JT's comments below originally ran as part of Place to Be Nation's "Seinfeld: The PTBN Series Rewatch" project.
Best Character
This was a really strong ensemble episode with everyone staying in their lane and nailing base hits all over the park. George had the most memorable moments but I really liked Kramer fretting over his future and Elaine was so good in her forbidden romance with Vincent. Jerry was on point as well, oscillating between tennis star playboy and sucker. Credit to Milos and Riley too for getting the job done in their cameos.
Best Storyline
I enjoyed everything but the Jerk Store called and told me that was definitely the best storyline. It had a lot of memorable lines and moments and George's frantic defense of the terrible comeback was great.
Ethical Dilemma of the Week
Should you bang the wife of a man that sent her over to have sex with you just so you would forgive him? Yep. Milos is the idiot that sent his smokeshow wife over to Jerome's apartment as a carnal apology. Bang away, Jerry!
Relationship Scale (Scale 1-10)
Jerry should have stolen Patti from Milos as the ultimate revenge. Show him how wrong he was to sell you that racket on sale pretenses! Also, Riley is kind of an asshole for someone who is dealing with a wife in a coma. Karma! Relationship Grade: Flesh Trade/10
What Worked:
George really was going to town on that shrimp; Riley's delivery was perfect; I always enjoy Kramer bagging on Vincent and going with the Gene picks; Jackie Chiles having a restraining order on Kramer; Kramer using the "Z" page of the address book and having transferred them to Weights & Measures is a fantastic random line; Milos being terrible at tennis was a funny twist and his awful looking hat just adds to it; George demanding that jerk store is the killer line is such a fantastic scene, especially the way he flails his hands out to be adamant; Shellbach running through all the coma scenarios is so great and I love that Kramer's main concern is being able to go to the coffee shop still; Milos continuously disappointing and failing is really well done; Vincent's angry late night call and Elaine saying she won't rewind the tape since it sucks so much; The "we only wake you up for the important meetings" line is still one I use until the day; Jerry's reaction to finding out Patti and Milos are married and then George's disappointment that they didn't fuck; Eric Roberts being unforgettable; I love Elaine ripping Gene to his face; Milos being a super dick to Jerry on the court even though he is helping him out; The payoff with Vincent being a kid was a good one and Elaine was great when she takes the VCR button necklace off and then sulks away with the vodka; I liked the swerve with the tennis racket flying through the air but not hitting Kramer; The jerk store payoff was a good one, and I loved Riley nailing the shrimp line again and then George hitting the sex with the wife line and her being in a coma
What Didn't Work
Since when do Jerry and George play tennis?; Milos is one fucked up son of a bitch; How did Kramer find Elaine at the video store?; When did Jerry become such a sucker? He got screwed by Klompus last week and now keeps getting dragged into nonsense with Milos; How dumb is Patti that she can't tell Jerry is faking the bad tennis play; What was with Shellbach's awkward wave to Kramer on the court?; Did Riley move his coma wife from New York to Akron or was she already there?
Aaron: How in the hell does Elaine not view Vincent as a psychopath?
Key Character Debuts
- Riley
- Milos
Iconic Moments, Running Themes & Memorable Quotes
- "Hey George, the ocean called. They're running outta shrimp." - Riley
- "Oh, Vincent is an art-house goon. I stick to the Gene rack." - Kramer "Gene? Oh, it's so stupid and mainstream." - Elaine
- "'I, Cosmo Kramer, having just seen the movie The Other SideOf Darkness, and not wanting to be in a coma like that lady in the movie, hereby want Jerry Seinfeld to remove my life support, feeding machine, lung-blower, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.'" - Jerry "Can you do that for me, buddy?" - Kramer "Well, I don't if what you have here constitutes a legally binding document." - Jerry "Well, I'm gonna type it up." - Kramer "Yes, well, of course, but, even so, you may wanna talk to a lawyer." - Jerry "Yeah, but, Jackie Chiles, he put a restraining order on me. I'm not allowed within two hundred feet of his office. I couldn't even give him his Christmas present." - Kramer
- "Elaine, I paid two hundred dollars for this racquet, because he said it's the only one he plays with. He could've played just as well with a log." - Jerry
- "Sometimes in life, the gods smile upon you, my friends." - George "Did you get someone to take that Canadian quarter?" - Jerry
- "Alright, alright. You see? This is why I hate writing with a large group. Everybody has their own little opinions, and it all gets homogenised, and you lose the whole edge of it. I'm going with jerk store! Jerk store is the line! Jerk store! Yes!" - George
- "Trust me, Kramer. Given the legal opportunity, I will kill you." - Jerry
- "Alright, you can eat. But machines do everything else." - Shellbach "Uhm..." - Kramer "I'd stick." - Elaine "Yeah, yeah. Stick. 'Cos I could still go to the coffee shop." - Kramer
- "Yeah, well, what you need is some summertime adolescent high jinx." - Kramer "Really?" - Elaine "See what doctor Gene prescribes, huh? Oh, here, look at that. Weekend At Bernies Two. Now, that's an hilarious premise." - Kramer
- "I didn't hear about that." - George "Oh, we only wake you up for the important meetings." - Fred
