Season 3, Episode 2: The Truth

My Rating of this episode: 7/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 8.0/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697801/?ref_=ttep_ep2

This episode aired September 25, 1991. This is one of those rare moments when the air date and the dvd order are a match.

Jerry's storyline: Jerry gets audited by the IRS because Kramer got him to donate to a charity that ended up being fraudulent. George's accountant girlfriend is going to get him out of the jam, but not everything goes according to plan once George breaks up with the girl (she goes crazy and throws out Jerry's papers).

Favorite Jerry part(s): Jerry has a funny part when Elaine calls him out for having made the donation during their first date only because he thought it would impress Elaine, but Jerry declares in emphatic Jerry voice that he was only thinking of the poor Krakatoans.

George's storyline: George breaks up very harshly with his girlfriend after she asks him to tell her the truth (George had attempted the "it's not you, it's me" line). The truthful break-up drives the girl into a mental institution. George ends up getting back together out of a combination of guilt and trying to help Jerry with the audit situation.

Favorite George part(s): The episode starts with George on a date with his obnoxious girlfriend who is talking about art and she makes some random quote. George responds by saying, "Of course." She then says, "Thomas Carlyle, 1864" and George says, "Tommy C." He has clearly begun to phone in this relationship.

"I've driven women to lesbianism before but not a mental institution."

Best laugh of the episode for me is when George is explaining to Jerry how he envies the girl in the mental institution because she gets to wear slippers all day and have friends come to visit who will pity you. He then looks and Jerry and matter of factly says, "Pity is very underrated."

Jerry and George visit the girl and George begins speaking to her in a baby-type voice and introduces Jerry and Jerry gives a little kid-type wave where he bends down his four fingers.

Kramer's storyline: Kramer is dating Elaine's roommate much to Elaine's annoyance. He makes the roommate a coffee table out of a windshield he found. They crash into it because it is basically invisible. 

Favorite Kramer part(s): Before George comes over to Jerry's apartment, Jerry is explaining to Elaine (with Kramer sitting at the table in the background) that he would have killed Kramer, strangled him with his bare hands, if he didn't have George's girlfriend to help him get out of this audit. George comes up and reveals that he broke up with the girl. Kramer silently stands up and quickly slinks right out of the apartment.

Kramer has a funny, random part where he is in Jerry's apartment holding up a windshield. Jerry asks him what it's for and Kramer responds in a slightly giddy manner, "I found it on the road."

Elaine's storyline: Elaine is frustrated with Kramer dating her roommate. When given the chance to tell them the truth about their relationship she lies and tells them they are a great couple.  

Favorite Elaine part(s): Elaine's best part is when she tells Jerry that Kramer saw her naked. She does a funny Elaine dance/body contortion while saying "Jerry, how can I go on?"       

Supporting characters in this episode: Elaine's roommate makes another appearance, I think it's her third so far (maybe fourth???)  

Favorite character in this episode: Tough one, no one really stands out. I'll go with Jerry. He is pretty funny when things don't go his way because of decisions made by his friends (Kramer's charity recommendation and George's break-up). Plus, he does his funny voice thing enough in this episode to earn the narrow victory over whoever else I may have decided to choose.

Final thoughts:

This episode is satisfactory. Nothing too memorable, but funny moments as always. You can see them trying to tie the storylines together a bit more with Jerry's problem coinciding with George's and Kramer and Elaine sharing a plotline. 7-stars for this one.

Season 3, Episode 1: The Note

My Rating of this episode: 9/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 8.4/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697741/?ref_=ttep_ep1

This episode aired September 18, 1991, less than three months after the end of season 2. Season 3 on the dvd's in much closer to being in the air date order, but several episodes flip out of order throughout the season. This episode happens to actually be the true episode one of season three. So nice job dvd episode ordering team.

