I just rewatched "The Trip," which is one of my personal favorites. Despite the serial killer plotline, "The Trip," taken together with "The Keys," is probably one of the best and most touching story arcs, and probably is more revealing of Kramer's character than any episode before or since. Here, Kramer sets off to California in search of his dream, which he explains to George in a very funny but also very realistic conversation.
In part 2 of "The Trip," Kramer denies that anything is going wrong. When the police arrive at his door, he does not even notice them, but instead immediately spots his pals Jerry and George amid the crowd. At the jail, he tries to convince them that everything's all right. Near the end, Jerry and George try to convince him to come back to New York, but he insists that things are going fine, even though we've seen that nothing is working out for him. The final scene--the vaguely sentimental one--is perfect. Kramer comes back, and when Jerry asks what he is doing there, he merely replies "Getting something to eat." This could have just been a silly, clueless sounding line, but through Richards' acting, we can see that little part of Kramer's humanity showing through, that he knows he's failed in L.A., that he's had to swallow his pride and come back, but he's still trying to act like everything's okay. Then Jerry returns the key he took back two episodes before, and Kramer pauses, touched, happy that his pal Jerry has now officially invited him back into his life. He nods silently, and leaves. Then, of course, he pops back in and tosses in his huge keychain, breaking the mood completely in true Seinfeld fashion.
It is a perfect, poignant, understated ending to an epic three-part story. It is sentimental without being sappy.
The Key/L.A. story goes straight to the heart of Kramer's character--not just gentle insanity or a neverending stream of wild ideas--the desire for everything to be okay. He always wants to be seeking out his dream, constantly finding something new to be excited about, something that will make things right. Part of him feels that acting that way will make it so, which is why he always believes in his ideas so strongly. Perhaps, as in "The Trip," even he knows that things aren't working, that even if it's fun, maybe it is silly to have his life be a talk show, but he's afraid that admitting that to others will be admitting failure, and if he just keeps believing in it--perhaps a tweaking of the format will do--things will work out okay after all.
Kramer is a dreamer, living his life the way he wants to live it, the way he feels he must live it.
I'm probably reading more into that last scene than the writers ever intended, but oh, well. It got to me. (Like the old man in Home Alone got to George!)
-Kenny