Season 4
EPISODE 40
THE TRIP, PART I
FIRST AIRED 8/12/92 WRITER Charles DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
Jerry (with George in tow) heads for L.A. and a Tonight Show appearance. Kramer,
still pursuing his Hollywood dream, ends up the prime suspect in a series of "smog
stranglings." CRITIQUE Kramer's Sunset Boulevard moment with a has-been
starlet, and know-it-all George's starstruck backstage assault on Cheers
star George Wendt ("Have they thought about changing the setting? People do
meet in places besides a bar"), are the bright spots in an underwhelming season
opener. B-
EPISODE 41
THE TRIP, PART II
FIRST AIRED 8/19/92 WRITER Charles DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
Jerry and George try to reach Kramer and clear his name after he's falsely arrested. CRITIQUE
The duo are a scream as strangers in a strange land (L.A.). They also engage in a
particularly riotous display of juvenility in the back of a police car (nice cameo by
professional psycho Clint Howard, too). B+
EPISODE 42
THE PITCH/THE TICKET
(ONE HOUR)
FIRST AIRED 9/16/92 WRITER David DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
Jerry and George pitch their sitcom about "nothing" to NBC. Elaine embarks on a
whirlwind tour of Europe with her therapist, Dr. Reston, whose other patient, Crazy Joe
Davola, is stalking Kramer and Jerry over a party-invitation slight and the squashing of
his own NBC deal. INTRODUCES George's future fiancée, Heidi Swedberg as NBC exec
Susan Ross; Bob Balaban as NBC president Russell Dalrymple, a Warren Littlefield
doppelgänger; Terminator II's Steven McHattie as the creepily intimidating Reston;
and Peter Crombie as Crazy Joe. CRITIQUE This show about the show is more informing
than it is funny; the NBC scenes kill, but we object to Kramer and Newman's inane
courtroom subplot. B-
EPISODE 43
THE WALLET
FIRST AIRED 9/23/92 WRITER David DIR. Cherones
SYNOPSIS The defective watch Jerry tossed in a garbage can in the last episode
(later retrieved, in one of those aptly improbable turns-of fate, by uncle Leo) becomes an
issue when his parents wonder where their gift is. Seinfeld Sr.'s wallet is swiped at a
chiropractor's office. Elaine attempts to break up with her "Sven-jolly," Dr.
Reston. CRITIQUE As a rule, extended-family episodes are above average, though not
by much in this case. B-
EPISODE 44
THE WATCH
FIRST AIRED 9/30/92 WRITER David DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
George plays hardball with NBC, and succeeds in dropping the price for their
script. Elaine dumps Reston via Kramer, then gives her number to a smitten Crazy Joe.
Jerry tries to secretly buy the watch back from Leo; he also regrets asking out Naomi
(Jessica Lundy), a restaurant hostess with a braying laugh (later described by Jerry as
"Elmer Fudd Sittin' on a juicer"). CRITIQUE None of the subplots really
hang together, but worth it for George's hyper-irritating visit to NBC exec Dalrymple's
pad, and Kramer's inept sparring with Reston. B
EPISODE 45
THE BUBBLE BOY
FIRST AIRED 10/7/92 WRITERS David/ Charles DIR. Cherones
SYNOPSIS Susan invites George, Jerry, and Elaine up to her parents' cabin in
"pie country." A Yoo-hoo salesman (Brian Doyle-Murray) guilt-trips Jerry into
visiting his hermetically cocooned son on the way. When all is said and done, an enraged
George has burst the bubble and a careless, stogie-puffing Kramer has burned down the
cabin. CRITIQUE Not only do they use a sick kid as a comic device, they make him
into an obnoxious creep; his life-threatening Trivial Pursuit game with George
("Moors!" "Moops!") is a dyspeptic gem. A+
EPISODE 46
THE CHEEVER LETTERS
FIRST AIRED 10/28/92 WRITER David/Pope/Leopold DIR. Cherones
SYNOPSIS George and Susan give her father the bad news about the cabin—and
spill the beans about a recovered box containing love letters from his secret paramour,
author John Cheever. While bedding Elaine's secretary, Jerry offends her with off-the-wall
pillow talk ("The panties your mother laid out for you?"). INTRODUCES
Grace Zabriskie and Warren Frost as Susan Ross' blue-blood alcoholic mom and dour
dad—i>Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on the Upper East Side. CRITIQUE
Discomfiting as all get-out, this also includes an all-too-realistic depiction of writer
procrastination as Jerry and George struggle to crank out the pilot. A-
EPISODE 47
THE OPERA
FIRST AIRED 11/4/92 WRITER Charles DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
Picking up where "The Watch" left off, Elaine dumps Crazy Joe when she discovers
he's transformed his apartment into a demented shrine to her. The unmedicated nut then
stalks her and Jerry at a performance of I Pagliacci. (Says Jerry: "I kind of
like this opera crowd. I feel tough.") CRITIQUE Another gleefully sociopathic
