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.

Season 2, Episode 7: The Revenge

My Rating of this episode: 9/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 8.5/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697766/?ref_=ttep_ep7

This episode aired April 18, 1991. This episode is also out of order on the dvd's which has this as episode 12.

Jerry's storyline: Jerry tells George to just go back to his job and pretend like he never quit. He also joins Kramer in getting revenge on the laundromat by distracting the guy while Kramer dumps concrete into the machine. Kramer later finds Jerry's missing $1,500 in which Jerry must pay $1,200 for the damage to the machine.  

Favorite Jerry part(s): Jerry adds Kramer's clothes to his laundry load and tells the guy that he wants the clothes not only washed separately but "would prefer it if the machines are not even touching each other"

I love the scene where George and Jerry brainstorm what job George should get now that he quit his job. George says he likes sports and could do something in sports. Jerry delicately goes along by asking him in what capacity. After George ludicrously suggests "You know, like the General Manager of a baseball team" Jerry again gently responds with "Yeah, well, that can be tough to get." George concedes and settles for just being an announcer because he makes interesting comments during the game. Jerry: "Yeah, yeah, you make good comments." And then, "Well, they tend to give those jobs to ex-ballplayers and people that are, you know, in broadcasting." George moves on from sports to movies and eventually to a talk show host. George wonders how you get started to become a talk show host to which Jerry responds with "Well, that's where it gets tricky." The whole scene plays very much like Jerry is the parent and George is some innocent child. He is even sitting cross-legged on the floor.  

George's storyline: George quits his job in an "emotional" fashion. He decides to just go back to work and pretend like it never happened. After the boss does not take him back, George decides to "slip him a mickey." 

Favorite George part(s): George is great in his scenes, as always. His best stuff this episode is (1) deciding what to do for his next job; and (2) his showing up back to work after quitting. I love how he tries to take part in the small talk of the office before the meeting starts.   

Kramer's storyline: Kramer dumps concrete inside a washing machine because he thinks the guy at the laundromat stole Jerry's $1,500.   

Favorite Kramer part(s): Kramer wants to add his clothes with Jerry's laundry load. Jerry eventually gives in and tells Kramer to put his clothes on top. Kramer immediately pulls his shirt over his head and puts it in Jerry's bag.

Kramer has another high-quality scene where he dumps the concrete in the washing machine. Lets just say, a way heavy back of concrete disguised as laundry is the perfect recipe for some physical comedy from Kramer. After stumbling over there, falling backward with the heavy load, dumping it on a closed machine, getting the concrete all over his face and clothes, and signaling to Jerry the OK sign, he comes over to where Jerry had been trying to distract the guy and says, while covered completely in concrete, "I didn't realize it was a full box."

Elaine's storyline: Elaine keeps George's boss busy (because he doesn't recycle) so that George can slip him a mickey.   

Favorite Elaine part(s): Elaine does a funny job flirting with George's boss. It's maybe my favorite Elaine scene thus far. She struggles at first but finally finds success by talking about how she will be going to a nudist colony. Elaine is funny when she gets involved in the schemes of the guys. 

Supporting characters in this episode: No recurring characters. George's boss does a nice job.   

Favorite character in this episode: Very tough one. Everyone was good. I'm going to give it to Kramer again. He easily has the funniest scene in a funny episode and it is his best scene to date, even beating his previous best from the episode just before this one. He is finding his place in this series.

Final thoughts:

This is the first episode to reference Newman. Kramer tells Jerry he has really had it with Newman and tells a story about Newman wanting to commit suicide. Kramer mentions that Newman does not have a job, so he had yet to find employment as a mailman. We hear Newman's voice at the end but it is clearly Larry David.

There is this part where George says "This could have been a huuuge mistake" and it reminded me exactly of Gob from Arrested Development. Just thought I would add that in here.

This episode had two nice revenge plot lines with George and Elaine taking part in one and Jerry and Kramer taking part in the other. It has not yet reached peak Seinfeld where there are four diverging storylines, but you can sense the progression in that direction. Very solid episode. I waffled between giving it an 8 or a 9 and opted for a 9 because I love the two scenes with George trying to decide what to do for work and I really love Kramer's scene.  

Season 2, Episode 6: The Statue

My Rating of this episode: 7/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 8.2/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697787/?ref_=ttep_ep6

This episode aired April 11, 1991. This episode is also out of order on the dvd's which has this as episode 10.

Jerry's storyline: Jerry has this guy "Ray" clean his apartment and Jerry spots George's statue later at Ray's apartment. 

Favorite Jerry part: Jerry has a good scene with Elaine at Ray's apartment. Lots of antics: talking with Elaine about how Ray stole his statue while being continually interrupted by Ray walking in and out of the room asking about how they prefer their tea, trying to call Kramer to have him see if the statue is at Jerry's place only to be interrupted and pretend to be talking to his mom reminding her how to make french toast, and finally when leaving he turns down Ray's offer for dinner by saying "I don't eat dinner, dinner's for suckers."

Jerry is also very funny about how good of a job he thinks Ray did in cleaning Jerry's apartment. "Elaine! He even windexed the little peephole!"

