Seinfeld: The Series Rewatch - "The Sniffing Accountant" (S5, E4)

JT's comments below originally ran as part of Place to Be Nation's "Seinfeld: The PTBN Series Rewatch" project.

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Best Character

George takes this one for me. Jerry, Kramer and Newman were very enjoyable in their sting, but George's scenes with his parents and the job interview sealed the deal. Plus, once again, he blows a good gig by getting too overconfident too quickly.

Best Storyline

I will go with the sting. I liked the way it tied everything together at the end, with the sweater and the exclamation points. The scene in the car was great and I love Kramer in the bar too. It was also a great use of Newman, who has been too sporadic lately.

Ethical Dilemma of the Week

Whether there is a job on the line or not, do you really want to fondle your mother's bra at the dinner table? I would refuse and tell your parents that you will head to the mall to do research instead. Frank really crossed the line on this one.

Relationship Scale (Scale 1-10)

Kramer and Tuesdays. To him, they have a feel. So much so that he mistakes Thursday for it. That is love, true love. And it is so Kramer to pick the most useless day of the week to be most fond of. Tuesdays are worthless. There are no positives about Tuesdays at all. You are past any potential long weekends and still quite far from Friday. Wednesdays at least have you looking at the end of the work week and Wednesday nights can be fun, especially if you have a long weekend ahead of you. But Tuesday? See you in hell pal! Relationship Grade: 1/10

What Worked:

Elaine's digs at George about living with his mom was cold as ice; The Costanzas, all of them; The bra testing and lesson scene is so good; I enjoyed Jerry and Kramer discussing the potential habits of Barry, followed by all of the hints adding up, like the South America trip; The exclamation point stuff was well done by Elaine and Jake; I find it funny that Newman's money was included in this CD as well, what an odd thing for these three men to join up and take part in; I have always loved the scene in the car, especially the "feel of the days" discussion; Kramer's sting in the bar is a classic scene; Newman putting the used floss on Jerry's dashboard is great; George's job interview was a thing of beauty, only unravelled by his inane overconfidence yet again; Lippman's reading of the exclamation point capped sentences was well executed; Tying everything together with the sweater allergy was great; Ralph is fucking pimp, what a stud

What Didn't Work

The sweater that the episode pivots around is really grotesque; This episode feels a bit dated with a coke addict accountant that mismanages money; Is the bar in the sting supposed to be the comedy club or was it just a lazy set recycling; Barry's hair is brutally awful

Key Character Debuts

Jake Jarmel
Sid Farkus

Iconic Moments, Running Themes & Memorable Quotes

- "I was wearing my sling back pumps." - Elaine "What are those?" - George "Ask your mother, you live with her now, don't you? Anyway, so then this guy comes up to me and starts feeling my jacket through his thumb and his forefinger." - Elaine
- "Next Friday, what time?" - George "2 o'clock." - Frank "That's my whole afternoon! I was going to look for sneakers." - George "You can look for sneakers the next day!" - Frank
- "How long it takes to find a bra? What's going on in there? You ask me to get a pair of underwear, I'm back in two seconds...you know about the cup sizes and all? They have different cups." - Frank " I-I know about the cups." - George "You got the A, B, C the D. That's the biggest." - Frank "I know the D is the biggest. I've based my whole life on knowing that the D is the biggest." - George
- "Do you think that's a bad sign?" - Jerry "Yes!! Yes, that's what they do! They live in the bathroom! All right, what are we going to do? We are going to get our money back, right?" - Kramer
- "Hey, I just chalked down the message. I didn't know I was required to capture the mood of each caller." - Jake
- "It's an exclamation point! It's a line with a dot under it." - Jerry "Well, I felt a call for one." - Elaine "A call for one, you know I thought I've heard everything. I've never heard a relationship being affected by a punctuation." - Jerry "I found it very troubling that he didn't use one." - Elaine "George was right. Didn't take you long." - Jerry
- "Who goes to South America?" - Jerry "People go to South America." - Elaine "Yeah, and they come back with things taped to their large intestine." - Jerry
- "South America?! What kind of snow blower did you get us mixed up with?" - Newman
- "What's today? " - Kramer "It's Thursday." - Newman "Really? Feels like Tuesday." - Kramer "Tuesday has no feel. Monday has a feel, Friday has a feel, Sunday has a feel..." - Newman "I feel Tuesday and Wednesday..." - Kramer "All right, shut up the both of you! You're making me nervous." - Jerry
- "No, you stay here in the car. I may need you." - Jerry "What you need me in the car for?" - Newman "I might need you to get me a soda." - Jerry
- "You're an idiot." - Jerry "Why, because I use dental tape?" - Newman "Right, anyone who uses dental tape is an idiot." - Jerry
- "Well, I was 14 years old. I was in my friends bathroom. His mother's brassieres were hanging on the shower rod. I picked it up, studied it. I thought, I like this. I didn't know what way or what level, but I knew: I wanted to be around brassieres." - George "That's incredible story. You have a remarkable passion for brassieres." - Farkus "They are more than an underwear to me Mr.Farkus. Two cups in the front, two loops in the back. How do they do it? - George
- "What ever happened to "Why, that's a lovely dress you have on. May I have this dance?"!!" - Frank
- "Half silk, half cotton, half linen. How can you go wrong?" - Jerry

Oddities & Fun Facts

- The woman mailing a letter that flips out on Newman also played George's co-worker Glenda in The Revenge (S2, E12)
- Ellen, Sid Farkus's boss is portrayed by Christa Miller
- George is reading a Glamour magazine at his parents' house, a callback to The Contest

Overall Grade (Scale 1-10)

This is one of those episodes that is hurt more by the extremely high quality of Seinfeld than anything else. There was a lot here to like and the writing was pretty tight throughout. The bra stuff was really funny and the Costanzas killed it as always. The sting was fun and Kramer's performance in the bar is a classic scene. But, something was still missing that stopped it from really clicking and hitting that next gear. Plus, it follows the three super strong episodes to open the season, and on that curve it is clearly a step back. That said, there was some high level stuff blended in and any time we get a healthy dose of the Costanzas and Newman, it has to count for something. Final Grade: 6/10

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