Jerry's storyline: Jerry freaks out his masseuse by discussing a child kidnapping during the massage and following that up with detailed questions about the masseuse's 5-year old son. Jerry gets a note from his dentist friend to recommend physical therapy so he can have his insurance pay for his massages (the dentist later gets investigated for insurance fraud).

Favorite Jerry part(s): Jerry is funny in the first scene when he goes on and on cluelessly freaking out the masseuse lady.    

George's storyline: George gets a massage from a man, and, well, the rest is George being George. George gets Jerry's dentist friend to write a note for him as well.

Favorite George part(s): George trying to switch masseuse's with Elaine prior to the man-massage is great. George explains that he is concerned that it will feel good and Elaine asks, "Then why get the massage?" George: "Exactly!" The scene of the actual massage is one of the best scenes thus far in the entire series. The following scene is of Elaine waiting for George after she clearly had a good massage. George walks, zombie-like, toward her and just hangs a direct left and walks out the door. The next scene continues with George telling Jerry about his massage from a man: "He was...touching and rubbing." He then tells Jerry "it moved." Jerry says maybe it just shifted. George says, "No, it wasn't a shift! I've shifted! This was a move!"

"I don't even like to use urinals. I'm a stall man."

George gets defensive when Jerry's dentist friend starts asking George about Evander Holyfield and whether George thinks he has a good body or if George likes him. George's odd responses prompt Jerry to ask George what's the matter with him. George says, "Nothing, why? You think something's wrong? Am I different?!"

George walks into Jerry's apartment with torn pants and a scraped knee. He explains he got it from chasing kids who called him "a Mary" after George jumped over a puddle in a feminine manner.

Kramer's storyline: Kramer sees Joe DiMaggio at a Doughnut shop and tries to break his concentration while DiMaggio focuses on his doughnut. 

Favorite Kramer part(s): Kramer has a nice scene where he tells the story of trying to distract DiMaggio by banging on the table and hollering. The episode ends with a scene where they spot DiMaggio at their coffee shop and Kramer goes right into banging on the table and yelping at him.

Elaine's storyline: Elaine also gets a note, unbeknownst to her, from Jerry's dentist friend to get massages covered by insurance (she had gotten her own note from her gynecologist).    

Favorite Elaine part(s): Elaine is funny in the scene with George prior to George's massage with the man.       

Supporting characters in this episode: No recurring characters. Raymond the masseuse is awesome though. He just smiles way big and makes George very uncomfortable the whole time.   

Favorite character in this episode: This one is a no-brainer. This is George's episode. He kills it throughout, even during the scene where he and Jerry go to apologize to Jerry's dentist friend. Maybe my favorite George episode so far. 

Final thoughts:

Nice, solid episode carried by George. The George's questioning of his heterosexuality must have been a pretty groundbreaking episode at the time and it is all done hilariously. I give in an easy 9 stars.

Season 2, Episode 12: The Busboy

My Rating of this episode: 8/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 7.9/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697664/?ref_=ttep_ep12

This episode aired June 26, 1991, more than one month after the previous episode. This episode is also out of order on the dvd's which has this as episode 3. This is also the final episode of the season. The dvd's have 13 episodes for season 2, but one of the episodes actually aired in season 3. Not sure on the logic with the dvd episode ordering, but wish they just put them in order.

Jerry's storyline: Jerry has no real storyline. He's just hanging out cracking jokes.  

Favorite Jerry part(s): After George is worried that he got the busboy in trouble for mentioning he put the menu too close to the candle, and Elaine is also worried for sarcastically declaring that she will never eat there again, Jerry of course has to point out, "I didn't say anything." The busboy gets fired and George and Elaine are both upset that they may have caused the firing, Jerry adds: "He's probably going to kill his family over this." George then becomes worried that the busboy will be waiting for him outside and Jerry says, "A lot of ex-cons become busboys. They seem to gravitate towards it."

