Jerry’s Superman fixation drives much of this episode by David Mandel. Naturally George is distraught by this unexpected development, and after the appropriate mourning period (about 10 seconds) contemplates asking out actress Marisa Tomei.
It’s a stunning revelation, but the darkest humor comes elsewhere when Susan, whom George has been desperately trying to dump almost since they began dating, dies from poisoning after licking the cheap, toxic wedding-invitation envelopes they bought because he was too chintzy to spring for classier ones. David’s script has an enraptured Jerry finally discovering the love of his life-someone exactly like him-only to learn ultimately that he can’t tolerate being around someone exactly like him. But the real gasser, you might say, is Kramer driving a hansom cab whose horse he feeds so much Beef-a-Reeno that the animal’s flatulence nearly asphyxiates his passengers, who just happen to be. It’s a magnificent scheme that naturally goes awry. The most famous scene has Jerry attacking an elderly woman on the street for a loaf of marble rye that he and George hope to slip into the apartment of the parents of George’s fiancee, Susan. Written by Carol Leifer, this is one of those “Seinfeld” episodes with everything, including oral sex, having disastrous results for Elaine’s boyfriend, a sax player. Writers Tom Gammill and Max Pross pull it all together, typically from left field, by having Jerry sit in the passenger seat of a car while wearing a borrowed pair of spectacles so thick that he can’t see. Meanwhile, George’s behavior convinces an old acquaintance that he also is coming apart mentally (not an unreasonable assumption to make about George on any day).
#Jerry seinfeld master of my domain quote movie#
In his role as an obsessed eccentric for all seasons, Kramer is committed to restoring both an old movie theater and a gum-chewing friend who has had a nervous breakdown. The ultimate hell: When Elaine opens the door to the lavoratory, she’s nearly overcome by the stench. Jerry is in euphoric heaven while comfortably sipping wine with a gorgeous model in first class, while Elaine is miserable, crammed uncomfortably into coach. Jerry and Elaine share a flight back to New York. Writer Charles is on to something here that most jet passengers can relate to. After George’s mother catches him “doing it” in the bathroom, he, Jerry, Kramer and Elaine agree to have a contest to see who can remain the “master of their domain” the longest. More than just prime time’s only sitcom episode about masturbation, thanks to the landmark writing of Larry David it’s also the only one that somehow never mentions the topic that it’s about. Then again, perhaps every viewer/show relationship ultimately wears thin. One thing that I discovered while doing this was that my “Seinfeld” tastes tilt toward 1995-1997 rather than more-heralded earlier “Seinfeld.” For me, its last season has been by far its leanest creatively (despite huge ratings), perhaps because as these characters have grown older, the emptiness of their lives and their commitment to trivia have become less tolerable and harder to justify. How could I have excluded George finding himself about to address a rally of neo-Nazis? A college reporter assuming Jerry and George are lovers? Jerry dating someone whose name rhymes with a female body part, and he has no clue? Jerry wearing that puffy pirate shirt on the “Today” program? Contraceptive-hoarding Elaine sleeping only with men who are “sponge-worthy”? George converting to Latvian Orthodoxy in hopes of keeping his girlfriend? George being chastised for urinating in the health club shower? Kramer taking a sperm test and worrying about the status of his “boys”? Kramer inventing a coffee table book that is not only about coffee tables but can be converted into one? Kramer creating a male bra he calls the “Bro”? Elaine’s clashing with that braless hussy Sue Ellen Mischke? Elaine sabotaged by a goofy rabbi who publicly blabs all the secrets she confides to him? George discovering the value of yada yada, and “antidentite” joining the show’s lexicon when Jerry believes his dentist friend converted to Judaism for the ethnic jokes? I haven’t finished writing this, and already I’m second-guessing myself. Many of those omitted just as easily could have made the list.
In compiling this list, most of the calls were so close that it came down to picking a crowd of finalists, then throwing up my hands in frustration and blindly pinning the tail on the donkey. But someone has to volunteer for these lousy jobs. Narrowing nine seasons of “Seinfeld” to a Top 10 is as easy as choosing favorite blades of grass in your lawn.
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