Davola appearance puts this one nicely over the top—just like a good opera. B+
EPISODE 48
THE VIRGIN
FIRST AIRED 11/11/92 WRITERS Mehlman/ Peter Farrelly/Bob
Farrelly DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS Jerry dates a closet-organizing
virgin, Marla (Frasier's Jane Leeves). Assuming a sitcom gig will make him more
desirable, George looks for a way to dump Susan—and succeeds. Ping sues Elaine for a
jaywalking mishap. CRITIQUE At least three terrific scenes—George and Jerry's
"What's a girlfriend?" chat, Elaine's diaphragm remarks, and George getting
henpecked by phone while Kramer plays Jeopardy!—make this Mehlman and Farrelly
brothers (Dumb and Dumber) effort a hall of famer. A
EPISODE 49
THE CONTEST
FIRST AIRED 11/18/92 WRITER David DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
George's mother catches him, you know, with a copy of Glamour magazine,
prompting a contest to see who can remain "master of their domain." INTRODUCES
Estelle Harris as Estelle Costanza, explaining a whole lot about the mess that is her son.
CRITIQUE Clearly on a roll, the show hit a new high with this masterful tribute to
sublimation. Since no money changes hands between George and Jerry, we wondered who, in
fact, won. Larry David claims, "We resolved it [in "The Puffy Shirt"
(63)]," where George boasts about prevailing. Seinfeld, however, maintains that not
only was it a tie, "it's still going on. Maybe in the last episode we'll have to talk
about 'Well, do you give?'" A+
EPISODE 50
THE AIRPORT
FIRST AIRED 11/25/92 WRITER Charles DIR. Cherones
SYNOPSIS Jerry and Elaine are separated on a packed flight to La Guardia airport:
Jerry ends up in first class, next to model Tia Van Camp (Jennifer Campbell); Elaine gets
stuck in coach. George and Kramer attempt to pick them up at the airport. Ha! CRITIQUE
Elaine's acute distress—intercut with Jerry's wine-sipping, slipper-wearing,
sundae-eating idyll—is a joy to behold. Who doesn't relate to this class struggle
every time they board a plane? A+
EPISODE 51
THE PICK
FIRST AIRED 12/16/92 WRITERS David/ Marc Jaffe DIR. Cherones
SYNOPSIS Nose picking and nipple baring are Jerry and Elaine's scarlet letters
in an episode that also finds Kramer confronting designer Calvin Klein (Nicholas Hormann)
over aromatic plagiarism and George getting Susan back—to his dismay. CRITIQUE
Kramer as CK underwear model and George's Louis Pasteur digression are prime examples of
Richards' and Alexander's comedic genius: zany physicality and desperate deception. But as
with all of the best episodes, everyone rocks. One complaint: a woefully unexploited
therapy visit for basket case George. A
EPISODE 52
THE MOVIE
FIRST AIRED 1/6/93 WRITERS Steve Skrovan/Bill Masters/Jon
Hayman DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer
try to go to a movie together. CRITIQUE Yet another attempt to recapture the high
anxiety of "Chinese Restaurant," but there's a fine line between transcendent
and tiresome. Guess which side this one falls on? D
EPISODE 53
THE VISA
FIRST AIRED 1/27/93 WRITER Mehlman DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
When George's relationship with a lawyer—Cheryl "The Terminator" Fong
(Maggie Han)—goes kablooey, so do Babu's chances for remaining in the U.S. and
Elaine's opportunity to avoid a costly judgment from Ping. Kramer goes to baseball fantasy
camp. CRITIQUE Nothing's funnier than Jerry trying not to be funny in this
festival of ethnic ire—except, maybe, George fraudulently ingratiating himself with
yet another woman. A-
EPISODE 54
THE SHOES
FIRST AIRED 2/4/93 WRITERS David/Seinfeld DIR. Cherones
SYNOPSIS When George imperils the NBC pilot with an inappropriate stare, it's
Elaine—and her cleavage—to the rescue. HISTORIC MOMENTS Jerry's Superman
magnet joins his fridge—coincidentally, or not, this also marks the beginning of the
show's residence in the top 10. CRITIQUE An off episode for Elaine, who gets stuck
with a lame shoe subplot. Actually, this rare David/Seinfeld foul pretty much stinks for
everyone. D
EPISODE 55
THE OUTING
FIRST AIRED 2/11/93 WRITER Charles DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
A joke perpetrated by Elaine leads a New York University student reporter (Paula Marshall)
to assume that (single, thin, neat) Jerry and George are gay. Not that there's anything
wrong with that. HISTORIC MOMENT We learn that George met Jerry at JFK High School,
when George fell off a rope in gym class and landed on Jerry's head. CRITIQUE
Except for another annoying jacket routine (this time Elaine refuses to take her parka off
for no apparent reason), "Outing" strikes the perfect Seinfeldian balance:
far-fetched and accessible. Then again, Jerry dating a college kid? Get out! A-
EPISODE 56
THE OLD MAN
FIRST AIRED 2/18/93 WRITERS Charles/ Bruce Kirschbaum DIR.
