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Seinfeld Recap of “The Phone Message” Season 2 Episode 4

Akiva and Rob got together once again to discuss the next episode of Seinfeld called “The Phone Message”. Akiva pointed out that this episode is quite ubiquitous, in that through reruns, he’s seen it roughly 70 times. Rob opined that it probably does not hold up well for those watching that are under 30, since they may not even know what an answering machine is. Both agreed that this was a great episode, and Rob slated it number three so far, just behind “The Pony Remark” and “The Jacket”. Akiva agreed that “The Pony Remark” still holds the proverbial belt.

They gave a brief synopsis before dissecting the episode in detail. Rob said that the episode involves the perils of the love lives for Jerry and George. Both have dates on the same night, and both go wrong in their own ways. Jerry gets into an argument about a television commercial, where George mistakenly assumes an invite up to her apartment for coffee was just for coffee and not anything more. He tries to get a hold of her to rectify the mistake, but gets her answering machine each time.

The episode opens with Jerry doing a bit about the ridiculous enthusiasm people show in commercials. Even if a person is drinking the same soda from the commercial, there is never the excitement happening in real life. Rob and Akiva debated if it is the same in 2014, but Akiva said with DVRs and smartphones, he doesn’t ever see a commercial anymore. The beginning scene has Jerry and George walking into Monk’s Diner discussing how they both have dates on Saturday. George talks about how his self esteem with women is so low, he can never tell if when the smile at him, it’s because they like him or some other reason. He goes on to tell Jerry how when he makes the phone call to ask her out, he likes to eat something like an apple so he can seem casual. Akiva noticed how they chose to sit at the counter and not the booth that would become their main spot over the course of the series.

We see the dates. George is talking to Carol about how he hates doing laundry so much, his goal is to get 365 pairs of underwear so he only has to do it once a year. His date seems to think this funny rather than gross. Meanwhile, on Jerry’s date, he jokes with Donna about trying out a funny accent. Rob wondered about this, since Jerry is not known for impressions. The scene cuts back to George, who is doing really well. Carol invites him up for coffee, which George declines since coffee keeps him up if he has it this late. After the awkward pause, George realizes that she didn’t want coffee, that the invite was for something more. Akiva and Rob discussed if Carol really meant coffee, sex, or something in between. They both agreed that it was not for coffee, but sex was probably not happening since George would have said something to ruin it anyway.

Jerry’s date would invite him up to her apartment, but it’s being painted, so she suggests they go back to his place. Jerry jokes with her that there is no cake there or anything. Rob and Akiva wondered why it was okay for her to be in her painted apartment, but he couldn’t come up. Rob thought perhaps the show just didn’t want to build a set for Donna’s apartment, and this was a way to keep Jerry from asking her to come up. Back at his apartment, Jerry and Donna are watching TV and chit chatting. Jerry laments wearing tan pants, which makes them both think of the cotton Dockers commercial. Jerry hates it and Donna really likes it, which turns Jerry off. Akiva was surprised that anyone would take such a strong stance like Donna did about a commercial. Rob read an excerpt from Wikipedia that explains how this storyline was based off of Jerry’s real life dislike of the cotton Dockers commercial.