Manic Expression

An Analytical Episode Guide to :

Season  5, Part 4

Episode 17, Season 5

The Wife

Plot Summary-When Jerry gets a deal on dry cleaning; his newgirlfriend pretends to be his wife to also get the discount. Kramer dates an AfricanAmerican girl while George is caught urinating in the shower. The man whocaught him is the same man Elaine is interested in, whom she gets all kinds ofmixed messages from. Needing rest Kramer goes to a tanning booth, where hefalls asleep.

Best Quote-“Do the medical journals mention anything aboutstanding in a pool of someone else’s urine?”…Jerry

Nitpick of the episode-What Elaine sees in the boring guyshe is interested in is beyond me. As for George and what he does in thisepisode…..think I’d better not go there (no pun intended).

Seinfeldism of the episode-Jerry’s coat is made of gore-tex

Deleted Scenes-None for this episode

Episode Fun Fact-The woman Jerry meets in the dry cleanerhad her dialogue dubbed over to her give her a more exotic feel.

Final Thoughts-Kramer’s story is probably one of his worstin the whole series. The thing with the quilt is lame, he doesn’t have another?And then what happens after he goes tanning…gee, didn’t see that coming! It’s predictableand dumb, not to mention borderline offensive. Thankfully we have George andElaine who are really funny discussing whether or not it’s ok to go to thebathroom while showering. Also, watching Jerry and his girlfriend act like anold married couple is definitely lots of fun. There story is very clever. Ilike how Uncle Leo pops up just long enough to complicate the situation.

Grade=B-, Kramer really brings this one down

Episode 18, Season 5

The Fire

Plot Summary-George has a girlfriend with a child. At abirthday party, George sees a fire and proceeds to storm out as he tramplesover everyone. Kramer’s coffee table book is being produced by his new girlfriendToby who is a rival for Elaine’s job. When Kramer takes Toby to an importantshow of Jerry’s, she heckles him so bad that he ends up having a bad review inEntertainment Weekly. As revenge, he decides to go to where she works andheckle her.

Best Quote-“This is like working with a contestant from thePrice is Right”…Elaine on Toby

Nitpick of the episode-Wow! You know, sometimes you try todefend George and the things he does but how do you defend this one? He seessmoke and flies out of the place, stepping on children and even pushing an oldlady aside. This is his lowest moment, but because it’s Seinfeld we love it.The worst part is he actually tries to defend himself, the scene with Jerryafterward is perfect the way Jerry comments on it.

Seinfeldism of the episode-George can’t believe no one hasheard of Bozo the Clown

Deleted Scenes-Elaine discovers Jerry heckled Toby and a scenewith Kramer finding the toe

Episode Fun Fact-The monologue Kramer gives about hisexperience on the bus was supposed to be filmed, but the creators realized the monologuewas sufficient.

Final Thoughts-Funny episode, which is amazing becauseGeorge is horrible and Kramer’s story is farfetched. But it works because welove George at his worst and this is as bad as he gets, and Michael Richardsknows how to sell a crazy story. I was very happy to see Jerry tear into Tobyafter she has ruined his performance, she really deserved it. She didn’t deservewhat would later happen to her, but since Jerry didn’t mean to cause her tohave an accident we don’t think any less of him.

Grade=B+, not much substance but the funny stuff is reallyfunny

Episode 19 & 20,Season 5

The Raincoats

Plot Summary-Elaine’s boyfriend Aaron takes an odd interestin Jerry’s parents. Jerry tries to find time alone with his girlfriend, but hisparents are in town waiting to go on a Paris trip, Kramer goes into businesswith Jerry’s father selling vintage raincoats. George tries to get out of a bigbrother program and determine why Jerry’s parents don’t seem to want to spendany time with his own. George sells his father’s clothes, but they are infestedwith moths and end up burned by the owner of the vintage store. The moths alsodisrupts Morty and Kramer’s business deal.

Best Quote-“They had plans huh? They were busy? They werebusy with their big plans!?”….George

Nitpick of the episode-Gotta go along with the crowd. Whomakes out during Schindler’s List? What amazes me is that the film is easilythree hours, and Jerry indicates he and Rachel were making out that whole time.Wow, that’s a long time to make out with someone!

Seinfeldism of the episode-Elaine’s boyfriend is a closetalker

Deleted Scenes-The last scene was longer as the guy wholeads the big brother org gets the postcard from George, with a Floridapostmark.

Episode Fun Fact-Reportedly while making Schindler’s List,Steven Spielberg would watch Seinfeld after he was done filming. This makessense, filming that movie had to be depressing I can see him needing an escape.That is why the movie gets a special mention in this episode.

Final Thoughts-Well, this episode has lots of problems.  I never understood why Morty had to cancel histrip. I mean, the raincoats weren’t going anywhere. Why not go back to New Yorkafter and take care of it? Or have Kramer do it alone and then work out anarrangement so Morty got his cut? And the fact that Rudy changed his mindsuddenly is hard to swallow. We see him tell Kramer, after Rudy burned theclothes, to let him know when the jackets arrived…so he was still interestedthen! What made him change his mind by that last scene? Oh I know because if hehad said something at that point the Seinfeld’s would have gone on the trip, ofcourse. The kid who George is supposed to look after’s father happens to livein Paris? Please! Klompas not being able to get into the garage is lame, thekey didn’t work? What, this complex they live in doesn’t have an office withextra keys? Why is Rachel so aggravated at Jerry because his parents are in theway, the Seinfeld’s are only there for three days, she lived with her father! Ithink you get the drift. Lots of plot holes and inconsistencies. The show hadto be stretched to make it an hour, and it shows. Take the totally pointless scenewhere Kramer and Morty argue over Kramer’s cut. However, it’s not as bad as thenext one hour episode. The funniest moment has to go to Aaron, who does aparody of the speech at the end of Schindler’s List. “I could have done more; Icould have done so much more!” That alone is worth checking the episode for; theguy was nuts but in a very funny and watchable way.

