping every encounter but I’ll go over the
best ones (completely out of sequence). The first is George coming across a
convertible parked across 3 spaces and wanting to spit on it. Jerry dares him
to do it and he’s about to when the alarm disengagement goes off and the owner
gets in the car.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Jerry, are you aware that adult diapers are a $600 million
dollar a year industry?” That’s just one of the things Kramer tells Jerry to
goad him into urinating behind a car. Jerry does, gets caught and leads to the
great uromysotisis explanation: “Why would I do it unless I was in mortal
danger? I know it’s against the law. Because I could get uromysotisis poisoning
and die, that’s why. You think I enjoy living like this? The shame; the
humiliation.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I also really enjoyed Elaine’s repeated attempts to ask
other people for help and being rejected every time. It deals with the
selfishness of humanity in a completely honest way. Everyone she talks to could
help her, but they don’t. Why? Because they don’t feel like it. There’s no
reason for it. They just don’t. And that’s how the world is. People could help
strangers, but they never do. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As much as I love this episode – its position in my top 10
is almost assured – the best material was left out, and it may be nitpicking,
but it kind of bothers me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the very end when Kramer returns with the air conditioner,
he slams it in the trunk of the car and cuts his lip. Jerry and Julia start
laughing and turn away from the camera. Michael never breaks character and
says, “I really hurt myself, Elaine.” All of that was taken out of the final
cut. After Kramer slams the air conditioner in the trunk it cuts to Kramer
asking about Elaine’s fish, from a different take. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then, after they get in the car and it doesn’t start, you
can only see Jason start to laugh for a split second before cutting to a long
shot of the lone car in the parking lot, leaving out a sequence where Michael
tries to start the car a second time, fails, gets out of the car, leans on the
door, looks off into the horizon and gets back in the car.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s a fine ending as they left it, but 20 extra seconds on
those two things could have lifted it even further in the pantheon of great
Seinfeld endings.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-25881984162170053362013-09-16T17:16:00.001-07:002013-09-16T17:16:32.413-07:00Season 3, episode 5: The Pen<div class="MsoNormal">
“What is going on in this community? Are you people aware of
what’s happening? What is driving you to this behavior? Is it the humidity?” -
Jerry</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZIEw2Lr-D-Sf5zvgUaRNzPYlbrn2tTpvqC6kGd9P-UeEI6e6np1fKZ01t2jM7OypyTNJOVOVEXMx2igYL8zgacVqS31SNGnmtlE0f518Rh6XLKvaJxPEwDmjbjvnnextD-Ro6T2nDmiw/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.05+-+The+Pen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZIEw2Lr-D-Sf5zvgUaRNzPYlbrn2tTpvqC6kGd9P-UeEI6e6np1fKZ01t2jM7OypyTNJOVOVEXMx2igYL8zgacVqS31SNGnmtlE0f518Rh6XLKvaJxPEwDmjbjvnnextD-Ro6T2nDmiw/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.05+-+The+Pen.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Pen is the second episode of the series that doesn’t
feature Michael Richards as Kramer and the first that doesn’t feature Jason
Alexander as George. Jerry and Elaine are the only two principal cast members
in The Pen and as a result the episode doesn’t feature any interconnecting B or
C story, which was really unusual for the show after the first season and a
half. After the episode was shot, Jason Alexander went to Larry David and told
him never to leave him out of an episode ever again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many people, including Jerry and Larry, count the Pen among
their favorite episodes. I’m not sure where it’s going to wind up in my own
rankings but I can understand why they think so highly of it. The Pen has some
of the best work on the show in building the most humorous situations from the
most inconsequential and ridiculous social slights imaginable: possibly because
of the setting for the episode; senior communities. Jerry’s back and forth’s
with his parents, Helen and Morty, are classic and never more so here, where
their timing and tone are perfect.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The episode begins with Jerry and Elaine arriving at Jerry’s
parents’ <st1:state w:st="on">Florida</st1:state>
condo community for an event for Jerry’s father, where their tardiness has
already flustered Helen:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry - “We had to wait 35 minutes in the rent-a-car place.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Helen - “I don’t know why you had to rent a car, we could
have picked you up.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry - “What’s the difference?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Helen - “Well, you could have used our car.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry - “I don’t want to use your car.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Helen - “What’s wrong with our car?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry - “Nothing, it’s a fine car. What if you want to use
it?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Helen - “We don’t use it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Morty - “What are you talking? We use it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Helen - “If you were using it, we wouldn’t use it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Making a mountain out of this mole hill is the running theme
for the seniors. Of what consequence is it that Jerry rented a car? Or that he
didn’t get insurance. “How could you not get insurance?” Morty asks. No matter
what the situation is they always have some rhetorical remark for it
which just exacerbates the most minor of incidents on an exponential scale.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Elaine feels badly about taking Helen and Morty’s
bedroom, Helen insists she takes it and has several reasons she should
escalating on the absurd.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m up at six o’clock in the morning,” she says after
Elaine turns down her offer. “I can’t kick you out of your bed,” Elaine
replies. “We don’t even sleep,” Helen insists. “It’s a sofa bed you’ll be
uncomfortable,” she continues. “What about you?” Jerry asks. “Why should I be
comfortable?...I’ll sleep standing up.” Morty responds. These people are out of
their minds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Helen and Morty’s neighbors, Jack and Doris, arrive. With
him Jack has ‘The Pen’. It’s an astronaut pen: It writes upside down. When
Jerry expresses a passing interest in it Jack offers him the pen. Jerry doesn’t
want to take it but Jack is insistent. “Do me a personal favor and take the
pen.” Jerry takes it, reluctant but happy in having the pen. Not 5 seconds
later Helen has to interject. “Whadya take his pen for?” she says in that
motherly tone. This sets off a whole thing about how Jerry shouldn’t have taken
the pen even though it was offered to him. Elaine can’t help but just shake her
head at the entire situation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a night of not being comfortable in the sofa bed,
Elaine wakes up with back pain, ruining her plans to go scuba diving with
Jerry. Jerry goes anyway but comes back with burst capillaries. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And as Helen had predicted, everyone in the community has
heard about Jack giving Jerry the pen. Another neighbor comes over and asks
about the pen straight away. And Helen receives a phone call: “Oh, hello,
Gussie… No, Jerry wouldn’t do that… Jack gave him the pen.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So Jerry gives Jack the pen back which sets Morty off.
“You’ve got a hell-of-a-nerve taking that kid’s pen.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Do you think I take everything everybody offers me?
Yesterday you offered me sponge cake. Did I take it?” Jack says.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You said you didn’t want it!” Morty yells.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Of course I wanted it! I love sponge cake!” Jack yells
back. Now Jerry is the one just shaking his head.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the Seinfelds and Elaine must attend the dinner for Morty
with he and Jack, who is MC, now hating each other. Because of the burst
capillaries, Jerry wears sunglasses the whole time. And in order to be pain
free, Elaine takes muscle relaxers (but waaaay too many of them). At the event,
Elaine is completely whacked out on pills and when Jerry introduces his Aunt
Stella (Uncle Leo’s wife!) she begins the craziest Marlon Brando impression:
“Stella!!! STELLA!!!!!!” And it just gets worse at the event as Morty doesn’t
take to kindly to Jack’s roasting of him and confronts him over the pen
incident. Chaos erupts as the two fight and Jerry tries to calm everything with
his routine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Have you noticed how they always give you the peanuts on
the plane?” Jerry begins. “I’d rather have a bottle of scotch!” the disembodied
voice of Larry David yells out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The end result is the community threatening the Seinfelds
with expulsion from the community for unruly behavior. And Elaine’s back is too
painful to travel on for another five days; stuck in the heat…and the humidity…</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-31780529023871768332013-09-13T09:29:00.000-07:002013-09-13T09:29:26.008-07:00Season 3, episode 4: The Library<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“’71, that was my first year on the job. Bad year for
libraries. Bad year for <st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place>.”
– Lt. Bookman</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7fMyfRARJvV0WDx8T94A7FKWNiCnRh7jEFdNpCXZttLQQ5d-UaXgVRAwrOHlNdaSEjswXlBufk6i0dDb5hHW-YvEnzgLgtXkZKNBefHuXDHPabmt-FzdIxgw9vRax19tqV30f870s7bg/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.04+-+The+Library.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij7fMyfRARJvV0WDx8T94A7FKWNiCnRh7jEFdNpCXZttLQQ5d-UaXgVRAwrOHlNdaSEjswXlBufk6i0dDb5hHW-YvEnzgLgtXkZKNBefHuXDHPabmt-FzdIxgw9vRax19tqV30f870s7bg/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.04+-+The+Library.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Possibly the best episode of the series so far (in my top 3
with The Chinese Restaurant and The Pony Remark) and unquestionably the best of
what is so far a very strong season 3, albeit we’re only 4 episodes in. The
Library gives us the brilliantly named Lt. Bookman, a flashback to George and
Jerry in high school (and still played by Jason and Jerry with wigs – And
Jason’s may have later been used by Jeffrey Tambor in AD for <b>those</b> flashbacks for all I know, it’s
that similar!), Kramer hooking up with a librarian, and about 3 or 4 of the
series best monologues which I will try to transcribe in full (because I
care!).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It starts with Jerry on the phone with the New York Public
Library. In 1971 Jerry checked out Henry Miller’s <i>Tropic of Cancer</i> and never returned it. Jerry is positive he
returned it and recalls the details of that day very vividly to Kramer; he was
with a girl named Sherry Becker who was wearing an orange dress. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry, Kramer and George go down to the library to take care
of Jerry’s overdue fine. Jerry and Kramer observe the librarian leading to the
first monologue from Kramer:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Look at her. This is a lonely woman
looking for companionship. A spinster. Maybe a virgin. Maybe she got hurt a
long time ago. She’s a school girl, there was a boy – it didn’t work out. Now
she needs a little tenderness. She needs a little understanding. She needs a
little Kramer.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Then she’ll need a little shot of penicillin,” Jerry
replies. After getting the librarian’s attention Jerry passes her the notice he
received in the mail. She tells him that his case has been referred to the
library investigation officer, Bookman. “That’s like an ice cream man named
Cone,” Kramer remarks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George comes running in from outside setting up the B-story.
