SEINFELD - Season 2, Episode 9 - The Deal

“The Deal”

First Script Read:  Monday, February 25, 1991

Filmed: Friday, March 1, 1991

Aired: May 2, 1991 (NBC’s Warren Littlefield agreed to pick it up 2 weeks later)

Nielsen rating: 15.5

Audience share: 25 (22.6 million)

Directed: Tom Cherones

Writer: Larry David

Awards: Larry David received an Emmy nomination for writing this episode

Larry David's writing in this episode is superb, from George's "I want details" speech to the negotiation between Jerry and Elaine over how they can have sex without a dating relationship. David also deserves some directing credit for coaching Julia Louis-Dreyfus to be more matter-of-fact than sexual in her performance in the negotiation scene.

Two seasons later David would write an even more famous episode, "The Contest," in which the word "masturbation" is never uttered despite the fact that the entire story revolves around it. Similarly, in this episode, the words "sex" or "sleep together" are never used during Jerry and Elaine's lengthy conversation. Instead, sex is referred to only as "that," sometimes accompanied by a gesture in the direction of the bedroom.

The rules Jerry and Elaine come up with are revealing of early 1990s American dating norms:

Rule #1

JERRY: For example, now, I call you whenever I'm inclined and vice versa.
ELAINE: Right.
JERRY: But if we did that, we might feel a certain obligation to call.
ELAINE: Well why should that be? Oh, I have an idea. I have an idea. No call the day after that.

When Jerry tells George about the rules the next day, George is particularly fond of this one:

GEORGE: So you're havin' the sex, next day you don't have to call. That's pretty good!

Actually, the line itself doesn't do Jason Alexander's delivery justice. He has just ranted and raved to Jerry that it is impossible to have regular sex without a dating relationship. He hears the first rule and mutters this line to himself as he recognizes its brilliance. "That's pretty good."

For Jerry and George, this rule liberates them from relationship obligations for a 24-hour period following the sex act. It underscores their independence from the woman, allowing them to do whatever they want in the woman's absence the next day.

Rule #2

JERRY: Now here's another little rule. When we see each other now, we retire to our separate quarters. But sometimes, when people get involved with that, they feel pressure to sleep over, when that is not really sleep. Sleep is separate from that. And I don't see why sleep got all tied up and connected with that.
ELAINE: Okay, okay. Spending the night is optional!

And, again, here is George's commentary:

GEORGE: I know less about women than anyone in the world. But one thing I do know is they're not happy if you don't spend the night. It could be a hot, sweaty room with no air conditioning and all they have is a little army cot this wide [holds up a French fry]. You're not going anywhere.

George is proven right. This is the first rule that raises tension between Jerry and Elaine. At Elaine's apartment, Jerry announces he is going to leave even as he is still buttoning up his shirt. Immediately, Elaine is upset. Jerry reminds her of the rule, but Elaine has a different interpretation: "It's my house. It's my option."

Male independence is at the heart of this rule, too. Alone in his own home, the male is liberated to his own routines and behavior without having any responsibilities to care for the female. Elaine's displeasure reveals the emotional attachment formed (to no one's surprise) by the female after repeated physical intimacy. She apparently cannot help herself.

Rule #3

ELAINE: What about the kiss goodnight?
JERRY: Tough one. You're call.
ELAINE: It's bourgeois.

George is so certain of the flaws in rule #2 that Jerry doesn't get around to telling him rule #3. It does come up as Jerry is leaving Elaine's apartment after their disagreement over whether he should spend the night. He leans in for a kiss but Elaine leans away, reminding him of the rule. For Jerry it seems to have been an act of habit, empty and fleeting. Elaine is probably still upset that Jerry isn't spending the night. Jerry's departure is a blow to her emotional needs, so she is suddenly hesitant to engage in even the smallest physical gesture of love. Indeed, as far as the audience can tell, Jerry and Elaine don't have sex again until Jerry agrees to a full-fledged dating relationship with Elaine.

There is nothing terribly surprising in the assumptions Seinfeld makes about gender roles in relationships. In fact, as usual, it relies on gender stereotypes. The fact that the characters would consider a relationship-less sex arrangement is not so reflective of the show's moment in time as it is of changing sexual norms in America after World War II.

Interestingly, though NBC had pushed David to write more romance for the Jerry and Elaine characters, the audience response, at least from the audiences polled by Jerry Seinfeld during his comedy tour that summer, was that they did not want to see them together. (This is according to David on the DVD's "Inside Look" at this episode.) It's hard to know exactly why the audience was not interested in Jerry getting together with Elaine. In part, it may have been Louis-Dreyfus's performance, playing Elaine as one who was strong-willed, independent, and desirable, yet at the same time a woman who got along well with the guys. Perhaps the audience also sensed, even at the early stages of the series, that the characters' relationships were inherently doomed. It was better for the future of the show and it met audience expectations when the Jerry-Elaine relationship was dropped without mention between seasons. The two were now free to find short-lived misery with other dating relationships, and endless consolation and friendship with each other.