Grade=C+, Not the worst episode by far but a little tighter writing may have helped this one

Episode 21, Season 5

The Hamptons

Plot Summary-On a trip to the Hamptons, Elaine tries todetermine if a doctor likes her or not. Kramer steals lobster right out of theocean. George is seen naked by Jerry’s girlfriend, which wouldn’t have been sobad if he hadn’t just been swimming in some very cold water. George’sgirlfriend walks around topless for no apparent reason.

Best Quote-“I don’t know how you guys walk around with thosethings”….Elaine

Nitpick of the episode-So apparently none of the doors inthis place have locks, since they are opened while people are changing at leastthree times.

Seinfeldism of the episode-George suffers from shrinkage

Deleted Scenes-None for this episode.

Episode Fun Fact-Of course, the actress who played George’sgirlfriend wasn’t really totally topless when they filmed the scene.

 Final Thoughts-There issome funny moments with the shrinkage thing, but overall this is a really weakepisode. This is one time when George’s neurosis is just plain annoying. Whydoes he punish Rachel at the end, it was his girlfriend who ran because of heresay without so much as talking about it with George. I admit she may owe him anapology but she didn’t deserve what George did to her with the eggs. And thenhe walks in on her….He comes off as a total jerk! Kramer is also awful; hebreaks the law and gets busted for it. Funny?? The ugly baby gag is funny, atfirst, but by the time Kramer reacts to him the joke isn’t funny anymore.Elaine wondering if the doctor likes her or is just being nice is filler, andJerry really has nothing to do but sit back and observe.

Grade=C-, a couple classic lines does not a good episodemake

Episode 22, Season 5

The Opposite

Plot Summary-George realizes every decision he has ever madein his life was wrong, so he starts doing the opposite which causes him tofinally have good fortune including a new job and his own place. Juji fruitsaffect Elaine’s relationship, and her job. She also gets evicted. Jerryrealizes he always evens out no matter what, and Kramer’s coffee table book ispublished so he starts the book tour with Live with Regis and Kathie Lee!

Best Quote-“My name is George. I’m unemployed and live withmy parents”…..George

Nitpick of the episode-Kind of hard to defend Elaine in thisone. First of all, what did she think would happen as she scarf’s juji fruitdown in front of her hospitalized boyfriend? However, while you can blame herfor what happens with Mr.Lipman (what was stopping her from running after him?);she doesn’t deserve the entire blame. While it’s nice that Lipman is soconcerned about germs, considering how important this merger was I would havejust wiped my hands on pants and shook the guy’s hand!

Seinfeldism of the episode-In the end Elaine discovers thatthe worst has happened, she’s turned into George! I had never heard of Jujifruits until this episode. Still haven’t tried them.

Deleted Scenes-After breaking up with Rachel, we see Jerryimmediately meeting someone else thus breaking even once again. We also had moreof George doing the opposite. More of George talking about doing the oppositeand Tina had a longer list of complaints for Elaine.

Episode Fun Fact-the line from George's angry rant at themovie theater – "...we're gonnatake it outside and I'm gonna show you what it's like!" – is takenalmost verbatim from Buddy Rich. Also the last time we see Rachel, who is thelongest lasting relationship Jerry will have on this show lasting threeepisodes!

Final Thoughts-I love the scene where Kramer tells Jerry heis going on Regis and Kathie Lee, Jerry’s responds that he’ll loan him hispuffy shirt. That’s a great little callback. The other classic scene is theopening one in the coffee shop when Jerry encourages George to do the opposite.What a great episode, and great way to end the season! It’s so much fun towatch George and Elaine basically change places. The scene with Regis andKathie Lee is clearly fake. For one thing, they more than likely wouldn’t havehim on in the first place being an unpublished author, new authors rarely havebook tours, and the applause the audience gives is clearly for the actor not anunknown author no one’s ever heard of. We even see Kathie Lee chuckling away atthe end, just having fun. But it’s so cute I enjoy it anyway. George is sogreat being the opposite of himself. At this point we knew enough about Georgeto get a real laugh watching him not react the way we expect him to.  I worried that this may last into the nextyear and thankfully it didn’t. What did last was George’s job with the Yankees,and this is the first time we see Steinbrenner on the show. I was glad theymoved George out of his folk’s house, as funny as it was for a few episodes Ithink it would have started getting old. It is nice to see Elaine get the shortend for once. Jerry is really good in this episode, being confident in himselfand his good fortune.

 Grade=A, Great way toend the season!

So how did season 5 measure up? There may have been a few more duds than the previous year but overall I think they were able to keep up the quality and produce some good shows. Next week we will begin our look at season 6, which is considered by many to be a disappointing season. Are they correct? Come back and find out.