Seinfeld Season 5 marks a turning point. For the first time in the run of the series, the show knows how great it is. It piggybacks off the breakout Season 4 and soars to worldwide acclaim.
Season 5 is the final season for Director Tom Cherones and Writer Larry Charles. Luckily, new talent like Andy Ackerman, Tom Gammill and Max Pross among others, would slide in seamlessly for the transition.
Unlike the previous season, there are no lengthy story arcs. The unemployed George moves back home, making Frank and Estelle central characters. On a down note, it’s a bit more sitcom-like with noticeable applause breaks from the audience that disable smooth comedy and make it somewhat cliche.
Idioms like Low Talker, Kavorka, Mimbo, Shrinkage, Spare a Square, and I Don’t Wanna Be a Pirate would enter the lexicon. Jerry begins his new girlfriend ebery week trope, and tertiary characters Mickey, Jake Jarmell, Lloyd Braun, and Poppie debut.
It opens with the raunchy episode The Mango, and follows with The Glasses, The Lip Reader – all are good but not great. Following suit are The Hamptons, The Stand In, The Bris, The Fire, and The Wife – which I hate but it does feature Courtney Cox in a pre-Friends appearance. The Cigar Store Indian brings us Kramer’s coffee-table book. And the crazy The Barber feels like a throwback to earlier seasons.
Season 5 also includes a great run of my personal favorites; perhaps more than any other season which was a bit of a surprise: The Puffy Shirt, The Sniffing Accountant, The Nonfat Yogurt, The Masseuse, The Conversion, and The Pie.
The Raincoats brings the Florida crew and the great Judge Reinhold. The Marine Biologist has an all-time classic monologue. The Dinner Party has perfect chaos and the infamous black and white cookie. The Stall has one of the best endings ever.
And the season finale, The Opposite, which is one of the best of the series – a series that ended 25 years ago today.
Seinfeld is available to stream on Netflix.