SEINFELD - Season 2, Episode 7 - The Revenge

“The Revenge”

First Script Read:  Wed, February 13, 1991

Filmed: Wed, February 20, 1991 (Filming delayed a day because of President’s Day holiday)

Aired: April 18, 1991

Nielsen rating: 14.4

Audience share: 24

Directed: Tom Cherones

Writer: Larry David

 There is no grace in the world of Seinfeld. Both acts of revenge in this episode occur after characters have sought grace for their mistakes and found none.

Well, to be fair, George tries to avoid to "asking forgiveness" step. After he quits his job in a moment of rage, he tries to go back to work Monday like nothing had happened. When his boorish boss calls him on it, George claims he was just kidding. His boss throws him out, leading George, with Elaine's help, to drug the man at a company party.

Jerry seeks grace from a gruff laundromat operator when he accidentally leaves $1500 in his laundry bag, which is nowhere to be found when he collects his laundry a few days later. The operator claims he didn't see it, refers Jerry to a sign, "not responsible for lost valuables," and washes his hands of the matter. Kramer convinces Jerry, the most non-confrontational of all of the characters, to seek revenge. They execute a scheme to dump concrete in one of the laundry machines.

Surprisingly for the sitcom, both acts of revenge actually work, though there are a few bumps along the road, literally in the case of Michael Richards' classic physical performance with the bag of concrete. George and Elaine drug the boss. Jerry and Kramer concrete (if that's the right verb) the laundry machine. The comeuppance arrives after the revenge moment. Before his boss sips his poisoned drink, he offers George the job back, though he demeans George at the same time. Kramer later finds the missing cash mixed in with his laundry which he had convinced Jerry to take for him.

An act of grace supersedes justice. George didn't deserve to get his job back. Jerry didn't deserve to be compensated by the laundromat operator, especially since Kramer mistakenly had the money after all. There is no grace in the world of Seinfeld, but in this episode at least, there is justice.

SEINFELD - Season 2, Episode 8 - The Heart Attack

"The Heart Attack"

First Script Read:  Wed, February 6, 1991

Filmed: February 12, 1991

Aired: April 25, 1991

Nielsen rating: 14.7

Audience share: 24

Directed: Tom Cherones

Writer: Larry Charles

Larry Charles wrote this story about George's infected tonsils (which the character mistakes for a heart attack) out of his own fear of aging, according to the DVD's "Notes about Nothing." Fear of aging, fear of death, and, especially, fear of the aged are frequent themes in Seinfeld. This episode offers several different ways that different characters cope with their mortality.

George is overcome by his fears to the point of hypochondria. Throughout the episode he goes into fits of panic when he is confronted by illness. Thinking he has suffered a heart attack at the age of 33, and goaded by the teasing of Jerry and Elaine, George taps into a couple stages of grief. Depressed, he half-seriously asks Jerry to kill him. Soon he begins bargaining: 

GEORGE: I'll tell ya, if I ever get out of here, I'm gonna change my life. I'm gonna do a whole Zen thing. Take up yoga, meditate. I'll eat right. Calm down, lose my anger... (Jerry and Elaine aren't paying attention.) Hey, is anybody listening?!

No, George. No one wants to listen. Larry Charles comments, "George, as we all have, making insane proclamations that he has no intention of keeping." But I can think of people who have gone through stressful or life-threatening circumstances and, indeed, changed their worldview and life behavior. Charles' attitude reflects the cynicism at the heart of the show, one that ultimately works well for Seinfeld's humor.

In part out of his own cheapness, in part out of his conclusion that the medical system he has trusted his whole life has let him down, George turns to alternative medicine...and it does not go well. He only finds peace in his suffering when a wish he has held since he was a child is fulfilled at the close of the episode; Elaine gives him ice cream after his tonsillectomy.

Jerry and Elaine are utterly unwilling to engage with mortality, either George's or their own. Even as George believes he is having a heart attack, neither of his friends takes him seriously. They mock him throughout the episode, just as the show will mock the elderly and the dead throughout its run.

Kramer is suspicious of George's ailments because he is suspicious of the medical profession. His faith in alternative medicine, which is actually fulfilled at the end of the episode, allows him to redirect any anxiety he might have about death towards doctors and hospitals.

Even the ambulance drivers aren't preoccupied with their own patient's illness. They are instead focused on an argument about a piece of candy. Ironically, this leads to a car accident that almost kills them.

