It’s not often you say poor George, but: poor George. It also allows Frank Costanza to show his true, diabolical colours. The Strike (season nine, episode 10)Īfter Larry David left Seinfeld at the end of season seven, there was much talk of a decline in standards, but this gloriously slogan-heavy episode (“a Festivus for the rest of us” “The Human Fund: money for people”) is proof there were later-season gems. The Marine Biologist (season five, episode 14) The image of George chasing her down the street in a Henry VIII costume shouting “I got it from The Institute” is one of Seinfeld’s most giddily broad moments. The mirror-image subplot involves George trying to convince another old friend that he, too, is completely sane. Kramer is refurbishing a run-down cinema to ensure its success, he needs to convince George’s schoolmate Lloyd Braun that he is completely sane. Meanwhile, Kramer’s foray into film bootlegging goes as badly as you’d imagine, and somehow ends with Elaine enjoying an early form of viral fame. After an office party, her standing at work plummets: she’s convinced George is the root cause, but her horrendous dance moves are actually to blame. It’s not often Elaine is the butt of the joke, but it’s nice when it happens. The Little Kicks (season eight, episode four) The resulting physical comedy – which climaxes with a surprise photoshoot in a toilet stall – is among Kramer’s best (and most restrained) slapstick, which for a man who can turn literally anything into an absurd sight gag is really saying something. Prolonged sniffing and a trip to the bathroom convinces Jerry that his accountant is a drug addict, so Kramer decides to pose as a dealer to catch him out. The Sniffing Accountant (season five, episode four)
It does, dramatically, backstage at The Today Show, on which Jerry has just moodily donned a ridiculous shirt. That aversion to any substantial change means when George lands a life-changing job as a hand model, his luck must speedily unravel. “No hugging, no learning,” goes the Seinfeld writing room’s most famous maxim – a uniquely brutal take on the sitcom format. Seinfeld and Richards in The Puffy Shirt. The Puffy Shirt (season five, episode two) It’s the little details that make it: George’s terse in-car phone call with his mother, his willingness to embrace fascism if it means getting the girl and Kramer’s swivel-eyed conspiracy theory about Jerry’s real identity. One of the show’s most high-concept conceits involves George conning his way into a limo by pretending to be the real occupant – who turns out to be a neo-Nazi leader. Hamstrung by dinner party etiquette, driven to distraction by bakery bureaucracy, poisoned by a cookie (breaking Jerry’s 14-year no-vomit streak) and blocked in by Saddam Hussein (maybe), the friends’ scream-inducing outing makes going to a dinner party seem like a living nightmare. There is a strand of Seinfeld episodes that deal exclusively in mind-bending exasperation: this is one of them. The Dinner Party (season five, episode 13) But this is Seinfeld, so instead of the usual wisecracking, we have a profound meditation on death, a throwaway subplot involving Scientology and absolutely zero consolation by the episode’s end, when Kramer car fails to start. Misplacing a car at a multistorey car park is a premise that could fuel many a sitcom. The Parking Garage (season three, episode six) As a character, the Pakistani restaurant owner Babu Bhatt is uncomfortably cartoonish, but what saves this episode (and makes it a classic) is that the joke is squarely on Jerry and his self-congratulatory interior monologue. George’s plan to fake an IQ test goes awry, while Jerry provides business advice to the owner of a failing eatery in the smuggest – and most misguided – way possible. A subplot in which Elaine calls out sexism is a rare jaunt into progressive territory. The show had more than its fair share of great guest stars, and the season eight finale sees three collide: Amanda Peet plays Jerry’s demanding new girlfriend, Molly Shannon is Elaine’s stiff-armed colleague and Raquel Welch appears as a terrifyingly aggressive version of herself. Photograph: NBC/NBCUniversal/Getty Images Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer and Raquel Welch as herself in The Summer of George.
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