He thinks he saw his and Jerry’s gym teacher from High School, Mr. Heyman, now
homeless and outside the library.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Elaine’s story, we finally get to see her work, Pendant
Publishing, and her boss, Mr. Lippman, though he’s not played by Richard Fancy
in this episode. Elaine’s co-worker didn’t ask her what she wanted for lunch, and in her
neurosis, Elaine interprets that to mean that she may be on her way out of the
company. She grills Mr. Lipman’s secretary who claims not to know anything. “I
don’t know anything means there’s something to know. If you really didn’t know
anything you would have said ‘you’re crazy.’”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At lunch George explains to Elaine what happened in High
School. “He purposely mispronounced my name. Instead of saying Costanza he’d
say ‘Can’t-stand-ya’! He made me smell my own gym socks once.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I remember he made you wear a jock on your head for a whole
class,” Jerry piles on. George recalls the incident which led to Mr. Heyman
being fired. “He gave me a wedgie.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Boys are sick,” Elaine responds. “Well, what do girls do?”
Jerry asks. “We just tease someone until they develop an eating disorder.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry gets home from lunch to a waiting Lt. Bookman who
Larry Charles based on Joe Friday (the second time he’s done that on the show.
Recall Kramer in The Statue). Rather than describe the scene I’ll just let the
words of Lt. Bookman (and a little bit of Jerry) speak for themselves:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“You got any coffee?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Coffee?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Yeah, coffee.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“No, I don’t drink coffee.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“You don’t drink coffee? How about
instant coffee?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“No, I don’t have-</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“You don’t have instant coffee?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Well I don’t normally-</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Who doesn’t have instant coffee?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“I don’t.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“You buy a jar of Foldgers crystals.
Throw it in your cupboard and forget about it. And later on when you need it
it’s there. It lasts forever. It’s freeze-dried. Freeze-dried crystals.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Really? I’ll have to remember that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“You took this book out in 1971.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Yes, and I returned it in 1971.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“’71, that was my first year on the
job. Bad year for libraries. Bad year for <st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place>. Hippies burning library
cards. Abbie Hoffman telling everybody to steal books. I don’t judge a man by
the length of his hair or the music he listens to. Rock was never my bag.
(sticking a finger in Jerry’s direction) But you put on a pair of shoes and
walked into the New York Public Library, fella.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Look, Mr. Bookman. I returned that
book. I remember it very specifically.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“You’re a comedian. You make people
laugh.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“I try.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“You think this is all a big joke,
don’t you?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“No, I don’t.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“I saw you on TV once. I remembered
your name from my list. I looked it up. Sure enough it checked out. You think
that because you’re a celebrity that somehow the law doesn’t apply to you? That
you’re above the law?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“Certainly not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
(sticking his finger in Jerry’s
direction again)“Well let me tell you something funny boy. You know that little
stamp? The one that says New York Public Library? Well, that may not mean
anything to you but that means a lot to me, one whole hell of a lot! Sure, go
ahead laugh if you want to. I’ve seen your type before: flashy, making the
scene… Yeah I know what you’re thinking: why’s this guy making such a big stink
about a library book. (again with the finger) Well, let me give you a hint
junior, maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me, maybe.
Sure, we’re too old to change the world. But what about that kid, sitting down
opening a book right now in a branch of the local library, and finding drawings
of pee-pees and wee-wees in the Cat in the Hat and The Five Chinese Brothers.
Doesn’t he deserve better? (finger!) Look, you think this is about overdue
fines and missing books, you better think again. This is about that kid’s right
to read a book without getting his mind warped. But maybe that turns you on,
Seinfeld. Maybe that’s how you get your kicks, you and your good time buddies.
Well, I got a flash for you, joy boy: Party time is over.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Talk about a writer and actor nailing a scene. Right as
Bookman is leaving, the librarian, Marion, is entering Kramer’s apartment. She
quickly ducks inside when she sees Bookman coming out of Jerry’s.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry decides to track down his high school girlfriend,
Sherry Becker. They meet at Monk’s. Sherry’s gained weight and her recollection
of the day is very different from Jerry’s. She was wearing a purple dress and
they were reading <i>Tropic of Capricorn</i>.
Jerry then remembers that he loaned <i>Tropic
of Cancer</i> to George in the locker room and runs out of Monk’s to go find
him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer and Marion return to the library after hours but
Bookman is waiting for them:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
“I remember when the librarian was a
much older woman. Kindly, descreet, unattractive. You didn’t know anything
about her private life. You didn’t want to know anything about her private
life. She didn’t have a private life. If you’re thinking about that, think
about this: the library closes at five o’clock, no exceptions. You got that,
Kewpie doll?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the apartment, Kramer starts crying while reading a book
of <st1:place w:st="on">Marion</st1:place>’s
poetry leading Elaine to think that if she takes the poetry to Lippman, he’ll
like it enough to publish it. She’s still paranoid that he’s going to fire her
after he didn’t like her latest publishing recommendation, a biography of <st1:place w:st="on">Columbus</st1:place>. George comes in
and confirms that the homeless man is his old gym teacher, Mr. Heyman. How does
he know? He sat next to him outside the library and said ‘Can-t-stand-ya?’ He
got up to run away but something was holding him back. “He had my underwear.
There I was on the steps of the <st1:address w:st="on">42<sup>nd</sup>
street</st1:address> library; a grown man getting a wedgie.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“At least it wasn’t atomic.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It was.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcA5dVLpjLr7IUgHkVK6_LUks4H_sSfk-cAK4HNmS-6mLESn91ykfcHYoNKyvFQOYMDxsk-lvakDP9dkwNbgSJs0P21VZYaviAdb05_lcqnbm8YgBqa3VPJr3jM4GFBuiXqfcHwNVUEQ8W/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.04.2+-+The+Library.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcA5dVLpjLr7IUgHkVK6_LUks4H_sSfk-cAK4HNmS-6mLESn91ykfcHYoNKyvFQOYMDxsk-lvakDP9dkwNbgSJs0P21VZYaviAdb05_lcqnbm8YgBqa3VPJr3jM4GFBuiXqfcHwNVUEQ8W/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.04.2+-+The+Library.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry tells George what happened to Tropic of Cancer. George
remembers. George dropped it as he was getting the wedgie that Mr. Heyman was
responsible for. The book lost forever, Jerry pays the overdue fine to Bookman.
Elaine’s boss didn’t like the poetry book form <st1:place w:st="on">Marion</st1:place>. George tells Jerry that Mr. Heyman is
gone from outside the library. They wonder what happened to him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Heyman is shown later at night outside, repeating
‘Can’t-stand-ya’. Near him is the old beat up copy of <i>Tropic of Cancer</i>.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-48851326208737937952013-09-12T15:25:00.001-07:002013-09-12T15:25:24.512-07:00Season 3, episode 3: The Dog<div class="MsoNormal">
“You can’t tell someone how you feel about their girlfriend
until after they stop seeing them.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I tell you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<b>You</b>. I’m talking
about people.” – Jerry and Kramer</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPmUaurKTzi5HuULEB9kJ6PXQLZtnPwJAK-eUyO1oUSqAi3LKJFmzfXcBaj5yqW76g-9Md5DFtnwdnJNlHSNIyeoF-sCkCyN-WY0Y25_f7DXKYdICXNexXfQKcFGN2-0_5Sq-bkVN-mcD/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.03+-+The+Dog.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPmUaurKTzi5HuULEB9kJ6PXQLZtnPwJAK-eUyO1oUSqAi3LKJFmzfXcBaj5yqW76g-9Md5DFtnwdnJNlHSNIyeoF-sCkCyN-WY0Y25_f7DXKYdICXNexXfQKcFGN2-0_5Sq-bkVN-mcD/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.03+-+The+Dog.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember not really liking this episode much when I was
younger, but upon reviewing it now, I’m much more receptive to it. It’s not
close to making my top episode list, but there’s some good bits and pieces and
I like how the Elaine/George relationship evolves in this episode.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Dog starts out with Jerry flying home, presumably from a
west coast trip based on making an emergency landing in <st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city>. He’s in first class but stuck next
to a WASPy drunk Englishman, Gavin Polone, who goes on and on about his dog
(currently enjoying the trip in the baggage compartment. Gavin falls ill,
prompting the emergency landing, and Jerry is asked to take care of the dog,
Farfel.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three days later and Jerry is having a miserable time with
Farfel, who chews up Jerry’s shoes, ruins furniture and generally makes a mess
of everything. We never see Farfel in action, aside from Jerry and Elaine
trying to pry articles of clothing away from the dog who is kept hidden. We
only ever here him barking, and shockingly (to me anyway) Farfel’s voice was
NOT provided by Frank Welker. Another voice actor, Tom Williams won the role.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry is hoping to escape for the night with Elaine and
George to watch Prognosis Negative (this was a real unproduced screenplay that
Larry David wrote. I had no idea!) while Kramer watches the dog, but Kramer
backs out in order to break up with his girlfriend (whom we also hear but never
see). Kramer is excited to break up with her, as are Jerry and Elaine. “If you
see her personality it would be like one of the Elephant Man exhibits where
they pull off the sheet and everyone gasps,” Elaine tells him. Jerry adds, “I
can’t believe anyone hasn’t killed her yet.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Without a dogsitter, Jerry backs out of the group outing.