George's storyline: When going through an old box of Jerry's parents' things, Kramer finds an old statue that is identical to one George broke when he was ten.

Favorite George part: George re-telling how he broke the statue when he was a kid was pretty good. "They looked at me like I just smashed the ten commandments." 

George and Kramer both want the statue. They settle it "like men" by doing ink-a-dink. A brief argument ensues about whether being "it" at the end is good. George ends up winning. He later looks at the statue and says in disbelief, "I can't believe I won at ink-a-dink." Truly a sad commentary about a guy who never expects to win at anything. 

Kramer's storyline: Kramer acts like a crazy cop and barges in Ray's apartment to retrieve the stolen statue.  

Favorite Kramer part: Kramer is in Jerry's apartment and Jerry asks if he's ready to go out. Kramer bundles up the items he received from the box and just chucks it through Jerry's door, across the hall, and into Kramer's apartment.

Kramer has his best scene thus far in the series when he retrieves the statue very aggressively. His best line is, "Keep making love to that wall, pervert!" In the next scene, he gives the statue to George. George is very excited and tells Kramer he doesn't know how he will ever repay him. Kramer says, "Well, I'll think of something" and gives George a hard pat on the back, causing George to drop and break the statue.

Elaine's storyline:  Elaine is editing the book of the girl who is dating Ray, but argues with her and loses her chance to be an editor. 

Favorite Elaine part: Elaine is funny as the supporting character to Jerry in Ray's apartment and later has a nice scene arguing with Ray's girlfriend in an elevator about whether or not there are degrees of coincidence. 

Supporting characters in this episode: No recurring characters. Just Ray and his girlfriend. They both play their roles pretty well.   

Favorite character in this episode: Tough one, but I'll give Kramer his first nod. It's nice to see him become more Kramer-like, and no one else really stood out more than he does in this episode.

I watched the special features on the dvd years ago and remember Jerry and Julia Louis-Dreyfus discussing how one of the most oft-repeated lines amongst themselves throughout the entire series comes from this episode. It is spoken by Ray's girlfriend when she says in a funny accent: "There's Ray, late as usual." For some reason they thought it was funny and would say it all the time. Seinfeld is known for some sweet catchphrases, so it's funny that this unfunny line was the biggest catchphrase for Jerry and Julia. The episode is pretty good, but nothing special or super memorable. It was an easy 7 for me.

Season 2, Episode 5: The Apartment

My Rating of this episode: 8/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 8.1/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697650/?ref_=ttep_ep5

This episode aired April 4, 1991, almost two months after the previous episode. I'm not sure why there was a delay between episodes, maybe the Gulf War? Who knows. This episode is also out of order on the dvd's which has this as episode 8.

Jerry's storyline: Jerry helps Elaine get an apartment in his building and then realizes that she will be around all the time.  

Favorite Jerry part: Jerry does some funny speeches. Like when he leads up to sharing the news with Elaine that he found her an apartment and again before telling George that Elaine will no longer be able to take the place. 

George's storyline: George wears a wedding band to a party to see if it will help him have women interested in him.

Favorite George part: There is this funny little part where George and Jerry have a conversation outside the coffee shop right after George had just walked out. Jerry claims to be a bigger idiot than George for having told Elaine about the apartment in his building, and George argues that no one is a bigger idiot than him. Jerry then asks George to go back in the coffee shop and George thinks it's embarrassing to go back in, claiming people just saw him in there. He then motions to this lady who had been looking at him through the window as if to explain away why he is coming back in.

Another funny part is when Jerry tells George he may want to leave the room so Jerry could be a phony as he pretends to be disappointed telling Elaine she can no longer get the apartment. George declines. Elaine enters singing "Good morning, good morning!" and says how great it is to be alive. George hesitates and then just gets up and walks out of the room.

After Jerry fails to take the opportunity Elaine gives him to tell her he doesn't want her to take the apartment and when George's plan to wear the wedding ring predictably backfires at the party, they again argue about who is the biggest idiot. George says, "So please, a little respect, for I am Costanza, 'Lord of the Idiots.'" A lady then shouts to the marathoners: "You're all winners!" George famously quips, "But suddenly a new contender has emerged." It's the best line of the episode.

Kramer's storyline: Kramer awkwardly gets Jerry to loan Elaine $5,000 so that she can still get the apartment. He gets Jerry out of it by finding someone in the music business to take the place for $10,000. These people end up being super loud.

Favorite Kramer part: When Elaine mentions there will be a party for the New York marathon, Kramer says, "Oh man! I keep forgetting to enter that!" and pulls out a licorice from his pocket and snaps off a bite.

Kramer is also very funny in the scene where he cluelessly gets Jerry to give Elaine that large loan. He pretty much forces Jerry's hand. When Jerry confronts him afterward, he says, "What, you didn't want her in the building? Then what did you loan her the $5,000 for?"

Elaine's storyline: Elaine is going to move into Jerry's building and is very excited about it.  