There is also something about the very last scene that makes me laugh. Jerry remains unconcerned about the misfortunes of his friends. Elaine has to leave to go feed her visitor who still cannot leave to go back home because he was injured in a fight with the busboy at the end. George has to go feed the busboy's cat. Jerry stays at the café drinking a milkshake and eating a sandwich without a care in the world. A busboy comes to clear off the table and Jerry with a smile looks up at him and says, "How ya doin'?" Jerry's no-care attitude while others suffer is very funny.    

George's storyline: George unwittingly gets a busboy fired when he puts out a fire at a restaurant and mentions to the owner that the busboy leaned the menu up against the candle. Turns out the busboy's life is saved because the guy who replaces him at the restaurant dies in a gas main explosion. 

Favorite George part(s): George's concern of what Kramer will say or do during the visit with the busboy is comical. 

Kramer's storyline: Kramer goes with George to the busboy's apartment because George wants to apologize. They accidentally leave the door open and the busboy's cat escapes and is lost. 

Favorite Kramer part(s): As George is in the middle of apologizing to the busboy, Kramer out of nowhere says in way crappy Spanish, "Hablo Espanol?" Then says a sentence in Spanish that ends with him saying "waterbed" in English.

Kramer also breaks the busboy's lamp. He carefully puts the broken piece back on the lamp, slowly pulls his hands away, and looks back at the busboy and says, "Yeah?"  

Elaine's storyline: A guy Elaine had met comes to stay with Elaine for a week and Elaine can't wait for him to leave.    

Favorite Elaine part(s): Elaine's best moment is when she wakes up late and frantically tries to pack and dress the guy so they can get to the airport. He asks about his brown sweater and she starts running in place in a panic and ends up shoving one of her own brown sweaters into his suitcase.

Elaine also has a great re-telling of her drive to the airport: "They say nobody has ever beaten the Van Wyck..."      

Supporting characters in this episode: No recurring characters. Just the busboy and Elaine's out-of-town visitor.   

Favorite character in this episode: Each character is decent, but I like Jerry in this one. He is almost always at his best when he is off to the side making sarcastic comments and lighthearted good ones while the others have some crisis to deal with.  

Final thoughts:

This is the episode where George's knowledge of toilets is first mentioned. He tells Jerry to say anywhere in the city and George will tell him the best public toilet in the area.

I recollect hearing from somewhere that this is the episode where Larry David realized how great it is to have multiple storylines intertwine at the end. This happens at the very end when the busboy gets into an altercation in the hallway outside Jerry's apartment with Elaine's visitor. It's obviously not the best intertwining in Seinfeld history, but it was the beginning of what the show excelled in, the intertwining storylines. It's a decent episode, and Jerry makes me laugh enough for me to give it 8-stars.

Season 2, Episode 11: The Chinese Restaurant

My Rating of this episode: 9/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 8.9/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697675/?ref_=ttep_ep11

This episode aired May 23, 1991. This episode is also out of order on the dvd's which has this as episode 6.

Jerry's storyline: Jerry, George, and Elaine wait an entire episode for a table at a Chinese Restaurant and do/say funny things. Jerry had told his Uncle that he had a stomachache in order to get out of having dinner with him because Jerry wanted to go watch Plan 9 from Outer Space on the big screen with George and Elaine. Of course their names are called instantly after they finally choose to leave.

Favorite Jerry part(s): Jerry's best part is when he bumps into a lady he recognizes, but doesn't know where he recognizes her from. She starts talking to him asking him how he is doing and Jerry keeps giving awkward non-specific answers while Elaine enjoys observing Jerry squirm a little.   

George's storyline: Goes to dinner with Jerry and Elaine. George spends most of the time concerned about contacting his date "Tatiana".

Favorite George part(s): George gets frustrated with a guy on the pay phone who won't get off. George expresses his anger to Jerry: "And look at his little outfit. It's all so coordinated, the little socks match the little shirt. I really hate this guy."

George with the classic line after Elaine asks him if she should take the bet from Jerry to go randomly eat food off of someone's table: "For fifty bucks? I'd put my face in the soup and blow."