Elaine doesn’t want to go alone with George and the feeling is mutual. Both are
of the opinion that they don’t have anything in common without Jerry. George
and Elaine decide to watch a different movie, but it’s sold out and they end up
at Monk’s instead. Over coffee the two engage in really trite small talk and it
isn’t until they turn the conversation to Jerry that it picks up and they start
laughing and having a good time. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
[There is one continuity error here that bugged me. Elaine
mentions that she moved to <st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state>
in 1986. And George asks Elaine if she’s ever seen Jerry throw up, which she
has. But in a later season, Jerry mentions having not thrown up in 18 years (a
record I remember very vividly because I was pleased when I surpassed it
myself) which would be impossible if she moved to <st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state> in 1986 (and I’m assuming that she
didn’t know Jerry before that).]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer breaks up with his girlfriend (How could <b><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">I</span></i></b> be with someone like you?) and gets
back together with her is the very same scene (I can’t live without you. I’ll
do anything).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fed up with Farfel, Jerry decides he’s going to take Farfel
to the pound. He tracks down the hospital that Gavin Polone was in and learns
that he checked out several days ago. This seals it for Jerry to take Farfel to
the pound but Elaine talks him out of it, at least for one more day. Elaine
even offers to watch the dog so Jerry and George can go see a movie. Kramer
tells Jerry and Elaine that he got back with his girlfriend. The two back track
from their previous comments but Kramer has a good memory and removes some of
his belongings from Jerry’s apartment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine fights with Farfel and almost decides to take matters
into her own hands when Gavin calls Jerry’s apartment. Jerry and George end up
seeing Prognosis Negative without Elaine after the other film is sold out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gavin, possibly still drunk and recovering from a fit of <st1:city w:st="on">Bell</st1:city>’s Palsy, picks up
Farfel. Elaine wants to go see Prognosis Negative but Jerry, having now seen it
and not liking it, is trying to back out claiming he ‘heard from George’ it was
terrible. Elaine says George didn’t mention anything. Jerry asks why Elaine and
George got together. “I wanted to talk about how we have nothing to talk
about.”</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-6467674157051217902013-09-11T09:39:00.002-07:002013-09-11T09:39:56.705-07:00Season 3, episode 2: The Truth<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’ve driven women to lesbianism before, but never a mental
institution.” - George</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;">"You didn't give her my Taxes?" - Jerry</span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeNn2j5Xo71nbc1aL5CedOn2o5TOWAokbDlA9jFfp9HsuSrbtVCJnx6HLqCTqraaJ1GpPbh_YKtr47pdQl7C7IuVXKSFZ5RcvNw8zuOuP1J3yMLwV1EgERl6kVmHmb6C-eVZZ6EnVX38T/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.1+-+The+Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeNn2j5Xo71nbc1aL5CedOn2o5TOWAokbDlA9jFfp9HsuSrbtVCJnx6HLqCTqraaJ1GpPbh_YKtr47pdQl7C7IuVXKSFZ5RcvNw8zuOuP1J3yMLwV1EgERl6kVmHmb6C-eVZZ6EnVX38T/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.1+-+The+Truth.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0jWlicfB9s3NQmOYFdmo5QimMDO_DJ5rytA1p50SRib7UyGogf0QgIuVw4bLi0SC-WbNaRd0jN_z4qEH_bOfDru2IXmHu3ut_l27XCP3w2VsPJSZjoTbmh-IqRIg-tjabmmHeSarKG1Gd/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.2+-+The+Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0jWlicfB9s3NQmOYFdmo5QimMDO_DJ5rytA1p50SRib7UyGogf0QgIuVw4bLi0SC-WbNaRd0jN_z4qEH_bOfDru2IXmHu3ut_l27XCP3w2VsPJSZjoTbmh-IqRIg-tjabmmHeSarKG1Gd/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.2+-+The+Truth.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndXLVLtfsAxx6jFoI5s5Y9Fr1HoMXbWZZMQJbp1fvhyphenhyphenG_ctDTOn_1H9nKffx-_ucQu2aN2bTE4H3QL-hSw3rYCmTqICxDjmemcUYBMpr7aGGn_FMgb7hDLgZl51KR6H1CcEofHXZKm7pn/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.3+-+The+Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndXLVLtfsAxx6jFoI5s5Y9Fr1HoMXbWZZMQJbp1fvhyphenhyphenG_ctDTOn_1H9nKffx-_ucQu2aN2bTE4H3QL-hSw3rYCmTqICxDjmemcUYBMpr7aGGn_FMgb7hDLgZl51KR6H1CcEofHXZKm7pn/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.3+-+The+Truth.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"I broke up with her." </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT38UdmUYuMW-b-gDY3Mm0RfzHfelyrcf69rcojZUvhdQIgyVRoC3vDOvJCSuLMp0QRgQHvbyIJ7MG4x39wKPvs-_cfGc4MLxqQpGj6_8okmgkNWXq09wRBwHPRPmV0HL9i7LZK5OtMoER/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.5+-+The+Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT38UdmUYuMW-b-gDY3Mm0RfzHfelyrcf69rcojZUvhdQIgyVRoC3vDOvJCSuLMp0QRgQHvbyIJ7MG4x39wKPvs-_cfGc4MLxqQpGj6_8okmgkNWXq09wRBwHPRPmV0HL9i7LZK5OtMoER/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.5+-+The+Truth.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ09-cRhDATRwGBEjQYywxHZarc4nsNtgBLl871ti8DEG-u-sgqKGmeNHrgxgzO6YSgeO7lDXuVyVN0M76pkRRPr0P4w9k4V-9W3lfLAAwqLdcYOwJgLrhi1FCuRk1p3ZKgTzJLCjVpHoD/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.6+-+The+Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ09-cRhDATRwGBEjQYywxHZarc4nsNtgBLl871ti8DEG-u-sgqKGmeNHrgxgzO6YSgeO7lDXuVyVN0M76pkRRPr0P4w9k4V-9W3lfLAAwqLdcYOwJgLrhi1FCuRk1p3ZKgTzJLCjVpHoD/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.6+-+The+Truth.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD9qX2cOJy59c9vOSi5EtFPPL1-dqO3bm_C4mz9FTOeJgUPWraXrWlvR8Hpac01SjZSqplX08_DMDKX9kfv-OfQbqWpREWsgOACumRbkeOsOBKzC_kmikB2EQ5zmhMaCECSJJvpukkhFIS/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.7+-+The+Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD9qX2cOJy59c9vOSi5EtFPPL1-dqO3bm_C4mz9FTOeJgUPWraXrWlvR8Hpac01SjZSqplX08_DMDKX9kfv-OfQbqWpREWsgOACumRbkeOsOBKzC_kmikB2EQ5zmhMaCECSJJvpukkhFIS/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.7+-+The+Truth.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XOSjZNserxR6jrHGdTziug7SSUeLCiWd269aXoj0qwH_rmnvHDObuYqoV26oueNYCc2qgmKES-8HgpMKQuZsUiORGWLaWkIdpszwTGsneh9qU_gZMsgCy_M8nCrEMisz03NuCXw6RtTW/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.8+-+The+Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XOSjZNserxR6jrHGdTziug7SSUeLCiWd269aXoj0qwH_rmnvHDObuYqoV26oueNYCc2qgmKES-8HgpMKQuZsUiORGWLaWkIdpszwTGsneh9qU_gZMsgCy_M8nCrEMisz03NuCXw6RtTW/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.8+-+The+Truth.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkq_2ZgjK8g9BhtawM_SMSOUvLdyu9NzxcmHEcs1pUivmEkuwEOK4cjENN7wthEpv8h7KL2r3YVyTvB_Q4V1dolJIJIymBf3XhGLve5GX3RdBzi2SMLfTWFpUwlr25zFm8Y5Nl4A_tIq6V/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.9+-+The+Truth.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkq_2ZgjK8g9BhtawM_SMSOUvLdyu9NzxcmHEcs1pUivmEkuwEOK4cjENN7wthEpv8h7KL2r3YVyTvB_Q4V1dolJIJIymBf3XhGLve5GX3RdBzi2SMLfTWFpUwlr25zFm8Y5Nl4A_tIq6V/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.02.9+-+The+Truth.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George is having lunch with his current girlfriend, a
cultured woman named Patrice, who pronounces papier-mâché ‘pap-e-ay’ and wears
traditional kimono dresses and chopsticks in her hair. Kramer is dating
Elaine’s roommate, Tina, which Jerry finds humorous. She complains to him about
his make out sessions in the living room.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry is being audited. He contributed money to a charity
that doesn’t exist. It’s all Kramer’s fault somehow (of course it is) so Kramer
is helping him gather receipts. Kramer reveals that he doesn’t even pay taxes.
“Yeah, that’s easy when you have no income,” Jerry tells him. Additionally,
Jerry is having George’s girlfriend, Patrice, a former high level IRS agent,
preparing his audit. Elaine remembers a charity from her first date with Jerry.
“You’ve got me all wrong. I was only thinking of those poor Krakatoans.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although Jerry isn’t worried at the moment he will be as George
is breaking up with his girlfriend as Jerry is with Elaine and Kramer. Patrice
is devastated and demands George tells her why. George lies (It’s not you, it’s
me) but Patrice sees through the lies and presses for the truth. Pressured, George
tells her the truth. She’s pretentious. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You call everyone by their full name. You called my doorman
Sammy, Samuel. But you didn’t even say Samuel. You went ‘Sam-u-<b><i>el’</i></b>.
Pap-e-ay mache? What is pap-e-ay mache?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Right as Jerry is saying that he would kill Kramer if he
didn’t have George’s girlfriend (“Have you ever been through an audit? It’s
Hell! It’s the financial equivalent of a complete rectal examination. I would
have killed this man. Torn him limb from limb. Ripped the flesh right off his
bones.”), George arrives absolutely delighted. “My whole life has been a
complete waste of time.” An epiphany for him I’m sure. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In George’s exuberance he’s forgotten about Jerry’s papers,
which quickly brings him back down to earth. He tells Jerry he broke up with
her. Upon hearing this, Kramer gets up and leaves (a brilliant moment as seen above).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry, now extremely worried, has George call her office but
she never came back from lunch. “This is no good.” George calls her house but she
immediately hangs up on him. “Not good.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For some reason, Kramer has a winshield in Jerry’s
apartment. He’s going to make a coffee table out of it. A pre-cursor to the
coffee table book two seasons later perhaps? Elaine comes over, and there’s an
awkwardness between her and Kramer. Kramer saw her naked. “If it makes you feel
any better you can see <i>me</i> naked.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George comes in. His girlfriend is in a mental institution.
