George breaks up with girlfriend Marlene, only to be stunned to find out later that Jerry began dating her... After their first date, George leaves embarrassingly desperate messages on the answering machine of Carol. He asks Jerry to go to Carol’s apartment and replace her tape... Jerry wants to subtly dissuade Elaine not to rent an apartment above him, fearing his ex-girlfriend might interfere with his new dates... After an imaginary heart attack, George sees a holistic healer whose potion leads him to an ambulance... Jerry and Elaine have sex out of boredom... Kramer promises Jerry an illegal cable guy...
“Seinfeld's” season 2 is an improvement compared to the first season, offering comedian Jerry Seinfeld in a more assertive stance and better articulated stories. It’s again about everyday trivialities without any high concept or an overarching storyline, which is why every episode can be viewed isolated. The jokes are a “hit-or-miss” affair: some work better, some work less. Michael Richards as Kramer also tends to overact his role as a hyperactive kid, making his antics forced at times. But at least two episodes rise through the ranks, are excellent and can be considered a prototype of “classic Seinfeld”: episodes 2.7 and 2.11. In the former, George insults his boss and quits his job on a whim, but then realizes he doesn’t have that many options on the job market, so he simply slyly returns to his old job on Monday, and feigns as if he was only joking about quitting. In order to take revenge on his boss and put something in his drink, George instructs Elaine to distract the boss. The boss is uninterested, but then turns around when Elaine starts a fake monologue about how she enjoys going to a nudist colony, or locking herself up in the office so that she can be naked there.
The latter, episode 2.11, “The Chinese Restaurant”, acts almost as Hitchcock’s “Rope” among sitcoms, since it breaks all the TV rules by presenting a minimalistic setting of Jerry, George and Elaine waiting at the lobby of the restaurant, and thus the whole episode plays out only on one location, but their dialogues and wit keep the viewers’ attention until the end. Even the dialogues in said episode are deliciously inspired: "I'll tell you what they should do, they should combine the two jobs. Make it one job: cop-garbage man. I always see cops having nothing to do, grab a broom! Start sweeping!" or "Cannibalism. What do they say? I mean, they’re eating, you know. This is good! Who is this?" Episode 2.6 isn't that grand, but it has a hilarious finale: after going back and forth disputing over whether a man stole a small statue from Jerry's apartment, Kramer is able to return the statue and George holds it in his hands, in amazement—Kramer then pats George on the back, who drops the statue and it breaks on the floor. The final episode, 2.12, also isn't that great, but it has a truly great running joke: at a restaurant, George extinguishes a menu that was set on fire and points out that the waiter left it too close to the candle, which causes the manager to fire said waiter, Antonio. Plagued by guilt for making a man unemployed, George and Kramer visit Antonio's apartment to console him, but leave the door open, and thus his cat escapes outside. However, in a typical Seinfeldesque twist, Antonio returns and hugs George, explaining that a gas leak caused an explosion that killed five people, including his replacement, so that George causing him to lose his job actually saved his life. Despite some bland bits, this season hits its targets better than the previous one, and shows that "Seinfeld" still feels fresh today.
Grade:++
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