The best laugh for me is when George does not get the phone because a lady swoops in and gets it right before he does. He is visibly frustrated as he walks away and loudly declares for all to hear: "You know, we're living in a society! We're supposed to act in a civilized way!"

George misses Tatiana's return call: "She called. I missed her. He yelled Cartwright." Jerry: "Who's Cartwright?" George: "I'm Cartwright." Jerry: "You're not Cartwright." George: "Of course I'm not Cartwright!"  

Kramer's storyline: None

Favorite Kramer part(s): N/A 

Elaine's storyline: Goes to dinner with Jerry and George. Spends most of the episode very famished.    

Favorite Elaine part(s): "Did you ever notice how happy people are when they finally get a table? They think they're so special because they've been chosen. It's enough to make you sick."

Elaine floats a theory that it should not be first come, first served but based on who's hungriest.

She has several other good bits including a commentary about how exciting it was when your parents first take you out to eat and how now she just feels like a hog waiting for them to fill up the trough.    

Supporting characters in this episode: No recurring characters. The Chinese Restaurant guy is fantastic.  

Favorite character in this episode: I really like George in this episode, but I got to give this one to Elaine, her first time winning the favorite character for me. She gets more and more frustrated the hungrier she gets as they continue to wait and is really funny in this episode, easily her best yet. 

Final thoughts:

Kramer does not make an appearance in the episode which is a shame because he has been on a role lately. The only other episode at this point to not feature one of the main characters was the Pilot episode which did not feature Elaine.

Larry David's voice can clearly be heard as one of the people asking what Elaine said when she approaches the table for Jerry's bet.

This is a very good episode and is unique in that the entire episode all takes place in that one small waiting area which I believe was fairly groundbreaking at that time for a sitcom to do such a thing. It is the perfect example of why Seinfeld is referred to as a show about nothing. I could easily give it a 10, but opted to give it a 9 largely based on no Kramer. It's a great episode and has always been one of my favorites from the early Seinfeld episodes and is considered one of the show's "classic episodes".

Season 2, Episode 10: The Baby Shower

My Rating of this episode: 7/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 7.8/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697652/?ref_=ttep_ep10

This episode aired May 16, 1991, two weeks after the previous episode. This episode is also out of order on the dvd's which has this as episode 4. Also, this episode does not pick up where it left off with the previous episode (that is, Jerry and Elaine still together). I think this is why they put "The Deal" as the final episode on the dvd's because it is easier to totally drop a plot line between seasons than it is between episodes.

Jerry's storyline: Elaine throws a baby shower for her friend at Jerry's apartment. Kramer convinces Jerry to get illegal cable.

Favorite Jerry part(s): Jerry questions George's plot to "badger a pregnant woman at her own baby shower" and if he's going to take off his shirt and "make her rinse it in club soda?"  

George's storyline: George confronts Elaine's friend, a performance artist, at her baby shower because George once went on a bad date with her in which she poured chocolate syrup on George, "like she was putting out a fire," during one of her performances. He predictably caves.

Favorite George part(s): George is funny when he pretends like he is picking Jerry up from the airport out of the goodness of his heart and because Jerry is a "true friend," when he actually just wants an excuse to go to Jerry's apartment to confront Elaine's friend at the baby shower. 

George sucks up to the girl he was going to confront. While sucking up, a girl aggressively confronts Jerry in a way George imagined confronting Elaine's friend. When it's over, George picks right up where he left off, trying to suck up to her all while wearing his super chocolate-stained shirt. The girl who yelled at Jerry then bumps Elaine's friend as she walks by and Elaine's friend smashes her chocolate cake into George's chest and says to George, "Thanks a lot" and walks off in disgust. 

Kramer's storyline: Kramer tries to convince Jerry to get illegal cable and obviously shows up with the Russian cable guy to install the cable during the middle of Elaine's baby shower party.

