S2, E1: The Ex-Girlfriend
A plot: George dumps a girl he thinks is annoying, and Jerry starts dating her… equally annoyed, but psychosexually fascinated with her, he’s unable to end the relationship.
B plot: Kramer finds a produce grocer that lets you return fruit.
C plot: George is outraged by a chiropractor’s price.
“like a band-aid, one motion— right off!”
“would you do that?” “if I was a different person”
“I only eat cantaloupe at certain times!”
“is it just me?” “it’s partially you, yeah”
“you know what they say, lucky in love, unlucky with fruit”
“I swallowed a fly. I swallowed a fly! what do I do?! what can happen?!”
ahh, the first episode that really cements the running theme of “there is NO way THAT man could get THAT woman”. genuinely, though, what a terrific start to season 2. Seinfeld and David had really started to find their voice and it’s a much more well-crafted episode than anything we’re given in season 1. this episode is truly a focus on George as a character, even when it’s through the lens of how Jerry is handling a situation. this episode is about George’s psyche and we see fleshed out before us the little nightmare man he will become. this episode also is where the show really started to nail that “plot soup” I was talking about— there are so many small plots going in and out of each other but none are unfunny or hard to track. it’s the first of many times that someone in the show tells Jerry how unfunny his stand-up is. at least they knew!
I try not to address Jerry’s stand-up in these breakdowns— because I truly do hate it— but I do think it’s interesting how the joke he tells about having the audience in the doctor’s office in S2E1 is something we see as a plot line in the later episode “The Junior Mint”.