So Jerry and George visit her. She’s thrown out his papers, but would be happy
to help Jerry if he brings her copies. “Who makes copies?” Jerry wonders aloud.
In order not to agitate her further, George is forced to make up with Patrice,
telling several small lies in the process.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine confronts Kramer and her roommate where she has her own
opportunity to tell them the truth but she thinks better of it and just says
that they makes a great couple. In the dark, Kramer and his girlfriend break
the winshield coffee table.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the end, Jerry tracks down an old receipt and gets set to
take a cab to fetch it. Kramer, arm in a sling, joins him to visit Elaine’s
roommate in the hospital. Elaine is doing the same. George is going to a poetry
reading for Patrice and joins them for the ride. Elaine demands George pay his
share (she earlier told him he was ‘careful with money’).</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-57031259523143431052013-09-09T15:43:00.001-07:002013-09-09T15:43:56.950-07:00Season 3, episode 1: The Note<div class="MsoNormal">
“I think it moved.” - George</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir-YWmqxEuzUnuQzLe7KUw4bspUCuw8RYwApiIS_bPkh6cYqIZ1wToUKa1nXhC0whk_Vgw1A-TnXCFM6DchAl5YpJT74yMIS7Qi6vIucsCrcY34jdDIR3wz8_APvWPTeLxeOsWHhfKf59o/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+3.01+-+The+Note.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir-YWmqxEuzUnuQzLe7KUw4bspUCuw8RYwApiIS_bPkh6cYqIZ1wToUKa1nXhC0whk_Vgw1A-TnXCFM6DchAl5YpJT74yMIS7Qi6vIucsCrcY34jdDIR3wz8_APvWPTeLxeOsWHhfKf59o/s320/Seinfeld+pic+3.01+-+The+Note.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Season 3 begins with Jerry at his physical therapist
receiving a massage. He makes small talk, first about being blind, then about a
kidnapped boy in <st1:place w:st="on">Pennsylvania</st1:place>.
His poor choice in topics results in increasing paranoia in his therapist over
the course o the scene, to the degree that he later can’t get an appointment
booked at her clinic, and she becomes convinced that he is a potential
predator. “I think this is really helping,” Jerry says, rather chipper. “I
don’t live around here, you know!” his therapist snaps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry relays his conversation with Elaine and George and
drops in some information that interests George: if you get a doctor’s note the
massage can be covered by insurance. So Elaine and George go to get massages.
George is assigned a male masseuse, and it turns out he’s a little
uncomfortable with that. This isn’t the first time George has displayed
slightly homophobic tendencies.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He asks Elaine to switch with him. “I can’t have a man
touching me.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I don’t want the man either.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What’s the difference? You’re a woman. They’re supposed to
be touching you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George’s masseuse, Raymond, comes to collect him. The entire
session is uncomfortable and Jason plays this scene tremendously. The sense of
panic in his movements and voice; every response he gives to Raymond is short
and spoken with an element of fear. Some of his answers to Raymond’s questions
don’t even make sense. After the massage, George slowly zombies his way out the
door, passing Elaine without even acknowledging her.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry is still calling to get an appointment. George comes
in and tells him a man gave him a massage, although it takes him about 3
minutes to get out one sentence. George is afraid he may have enjoyed the
massage a little too much. Kramer interrupts to tell Jerry he saw Joe DiMaggio
in Dinky Donuts.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry and George travel to Jerry’s dentist friend Roy’s
office to get medical notes for the massages. They also get one for Elaine,
which gets the dentist investigated for insurance fraud (since Elaine had
already gotten her own note). In the office, there’s a poster of Evander
Holyfield. “He’s got a hell of a body, doesn’t he?” <st1:place w:st="on">Roy</st1:place> rhetorically asks. “How would I know?”
George responds defensively.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer sees DiMaggio again. Jerry doesn’t think it’s
DiMaggio based on what Kramer says. DiMaggio is such a focused individual,
according to Kramer, because his concentration on the donuts wasn’t broken by
Kramer banging on the table and yelling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place w:st="on">Roy</st1:place>
tells Jerry that everything should be okay if they get the masseuse to agree to
say the massage was related to a dental problem, leading Jerry to go see his
now former physical therapist in person. She’s in the office with her young
son, when she sees Jerry she tells her son to run into the office and lock the
door. The whole scene is absurdly overdramatic. During the course of the scene,
George has an uncomfortable reunion with Raymond.</div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
At Monk’s, the gang is having lunch. George’s sexual
fantasies involve men. Kramer enters, having come from the dentist (he threw up
in gas mask). Joe DiMaggio is having coffee across the way. Kramer starts
banging on the table and yelling. DiMiaggio isn’t distracted. “I told ya.”</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-79294672571252920492013-09-04T16:21:00.001-07:002013-09-04T16:21:10.574-07:00Season 2, episode 13: The Deal<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You ask me here to have lunch, tell me you slept with
Elaine, and then say you’re not in the <b>mood</b>
for details? <b>Now you listen to me.</b> <span style="font-size: large;">I want details, and I want them right now.</span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>I
don’t have a job. I have no place to go.</b></span> <span style="font-size: x-large;">You’re not in the mood?</span> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Well you get
in the mood!</b></span>” - George</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaNYqgqcq9uRbiaiDdgc_ZuIJ_Nd7DvAHNH7DiY7coK493y9vIe70Ul-ZFbx-J6NTDPBa1_AwacUBujgp4tq4mWW2xWK6_4LBD1RKv5to35wWkvp4UwsvU6DbMcBaEMtBKC6LRnLUUnOIQ/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.13+-+The+Deal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaNYqgqcq9uRbiaiDdgc_ZuIJ_Nd7DvAHNH7DiY7coK493y9vIe70Ul-ZFbx-J6NTDPBa1_AwacUBujgp4tq4mWW2xWK6_4LBD1RKv5to35wWkvp4UwsvU6DbMcBaEMtBKC6LRnLUUnOIQ/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.13+-+The+Deal.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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For two short seasons, Seinfeld managed to keep Jerry and
Elaine away from each other in blatant disregard for every prevailing sitcom
notion and trend of the era. But the network wanted them too. Luckily, Larry
David had an event to draw upon from his past where he attempted to maintain a
physical relationship with a former girl friend without the entanglements of
the emotional relationship. And that formed the basis for what was the second
season finale. And based on the first two seasons’ ratings, Larry didn’t think
the show would continue for a third which is why he didn’t care how this
episode ended (It ends with Jerry and Elaine still involved in their deal).
When it got picked up for a third season they planned to just continue with
Jerry and Elaine together. But as Jerry toured the country doing his act, the
response he got from fans was overwhelmingly negative to the relationship so it
was dropped without explanation at the start of the fall season.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The episode begins with Jerry and Elaine flipping channels
in Jerry’s apartment. Elaine flips to an adult film which leads to the two
discussing their lack of a sex life. There’s a period of awkward silence where
they both know what they’re thinking but they’re not sure how to broach the
subject. “Things pop into your head,” he starts. “Things occur to me from time
to time,” Elaine responds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So they discuss the pros and cons of an arrangement, in very
much the same way I imagine professional agents discuss contracts with their
clients’ employers. That aspect of this scene was debated on the set with some
of the producers wanting the scene to be more intimate with Jerry and Elaine
seated closer together, but David pointed out that this is not an intimate
scene, it’s a contract signing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In order to maintain the friendship Jerry and Elaine
establish a set of parameters: No calling the next day and spending the night
is optional. And with that they retire to the bedroom (we never see them in
there). The next morning Jerry is pouring two glasses of OJ when Kramer comes
in. Kramer wants to know what’s taking Jerry so long to get the paper when a
pants-less Elaine comes out of the bedroom. Kramer does a double take, Jerry
shrugs, and Kramer sheepishly smiles his way out of the apartment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next, Jerry has lunch with George. “What’s the deal with
Aquaman? Could he go on the land or was he restricted to water?” I could go for
a 30 minute show of George just asking these kinds of questions. In the course
of the conversation, Jerry drops in a casual, “So I slept with Elaine last
night.” George removes his glasses. “I need oxygen! I need some oxygen!” Jerry
doesn’t want to give details which leads to George’s rant posted at the top of
the page. I think Jerry really knows when they have a real great line written
because you can see it in his expression when it’s being recited by one of the
other characters. He doesn’t have the best poker face.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Jerry explains the deal, George laughs himself out of
the booth. “Where are you living? Are you here? Are you on this planet? It’s
impossible. It can’t be done.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Inevitably there are problems. At Elaine’s, Jerry doesn’t
want to spend the night. Elaine is a little upset in a very passive aggressive
manner: “My house, my option.” Then Jerry tries to kiss Elaine, a violation of
the rules. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry has to pick out a birthday gift for Elaine, but now
he’s in the delicate position of finding a gift that’s not quite boyfriend but
more than friend. “I think she mentioned something about a bench.” George
points out a variety of items but Jerry has an issue with all of them. He ends
up giving her $182. “Who are you, my uncle?” His card is even worse than the
gift. Kramer comes in and has a gift for Elaine; the bench she wanted. When
Kramer finds out what Jerry got her he laughs. “Cash…that’s like something her
uncle would give her.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry wants to forget the whole deal and go back to being
friends. But Elaine can’t do that. She wants this, that AND the other. It
appears that the two are heading for a break up. But after a phone call…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
…Kramer comes into Jerry’s apartment and asks for the paper.
