Storylines: Elaine dates a man who has cats, which she’s allergic to. At first, she tries to “knock them off,” but in the end, she decides to give him an ultimatum. Jerry takes his girlfriend on a long weekend trip. George invests in a stock and sticks with it, even when it starts dipping.
Personal Take: The opening scene of this episode is probably the best glimpse from season 1 of what the show becomes. Jerry and George talk about whether Superman has super humor, the same way he has super strength and super speed. “Either you’re born with a sense of humor or you’re not, it’s not going to change,” George points out. “Why, why would that one area of his mind not be affected by the yellow sun of the Earth?” Jerry counters. To me, this is the essence of the show. It’s probably nothing to most people, but anything important to them is worth discussing in full detail. Sure, it's borderline nerdiness (don't make fun), but still.
There are a couple of other staples of Seinfeld that starts in this episode. The first comes up when Jerry starts discussing how annoying the people sitting behind him and his girlfriend Vanessa were at the movies. Jerry describes two attempts, the “half-turn” and the “full turn with the eye roll”, to get them to stop. Though not really significant examples, these are the first of many sort of made-up terms that pop up on Seinfeld that became a part of normal vernacular. I mean, Jerry uses those terms (and gives demonstrations of them) with the impression that they will be understood. Other more recognizable terms, like “Yada Yada,” stick more than these examples, but this episode was the start of something special.
The other staple that really became a defining trait was the fact that Vanessa reappeared on the show. In “The Stakeout,” the story is left with the audience understanding that she and Jerry are dating. So this episode continued that storyline, not something that was done on sitcoms at the time. Continual arching storylines got their start from Seinfeld, and this was the first example of it.
Other notes from this episode:
-Jerry is wearing a pink shirt for the first time. For some reason, he wears pink shirts a lot in the series.
-Why hasn’t Kramer’s rollout tie dispenser taken off? It’s a great idea (not that I’d need it, since I don’t even own a tie), which is one of the few great ideas he ever has.
- I think it’s hysterical that George orders tuna after Elaine gives Jerry a full spiel about why he shouldn't order the tuna.
-The episode ends with George taking back a dollar bill from the tip he gave the waitress after deciding to look at the receipt, probably the biggest sign of his cheapness to this point in the series.
Gaps in Society: This is more a personal revelation than directly pointed out from the episode, but I’ve realized something about friendship. If you want to test your friendship with someone, take a nine-hour drive to a destination, stay wherever it is for a day or weekend, then drive the nine hours back, all the while being engaged in conversation or activity. If you can still stand the sight of this person after that long, you know you’re friendship (or whatever other relationship) is good. Jerry and Vanessa’s trip had an unfair disadvantage when it rained and they couldn’t do anything but sit in the hotel room. But Jerry was warned beforehand by George (one of the few times George’s advice would’ve helped Jerry) that trips like that are relationship killers. They are, and that’s any relationship, not just a dating one, though that probably gets stressed the most.
Jerry’s bits:
He starts by talking how he doesn’t like getting the check at the end of the meal, because money has different meanings before and after eating. “We’re not hungry now. Why are we buying all of this food?” he asks. His next bit is about dry cleaning and how the cleaning isn’t truly dry, but that they use liquid at some point. He closes with a bit on how he’d rather do the work and let his money rest than vice versa.
Best lines:
Elaine: George went to the hospital? He’s crazy.
Jerry: He’s crazy? You want to rub out a couple of cats.
Tidbits:
George’s source for the stock tip was recovering from a nose job while in the hospital. George mentions that people don’t recover quickly from a nose job, though in the episode “The Nose Job,” George’s girlfriend recovers quite quickly from it. Hm….
Running jokes/references/connections:
Jerry dates Vanessa, whom he first met in “The Stakeout.” It’s a rare case of Jerry seeing the same woman for more than one episode....This is also the first of several discussions the group has about long weekend trips.
I once took a vacation with a friend that involved a 24 hour drive. We did fine on the way there, had fun at the destination (there were others there however), but it was on the way back that did us in. Perhaps it was the one song we must have heard a million times, or the boring scenery that never changed, but we went completely crazy trapped in that car in just the last 2 hours. We couldn't see each other for a week but were friends again after that. Of course neither of us can hear that song again without wanting to jump out a window...
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