Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Stupid Summer Project: The Phone Message

George: Ugh, no, I can't drink coffee late at night. It keeps me up.

Carol: That's what you had to tell me? Your father wears sneakers in the pool?
George: Don't you find that strange?
Jerry: Yes?

Comment: I'm about to make a wild claim:

This is George's peak episode. He is at his absolute best.

The obsessive attention to the details of social interactions. The conversation about little things. The neuroticism. The flustered nervousness. The moment of indignant anger. The self-loathing fixation on his own mistakes. The on-the-toes lies. The zany scheme. It's all here, George in his prime. The storyline with Carol reveals the fullness of early-season George Costanza, an absolute gem of a character.

The episode has another of my favorite moments from the series: Jerry fights with a date about an episode for Dockers (he can't believe she likes it), and both George and Kramer meet her and immediately identify her as the one who likes the Dockers commercial. It's a classic scene.

But on the whole this episode belongs to George.

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