After watching some of my favorite episodes in reruns this week "The Food Motif" of: Soup Nazi, The Soup (Banya), The Big Salad, The Marble Rye, and The Chinese Restaurant...
This episode can stand next to them without paling in comparison.
One common belief of watching Seinfeld is, "If you miss the first five minutes you will never understand what is going on." This episode attacks that falsehood and batters it into oblivion! By the end of the episode you understand all the special inside jokes of the episode, including George's boots, the Uninvite, the Schnopze (Sp).
Also, I remember Jerry vowed in an interview once that he'd find some way...
SPOILER ALERT!!!
to bring Susan back. I had been waiting for this moment for two years and it finally happened! Way to go Seinfeld! (The writer, not the character)
Another nice thing about this episode is that it required your constant attention. I was engrossed from start to finish in trying to figure out the plots.
I enjoyed the Elaine character more in this episode than any in the past few years. She's become short tempered and angry, and it was nice to see her loosen up when they got her drunk. It brought back memories of "STEELLLLLAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" ;)
I hope Seinfeld takes more risks of this nature in the future to give the show a more cutting edge.
Mike