Pants-less Elaine comes out with the paper. Kramer asks what they’re going to
do for the day. Elaine and Jerry coyly respond with “This, that, and the
other.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Boy, I really liked the two of you much better when you
weren’t a couple,” Kramer says, walking out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFUnFr9RdmY8spEZ7f03qZUA83rcYGawND-QRaCBW2-YG1w6_sgknPsfXR35jWmneqXmEhfwNls1cSkjbt2w-A8cH9zVmrpx9Vqs2PFK5qRLEEI1X9e4IuA7uORatP9Rq98GQ4ADz5ZUd/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.13.2+-+The+Deal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFUnFr9RdmY8spEZ7f03qZUA83rcYGawND-QRaCBW2-YG1w6_sgknPsfXR35jWmneqXmEhfwNls1cSkjbt2w-A8cH9zVmrpx9Vqs2PFK5qRLEEI1X9e4IuA7uORatP9Rq98GQ4ADz5ZUd/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.13.2+-+The+Deal.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-32187033243641429622013-09-03T16:55:00.004-07:002013-09-03T16:55:53.699-07:00Season 2, episode 12: The Revenge<div class="MsoNormal">
“So if anybody leaves anything here, you can just take it.
You have a license to steal. You are like the James Bond of laundry.” - Jerry</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz31ManhCJj2ZqDZxU6xXlPFX0GTc6JVGeHa3w26H02JWUBlgixlZ7WmguxLH838HKP10KfYZBZ3hF-bM3Vyxwcfvg5GjkUtFVZj7oPHT_jDbOZEMM_wgRYvq-u6PfS0n0hhvkKQSXdXZ-/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.12+-+The+Revenge.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz31ManhCJj2ZqDZxU6xXlPFX0GTc6JVGeHa3w26H02JWUBlgixlZ7WmguxLH838HKP10KfYZBZ3hF-bM3Vyxwcfvg5GjkUtFVZj7oPHT_jDbOZEMM_wgRYvq-u6PfS0n0hhvkKQSXdXZ-/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.12+-+The+Revenge.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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The DVD for this has two versions, the original and the
syndicated. The only difference in the two is Newman’s voice. The Revenge
introduces us to Newman, although he is only heard. He was supposed to be a one
off character until Larry and Jerry decided to cast Wayne Knight as a neighbor
of Jerry’s. So the scene with Newman for The Revenge was cut and Larry David
provides the off camera voice for him in the remaining scene. The syndicated
version replaces David with Knight.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main thread of The Revenge is about George quitting his
job in a rage, realizing he has no other prospects, and going back to work as
though nothing ever happened. This is based on Larry David’s one season as a
writer on Saturday Night Live when he quit midway through the season and came
back the next day as though nothing had happened.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the apartment, Jerry is gathering laundry and Kramer
enters to complain about their neighbor Newman, who is suicidal, and
threatening to jump off the roof. “I told him to jump,” Kramer says rather
casually. “At least I’d respect the guy for accomplishing something.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer also asks Jerry to take some of his clothes to get
laundered. Jerry is hesitant. “My guys don’t know your guys. You can’t just
lock them all in the same machine together, they’ll start a riot.” George meets
Jerry at the laundromat and tells him the whole story of how he quit. “What are
you going to do now? Are you going to look for something else in real estate?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Nobody’s hiring now, the market’s terrible.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what are you going to do?” To which George looks vacantly
at the floor.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back at the apartment, the two brainstorm job ideas. “I like
sports, I could do something in sports,” George says to which Jerry politely
nods. “Uh-huh, uh-huh. In what capacity?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You know, like the general manager of a baseball team.”
George also suggests TV color man (They usually give those jobs to ex-ballplayers,
Jerry tells him. “That’s really not fair,” George replies), watching movies (do
they pay people to watch movies?), talk show host. It never occurs to George
how completely unqualified he is for any of these suggestions. And Jerry’s
reactions are spot on. George finally realizes he may have made a mistake in
quitting. Jerry is the one who suggests that maybe he could just go back.
“You’re an emotional person. Nobody takes you seriously.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So George returns to work at the weekly staff meeting. But George’s
boss calls him on it and fires him leading to George enlisting the help of
Elaine to get revenge by slipping the boss a mickey.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the Newman story, Newman jumps. Kramer told him “to wave
to me when (you) pass my window.” Jerry can’t believe it. “Did he wave?” is the
follow up question. But Newman only jumped from the second floor and he’s still
alive (obviously).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the laundry story, Jerry remembers that he had a large
sum of money in his laundry bag and forgot about it. He realizes it was still
in the bag when he took it to be laundered. So he and Kramer return to the
laundromat to ask the owner for the money, but the owner claims he never saw
it. So Kramer decides to extract revenge for Jerry by ruining one of the
washing machines by dropping a 50 pound bag of concrete in it. Michael Richards
insisted on using an actual 50 pound bag to make the pratfalls legitimate.
METHOD ACTING!!! And we’re getting more and more classic Kramer scenes in the
second half of the season with the last three episodes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At a bar where George’s now ex-co-workers are gathered,
Elaine springs into action by charming George’s ex-boss long enough to distract
him while George slips him the mickey (So I’m going to a nudist colony next
week, Elaine tells him). George is successful but Elaine is so successful that
the boss decides to forgive George and hires him back. Then he drinks the
spiked drink.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back at the apartment…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I like history; the civil war. Maybe I could be a professor
or something?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And Jerry’s money was in Kramer’s laundry.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
And Newman is on the roof again…</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-65147363297397145902013-09-02T10:24:00.000-07:002013-09-02T10:24:16.011-07:00Season 2, episode 11: The Heart Attack<div class="MsoNormal">
“Women go after doctors like men go after models. They want
someone with knowledge of the body. We just want the body.” – Jerry</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“A rebel? Johnny Yuma was a rebel. <b>He’s</b> a nut.” – Jerry</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You could do your taxes in the time it takes me have an
orgasm.” - George</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1aUm-wqJdzov39vmpi7jZanTdV0Fifdo35IFwBPq_-4Jqhub5OvMXP8Quwo1iIHq1kLI_lO-hygbja7mD2yZi3_WDyrxL-1NaWYebCnc-qixtRONfLtzhZg9Q7rCE9Z1fm0JONfK9werQ/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.11+-+The+Heart+Attack.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1aUm-wqJdzov39vmpi7jZanTdV0Fifdo35IFwBPq_-4Jqhub5OvMXP8Quwo1iIHq1kLI_lO-hygbja7mD2yZi3_WDyrxL-1NaWYebCnc-qixtRONfLtzhZg9Q7rCE9Z1fm0JONfK9werQ/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.11+-+The+Heart+Attack.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The Heart Attack begins with Jerry in his apartment watching
a B-movie, starring Larry David, to open up the B-plot of this episode. While
sleeping Jerry gets an idea for a joke based on the movie and writes it down on
his yellow note pad (which is how Real Jerry Seinfeld writes his material too.
Fun Fact!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day he’s having lunch with Elaine and George at
Monk’s. No Kramer. Jerry is trying to read his note from the night before but
can’t make out is own hand writing. “Fax…me…some…Halibut,” Jerry shrugs. “Is
that funny?” This leads to Jerry asking everyone he comes in contact with to
make out what’s written on his note paper. I wonder if any or how much of Real
Jerry’s material has been lost to the comedic abyss because of something like
this happening. Elaine thinks it says, “Don’t mess with Johnny.” “<st1:city w:st="on">Carson</st1:city>?” Jerry thinks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George reads the note. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”
That’s not it, Jerry thinks, but George is really having a heart attack. At the
Hospital, George learns he hasn’t had a heart attack, but they need to take his
tonsils out. Kramer, after a trip to the hospital cafeteria (“It’s like Sizzler
opened up a hospital.”), hears this and flips out, insisting they break George
out of the hospital and visit his friend Tor, the holistic healer. “I thought
he was doing time,” Jerry says. “No, he’s out,” Kramer reassures them. George
is only reassured by the difference in cost. The healer only costs $38.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So they see the healer, Tor, played to perfection by Stephen
Tobolowsky whom you may recognize from, like, just about everything that’s ever
been made. In fact, he’s so good here that this would make my all-time top five
Stephen Tobolowsky roles (and there’s a million to choose from). The other
four, in no particular order would be Hugo Jarry from Deadwood, Ned Ryerson
from Groundhog Day, Sammy Jenkis from Memento and Len Dunkel from Curb.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is the first time we’ve met an acquaintance of Kramer’s
and they nailed it. He’s exactly as nutty as someone Kramer would know should
be, giving the most absurd and random advice a healer could give: suggesting to
George that he no longer use hot water in the shower, telling George he should
have been born in August instead of April, telling Jerry to have less dairy,
blowing in George’s face, and using conversational hand gestures that no normal
human being, not even the most pretentious hipster on his worst day, would ever
in a million years use. He gives George an herbal tea which results in George
being rushed back to the hospital looking like the stand in for Violet
Beauregarde.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
While en route, the driver keeps arguing with the attendant
over the candy Chuckles. They stop and fight off camera. The driver then continues
without the attendant but is still arguing with Kramer and Jerry leading to him
crashing the ambulance. Jerry and George reunite in the hospital, both in neck
braces. Kramer, having chosen the holistic healer, is already better. While
Elaine and Jerry are visiting George, the B-Movie from the beginning of the
episode comes on and triggers Jerry’s memory of the joke he wrote down. He’s
excited at his memory being jogged until he realizes the joke isn’t funny.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-76993701495891515182013-08-30T15:04:00.000-07:002013-08-30T15:04:44.664-07:00Season 2, episode 10: The Statue<div class="MsoNormal">