Favorite Kramer part(s): Kramer has the Russian cable guys install the cable during the baby shower. He signals to the cable guy to install the cable by doing a Kramer "Giddy up, go!" and immediately turns to the female party-goers and says, "Look, it's gonna take a few minutes...then you and the gals can take a load off and watch something on Lifetime." His delivery is perfect. Then he randomly puts his hands on his hips and does this strange move where he pulls his shirt halfway up his body. It's funny stuff.

Elaine's storyline: Elaine throws a baby shower for her friend because she has a hard time saying no to her.   

Favorite Elaine part(s): Elaine is funny when she is with her friend and seeking her approval like some middle-schooler who wants to be friends with the popular girl.  

Supporting characters in this episode: No recurring characters. There is the Russian cable guy and his partner who humorously just naturally and unquestioningly walk right into Jerry's apartment and begin examining his tv in preparation to install illegal cable. The Russian cable guy also plays as "Mr. Stone," an undercover FBI agent in Jerry's dream sequence when he gets busted for the illegal cable. There is also Elaine's intimidating friend who is intimidating and annoying, obviously.

Favorite character in this episode: Kramer. It's just funny how he can barge into a party in which he is not invited and yet be so comfortable doing so. He once again produced to best laugh in the episode. George also is great when he acts tough before a confrontation but ends up getting walked over instead.  

Final thoughts:

Not the strongest episode. It's ok but doesn't have too many great lines or laugh out loud moments. I could have easily given it a 6, but Kramer was just enough to bump it up to a 7.

Season 2, Episode 9: The Deal

My Rating of this episode: 7/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 8.4/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697682/?ref_=ttep_ep9

This episode aired May 2, 1991. This episode is also out of order on the dvd's which has this as episode 13 (the final episode of the season).

Jerry's storyline: Jerry and Elaine make a deal to pick back up their, shall we say, physical relationship: "We go in there. We're in there for a while. We come right back out here." 

Favorite Jerry part(s): The opening scene where the deal is struck is pretty good. The way they go from being normal friends watching tv to striking the deal is a slow and well-thought out process as they lay the ground rules and settle on the terms of the deal in order to avoid all of the "relationship pitfalls": "This is very good" Elaine: "And that would be good." Jerry: "And that would be good too. The idea is combine the this with the that." 

Jerry's delicately phrased birthday card message to Elaine is funny. Elaine gets mad that he calls her his "pal" but Jerry quickly points out: "I said, 'And more.'" 

George's storyline: George is intrigued by the news of Jerry and Elaine's deal. He is very skeptical that Jerry and Elaine can pull it off and remain friends.

Favorite George part(s): George does a funny angry rant to Jerry when Jerry says he's not in the mood to share details about the deal. George, after displaying his skepticism, leads about the rules and responds to rule number one by repeating it and saying, "That's pretty good." Jerry is about to go on to rule number two and George quickly adds, "I have to tell you, I'm very impressed with the first one."

Kramer's storyline: Kramer gives Elaine a much better gift than Jerry (and George who gave her half the amount of cash Jerry gave her). 

Favorite Kramer part(s): Kramer wows Elaine with a great gift, a bench, and tops Jerry again with a sensitive poem in the birthday card. After Elaine finishes reading it, Kramer looks over at Jerry with a smirk and says, "Yeats." 

Elaine's storyline: Makes a deal with Jerry referenced above. She ends up wanting more which nearly spoils the entire friendship.  

Favorite Elaine part(s): Elaine is good in the first scene with Jerry when they discuss the terms. 

Supporting characters in this episode: No recurring characters. We finally meet Elaine's roommate who had been mentioned in a few previous episodes. It is the one funny talking actress from Men in Black who gives the alien sugar water. You know the one.

Favorite character in this episode: Tough one. George is funny with his analysis of the deal, but I will give it to Kramer, despite his small role, because he provided the funniest moment with his "Yeats" line to Jerry. Best part of the episode in my book. 

