The Subway

Sienfeld has always been about life. It's known for their tackle on everyday situations, things that anyone can relate. To be more specific, Seinfeld has always been about the life of adults in NYC. This has being a key element in the series and a character in its own. But I can't think of a better episode about New York City than "The Subway".

It surely isn't the funniest episode, but there's no arguing it is one of the most clever, boldest and important episodes in its entire run. I believe that this one has three key factors: experimentation, humor and New York.

Experimentation: it may not seem as wild on this day and age, but making a sitcom episode about subway rides was pretty wild. Okay, they made The Chinese Restaurant and The Parking Space before but here there's so much to grab in this location. And it's not only the fact of the location, the writers showed some pretty literal inside of New York's characters (robbers, exhibitionists) not common for a sitcom. And of course, Elaine's story line with the lesbian wedding AND the use of bleeped cursing. They were miles ahead of its time.

Humor: it's phenomenal. From Jerry's reactions to Elaine's outburst, George being the ultimate loser and Kramer's fantastical riding motion show. More than ever, it is incredibly clever. The shifts between stories is relentless and every one is in pair with the other, no overshadowing. And, for our pleasure, the episode makes the full circle: the episode starts and ends at the coffee shop with everyone distinctively changed by the events of the day.

New York: here more that ever it is a character in its own. From the subway trains to every single secondary character: the woman Elaine speaks with, the street artist/cop that saves Kramer, the woman that robs George, the exhibitionist that ends up being friends with Jerry, the two guys that unintentionally give Kramer the tip on Pampernik. It's a beautiful painting about the incredibly diverse set of characters the city has.

One of the best realized episode on the show. Way ahead of its time.

I like the funny bit with the naked mannon the subway

Funny episode but also get wokeez get broke :P

could done better back then , we will be on Mars now !

The following advertisements were selected at random from the January 9, 1992 issue of the New York Daily News classified section.

For Sale: lightly used Moe Ginsburg suit. Color: Hazel. Size: 40 short. Will include shirt, tie, overcoat and scarf for full ensemble. Retail price $350.00, will accept $8.00 cash. Please double my money on a bad investment. 555-2833.

Free item: surplus train equipment, orange high density polyethylene. Full disclosure: many unspeakable things have undoubtedly been done on and to this two passenger seat over its years of service, but the Transit Authority cannot in good conscience continue to allow fare-paying customers to unwittingly come into contact with this tainted bench. Despite yesterday's best efforts our maintenance crews have not been able to remove the plastic-fused body hair or pungent sweat aroma, but pursuant to Mayor Dinkins' recycling initiative we offer this item to the first interested party to pick it up from the Coney Island Yard, 2556 McDonald Ave.

Personals: you sat alone on the train, a puffball stocking cap above your smiling face. Reminiscent of a Nebraska farmboy on his first trip to the city, you continued to smile as a lanky doofus with hair like the bride of Frankenstein tried to squeeze in next to your ample girth. The rest of the day I wished I was him so as to come that close to you and your scent, which I imagine is best described as a cologne designed by Bob Evans. Call me 555-7287.

For the first time since The Chinese Restaurant, not a single scene of a Seinfeld episode takes place in one of the usual locations (Jerry's apartment, the café, Elaine's office, the comedy club, yada yada yada). In fact, there are no buildings involved at all: the gang's misadventures are all linked to a fateful subway ride.

Each of the protagonists has to go someplace important, but as is often the case, the journey is more interesting and fun than the destination. Therefore we get Jerry meeting an overweight exhibitionist, Kramer hearing tips about a horse race, George skipping a job interview because he meets a woman and, most hilarious of the lot, Elaine missing a lesbian wedding due to a series of delays.

The key to the episode's success is, typically enough, the dialogue, like when Jerry talks to his fellow passenger ("You have something against a naked body?" "I have something against yours!") or George makes a brilliant statement about how he identifies certain women: "I can always feel when lesbians are looking at me. They see me and think "That's why I'm not a heterosexual!"". This time, however, it's Lulia Louis-Dreyfus who steals the show with an outrageous combination of physicality (her exasperated facial expressions) and voice-over, the latter predating Arrested Development by eleven years for its use of bleeped cursing. That scene most certainly qualified as a shocker back in 1991, and it still stands out as a textbook moment of unsurpassed small-screen comedy.