“Just keep making love to that wall, pervert!” - Kramer</div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFej-Xo6AClWEoTPVbMuInAXs-e5Yn-NoVVg8IosIuOQSInJV-V2KT-aKKhVumBkcD_q6JKM0fpDNttc3C3pMaSIkxoTd3nEN6WrBADCwXfCzXG3lR-mlAlCRwpwuEEs60KbJ2AZFlsiYP/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.10+-+The+Statue.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFej-Xo6AClWEoTPVbMuInAXs-e5Yn-NoVVg8IosIuOQSInJV-V2KT-aKKhVumBkcD_q6JKM0fpDNttc3C3pMaSIkxoTd3nEN6WrBADCwXfCzXG3lR-mlAlCRwpwuEEs60KbJ2AZFlsiYP/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.10+-+The+Statue.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a landmark episode for the Kramer character. Kramer
has been evolving since the very first episode, more so than any other
character on the show, but until now he hasn’t had that breakout scene where we
see just how far he can go. The character has already had moments here and
there, most notably in the Pony Remark and The Baby Shower but he’s always seen
playing off one of the other three. In The Statue we see him break out on his
own in a scene that belongs completely to him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The action begins with Jerry and Kramer bringing an old box
of Jerry’s late grandfather’s belongings up from storage. Kramer takes the old
clothes which resemble in style something that may have been worn by Joe
Friday. Of particular interest to George, who is also there, is a statue
identical to one that belonged to his parents that he broke as a child. George
and Kramer fight over possession of the statue and they resolve their battle in
the most childish way imaginable – inky-dinky, which is also exactly like
einy-meany-miny-moe. George wins but he decides to leave the statue at Jerry’s
so he doesn’t have to carry it around the city.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry is also having his apartment cleaned by the boyfriend
of a woman who’s book Elaine is editing. The boyfriend, Ray, does an A+ job,
Jerry can’t stop raving about it. But later, at the woman’s apartment, Jerry
sees the statue. And, when he returns to his own apartment, he finds his
version missing. The only conclusion he can see is that the boyfriend stole it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer is immediately keen to confronting him. “Let’s go get
‘em.” Jerry first tries the police, but it’s his word against Ray’s. Next they
talk to him in Monk’s, but he claims that he bought the statue at a pawn shop
and insists he’s innocent. After these avenues to recovering the statue fail,
Kramer takes matters into his own hand.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Taking the clothes from Jerry, Kramer dresses as a detective
and confronts Ray at his apartment. No description of this scene could do
justice to Michael Richards’ performance. Anyone could read the lines off a
page but he performs them with such flair and nuance - The force with which he
bursts through the door after Ray opens it. The little turn of the head he
gives Ray while telling him, “Just keep making love to that wall, pervert.” His
raising his voice in just the right places to be just the right level of
intimidating. The smoothness of his exit after he locates and retrieves the
statue – just the little things that bring this masterpiece to life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Proud of himself, Kramer brings everyone together at Jerry’s
to show them the statue. As George is holding it, Kramer pats George on the
back. The statue flies out of George’s hands and shatters to a thousand pieces
on the floor.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-56230985254325390542013-08-29T08:40:00.000-07:002013-08-29T08:40:40.239-07:00Season 2, episode 9: The Stranded<div class="MsoNormal">
“Maybe the dingo ate your baby.” – Elaine</div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9p-7h87coBRn_vcMrCkhkiBccnBt1Hsb1bIUFNQoNE0d3LYevp3Enh6kWw22uPRcc7xMM6eEZMqQbTuexV8WQIwKsSWGX5du0NOhPU8rzLLwLZFM9iDhyphenhyphenrHd2e8Ufz79IcmBlI3ZX9fZf/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.9+-+The+Stranded.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9p-7h87coBRn_vcMrCkhkiBccnBt1Hsb1bIUFNQoNE0d3LYevp3Enh6kWw22uPRcc7xMM6eEZMqQbTuexV8WQIwKsSWGX5du0NOhPU8rzLLwLZFM9iDhyphenhyphenrHd2e8Ufz79IcmBlI3ZX9fZf/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.9+-+The+Stranded.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Vic Mackey wouldn't be caught dead in that sweater.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine and Jerry are asked by George to accompany him to a
party on <st1:place w:st="on">Long Island</st1:place> for his work (he’s still
in real estate – and actually, before I go on I should mention that this
episode didn’t air until the 3<sup>rd</sup> season when George was no longer in
real estate. This episode was preceded by a message from Jerry explaining this
continuity error). While George pursues a woman he works with, Jerry and Elaine
wade through the rough waters of terrible conversation with people they’ve
never met or will ever see again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Asked by a party-goer where he gets his material, Jerry
tells him he hears a voice in his head, but it’s a German voice, so he has to
have it translated. Elaine suffers through a conversation she’s not actively
participating in about George Washington Carver. Later she’s sitting next to a
woman obnoxiously pronouncing ‘fian<b>cé</b>’.
George, unseen to the camera, makes progress with his co-worker and tells Jerry
he’s going to drive her home. So Jerry and Elaine are now stranded at this
party. Jerry calls Kramer to come pick them up but he doesn’t arrive until
after 2am. Jerry apologizes to the host, a pre-Vic Mackay Michael Chiklis, and
offers his services if he’s ever in the city.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The following week Seinfeld is just about to leave his
apartment to pick up medication (which he needs because he’s had a cold all
week; a result of driving back from the party in Kramer’s convertible with the
top down at 2am on the freeway) when Chiklis shows up. He’s waiting for a ride
and just wants to hang out in the meanwhile. Jerry is leaving but feels guilty so
lets him stay at the apartment. While out with George at the pharmacy, George
decides to steal the medication which costs just under $10 (an amount George
feels he is owed by the pharmacy after receiving incorrect change at the
beginning of the episode) but he’s arrested by the security guard. At the
apartment, Kramer runs into Chiklis and they proceed to – get drunk, tell
stories, call an escort service, hire a prostitute (Kramer has left by now) and
get into a fight over money with previously mentioned prostitute – all before
Jerry returns from the pharmacy. Chiklis’ ride shows up and he leaves without
paying the woman what she is owed. Right as Jerry pulls out his wallet to cover
the difference the cops show up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later, after they are both released from jail, George and
Jerry compare notes on their brief prison experience.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-66818138547800071792013-08-27T17:42:00.002-07:002013-08-27T17:42:40.675-07:00Season 2, episode 8: The Apartment<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“I just threw away a life time of guilt free sex and floor
seats for every sporting event in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Madison</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Square</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Garden</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
So please, a little respect. For I am Costanza: Lord of the Idiots.” – George</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz5dZEvqV6TFO_ntJn652rN-b8i8d3tA29zuFsRuvZefVeJRFm9-krUqlSuo9FYCMQR_2ylKSkRZ7fjzQQrQRsLZhSsTQR-xuWWDdD_snQWCUh3fzYol8L6z02O5HDNqVRPVk7PYa1CpnW/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.8+-+The+Apartment.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz5dZEvqV6TFO_ntJn652rN-b8i8d3tA29zuFsRuvZefVeJRFm9-krUqlSuo9FYCMQR_2ylKSkRZ7fjzQQrQRsLZhSsTQR-xuWWDdD_snQWCUh3fzYol8L6z02O5HDNqVRPVk7PYa1CpnW/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.8+-+The+Apartment.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry’s 94 year old upstairs neighbor dies leaving an
opening in the building. The building managers ask Jerry if he know anyone
looking for an apartment and Jerry, without thinking about it, suggests Elaine.
And the apartment is only $400 a month. I know it’s 1990 on the show but that
still seems appaullingly low for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Manhattan</st1:city></st1:place>.
She just happens to be in his apartment at that moment so he goes back inside
and gives her the news. She’s super excited about it, even giving him a “Get
out!” shove (the first of the series). As soon as she starts talking about how
much time they can spend together, Jerry’s pleased expression deteriorates into
a near panic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He meets George outside Monk’s and explains what he just
did. “You may think you’re an idiot but with all due respect I’m a much bigger
idiot than you are,” Jerry says. But George being George responds, “Please,
don’t insult me, my friend, remember who you’re talking to. Nobody is a bigger
idiot than me.” They go inside to continue debating who the bigger idiot is.
It’s here that George brings up something he heard from a friend; that women
are attracted to married men. Jerry tells George that Kramer has his father’s
wedding band. George laughs the idea off but later picks up the band and uses
it at a social event.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry, meanwhile, has an out with Elaine. Someone else is
willing to pay $5,000 to take the apartment and Jerry knows Elaine doesn’t have
that kind of money. As he’s breaking the ‘bad’ news to her, Kramer walks in and
suggests, to Jerry’s ire, that he should just loan her the money. Under
pressure, Jerry agrees. Elaine leaves and Jerry chews out Kramer for ruining
his opportunity to get rid of Elaine. “You’re a pod,” Jerry tells him, “I on
the other hand am a human being.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry, George and Elaine attend a gathering in Elaine’s
friend’s apartment to watch the NYC Marathon. George is wearing Kramer’s band
and flirts with several women (including Theresa Randle!- whatever happened to
her???) at the party who all show way more interest in George than they should
but none will act because they think he’s married. Elaine meanwhile gives Jerry
another out when she mentions that living so close could be awkward for the two
of them but Jerry brushes her concerns aside. Jerry and George convene at the
table spread to again debate which of the two of them is the bigger idiot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer solves the apartment problem by finding someone, a
musician, with $10,000. “Occasionally I like to help the humans,” he quips. The
episode closes with Jerry, Elaine and the building managers in Jerry’s
apartment listening to the racket the musicians make at all hours of the day.