- "How was Eric Roberts as the husband?" - George "Oh, unforgettable." - Kramer
- "Thank you, but, unfortunately, I have much larger problems to fry. My wife, she has no respect for Milos anymore." - Milos "I guess that's a risk you run when you dabble in the flesh trade." - Jerry
- "See, there are no jerk stores. It...it's just a little confusing, is all." - Elaine "t's smart. It's a smart line, and a smart crowd will appreciate it. And, I'm not gonna dumb it down for some bonehead mass audience!" - George
- "Yeah? Well, I had sex with your wife!" - George "His wife is in a coma." - McAdam
Oddities & Fun Facts
- The legendary Ben Stein plays the attorney Shellbach
- The tennis court scenes in this episode were set in an indoor court, but the crew could not find an available indoor court in all of Los Angeles to use as a filming location. To compensate, they used a massive crane to drape a large tent over an outdoor tennis court, making it look like an indoor court. Unfortunately, this episode was filmed during the period when El Niño was beginning to affect the weather patterns in the United States, resulting in heavy rain in Los Angeles on the week the crew needed to shoot their tennis court scenes. The rain collected on the outside of the tent, and several large puddles can be seen on the court in several shots in the episode. The tent finally collapsed in a heap shortly after filming of the master shots wrapped, so the remaining footage was filmed back at the studio on a makeshift half-court set.
Overall Grade (Scale 1-10)
This episode really hummed along and it was great to see all four stories be engaging and then tie together in the end. Having Riley's wife be in the coma was a great payoff to both George and Kramer's stories. There were some weird story holes in there, but I thought everything was funny enough to overcome those and allow you to hand wave them away. The jerk store stuff is iconic and George's delivery throughout was so good. There were lots of good throwaway lines in there as well, such as Kramer's "Z page" comment and George asking how Eric Roberts was in the movie. Stuff like that help tighten the show up and fill the dead zones. This is a great episode that checks in just short of the all time classics but is a huge step forward from last week and was just really damn great. Final Grade: 9/10
Best Character
This was a really strong ensemble episode with everyone staying in their lane and nailing base hits all over the park. George had the most memorable moments but I really liked Kramer fretting over his future and Elaine was so good in her forbidden romance with Vincent. Jerry was on point as well, oscillating between tennis star playboy and sucker. Credit to Milos and Riley too for getting the job done in their cameos.
Best Storyline
I enjoyed everything but the Jerk Store called and told me that was definitely the best storyline. It had a lot of memorable lines and moments and George's frantic defense of the terrible comeback was great.
Ethical Dilemma of the Week
Should you bang the wife of a man that sent her over to have sex with you just so you would forgive him? Yep. Milos is the idiot that sent his smokeshow wife over to Jerome's apartment as a carnal apology. Bang away, Jerry!
Relationship Scale (Scale 1-10)
Jerry should have stolen Patti from Milos as the ultimate revenge. Show him how wrong he was to sell you that racket on sale pretenses! Also, Riley is kind of an asshole for someone who is dealing with a wife in a coma. Karma! Relationship Grade: Flesh Trade/10
What Worked:
George really was going to town on that shrimp; Riley's delivery was perfect; I always enjoy Kramer bagging on Vincent and going with the Gene picks; Jackie Chiles having a restraining order on Kramer; Kramer using the "Z" page of the address book and having transferred them to Weights & Measures is a fantastic random line; Milos being terrible at tennis was a funny twist and his awful looking hat just adds to it; George demanding that jerk store is the killer line is such a fantastic scene, especially the way he flails his hands out to be adamant; Shellbach running through all the coma scenarios is so great and I love that Kramer's main concern is being able to go to the coffee shop still; Milos continuously disappointing and failing is really well done; Vincent's angry late night call and Elaine saying she won't rewind the tape since it sucks so much; The "we only wake you up for the important meetings" line is still one I use until the day; Jerry's reaction to finding out Patti and Milos are married and then George's disappointment that they didn't fuck; Eric Roberts being unforgettable; I love Elaine ripping Gene to his face; Milos being a super dick to Jerry on the court even though he is helping him out; The payoff with Vincent being a kid was a good one and Elaine was great when she takes the VCR button necklace off and then sulks away with the vodka; I liked the swerve with the tennis racket flying through the air but not hitting Kramer; The jerk store payoff was a good one, and I loved Riley nailing the shrimp line again and then George hitting the sex with the wife line and her being in a coma
What Didn't Work
Since when do Jerry and George play tennis?; Milos is one fucked up son of a bitch; How did Kramer find Elaine at the video store?; When did Jerry become such a sucker? He got screwed by Klompus last week and now keeps getting dragged into nonsense with Milos; How dumb is Patti that she can't tell Jerry is faking the bad tennis play; What was with Shellbach's awkward wave to Kramer on the court?; Did Riley move his coma wife from New York to Akron or was she already there?
