Seinfeld: The Keys (season finale)

(S03E22) Like I said when we started this whole Retro Squad exercise, the reason why I picked Season Three of Seinfeld is because during this year you really saw the show develop before your eyes from a pokey, single-story, funny, but unremarkable sitcom to a densely-packed, fast-moving, hilarious classic. And the season finale, "The Keys," is a great example of the show's metamorphosis. Jerry and George's dispute over the spare keys, the whole spare key trade-around among the Fab Four, Elaine's secret Murphy Brown spec script, and Kramer's journey to L.A. are all crammed into this 30-minute episode. And there's still room for stand-up bits and a really funny recurring joke.

This episode could have never been written in Seasons One or Two, or even earlier in Season Three; the writers had to experiment, develop, learn lessons during this season. But once they got clicking, they were ready to hit the big time, which is what happened when the show was moved to Thursdays during Season Four.

Oh, and what was the good recurring joke? When both Elaine and George mutter expletives under their breath to call out Jerry on his bullcrap. It's one of those little things that just seem to get thrown in there, but made Seinfeld so different. People say stuff under their breath all the time, even if the person they're trashing is right next to them. It's part of normal life, which is what Larry and Jerry took pains to portray on a weekly basis.

Anyway, since this episode is so Kramer-centric, it's hard to narrow down one Kramerism as the best, but I'll put my favorite line of the episode below, in the "awards":

Best line: See the Best Kramerism. I'll put my second-favorite line here, though:
Jerry: Don't you see? You're just avoiding the middle man. You were gonna give her her spare keys, so she was gonna give 'em to me. So, all that's happening is that instead of giving them to her, you're giving them to me. It's just unfortunate that when she gave you yours, you didn't give her hers. 'Cause then she would have given 'em to me, because she has mine. So then I would have never had to ask you for hers, so that I could get mine.
George: You're right, how did I miss that? (Mutters under his breath) Maybe because it's a crock of ... .
Best facial expression: I'll go "opposite" here and say that I liked the fact that they completely covered the biker's face as he described his horrific accident where they "declared me dead at the scene..."
Best Kramerism: When George asks him if he's really going to California, Kramer points at his head and says, "Up here, I'm already gone." Boy, was he right.

Observations and DVD tidbits:

• Apparently, the Murphy Brown crossover was unprecedented at the time, as shows on different networks never did that. Michael Richards shot the scene on the Murphy set. I love the fact that Murphy was pregnant at the time; yes, this was the same fictional pregnancy that the very real Vice President at the time, Dan Quayle, publicly criticized to a lot of guffaws.
• In the "Inside Look" featurette, Jerry marvels at how slick and professional things were on the set of Murphy Brown when he visited; it actually looked like they knew what they were doing, according to him.
• Jerry and Larry returned the crossover favor by appearing as themselves on another Diane English show, Love & War.
• Wouldn't it be fun to see what all those keys on Kramer's keychain open? It'd probably be pretty scary.
• I love when Newman, Jerry, and George are doing their old-style routine about what happened to Kramer, especially when at one point, Jerry goes to the rotund Newman, "Listen, Tiny..."
• Too bad we never see more of Jerry's date in this episode, played by Nina Tremblay. She looked like the most normal woman he dated in the entire series.
• Sharon Barr plays the "lusty" trucker who double-clutches with Kramer. Tea Leoni also auditioned for the role.
• When Elaine says "I've got to get a new set of friends," this is the first crack we see in her "nice" armor. She'll be expressing this dismay for her lot in life many more times throughout the rest the series. But not until a few episodes into Season Four, as Julia Louis-Dreyfus had her first child pretty soon after this and "The Parking Space" were filmed.

Well, that's it folks. Hope you enjoyed a look back at the breakthrough season of one of the best shows ever shown on television. Now, on to the new stuff in the fall...