Manic Expression

An Analytical Episode Guide to :

 SEINFELD!!!!!!!!!!

Season  7, Part 3

Episode 13, Season 7

The Seven

Plot Summary-George fears losing the creative name he madeup for his future son. Elaine buys a bike, and after she hurts her neck Kramerhelps her and lays claim to the bike. Jerry dates a woman who wears the samedress every day.

Best Quote-“Yeah I guess I could see it. Seven. Sevenperiods of school, seven beatings a day. Roughly seven stitches a beating andeventually seven years to life. Yeah your doing that child quite a service”….Jerry

Nitpick of the episode-Seven is such an absurd name. By theway have I ever mentioned my favorite character on Star Trek-Voyager was Sevenof Nine?  Wait……could it be George wasactually on to something?

Seinfeldism of the episode-Georges not only creates the nameSeven, but Soda as well

Deleted Scenes-A cut ending where George has to accept hisname has been stolen, and Jerry sees the woman wearing the dress again

Episode Fun Fact-There is a blooper in this episode, duringthe scene with Newman an engagement ring appears and disappears from hisfinger.

Final Thoughts- The Jerry story is classic, Jerry obsessingabout why the girl keeps wearing that same dress over and over. And much likethe episode about the pie, he never does find out why. George’s story is prettygood to, and he obsesses about this silly name to the total disregard of the circumstancesaround him. Typical George. The weak parts of the story are Kramer and the dumbthing with the mooching inventory. We’re supposed to believe that Kramersuddenly feels bad he has been taking food without paying? After all theseyears? Why not care more about why Jerry was so cranky that day, since that’s reallyall it was. In the end he has no money to pay even though we see in previousepisodes that Kramer usually has cash to spare. And if he didn’t have anymoney, why do it at all since running a tab was all his idea! Then it gets evenworst. The fact that Kramer expects to get the bike is hard to swallow, I justdon’t buy that “verbal contract” crap especially since a verbal contract ismore than just spouting something off randomly. A verbal contract has to beimplicitly agreed to just like a written contract (what happens in this episodeis more of an implied contract than a verbal one). And then after he gets thebike he ends up selling it to Newman when he needs cash?? If he cared thatlittle for it then why did he make a big deal about keeping it? Finally, whatexactly is keeping Elaine from seeing a real doctor about her back? Bottomline, the whole Elaine/Kramer story here is dumb. By the way, Newman isactually good in this episode he may be the only thing good in that whole bikestory.

Grade=B-, Tough to grade because the good stuff is great,but the bad stuff is really dumb.

Episode 14 & 15,Season 7

The Cadillac

Plot Summary-Jerry buys a Cadillac for his father. Elainesets up George with Marisa Tomei. Kramer has some fun making a cable man wait.Elaine is smitten with Jerry when she discovers how much money he has.

Best Quote-“What about Marisa Tomei?”…George after Elaineinforms him that her friend is in the hospital, one of his most callousmoments.

Nitpick of the episode-This is George at his most selfish,Marisa Tomei is all he can focus on even after Elaine her reveals her friend isin the hospital with a heart condition. The idea of Jerry being able to buythat car is so incredible that it makes it into the script.

Seinfeldism of the episode-Lot of callbacks here. Jerry paysfor his actions with the marble rye, the fold-out couch at Jerry’s parent’scauses problems again, George tries out his manure line on Marisa Tomei (thistime it gets a laugh), art vandelay and the whole importer/exporter stuff, andof course the pact is brought up again.

Deleted Scenes-None for this episode

Episode Fun Fact-It’s around this episode that the trianglesGeorge bought in “The Junior Mint” appear in his apartment and remain for the rest of the series.

Final Thoughts-This show was extended to make it fit anhour, and man does it show! While not quite as bad as the next one hourepisode, this one feels forced. Every story kind of starts strong but by theend we don’t care about any of them. The best example is Kramer’s story. Yeahthe idea of making the cable guy wait for a change is funny, but really by thatlast scene are we even interested anymore? We finally see Jerry pay for hisaction with the marble rye, as it causes his father to be impeached. The spoofat the end of Richard Nixon leaving office was kind of funny. However they hadto add scenes to stretch the show into an hour and the padding is obvious; takethat whole thinh about skipping the early bird. You could lose that all thingand the episode would be the same. Then of course we have George and the wholeMarisa Tomei story. Not sure what to say about this one, kind of funny to getan inside look at how George’s mind works, at least that’s how it comes off inthis episode. George and Elaine tend to have great moments on this show, andthis episode is a great example of that. However at the same time Elaine reallydoesn’t have anything to do but be involved in Jerry and George’s stories,which is a shame.

Grade=C-, runs out of steam very fast!

Episode 16, Season 7

The Shower Head

Plot Summary-Jerry, Newman, and Kramer complain about thenew low flow shower heads. Elaine loses her job after testing positive for opium.George tries to convince his parents to move to Florida while Jerry tries tofigure out how to make his folks move back to Florida.

Best Quote-“You’re the only one I know who’s got the goodstuff and I really need it bad baby because I feel like I’ve got bugs crawlingon my skin”….Kramer

Nitpick of the episode-How can eating poppy seeds make youtest positive for opium?