Final thoughts:

A long time ago I watched this episode with Jerry and Larry David providing commentary, which is always funny because they don't comment much but just laugh at the jokes they wrote. But I remember there being a positive, feel-good end to the episode with Jerry and Elaine staying together and Larry David totally didn't remember doing that and was way surprised they did that and wished they could go back and change it. It was funny.

I must say, these kind of episodes are always the least funny to me, the ones that center entirely around sexual relationships. It's done in a clever way usually, but there just never seem to be laugh out loud moments for me. This one is no different. Very close to giving it a 6, but there is enough mildly entertaining moments from George and Kramer for me to give it a 7, but not by much.

Season 2, Episode 8: The Heart Attack

My Rating of this episode: 8/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 8.2/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697709/?ref_=ttep_ep8

This episode aired April 25, 1991. This episode is also out of order on the dvd's which has this as episode 11.

Jerry's storyline: Jerry writes a great joke after waking up in the middle of the night but can't read his handwriting and cannot recall what he wrote and asks people all throughout the episode if they could read what he wrote only to find out at the end that it was some unfunny line from a crappy tv movie. He goes with George to see an herbalist "strictly for material." George is rushed to the hospital again and both Jerry and George end up in neck braces after the temperamental ambulance driver gets in a fight with his partner and crashes the ambulance while arguing with Kramer. 

Favorite Jerry part(s): There is a great scene where Jerry is informed by a doctor that George didn't have a heart attack and then Jerry goes in to George's hospital room leading George on that he could possibly die and culminates with George requesting Jerry to just kill him now and Jerry fake smothering him with a pillow. Elaine walks in during said smothering and Jerry goes: "Elaine? What are you doing here?" and says it way funny. 

George's storyline: George thinks he has a heart attack, but finds out he doesn't after a visit to the hospital. He opts to go see Kramer's herbalist friend rather than having the hospital perform surgery to remove his tonsils. Some crazy drink given to him by the herbalist sends George, purple-faced, to the hospital. 

Favorite George part(s): After Jerry and Elaine are cynical that George is having a heart attack, he says through painful gasps, "Why can't I have a heart attack? I'm allowed."   

Kramer's storyline: Kramer convinces George to go see an herbalist, rather than have the hospital perform surgery, in order to get his tonsils healed.

Favorite Kramer part(s): Kramer is skeptical of the hospital and tells George that they need to get him out of there. After being told that George only needs routine surgery to remove his tonsils, he tells a story about his friend Bob Saccomonno who came in for a routine hernia operation and now all he does is sit by a window and say (in Kramer's way high pitched voice) 'My name is Bob!'

Kramer and the herbalist give an awesome way long, emotionless hug where neither one moves a muscle for several seconds.

Elaine's storyline: Elaine has the hots for George's doctor and goes on a date with him. 

Favorite Elaine part(s): The doctor examines Elaine's tongue for a long time and tells her every medical detail about it. He tries to give her a goodnight kiss but Elaine is disgusted because of all her newfound knowledge about the tongue.

Supporting characters in this episode: No recurring characters. The herbalist is played beautifully by "Needlenose Ned, Ned the Head" of Groundhog Day fame.

Favorite character in this episode: Jerry. George is always funny as the hypochondriac, but Jerry is funnier as the skeptical friend who plays with George's weakness.

Final thoughts:

Larry David makes a brief cameo as the weird futuristic guy from a crappy movie way late on tv as Jerry sleeps on the couch: "Like flaming globes! Ha ha ha!"

This is the first episode where Kramer mentions "My friend Bob Saccamonno." Also, this is not how I would have guessed to spell the name, but I looked up the script and this is how it is spelt. 

In this episode, George says he is 33 years old which is crazy because that's how old I am right now. I can't believe I'm as old as Costanza. George also reveals that he was born in April for what it's worth.

This is a good episode with some funny bits. The scene with Jerry smothering George is the highlight. This one is an easy 8 star episode for me.