Stupid Summer Project: The Reverse Peephole

Jerry: Cheapness is not a sense.

Kramer: ...Keep the big bills on the outside.
Jerry: That's a five.

Comment: The moral devolution of the characters is complete. In an earlier season episode, we learn that Elaine is morally opposed to fur: she makes a big scene at a party over a fur coat. Also in an earlier episode, we learn that Elaine's moral stances affect her dating choices: she broke up with a guy she thought was great because they disagreed on abortion. But in this episode, Elaine finds out that her boyfriend David Puddy wears a fur coat. She's upset by this. Jerry says "And of course you find fur morally reprehensible." Elaine responds, "Eh, anti-fur, who has the energy anymore? This is more about hanging off the arm of an idiot." At this point in the series, Jerry, George, and Elaine have lost any sense of morality beyond selfishness when others break the social order to annoy them. Kramer still has an zany sort of ethos, but is he what's left of our moral center? Elaine has changed: she is now just as selfish and shallow as Jerry or George. I'm not objecting to this shift, just observing it.

There are some good things in this episode. George is just the sort of person to save all his coupons and such in his wallet, and Kramer and Newman are the sort to reverse their peepholes to check if anybody is ready to ambush them with a sock full of pennies.