Seinfeldism of the episode-Jerry complains he has lost his “bufferzone” with his parents

Deleted Scenes-None for this episode

Episode Fun Fact-The scene with Frank and Estelle at Jerry’sdressing room took many takes to get right

Final Thoughts-An improvement over the last episode, buteven so there is something about this episode that just never sat right withme. Not sure what it is because this episode isn’t really that bad. Maybe it’sbecause its more about Jerry and George’s parents than it is Jerry and George. Thisis a stuffed show. We have Newman, Jerry’s parents, George’s parents, UncleLeo, J Peterman, and even a Jay Leno cameo. Then we get Elaine’s story whichhas a premise centered on something which makes no sense. Granted the scenebetween Elaine and Mrs.Seinfeld is pretty funny. The way Jerry manipulatesUncle Leo is pretty selfish, but that makes sense in this show. George’s worktrying to get his parents to move has an abrupt ending, it’s no wonder thatplot will come up again. The stuff with the low flow shower heads is cute, butdoesn’t really add up to much. It’s really leading to that one joke at the endof the episode.

Grade=C+, to many guest stars spoil the broth

Episode 17, Season 7

The Doll

Plot Summary-Susan has a doll which looks remarkably likeGeorge’s mother. Susan’s old college roommate messes up the bit Jerry hadprepared for a talk show. Elaine tried to get a new poster for the Maestro andKramer enjoys the new billiard room Frank built in George’s old room.

Best Quote-“Well maybe if I didn’t have so many people in myapartment all the time, I’d be able to get some work done”….Jerry

Nitpick of the episode-This episode loses me in the scenewhere Susan has her dolls in bed with her. That’s just nuts.

Seinfeldism of the episode-Hanging your pants up rather thansitting in them to keep a crease

Deleted Scenes-George and his mother

Episode Fun Fact-The title was originally “The Doormat”because at first the story was supposed to revolve around that item, KathyGriffin had lots to say about her time on Seinfeld and shared with heraudience. This leads to another episode, we’ll talk about that when we getthere.

Final Thoughts-It is kind of funny to watch George come veryclose to slipping off the deep end. I have to say, I am on his side in this episode.The doll was very well made, and Jason Alexander plays the scenes really funny.Sally Weaver is really annoying but thankfully Kathy Griffin knows how to beannoying and funny at the same time. We get the maestro back, and really doesn’tadd anything to the episode. The bit with the pool table in the room which is toosmall to fit it gets old real quick, and the stuff about the pants isn’t thatstrong either. There is a scene where Estelle walks in and sees the men wearingjust underwear, but unlike a similar scene in “The Doorman” this scene isn’tthat funny. The final gag with the baton is as predictable as it gets.

Grade=B, good but predictable

Episode 18, Season 7

The Friars Club

Plot Summary-Jerry tries to join the friars club. Georgesets up Jerry with a friend of Susan’s. Elaine wonders if a deaf co-worker isreally hard of hearing. Kramer uses Leonardo Da Vinci’s sleep habits but badthings happen as a result.

Best Quote-“I want to get it back to when we were the Gatsby’s”….George

Nitpick of the episode-Been waiting to go on this rant, sohere we go. First the idea that Jerry forgot to return the jacket is hard tobelieve, no one noticed him walking out with it? Then the Flying Sandos Brostake Jerry’s jacket as part of the act. Ok, no problem with that. Then whenJerry tries to get the jacket back, the Sandos Bros have no memory of takingthe jacket, leading Jerry to believe it was stolen. Long story short, it turnsout they wanted to clean the jacket before returning it to Jerry. Here is myquestion, WHY DIDN’T THEY TELL HIM THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE????  It just seems so dumb to me, they technicallystole his jacket! Not saying it was right for Jerry and George to steal theother one, but I can’t blame them for wondering if they would ever see thething again. And Jerry’s girlfriend comes off as a bitch in the end, goodriddance. Ok, rant over.

Seinfeldism of the episode-George wants Jerry to date Susan’sfriend so they can be “like the Gatsby’s”. Later Jerry has “soured” on her whenshe doesn’t seem to care about the jacket but promises he will try to “desour”and “sweeten”

Deleted Scenes-The scene at the dinner with Jerry, George,Susan and her friend was originally longer and included our first appearance ofPat Cooper, which makes his later appearance a bit more effective. We see Susantelling George that the wedding has been postponed in the original opening. Alsoan alternate ending where we see Elaine can’t hear thanks to the hearing aid.

Episode Fun Fact-The Flying Sandos Brothers are played by TheFlying Karamazov Brothers, filmed at the Orpheum Theatre in LA. Filming Kramerbeing thrown off the bridge involved a huge water tank.

Final Thoughts-Silliness aside, this wasn’t that bad anepisode. Kramer’s story is definitely unique, as we see him pass out on his girlfriendand get thrown over a bridge as if he were dead! I get the feeling the writersjust weren’t sure what to do with that story since it doesn’t end anywhere nearwhere it starts. We do get a Jackie Chiles cameo though. I can relate to Elaine’sstory, being hard of hearing myself. The last scene of the episode is a funnymoment, Julia did that scene well. I already tore into the whole Jerry story inthis episode, which isn’t bad but definitely forced! I love George in thisepisode, he knows if Jerry and Susan’s friend get together he will have an allywhich makes a lot of sense. Of course it doesn’t work out that way.

Grade=B, episodes tries too hard and crosses the line into silliness