Aaron: How in the hell does Elaine not view Vincent as a psychopath?
Key Character Debuts
- Riley
- Milos
Iconic Moments, Running Themes & Memorable Quotes
- "Hey George, the ocean called. They're running outta shrimp." - Riley
- "Oh, Vincent is an art-house goon. I stick to the Gene rack." - Kramer "Gene? Oh, it's so stupid and mainstream." - Elaine
- "'I, Cosmo Kramer, having just seen the movie The Other SideOf Darkness, and not wanting to be in a coma like that lady in the movie, hereby want Jerry Seinfeld to remove my life support, feeding machine, lung-blower, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.'" - Jerry "Can you do that for me, buddy?" - Kramer "Well, I don't if what you have here constitutes a legally binding document." - Jerry "Well, I'm gonna type it up." - Kramer "Yes, well, of course, but, even so, you may wanna talk to a lawyer." - Jerry "Yeah, but, Jackie Chiles, he put a restraining order on me. I'm not allowed within two hundred feet of his office. I couldn't even give him his Christmas present." - Kramer
- "Elaine, I paid two hundred dollars for this racquet, because he said it's the only one he plays with. He could've played just as well with a log." - Jerry
- "Sometimes in life, the gods smile upon you, my friends." - George "Did you get someone to take that Canadian quarter?" - Jerry
- "Alright, alright. You see? This is why I hate writing with a large group. Everybody has their own little opinions, and it all gets homogenised, and you lose the whole edge of it. I'm going with jerk store! Jerk store is the line! Jerk store! Yes!" - George
- "Trust me, Kramer. Given the legal opportunity, I will kill you." - Jerry
- "Alright, you can eat. But machines do everything else." - Shellbach "Uhm..." - Kramer "I'd stick." - Elaine "Yeah, yeah. Stick. 'Cos I could still go to the coffee shop." - Kramer
- "Yeah, well, what you need is some summertime adolescent high jinx." - Kramer "Really?" - Elaine "See what doctor Gene prescribes, huh? Oh, here, look at that. Weekend At Bernies Two. Now, that's an hilarious premise." - Kramer
- "I didn't hear about that." - George "Oh, we only wake you up for the important meetings." - Fred
- "How was Eric Roberts as the husband?" - George "Oh, unforgettable." - Kramer
- "Thank you, but, unfortunately, I have much larger problems to fry. My wife, she has no respect for Milos anymore." - Milos "I guess that's a risk you run when you dabble in the flesh trade." - Jerry
- "See, there are no jerk stores. It...it's just a little confusing, is all." - Elaine "t's smart. It's a smart line, and a smart crowd will appreciate it. And, I'm not gonna dumb it down for some bonehead mass audience!" - George
- "Yeah? Well, I had sex with your wife!" - George "His wife is in a coma." - McAdam
Oddities & Fun Facts
- The legendary Ben Stein plays the attorney Shellbach
- The tennis court scenes in this episode were set in an indoor court, but the crew could not find an available indoor court in all of Los Angeles to use as a filming location. To compensate, they used a massive crane to drape a large tent over an outdoor tennis court, making it look like an indoor court. Unfortunately, this episode was filmed during the period when El Niño was beginning to affect the weather patterns in the United States, resulting in heavy rain in Los Angeles on the week the crew needed to shoot their tennis court scenes. The rain collected on the outside of the tent, and several large puddles can be seen on the court in several shots in the episode. The tent finally collapsed in a heap shortly after filming of the master shots wrapped, so the remaining footage was filmed back at the studio on a makeshift half-court set.
Overall Grade (Scale 1-10)
This episode really hummed along and it was great to see all four stories be engaging and then tie together in the end. Having Riley's wife be in the coma was a great payoff to both George and Kramer's stories. There were some weird story holes in there, but I thought everything was funny enough to overcome those and allow you to hand wave them away. The jerk store stuff is iconic and George's delivery throughout was so good. There were lots of good throwaway lines in there as well, such as Kramer's "Z page" comment and George asking how Eric Roberts was in the movie. Stuff like that help tighten the show up and fill the dead zones. This is a great episode that checks in just short of the all time classics but is a huge step forward from last week and was just really damn great. Final Grade: 9/10
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