JT's comments below originally ran as part of Place to Be Nation's "Seinfeld: The PTBN Series Rewatch" project.
Best Character
Kramer gets his first Best Character award from me here in episode four. I almost gave this to Joel because he was pretty great in the coffee shop but he quickly petered out while Kramer gained steam. To me, this was the first episode where Kramer was Kramer. He was hatching schemes and fell ass backwards into good fortune, getting to go to the Knicks game. Within minutes he unloaded a flurry of running Kramer story lines that will continue throughout the series.
Best Storyline
Again, Joel just misses out as my favorite story here was Kramer developing his pizza place idea and continually trying to sell it to the crew. Kramer's schemes and persistence would become a staple of the show and it kicked off here. Jerry trying to break up with Joel was a close second but it fell apart halfway through and never really saw any sort of conclusion.
Ethical Dilemma of the Week
How do you break up with a childhood friend? That is Jerry's ethical dilemma this week. Normally you would hope to just kind of drift away, but when you realize just how much the friendship means to the other party, it can be near impossible to pull that bandaid off. I thought Jerry did a really good job in that coffee shop scene, you could feel how tortured he was, especially as we sat there watching Joel be a real asshole across the board. The only thing I disagree with was involving the Knicks tickets. Joel seemed like someone that could be easily swayed and won back over, Jerry probably could have busted out a much less grand gesture to calm Joel down.
Relationship Scale (Scale 1-10)
Jerry and Joel was the only relationship on display here and it was pretty tortuous thanks to Joel being a douchebag and Jerry being soft, to the point that he is now still friends with this jamoke. I enjoyed their main scene together but he was a real jerk he was AND he tried to pick up Elaine at the end of the episode. We did hear quite a bit about George's relationship issues, but we didn't see any of it unfold or even ever discover her name. Relationship Grade: 2/10
What Worked
I enjoyed the opening scene, capped with Jerry's dig at George's fanny pack; Joel was played perfectly and was obnoxious and easy to hate after the coffee shop scene. They picked the perfect actor to get that character across; George is really starting to develop, both with his whining about his relationship and the scene with him alternating bitching at Jerry and trying to cash in his jar of pennies; In fact, the whole bank scene was pretty great; Kramer showing his desire for business ideas with his pushing of the pizza idea.
What Didn't Work
JNot too many complaints from me with this episode; There is still too much standup littering the episode as it hurts the flow and eats up precious time; That time burn really shows down the stretch as these episodes still don't finish strong, and just sort of wind down and taper off with no true resolution or any sort of crescendo. None of the first episodes has had a strong ending.
Key Character Debuts
Joel Horneck
Iconic Moments, Running Themes & Memorable Quotes
- Kramer answers his phone "Kramerica Industries"
- Kramer first mentions starting a pizza place "where you make your own pie"
- Jerry is first to use "It's not you, it's me"
- Elaine & Jerry's conversation on what to do for the night
- "I've never made a man cry. I kicked a guy in the groin once and he didn't cry...I got the cab." - Elaine
- "Someone says get out of my life and that doesn't affect your appetite?" - Jerry
Oddities & Fun Facts
- We get to see all of Jerry's hallway and elevator
Overall Grade (Scale 1-10)
I really liked the first half of this episode but it quickly fell apart after the scene at the bank. The main issue with these early episodes is that there is only one storyline in the mix, so if that story isn't up to par or falls apart, there is nothing to pick it up. To my point, the Jerry/Joel stuff started off really well but then tapered off and outside of Kramer's pizza stuff, there was nothing else there to make up for it. And as I mentioned again, the finish of this episode left much to be desired as well. The first half, mainly the coffee shop and bank scenes, carries this to a decent grade but there was enough potential there to really make this one a standout of season one. Final Grade: 4/10
Best Character
Kramer gets his first Best Character award from me here in episode four. I almost gave this to Joel because he was pretty great in the coffee shop but he quickly petered out while Kramer gained steam. To me, this was the first episode where Kramer was Kramer. He was hatching schemes and fell ass backwards into good fortune, getting to go to the Knicks game. Within minutes he unloaded a flurry of running Kramer story lines that will continue throughout the series.
Best Storyline
Again, Joel just misses out as my favorite story here was Kramer developing his pizza place idea and continually trying to sell it to the crew. Kramer's schemes and persistence would become a staple of the show and it kicked off here. Jerry trying to break up with Joel was a close second but it fell apart halfway through and never really saw any sort of conclusion.
Ethical Dilemma of the Week
How do you break up with a childhood friend? That is Jerry's ethical dilemma this week. Normally you would hope to just kind of drift away, but when you realize just how much the friendship means to the other party, it can be near impossible to pull that bandaid off. I thought Jerry did a really good job in that coffee shop scene, you could feel how tortured he was, especially as we sat there watching Joel be a real asshole across the board. The only thing I disagree with was involving the Knicks tickets. Joel seemed like someone that could be easily swayed and won back over, Jerry probably could have busted out a much less grand gesture to calm Joel down.
Relationship Scale (Scale 1-10)
Jerry and Joel was the only relationship on display here and it was pretty tortuous thanks to Joel being a douchebag and Jerry being soft, to the point that he is now still friends with this jamoke. I enjoyed their main scene together but he was a real jerk he was AND he tried to pick up Elaine at the end of the episode. We did hear quite a bit about George's relationship issues, but we didn't see any of it unfold or even ever discover her name. Relationship Grade: 2/10
What Worked
I enjoyed the opening scene, capped with Jerry's dig at George's fanny pack; Joel was played perfectly and was obnoxious and easy to hate after the coffee shop scene. They picked the perfect actor to get that character across; George is really starting to develop, both with his whining about his relationship and the scene with him alternating bitching at Jerry and trying to cash in his jar of pennies; In fact, the whole bank scene was pretty great; Kramer showing his desire for business ideas with his pushing of the pizza idea.
What Didn't Work
JNot too many complaints from me with this episode; There is still too much standup littering the episode as it hurts the flow and eats up precious time; That time burn really shows down the stretch as these episodes still don't finish strong, and just sort of wind down and taper off with no true resolution or any sort of crescendo. None of the first episodes has had a strong ending.
Key Character Debuts
Joel Horneck
Iconic Moments, Running Themes & Memorable Quotes
- Kramer answers his phone "Kramerica Industries"
- Kramer first mentions starting a pizza place "where you make your own pie"
- Jerry is first to use "It's not you, it's me"
- Elaine & Jerry's conversation on what to do for the night
- "I've never made a man cry. I kicked a guy in the groin once and he didn't cry...I got the cab." - Elaine
- "Someone says get out of my life and that doesn't affect your appetite?" - Jerry
Oddities & Fun Facts
- We get to see all of Jerry's hallway and elevator
Overall Grade (Scale 1-10)
I really liked the first half of this episode but it quickly fell apart after the scene at the bank. The main issue with these early episodes is that there is only one storyline in the mix, so if that story isn't up to par or falls apart, there is nothing to pick it up. To my point, the Jerry/Joel stuff started off really well but then tapered off and outside of Kramer's pizza stuff, there was nothing else there to make up for it. And as I mentioned again, the finish of this episode left much to be desired as well. The first half, mainly the coffee shop and bank scenes, carries this to a decent grade but there was enough potential there to really make this one a standout of season one. Final Grade: 4/10
Comments
Post a Comment