Favorite Elaine part: When Elaine very happily exclaims "She died!" when informed by Jerry that he got Elaine an apartment in his building because the old lady who lived there died.

Supporting characters in this episode: The landlord and the Spanish speaking partner are in like three scenes.  

Favorite character in this episode: This is a tough one. No one really stands out. This was Elaine's strongest episode to date and Kramer is also better. George takes this one though, largely based on his killer line about a new contender emerging.

This episode has Elaine's first "Get out!" shove when she does it to Jerry after being told about the cheap rent for the apartment. Jerry also does it to Kramer when Kramer tells Jerry he found someone else to take the place. This is a pretty good episode. I waffled between giving it a 7 or an 8, but it secured the 8 with the George line.

Season 2, Episode 4: The Phone Message

My Rating of this episode: 10/10 stars
IMDB Rating of this episode: 8.6/10 stars http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697751/?ref_=ttep_ep4

This episode aired February 13, 1991. Again, this episode, like many this season, is out of order on the dvd's which have this as episode 7 for some reason.

Jerry's storyline: Jerry's date is going very well until Jerry gets in an argument with his date over a Dockers commercial. They have a second date that also seems to be going well until George shows up at Jerry's apartment and says "Oh, you're the one that likes that commercial!" Jerry helps George switch out a phone machine tape.  

Favorite Jerry part: Jerry explains how after asking a girl out on the phone, you get off the phone right away because it's like robbing a bank. You don't just stand there in front of the teller holding a big bag of money. 

"I think if one's going to kill oneself, the least you could do is leave a note. It's common courtesy. I don't know, that's just the way I was brought up." 

When Jerry's date says he didn't have to tell his friends that she liked the commercial, Jerry says: "No, I had to tell my friends. My friends didn't have to tell you" and he gives George a look.

George's storyline: George asks a girl out and then turns down an invite upstairs at the end of the date because he can't drink coffee at night because it keeps him up. He eventually leaves a total of four phone messages, the final one being an angry message because she never called back. He gets Jerry to attempt switching the tape on her machine.

Favorite George part: "For me to ask a woman out I got to get in a mental state like the karate guys before they break the bricks." 

His first phone message he leaves that quickly tailspins out of control is amazing. And his immediate response is so funny, "There's nothing I can do. It's a machine. The little light is blinking right now, 'Come and listen to the idiot! Hey everybody, the idiot's on!'"

The discussion George and Jerry have while waiting on the street for George's girl to get home is Seinfeld at it's best. They discuss a signal to use in case the girl is coming into the room while Jerry is making the switch. George thinks hard and then decides, "I'll call out 'Tippytoe!'" Jerry's reaction is perfect and I laughed for like 30 seconds straight even though I knew it was coming.

The scene up in the girl's apartment continues to be hilarious. Jerry says that he doesn't have to go to the bathroom anymore and the girl says, "That's weird." George says, "Uh, no, no, that can happen. I've read about it in medical journals...it's a freak thing..." Later, as she is about to walk in on Jerry switching the tapes, George calls out "Tippytoe! Tippytoe!" even though they had decided against that as the signal. Finally, after George had gotten her out of the room to tell her something very important, it is revealed that the thing he had to tell her was that his father wears sneakers in the pool.

Kramer's storyline: Kramer makes two brief appearances in Jerry's apartment: Once to give Jerry some material to put in his next act and once when he meets Jerry's date.  

Favorite Kramer part: Kramer walks in right after the blowup with Jerry and his date after she finds out Jerry told George she likes that commercial. Jerry introduces her and he immediately snaps his fingers, points at her, and says, "Cotton Dockers!" As she is abruptly leaving, Kramer starts quoting the commercial as she walks past him through the door.

Elaine's storyline: Elaine gives George the idea to attempt switching the tape on the machine before the girl can listen to his message. 

Favorite Elaine part: Her best part is when Kramer tells Jerry he has some material for Jerry to put in his next act and she laughs really hard during his not very funny routine. 

Supporting characters in this episode: None. 

Favorite character in this episode: George takes it. A+ in this episode. Nonstop laughs. Jerry is also very good as he plays a great supporting role to George. And Kramer's brief scenes are probably his best yet. 


This episode has the first reference to the "vault" in regards to being able to keep a secret. George says he's a vault when explaining to Jerry how he can't believe he accidentally slipped up by mentioning the commercial to the girl. "The vault" is mentioned in several future episodes. 

This is a very, very good episode. Easily the best one so far. There are several fantastic Jerry/George scenes. The scene of Jerry and George waiting for George's girl to get home and how they weasel their way upstairs is one of the best scenes yet. I think the only thing that could possibly keep me from giving this episode a 10 is that Elaine really hasn't come into her own yet. She is better in this episode though, even though she only makes a brief appearance. I thought that my rule would be that all four characters need to be firing on all cylinders for me to give a 10 because I was afraid I would be handing out too many 10's. But this episode is hilarious from start to finish and every scene is great. I don't need all four characters to be perfect. If two characters do all the heavy lifting then that's fine so long as the humor is there for the entirety of the episode. And thus, I bestow my very first 10. Congratulations everyone!