TVSquad

(S03E05) Phillip Baker Hall is The Man.

It doesn't matter how many times I see "The Library", or even how many times in the span of an hour I see Hall's scenes as library investigator Lt. Bookman (like I did when I watched the epiosde on DVD just now... once with notes, once with writer Larry Charles' comments, and again in a mini-featurette about the episode). I laugh out loud every single time.

And how can you not? Bookman's Joe Friday-inspired speeches are a complete riot. The intensity that Bookman has for his seemingly mundane task -- investigating overdue library books -- comes through in Hall's performance, especially in the long rant directed towards Jerry in his apartment. More on that a little later.

In writer Larry Charles' commentary, he mentioned that this was one of the first episodes where they tried to intertwine each of the Fab Four's plotlines, and plots for one co-star were generated organically from the plot of another's. They did a pretty good job here: When Jerry goes to the library after he gets notified about his overdue book, Tropic of Cancer, George runs into a homeless man who he thinks is Mr. Heyman, the gym teacher he got fired twenty years prior. In the meantime, Kramer and Marion the librarian fall for each other.

The only plot that doesn't fit in at first is Elaine's neuroticism at work. Charles said in the commentary that they wanted to make Elaine a little more neurotic than she had been portrayed to that point, and this plot is the result. She thinks something's going on because no one asked her what she wanted for lunch. And her boss Mr. Lippman hates everything she brings him. Only at the end does this tie in, as she talks about what happened after she brought Lippman the poetry from Kramer's girlfriend Marion.

Here are the "awards":

Best Line: No contest. It's near the end of Bookman's first rant, when he talks about seeing pictures of "pee-pees and wee-wees" in children's books and speculates if Jerry is the type who likes that sort of thing."Well I got a flash for ya, joy-boy: Party time is over." That "joy-boy" line makes me explode with laughter every time.
Best Facial Expression: It's more of a gesture; the fang sign the teenaged Jerry and George give each other when talking about the Heyman's teeth.
Best Kramerism: Kramer's sobbing as he reads Marion's poetry.

Observations and info from the DVDs:

• This is the first time we see the inside of Kramer's apartment. It's just the door, which we see when Marion runs in to escape Bookman, but it counts.
• By the way, the way that scene came together -- we see Marion knocking on Kramer's door after Bookman opens Jerry's door and finishes his speech at the same time -- is absolutely brilliant, and a great example of the writers' attempts to intertwine the plot lines.
• This is the first episode where we see a bike hanging next to Jerry's bathroom. Michael Richards suggested it.
• This is the first time we see Mr. Lippman. Harris Shore plays him here, but Richard Fancy would take his place later in the same season and play him for the rest of the series' run.
• I loved how Bookman was checking books for library stamps as he was lecturing Jerry in his apartment. Subtle but a great insight into the library gumshoe.
• Another great line: When George and Jerry explain the torture of the wedgie and atomic wedgie to Elaine, she scoffs at how boys tortured each other. When Jerry asks her how girls did them, she said, "We just tease someone until they develop an eating disorder."

No matter what, though, the best part of this episode is Phillip Baker Hall. Maybe I should watch The Loop when it comes back on next year to get an updated dose. Or maybe not; don't want to tarnish the legacy of Lt. Bookman.