Cherones SYNOPSIS Following Elaine's selfless example, Jerry and George sign
with the Senior Citizens Volunteer Agency to fill the "deep yawning chasm" of
their lives. Elaine's charge is a goiter-sporting former lover of Gandhi (voiced by Edie
McClurg); George and Jerry end up with geriatric versions of each other (Robert Donley and
Emmy-nominated Bill Erwin). CRITIQUE The perils of altruism yield big yuks once
again—not to mention Jerry and George confronting the dual spectres of aging and
(gasp!) maturity. B+
EPISODE 57
THE IMPLANT
FIRST AIRED 2/25/93 WRITER Mehlman DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
Much mammarian speculation surrounds Jerry's current object of desire, Sidra (Lois
& Clark's Teri Hatcher). George tries to use a funeral to make headway with new
girlfriend Betsy (Megan Mullally). Kramer insists he's seen Salman Rushdie at the gym. CRITIQUE
Numerous guffaw-worthy scenes (George's mimed reaction to Betsy's emergency phone call and
his "double dip" fracas being two), yet the whole falls just short of its parts.
B
EPISODE 58
THE JUNIOR MINT
FIRST AIRED 3/18/93 WRITER Andy Robin DIR. Cherones
SYNOPSIS Jerry dates a woman (Susan Walters) whose name rhymes with a female body
part—if only he knew which one. Elaine rekindles her affections for an ex,
Roy/Triangle Boy (Sherman Howard), as he's about to undergo a splenectomy, which Jerry and
Kramer get to observe. HISTORIC MOMENT Seinfeld has remarked that his
ad-lib—quot;Let's go watch 'em slice this fat bastard up"—opened the door
for all manner of verbal envelope pushing. CRITIQUE The combined snarkiness of two
trademark motifs (the provocation—via the name guessing—of dirty thoughts; and
George's hopes of profiting from death) adds up to a minor masterpiece. B+
EPISODE 59
THE SMELLY CAR
FIRST AIRED 4/15/93 WRITERS David/ Mehlman DIR. Cherones
SYNOPSIS Jerry wages an epic struggle against "The Beast," after a
parking valet infests his car with otherworldly BO. George worries he's put Susan off men
after seeing her holding hands with Mona (Viveka Davis), a golf instructor who, in turn,
falls for Kramer. CRITIQUE George as despairing sexual leper ("Amazing. I
drive them to lesbianism. [Kramer] brings 'em back!") is, of course, a treat. But
Jerry's initially funny predicament runs out of gas, as it were. B-
EPISODE 60
THE HANDICAP SPOT
FIRST AIRED 5/13/93 WRITER David DIR. Cherones
SYNOPSIS The ethically challenged meet the physically challenged as the foursome
appropriate a handicap spot at a suburban mall en route to an engagement party for The
Drake (Rick Overton). INTRODUCES John Randolph as Frank Costanza (his scenes were
later reshot for syndication by his successor, Jerry Stiller—a television rarity). CRITIQUE
While there are always moments of misanthropic self-centeredness, "Spot" is a
veritable celebration of it—and good callous fun at that! B
EPISODE 61
THE PILOT (ONE HOUR)
FIRST AIRED 5/20/93 WRITER David DIR. Cherones SYNOPSIS
Revolving around the casting (most notably, Ellen's Jeremy Piven as
"George"), taping, and airing of the NBC pilot are Dalrymple's obsession with an
uninterested Elaine, Kramer's constipation, and George's cancer scare. CRITIQUE
What a missed opportunity! The show-within-a-show goings-on offered all sorts of riotous,
hour-filling possibilities. Instead, Kramer and Elaine are thrown subplot bones, making
what should have been a watershed event feel padded and slack. B-
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