Storylines: Elaine brings Jerry to a friend’s birthday party. In exchange, Jerry brings Elaine to a family wedding. At the birthday party, Jerry meets a girl who is a lawyer, but he doesn’t get her name or much other useful information. So he tracks down where she works and stakes out her lobby while waiting for her.
Personal take: Easily my favorite of the Season 1 episodes. It feels the most like the way the rest of the series goes. The group talks/consults with each other about what’s going on in their lives and tries to get a handle on the situation. Jerry gets the stakeout idea from his father. Elaine and Jerry share thoughts on the best location for a stakeout, etc.
Basically, they discuss ways to handle certain social situations pertinent to the stories in the episode. This becomes a backbone of the series. This is the first time Elaine and Jerry deal with each other in dating situations after they break up. At first, Elaine doesn’t handle the “spectacle” of Jerry flirting with another woman, and understandably so. Of course, she has moved on to another guy, too. Still, it’s awkward to be friends after a break-up, let alone discuss relationship stuff after that. But these two show that it can be done in a mostly natural way (mostly).
Gaps in Society: It’s comical seeing to what lengths people will go to track down a person for whatever reason, unless it’s stalking, which is another situation entirely. To me, it seems like a legitimate tactic to try. Sure, it’s transparent, but can’t that be a good thing? I guess in this day and age, people will consider it stalking, especially in the online scene....The other topic obviously is how a man and a woman can stay friends after dating. Is it possible? Sure. Is it likely? No. And, perhaps most importantly, do many people try? That's probably 50-50. It's one thing to keep trying for the relationship, but once someone has said he/she doesn't want you in his/her life anymore, that pretty much puts the nail in the coffin on a post-breakup friendship.
Jerry’s bit: He starts out by talking about how women will write a check for stuff that costs $3, but it won’t take long because women write so many checks. “The checkbook comes out of a holster. ‘Who do I make it out to?’” Jerry says about women writing checks.
He later talks about how Plato came up with the idea for a plutonic relationship and named it after himself.
He concludes by comparing two people who have broken up with each other to two magicians who are trying to entertain each other.
Best lines:
Jerry: So, do you date immature men?
Vanessa: Almost exclusively.
Tidbits:
“The Stakeout” is the third episode in the season, but was aired before episode 2, “Male Unbonding.”... Jerry’s father is played by Phil Burns for the only time in the series. Barney Martin takes over the role the rest of the way.
References/running jokes/connections:
This is the first reference to Jerry and Elaine having dated before....An old woman says “When you’re dead, you’re dead. That’s it, you’re not going anywhere.” This is obviously a reference to Jerry’s material in the first episode about how you can’t over-die for the same reason you can’t over-wet or over-dry....This is the first of many references to George’s made-up alter ego, Art Vandelay, whose original purpose was to be a friend he and Jerry were meeting while on the stakeout....George also begins the running joke of pretending to be an architect....It’s the first of two times that the profession of being an importer-exporter is mentioned, the other being “The Cadillac.”
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