SEINFELD - Season 2, Episode 6 - The Statue

"The Statue"

First Script Read:  January 23, 1991

Filmed: January 29, 1991

Aired: April 11, 1991

Nielsen rating: 16.1

Audience share: 26 (23 million)

Directed: Tom Cherones

Writer: Larry Charles

Kramer fans should part a star next to this episode. As Michael Richards says in the "Inside Look" feature of the DVD, "...the Kramer character really became Kramer." The key moment occurs when Kramer bursts into Ray's apartment. The actor who cleaned Jerry's apartment is shoved to the wall as Kramer fast-talks like Joe Friday, wearing the hat he noted at the beginning of the episode made him look like the Dragnet character. Richards takes over the space with his delivery, and Kramer takes control of the episode's problem. He snatches the statue Jerry and George think Ray stole (one weaknesses of this sub-par episode is it is never clear whether Ray actually stole the statue) and flees the apartment before Ray knows what is happening.

Writer Larry Charles thus liberates Richards from the relatively naturalistic style of Jerry and the others. Richards can thus play Kramer to his over-the-top extremes, simultaneously playing into Richards' comedic strengths.

Retrieving the statue for George is by far the most selfless act any character has committed up to this point of the series, especially considering Kramer wanted the statue for himself at the beginning of the episode. So far the most that can be said about these characters is they are willing to be talked into giving each other rides, and they are often interested in "tagging along" on various errands and exploits. Here Kramer essentially breaks the law in order to right a perceived injustice perpetrated against his friends. He is rewarded with one of the series' rare hugs, courtesy of George.

By the way, does anyone else think the statue in this episode looks a bit like this famous television statue?

SEINFELD - Season 3, Episode 10 - The Stranded

"The Stranded"

First Script Read: January, 16 1991

Filmed: Tuesday, January 22

Aired: Wednesday, November 27, 1991, 9:30 (Originally scheduled to air July 17, 1991, NBC held it back to prevent wasting a new episode during the summer.)

Nielsen rating: 12.3

Audience share: 20 (18.5 million)

Directed: Tom Cherones

Writers: Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, and Matt Goldman

Awards: Writers Guild of America Nomination

Jerry: “What could possess anyone to throw a party?  I mean, to have a bunch of strangers treat your house like a hotel room.”

Moments later...

Elaine: "How did I ever let you talk me into this? I must have been out of my mind!"

Elaine and Jerry are faced with the social horror of attending a party filled with people they don't know. George invited them, but he is busy pursuing Eva, a woman he works with. It's never clarified, but the attendees seem to be mostly George's office-mates. As far as the audience can tell, they are a white collar cross section, with ages ranging from mid-30s (Jerry says he is 36 in this episode) to older. These are typical Americans, at least in Seinfeld's New York City-centric universe. And, just as Jerry and Elaine fear, they are all more or less crazy.

Jerry speaks to one gentleman who, after discovering Jerry is a comedian, tells him, "You know, people tell me I'm a funny guy." The audience understands it's probably not the first time Jerry heard such a comment, and it must be an eye-roller for a comedian.

Meanwhile, Elaine is talking to a guy about George Washington Carver and peanuts. What Bubba is to shrimp, this guy is to the peanut.

Jerry and Elaine have established a signal for when they get caught in bad conversations, but the plan backfires as they are both simultaneously ensnared. Elaine, though, finds a different strategy effective for shaking off bad company. A woman who Elaine doesn't know begins to rant and moan about her missing fiancee. "I have lost the fiancee, the poor baby!" Elaine, with a disgusted look on her face, suddenly breaks into an Australian accent and quotes a 1988 Meryl Streep film, A Cry in the Dark. "Maybe the dingo ate your baby!"

It's an odd and untimely reference, and doesn't connect to Seinfeld in any way - past, present, or future. Streep was nominated for an Academy Award, but it's not a particularly famous film. It's just the sort of random pop culture reference that was sprinkled throughout Seinfeld, apropos of nothing, and typical of the postmodern television period it grew up in.

In the episode, it seems apparent from the reaction of the woman with the missing fiancee that she doesn't understand the use of the reference either. She is perplexed and quickly decides to get up and leave. Elaine grins triumphantly. She has beaten the insanity by joining it.

That is the lone moment of joy in an otherwise miserable evening for Jerry and Elaine. It gets worse as the two are left at the party when George goes home with Eva. They end up waiting for Kramer until 2:00 am, long after the other guests have gone home. Jerry, feeling bad about keeping his host up so late, gives the man his phone number and address in case he is ever in the city.

This friendly gesture to a person he doesn't know is a mistake, even to the man who seemed, by his witty exchange with Jerry, to be the most affable, sane person at the party. (And even though the man is played by future Emmy-winner Michael Chiklis.) A week later the man shows up at Jerry's apartment just as Jerry is heading out. Jerry lets the man stay in the apartment, returning home shortly thereafter to discover that, with a little help from Kramer, the man has gotten drunk and employed a prostitute. The man stumbles out without paying, leaving Jerry to get arrested as he is giving the prostitute the money she insists on having before she leaves.

In later seasons, crazy characters would play increasingly large roles in story lines. Jerry and Elaine's hesitancy towards interacting with people they don't know is constantly justified. In this early episode, the lesson is already clear; the stranger you don't know is much, MUCH worse to deal with than the quirky friend you do.