Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.
(S03E01) Most of my fellow Squadders are starting their Retro Squad coverage at a particular show's pilot. Not me. I decided to be different in my coverage of Seinfeld and start with Season Three. Why? Well, let me put it in as delicate a way as I possibly can: the first two seasons of Seinfeld kinda sucked.
Don't get me wrong; the first 18 episodes had some brilliant moments, like the episode where Jerry, George and Elaine wait for a table at a Chinese restaurant, or the one where George does everything he can to keep his girlfriend from hearing a bad phone message of his. But, overall, the episodes in those first two seasons moved pretty slowly and concentrated on a single plot, often to an episode's detriment. Even Seinfeld and Larry David would likely acknowledge that the show really found its legs creatively in Season Three (1991-92), which is also the first one where a full slate of episodes were ordered. So that's where I decided to start.
In this episode, Jerry freaks out his physical therapist by chit-chatting about child abduction during his massage. Elaine and George also get massages from the same office, though George starts to panic when his massage is perfromed by a man. In the meantime, George convinces Jerry's dentist friend Roy to write insurance notes for the therapy, for which he gets in trouble. And Kramer recounts his close encounter with Joe DiMaggio at Dinky Donuts.
Really, picking apart the plots on Seinfeld has never been important, especially because the episodes have been shown hundreds of times over the years. The best thing to do here is make some observations:
Best line: This one's obvious... "I think it moved."
Best facial expression: This one is a tie... the smile on Elaine's face as she sees Raymond, the man who goes to massage George, and the eyeroll Jerry gives after Elaine explains how he was scrunching her on the couch instead of vice-versa.
Best Kramerism: When he explains the focus DiMaggio has, he concentrates on a coffee mug while he flails his arms behind him. He looked like a hipster octopus right there.
Some interesting observations and episode factoids that I got from the DVD:
- First appearance of Jerry's grey couch and chair. In previous episodes, the couch and chair were black-and-blue.
- First appearance of the classic yellow-and-red Seinfeld logo.
- This was the only episode where the theme had vocals, done on Jerry's suggestion. Turns out everyone liked it... except the network and viewers.
- At the end of Season Two, in the episode "The Deal", Jerry and Elaine were together as a couple. But Larry David and Jerry decided to keep the four-single-people dynamic in place and dropped the relationship (without explanation) in "The Note". Jerry also asked stand-up audiences in the summer between seasons about the relationship, and audiences overwhelmingly said no to it.
- This is one of the first episodes that showed a Seinfeld signature: two converstations going on at once. You know what I mean: Jerry and Elaine talk about Jerry freaking out the therapist while George laments that there's nothing in the fridge. It was a perfect way to show how much in their own heads these people (and all of us) can be sometimes.
- The final scene is the first time Kramer appears in the coffee shop. When I saw that tidbit, I was surprised, but it makes sense: Kramer was initially written to be a recluse, so going to the coffee shop would not have been part of his routine.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-31-2006 @ 9:43PM
H.F. Peterman said...
Good review. I agree with you that Larry David and Jerry took a couple of seasons to fine tune the formula. Look forward to future reviews.
How about another Kramerism..."I just came from Roy's. I threw up from the gas"
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5-31-2006 @ 10:02PM
jason said...
the look on the physical therapist while jerry was talking about child abductions was priceless.
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6-01-2006 @ 1:33AM
Jeff said...
You're right about the first two seasons.
I just love Kramer trying to break Joe DiMaggio's concentration. No matter how many times I see it I crack up.
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6-01-2006 @ 5:50AM
joe barnes said...
it is crazy because a lot of these episodes in the first and second season take place in the same area where they start, like the chineses rest. and the subway. not very funny!
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6-01-2006 @ 8:45AM
Michael said...
The first two seasons have their moments, such as the Pony Remark.
That said, this is the first truely Seinfeldian episodes. It has glimpses of the brilliance to come in later episodes and it starts the trend of catch phrases that will soon become part of the national pop-culture consiouness.
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6-01-2006 @ 9:35AM
Scott H said...
This was a great episode, but I think people are too tough on the first 2 seasons. They included: The Pony Remark, George & Jerry meet Elaine's father and Jerry's jacked gets ruined, the great answering machine tape switch, George's "heart attack" and brush with natural medicine/death, Jerry & Elaine's "rules" for sleeping together and staying friends, and the Chinese restaurant.
Abandoning the more linear plots and giving Kramer more & more screen time for his pratfalls was not a good thing, in my opinion. While the show was great in seasons 3 through about 6, it got more and more ridiculous and less grounded in the much later seasons. The plots got more outrageous, with all those threads having to loop back together at the end. And when every show had to be about some crazy character, like close/low-talking people or weird dates. I also didn't like it when they dropped his stand-up bits.
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6-01-2006 @ 10:23AM
Scott H said...
And I forgot that Season 2 had maybe the greatest Jerry/Kramer exchange ever--about Kramer being a "pod person". It was in the season 2 episode "The Apartment", when Jerry tries to explain that normal people sometimes get uncomfortable or feel awkward, and Kramer could never understand this because he's a "pod person".
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6-05-2006 @ 6:03AM
Gilead said...
Very nice review. I remember this espisode very well 'cos I saw it on dvd a few weeks back. The best facial expression for me is the look on George's face when Raymond tugs on his pants during the massage. Another brilliant scene is the one where Jerry and George have a conversation with the dentist in front of the woman who has passed out on the chair.
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