So even though he solved one problem, now Jerry has another.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-26266680609456799032013-08-26T16:07:00.000-07:002013-08-26T16:07:28.727-07:00Season 2, episode 7: The Phone Message<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“For me to ask a woman out I have to get into a mental state
like the karate guys before they break the bricks.” – George</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_fqPsgrRtVszQoLApHVrmKEa5toxO8w4TSPpRhqXrUclmAY25IL0sNdHWZe3TD8QNtKaTW-AlNuaLtA9MVh-_GeKKYZcCzYO8krdVVCRUylBhPZC6dQXhwXUGqcNzaNkXj3Uubu_gReuS/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.7+-+The+Phone+Message.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_fqPsgrRtVszQoLApHVrmKEa5toxO8w4TSPpRhqXrUclmAY25IL0sNdHWZe3TD8QNtKaTW-AlNuaLtA9MVh-_GeKKYZcCzYO8krdVVCRUylBhPZC6dQXhwXUGqcNzaNkXj3Uubu_gReuS/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.7+-+The+Phone+Message.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is one of those George episodes where he’s somehow able
to put himself together long enough and found the right amount of confidence to
successfully acquire himself a date for an evening that doesn’t end completely
in disaster. But his overachievement can’t last forever and he spends the last
20 minutes of the episode trying to save a relationship that for him is clearly
a lost cause since he cannot possibly maintain the high level competence that
got him the date in the first place. Only here there’s a twist…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fall here begins at the end of the date when his girl,
Carol, asks him up for ‘coffee’. Now, any man with only rudimentary social
skills would know what this meant. George, however, turns down the invite for
coffee since it would keep him up. Seconds after Carol gets out of the car,
George makes the connection between coffee and sex and proceeds to beat himself
up over it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later when George is in Jerry’s apartment recalling this
moment he reflects, “people this stupid shouldn’t be allowed to live.” After
some encouragement from Elaine he decides to call her for another date. He
kicks everyone out of Jerry’s apartment and makes the call. Upon getting her
machine he leaves a rambling, stammer filled awkward message that runs on and
on that he is immediately unhappy with.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4 days and 4 increasingly agitated, aggressive and angry
messages later George learns that Carol has been in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Hamptons</st1:city></st1:place> and never got his messages. So
George decides to implement a plan, with Jerry’s help, suggested by Elaine;
switch the tapes. So the two meet Carol outside her apartment. In the apartment
George distracts Carol while Jerry switches the tapes. After Carol checks her
messages she tells George that her neighbor had already played her messages for
her over the phone. But thinking George’s messages were hilarious she says, “I
just love jokes like that.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know about this ending. In spite of himself George
comes through as clean as a whistle which is very un-George like.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-55979590688312497282013-08-23T19:36:00.001-07:002013-08-23T19:36:07.627-07:00Season 2, episode 6: The Chinese Restaurant<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“For fifty bucks? I’d put my face in their soup and blow.” - George</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZwdMXPTp2cI3fbDGiJLv5iG-d3FgxA5EceDhvdk_8NBY9aE4h4HIy-FxJOPqH931c5L4PF0NH93DQ68R-rInKYmo7PhwL1MR9KYb838nvTajhZ4G1kj8kQ1Jht8zfn6zGFozYeTHtAPoU/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.6+-+The+Chinese+Restaurant.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZwdMXPTp2cI3fbDGiJLv5iG-d3FgxA5EceDhvdk_8NBY9aE4h4HIy-FxJOPqH931c5L4PF0NH93DQ68R-rInKYmo7PhwL1MR9KYb838nvTajhZ4G1kj8kQ1Jht8zfn6zGFozYeTHtAPoU/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.6+-+The+Chinese+Restaurant.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry’s stand-up is a completely dated bit about pay phones.
In our current culture, pay phones and cell phones have to be the first
technological difference when viewing movies and shows from the 20<sup>th</sup>
century. 80% of the situations characters find themselves would be resolved in
a dramatically different fashion with a cell phone. I was so wrapped up in my
own thoughts about this that I wasn’t listening to the details of the material.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This, of course, is the classic episode, The Chinese
Restaurant, and it’s a landmark episode for several reasons. It’s the first
episode to take place entirely outside Jerry’s apartment. It’s the first
episode in which Kramer does not appear. And it’s the first episode (possibly
only?) to take place in real time. NBC hated this episode and pushed it back to
the end of the second season because “nothing happens in it.” The more I watch
these early episodes the more I realize that Seinfeld would have no chance of
survival in the modern network television world. After the airing of this
episode the network realized they should just leave Jerry and Larry alone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry, Elaine and George are on their way to watch a
screening of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plan Nine From Outer Space!</i>
And they stop in at a Chinese restaurant to grab dinner beforehand. The maitre’d
tells them a table will be ready in “5 to 10 minutes.” They never get a table
and what follows is 22 minutes of Jerry fighting his memory over a woman at a
table that looks really familiar to him, Elaine fighting starvation, and George
fights off other patrons for use of the pay phone – first a man in glasses
followed by a middle aged woman - so he can call his girl friend and tell her
where they are.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When they arrive at the restaurant there is already a man on
the pay phone. George waits patiently but he twice timidly asks the man how long
he’ll be. Both times the man rebuffs George by silently turning his back to
him. After the second attempt George goes to Jerry and asks, “If anything
happens here, can I count on you?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry dares Elaine to go up to a table and just take an egg
roll. He’s convinced no one will stop her and they’ll have a story to tell
their children. She gets as far as walking up to the table before chickening
out and coming back empty handed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile other people are being seated ahead of the group.
Jerry and Elaine approach the maitre’d who assures them that those other folks
were here first and that a Mr. Cohen is always here to which Elaine responds,
“what does that mean?!” And with a perplexed look downwards speaking to no one
in particular, “Where am I? Is this a dream?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George eventually gets use of the phone but his girl friend
isn’t home so he leaves a message to call the restaurant. A few minutes later
the Maitre’d calls out for a Cartwright(!). George asks if the call was for
Costanza. “Who’s Cartwright?” asks Jerry. A bewildered George responds, “I’m
Cartwright.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’re not Cartwright.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“OF COURSE I’M NOT CARTWRIGHT!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The woman Jerry recognizes stops to say hello to him on the
way out and – have you every had a conversation with a person you weren’t really
sure how you knew them and you can’t even remember their name but they clearly
know who you are and they bring up certain, specific things you should know,
but not too specific such that you can fake your way through the conversation
with ‘yeah’ and ‘I know’ and ‘totally…I agree…I agree…’ as your only responses?
Because that is precisely what Jerry did here. It’s only after the fact that he
could recall how he knew the woman (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Lorraine</st1:state></st1:place>,
as it turns out).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Getting hungrier by the second, Elaine decides to bribe the
maitre’d with $20. After taking a while to figure out how to split $20 between
3 people (George pays $6 because he’s ‘not going to eat much’) Elaine slips him
the $20. when that doesn’t work she just plead with him to take the money. He
takes it and seats another party.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally with no time to eat and go to the movie the group
leaves. As soon as they walk out the maitre’d calls for them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wow. I don’t know what NBC was thinking when they said
nothing happened in this episode. I’d never really thought that highly of The
Chinese Restaurant. I’d looked at it was a good episode but not world beater or
anything but now I understand why this is such a great Seinfeld episode. There
was more going on here than any episode I’ve seen. I don’t know how they packed
as much as they did into 22 minutes. And there was no wasted moment as the
action moves from material to material, set up to joke to set up to joke. And
every single one of them works; it’s pretty outstanding. It’s just too bad
Michael Richards wasn’t a part of this one.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-54856038922119339812013-08-19T09:59:00.000-07:002013-08-19T09:59:17.371-07:00Season 2, episode 5: The Jacket<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“We’ll say we’re frightened and we have to go home.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uuXUXVPgiajSC8mwmq9tgarnLClRt3q7QGo1iJQloFlohorSdLsmuPLiPic_r4hthVV9-7aUzVw6eNbGu8jZzXtf6AVqpG7zzLK8J2LRljj7BclQodJSmzVh0MpZHY5vzrmXXgi2yD4I/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.5+-+The+Jacket.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uuXUXVPgiajSC8mwmq9tgarnLClRt3q7QGo1iJQloFlohorSdLsmuPLiPic_r4hthVV9-7aUzVw6eNbGu8jZzXtf6AVqpG7zzLK8J2LRljj7BclQodJSmzVh0MpZHY5vzrmXXgi2yD4I/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.5+-+The+Jacket.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry’s opening stand up reflects on fashion of the future
commenting that everyone in the future on TV and movies wears the same thing.
Not to get on a tangent here, but the fashion on Star Trek always bugged me.
Not the uniforms but civilian attire. Everyone wore the worst looking
jumpsuits. Would it have been so hard to let some of those characters wear the
occasional t-shirt or khaki pants? This is something I feel strongly about!
Anyway, back to the present (or Seinfeld circa 1991)…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The story opens open Jerry and Elaine shopping in a men’s
clothing department where Jerry finds the perfect suede jacket. Elaine asks
Jerry to accompany her to dinner with her father (Lawrence Tierney).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later George and Jerry are getting ready for the dinner.
Jerry puts on the suede jacket, catching George’s eye. He asks Jerry how much
it cost, guessing the price. Jerry doesn’t answer and George incrementally
increasing his guess until it surpasses $1000 by which point he is completely
flummoxed. Jason’s performance in this scene is tremendous.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The two meet Elaine’s father in his hotel lobby but Elaine
is not there. They sit with him in the most uncomfortably funny scene of the
series thus far. Not surprisingly this story is based on an event in Larry
David’s life. George and Jerry independently find excuses to get up and convene
in the restroom where they plan an exit strategy. Jerry wonders how they’ll get
out of dinner to which George, in the most honest response he’s ever given to a
question says, “We’ll say we’re frightened and we have to go home.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lawrence Tierney is the most inspired guest casting in the
first two seasons, and apparently, Tierney was just as intimidating on set as
his character was in this episode.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine finally arrives and the group head out to eat dinner.
It’s now snowing outside and Jerry is worried about his suede jacket. So he
turns it inside out and is about to head out the door when Elaine’s father
stops him. The Barbershop stripes of the interior don’t really appeal to his
masculine tastes and he makes Jerry turn it back around.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the end Jerry gives his now ruined suede jacket to
Kramer.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-57228162446680727822013-08-12T09:04:00.002-07:002013-08-12T09:04:55.306-07:00Season 2, episode 4: The Baby Shower<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></span>“What you’re suggesting is illegal.”
