(S03E18) Larry Charles, one of Seinfeld's primary writers, mentions in the DVD commentary for "The Limo" that it is one of his favorite episodes; he feels that it's one of the first episodes in the series to take a silly premise -- what if George and Jerry take the limo of a Neo-Nazi? -- and find humor in it by grounding it in reality. Well, the reality of Larry David, but at least it's someone's reality.
Personally, this is one of my least favortie episodes of the show's entire run. Sure, there are some funny moments, but the whole "pretending to be someone else" plotline comes right out of Sitcomland, and could have been taken right from an episode of Three's Company -- well, not the Neo-Nazi part, but you get the idea. At this point in Seinfeld's run, especially after the brilliance of "The Boyfriend" the week before, audiences were expecting more. And, to be honest, there wasn't a lot to laugh at in this one.
It was a technically difficult episode to film, by the way; they had to ditch the studio audience again in order to film the limo scenes. They also used a New York streetscape on the Paramount lot in the scenes where Kramer and Elaine wait for "O'Brien" and "Murphy." Those scenes, by the way, weren't great either; just Kramer and Elaine talking about Jerry and George. We're used to seeing a B plot, but there isn't one to be found here. It feels more like a Season Two episode than a late Season Three one. Guess they still had a few of those in their system.
OK, on to the "awards":
Best line: When George tells Jerry that Eva -- one of O'Brien's followers -- is cute, Jerry shoots back exasperatedly, "She's a Nazi, George... a Nazi."
Best facial expression: The eyeroll Jerry gives when George says that if they join Kramer and Elaine on the street, they won't get shot. "Nah. No one's ever been shot in the city," Jerry says right before the eyeroll.
Best Kramerism: He pretends to be like Michael Jordan and mimes a 360 dunk... right into a pile of garbage.
Observations and DVD tidbits:
- The story idea, that Jerry and George would pretend to be someone else to get a limo back from the airport, was submitted by Marc Jaffe. The writers didn't really know where to take the show after that until they came up with the Neo-Nazi idea. Larry Charles wrote the episode.
- The woman who played Eva, Suzanne Snyder, returned two years later in "The Pie," playing the daughter of incontinent restaurateur Poppy.
- The other O'Brien disciple, Tim, is played by Peter Krause, who later went on to star in Sports Night and Six Feet Under.
- One of the good parts of the episode is the "harmony of whining" at the end; Tim and Eva find out that George isn't O'Brien, and George, Jerry, and Elaine's mixed excuses as they're held at gunpoint are well-mixed. They end with all three of them saying the same thing -- "I swear!" -- in unison. Kramer remains quiet.
- The Paramount theater, where O'Brien was going to speak, is now The Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-28-2006 @ 9:13PM
Katie said...
Joel, great to see you on AOTS tonight! Very insightful commentary was had by all. Hope you'll be on again!
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8-28-2006 @ 11:46PM
Joel Keller said...
Thanks Katie. I hope I wasn't a blathering idiot, which is what I was thinking around the time I said that Kiefer Sutherland deserved an Emmy because he didn't get to change his clothes the whole season....
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8-29-2006 @ 8:05AM
Oliver Franks said...
I love The Limo, it's one of my favourite epoisodes, I don't care if it's a somewhat hackneyed concept, they took a fresh approach and it has some great moments like the ones you mentioned and also when georg calls his mum:"Ma, I'm in a Limo. No, no-one died." He then has a huge row with her ending with him yelling "I'm never telling you!" and hanging up to which Jerry colly asks "She happy for you?". Brilliant, as is George fancying a nazi.
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8-29-2006 @ 8:45AM
Tom Heintjes said...
Joel, I agree...this is one of my least favorite episodes (of the ones Larry David was involved with). It's too much "about something." Larry Charles usually had a great feel for what made the characters' dynamic come to life, but he was off his game (his own feelings on the matter notwithstanding).
My favorite physical moment was when Kramer began to buy into Jerry's Nazi persona, and he pledged to protect Elaine from him, placing her in a smother bearhug, which she had to wrestle free of. I thought that was good, but when it's among the best moments of an entire episode, you know something's amiss...
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9-30-2006 @ 9:36PM
Jennifer said...
Been enjoying your retro-reviewing of Seinfeld, but *strongly* disagree with your assessment of the "The Limo" - it was a strong follow-up to The Boyfriend and it's one of my favorites. Considering how "New York" and Jewish is Jerry's character, and how ethnic is George's, it's a hilarious premise.
So many more moments in addition to the ones mentioned are hilarious: George's initial excitement figuring out they can swipe the limo because the driver doesn't know them; The debate about who will be O'Brien and who will be Murphy (reminiscent of "The Stakeout" when they're concocting their identities for the Vanessa stakeout; the cutaway to George incredulously rehearsing O'Brien's speech - "...And the Jews...", thus discovering he's impersonating a Neo Nazi; Kramer wondering why they must say "O'Brien and Murphy" and Elaine's irritation that Kramer suspects Jerry's a Nazi; Elaine happily waving to Dan while her car is being mobbed - "Hi Dan!"; George being shown on the news as O'Brien, calling for the help of Jerry & co. Etc.
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