Season 1, episode 3: The Robbery

In The Robbery we finally get an episode where the plot branches out into multiple storylines rather than focus solely on thread. First: Jerry goes on vacation and has Elaine house sit for him. But upon returning Jerry discovers that he’s been robbed, due to Kramer leaving the door open after borrowing a spatula. Jerry files a police report but Kramer wants to make it up to Jerry by solving the crime himself.

Simultaneously: George has an apartment that might interest Jerry but after they look at it George wants it as well. Elaine, meanwhile, wants to move into either George or Jerry’s old place if one of them takes the newer apartment. But since they can’t decide who will take it they let a waitress at Monk’s have the apartment.

This was a fun episode. Nothing is resolved; Jerry doesn’t get his stuff back (it magically returns in the next episode) and everyone stays in their original apartment, though Elaine is out a couch – but the episode is made on Kramer’s antics. Kramer is really the star of this first season even if he’s only in one or two scenes an episode. We never see his investigation into the robbery but his explanation is more colorful than anything we would have seen and his entrances into Jerry’s apartment are beginning to take on a life of their own.

We’re still not at the quality of the later seasons but we’re getting there.