</b><div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“It’s not illegal.”</b></div>
<b>
</b><div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“It’s against the law.”</b></div>
<b>
</b><div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“Well, yeah!”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>- Jerry and Kramer </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFwNxbY_jtOsqs4mbcF-uTFOp8CJyKJCjgxfIBLQlM33-8zDTRPtCsmSPOUy7IuYjL_Vo5xtsV1EibbrNnWIzl4prNFYRwIgbPx8Vel4lA6K2kQmeTkQEPgCaBMx-H73BdiW831UJirq7/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.4+-+The+Baby+Shower.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYFwNxbY_jtOsqs4mbcF-uTFOp8CJyKJCjgxfIBLQlM33-8zDTRPtCsmSPOUy7IuYjL_Vo5xtsV1EibbrNnWIzl4prNFYRwIgbPx8Vel4lA6K2kQmeTkQEPgCaBMx-H73BdiW831UJirq7/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.4+-+The+Baby+Shower.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Baby shower opens in Monk’s. Jerry, George and Elaine
are having lunch and Elaine is planning a baby shower for a friend who happens
to be a former girlfriend of George’s whom he currently holds a grudge against
for ruining his new red shirt (she spilled chocolate sauce on it during a
performance art piece she was performing).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jerry allows Elaine use of his apartment for the shower
while he is out of town for a stand up show in Buffalo. He also allows Kramer to install
illegal cable at the same time, though Kramer really has to work to convince
him (56 channels, Jerry!). George, meanwhile, plots his revenge against the
woman who ruined his shirt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the flight to Buffalo Jerry dreams that his illegal cable
hook up results in the FBI raiding his home and putting about 4 dozen rounds in
his chest Tarantino style. He wakes up on the plane sitting next to Earl
Milford (you can always tell a Milford
man!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But a storm cancels Jerry’s show so George picks him up at
the airport back in New York
and offers to take him back to the apartment. Jerry would rather go to George’s
apartment to avoid the baby shower. George insists they go back to Jerry’s
apartment. Jerry notices that George is wearing his ruined red shirt and
figures out that George has a plan to get back at the woman. They get back to
the apartment but George chickens out when it comes time to confront her. But
another woman at the shower confronts Jerry about not calling her back for a
second date after telling her he would. As she storms out she brushes up
against George’s nemesis which causes her to spill the cake she’d been holding
on George’s shirt, thus ruining it for a second time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, Jerry confronts the Russian cable guys and tells
them he doesn’t want the cable and won’t pay them $400. They respond by
breaking his television. The characters sit around the broken TV reflecting on
their lot in life.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-56081183083429274392013-08-08T15:55:00.002-07:002013-08-08T15:55:59.664-07:00Season 2, episode 3: The Busboy<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“He’s a wonderful guy, but I hate his guts.” - Elaine</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWku7GkcO-GEUCsY04ldi0vmkrwd5Yywt6k1Rrmr3m7ZPupj1VMuhfUC6amugBXIJFcsPxPKvslti3Afy3SvWJF6OHiQoOzXidmeqtZY3peJjJYH1cMcQdKMzUA8WRVGoLGywT7zj-lXR5/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.3+-+The+Busboy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWku7GkcO-GEUCsY04ldi0vmkrwd5Yywt6k1Rrmr3m7ZPupj1VMuhfUC6amugBXIJFcsPxPKvslti3Afy3SvWJF6OHiQoOzXidmeqtZY3peJjJYH1cMcQdKMzUA8WRVGoLGywT7zj-lXR5/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.3+-+The+Busboy.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Busboy was the third episode in the production order of
the second season but aired as the finale because, according to the ‘notes
about nothing’ captions for this episode, the NBC execs didn’t like that Jerry
wasn’t really involved in either the A or B story. Hilarious when you think
about the later seasons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In story A, George puts out a fire at a restaurant and
innocently tells the manager that the busboy left the menu too close to the
candle which leads to the busboy being fired. George feels guilty (for the
first and possibly only time in the series?) and goes with Kramer to the
busboy’s apartment to apologize. But, while there, they leave the door open and
the busboy’s cat escapes. I also want to point out that George’s reaction to
the fire is in complete contrast with his reaction to a fire in the season 5
episode titled, uh…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fire</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In story B, Elaine has a boyfriend staying with her for a
week but by week’s end she can’t stand him and has hatched an elaborate plan to
make sure he doesn’t miss his flight…which fails.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Both stories converge (a first for the series) at Jerry’s
apartment when Elaine bursts in and tells the tale of how she almost got to the
airport on time. Right after that the busboy shows up and thanks George. In a
strange turn of events there was an explosion at the restaurant and if he
hadn’t been fired he would have been killed. The Busboy leaves and runs into
Elaine’s boyfriend in the hall. They have an altercation and both tumble down
the stairs ending up in the hospital. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aside from introducing some thematic elements that would
become staples of the series later on and expanding on the lives all the
characters not named Jerry Seinfeld, nothing really stands out about this
episode. It’s not a good sign for the story when my biggest laugh is during Jerry’s
stand-up.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-77484573202849682752013-08-07T08:00:00.001-07:002013-08-07T08:00:24.939-07:00Season 2, episode 2: The Pony Remark<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>“It’s not that I think you can’t. I know that you can’t and
I’m positive that you won’t.”</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxxJyCm8ASWAhPURA3sZfFw2XT4nk84TbQwr6z7rFh0pu2Ts69OQMB_4QpN9YxwrET_Dz4e81MXFhHFL9_QhmWO3156-qWMEc_h0rtilkaHtNWUtdTjkSzvY73_3bXq8v0gOn4SqpvV7g/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.2+-+The+Pony+Remark.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxxJyCm8ASWAhPURA3sZfFw2XT4nk84TbQwr6z7rFh0pu2Ts69OQMB_4QpN9YxwrET_Dz4e81MXFhHFL9_QhmWO3156-qWMEc_h0rtilkaHtNWUtdTjkSzvY73_3bXq8v0gOn4SqpvV7g/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.2+-+The+Pony+Remark.png" width="320" /></a></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The above quote is, of course, from the conversation where
Kramer reveals to Jerry his plan for levels in his apartment. I’d completely
forgotten that this was part of the Pony Remark episode. I thought for sure
that it was several seasons later. Kramer never builds the levels and says the
bet is off to which a stunned Jerry says, “But that was the bet!” This is the
funniest material so far and it’s only the B story!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main thread is the dinner Jerry’s parents (now with
Barney Martin as Jerry’s dad) force him to go to where he has to put up with a
bunch of people he doesn’t really know, plus Uncle Leo (in his first
appearance). After some innocently awkward small talk Jerry blurts out that he
hated anyone who had a pony, offending Manya who leaves in a huff, leading to
Jerry stumble through a long, uncomfortable justification finishing with the classic line, “Who figure’s an immigrant’s going to have a pony?!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That second classic line from this episode which Jerry later
repeats as the final line of the story before the end stand-up scene. The best
part about the line is the second time: Jerry, Elaine and George are in the
coffee shop discussing Jerry’s worst softball performance in his life, which
Elaine blames on Manya’s spirit when Jerry responds with that line. And even
knowing the line is coming you can see Julia begin to smile before he says it,
and just completely break character right before it cuts away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What makes this such a classic is that it’s that perfect
Larry David episode that straddles the line of being completely believable and
completely unbelievable. Every event seems completely crazy on the surface but
when you linger on it a few seconds you think, well I guess I could see that
happening.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1416400534871029838.post-56012874641772925532013-08-06T07:32:00.001-07:002013-08-06T07:32:41.461-07:00Season 2, episode 1: The Ex Girlfriend<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu70abXikhj8dHQzCYGv9F4Gu9tDr4Iny0Rqneltjy5Jjah6Fc4z6EKEmeiyte7ytA673Nc0T9JVKhsxw40L4-hRIQU0ETfb0OaFTPscq7OP1haltQvJTPUki12EFGK0m2vdCwgbwyHqC/s1600/Seinfeld+pic+2.1+-+The+Ex-Girlfriend.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu70abXikhj8dHQzCYGv9F4Gu9tDr4Iny0Rqneltjy5Jjah6Fc4z6EKEmeiyte7ytA673Nc0T9JVKhsxw40L4-hRIQU0ETfb0OaFTPscq7OP1haltQvJTPUki12EFGK0m2vdCwgbwyHqC/s320/Seinfeld+pic+2.1+-+The+Ex-Girlfriend.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So here we are in season 2 and there a plenty improvements
here in the first episode alone. When Seinfeld got picked up for a second
season it was too late for the fall schedule which gave the producers extra
time to tweak the shows look. A few changes were made to Jerry’s apartment in
the form of a paint job and some additional detailing with lighting and
furniture. The bigger changes come in the scripts being tighter and characters
being more refined and the chemistry of the cast having really coalesced at the
beginning of this season. The timing of Jerry, Jason, Julia and Michael is a
lot more natural here and the progression is fun to watch.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the premiere, George is planning to break up with his
girlfriend, Marlene, but is nervous (of course) about going through with it. He
does, and is ecstatic about it, but he has one problem- he left some books in
her apartment. So he asks Jerry to get them. This leads to Jerry dating
Marlene, which George has no problem with. George does have a problem with
Jerry secretly paying his chiropractic bill. “He didn’t do anything. Touch
this, feel that, seventy-five dollars!” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elaine’s story has her dealing with a guy she knows who
doesn’t say ‘hello’ to her when they pass each other leading to the best
Seinfeld-esque line of the series so far (but it will be passed in the next episode):
“’I just didn’t want to say hello anymore, all right?’ And I said ‘fine, fine.
I didn’t want to say hello either. But I wanted you to know that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’m</i></b>
aware of it!’”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kramer meanwhile has a melon obsession. Jerry gets a bad one
and Kramer wants to return it. He later brings a golf club into Jerry’s
apartment. Both of these scenes are reminiscent of numerous future episodes including The Mango, The Caddy and The Marine Biologist.
The episode wraps up when Marlene breaks up with Jerry after she sees his act.
This whole episode from beginning to end is great and we’re getting to see the
cast and crew at its full potential when dealing with the minutia and trivial
events in our lives.</div>
Carl Gianninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13294695713317246946noreply@blogger.com0