(S03E11) Why is this one of may favorite Season Three episodes? Well, mainly because three of the Fab Four's storylines come together in quite satisfying ways. There's a refrain ("Of course it's cashmere!") that, while it didn't become a catchphrase, certainly put a nice punctuation on the episode. We saw some warmth and caring between the friends, which ended up engendering trickery and resentment. And George uttered one of the ultimate Costanza lines of all time.

Oh, and Kramer got drunk. On one drink. Even the DVD notes thought he was a lightweight.

By the way, ever notice how Seinfeld had episodes that took place during Christmas, but the episodes were never considered "Christmas episodes"? Take away the decorations and snowflakes, adjust some of the dialogue slightly, and these episodes could have taken place at any time of year. I always loved how Jerry and Larry never took a break from their study of how humans are mean to each other just because it was the holiday season. No episodes about family or togetherness or what Christmas is all about; instead, we get Jerry inadvertantly return an alcoholic to drinking, about George buying a flawed sweater on the cheap; and George sleeping with a cleaning woman on his desk at Pendant.

Oh, and it's too bad that Hennigan's isn't a real brand of scotch. I'd love to try it, considering what it did for Kramer (all drunk, no smell) and George (cleaning lady sex).

Anyway, on to the "awards":

Best line: When Lippman confronts George with his in-office sexcapades, George thinks for a second, then utters what is Jason Alexander's favorite Costanza-ism: "Was that wrong? Should I have not done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ingnorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon..."
Best facial expression: The tounge-wagging "blah blah blah" face Elaine makes as Jerry objects to her questions about the red dot on the cashmere sweater George gave her.
Best Kramerism: When he juts out his cup full of scotch, brings it back, takes a gulp, and claps his hands, ready for Jerry and Elaine to smell him. Of course, his mock ads for Hennigan's are funny, too:
"Say you got a big job interview, and you're a little nervous. Well throw back a couple shots of Hennigan's and you'll be as loose as a goose and ready to roll in no time. And because it's odorless, why, it will be our little secret."

Observations and DVD notes:

• This is the first time Richard Fancy played Mr. Lippman. He'll play Lippman for the remainder of the series.
• David Naughton played Elaine's alcoholic co-worker/boyfriend Dick. You may remember him from the late-'70s "I'm a Pepper" commercials, and a number of short-lived sitcoms. He also had a disco hit in 1979 with the theme to his sitcom Makin' It.
• The name of the cleaning lady in the script is Evie, even though her name is never mentioned.
• Larry David got the idea for the cleaning lady story after observing the cleaning ladies that worked in the Seinfeld offices late at night. He mentions in a featurette about the show that, "being the horny Jew that I am," he'd get ideas.
• The episode was supposed to end with Dick's drunken tirade in the Pendant offices after he gets fired. But an executive at Castle Rock asked Larry David to show something where Dick has recovered. So at the end of the usual closing stand-up scene, a sober Dick interrrupts Jerry by correcting his use of "off-the wagon" (a recurring joke throughout the episode) and raises a coffee cup to him.