The Keys
A reassuring story sits side-by-side with a self-indulgent one.
The final episode of season three begins with a succession of scenes featuring Jerry reaching boiling point with regards to Kramer abusing his privileges in Jerry’s apartment, leading to Jerry taking back his spare key from his intrusive neighbour. Jerry then gives his spare key to Elaine as well as returning Kramer’s spare keys back to Kramer. Kramer then dumps his spare keys in front of an unimpressed George in Monk’s.
Things are moving along at a nice pace but they’re not out of control. This is still pleasingly contained within the lives of our four heroes; new dynamics are appearing, new strands to existing relationships are being formed which is a reassuringly comfortable way of bringing the curtain down on a largely frenzied season. And Larry Charles is in charge of this episode too; with Larry C at the wheel, you’d be forgiven for expecting a big set piece with a cast of thousands to send off Jerry and his co-stars for the summer. But as yet, this doesn’t appear to be on the cards.
The exchange between Kramer and George in Monk’s is a classic scene in the history of Seinfeld because for the first time, Kramer assesses who he is and how his frequent access to Jerry’s apartment was keeping him from living in the real world. Never before has Kramer experienced any prolonged period of self-examination, but now he is being honest with himself and facing up to his largely fraudulent, fantastical way of life. It’s a beautifully written moment which becomes increasingly funny when Kramer tries to draw parallels between himself and George – who is fiercely adamant that his life is nothing like Kramer’s. Of course these two characters are polar opposites but what draws them together is their current status of unfulfillment. Kramer is committed to seeing the world and changing his life; George is happy to just wallow in self-pity.
Kramer is signalling his intent to upset the equilibrium of the show by leaving New York to pursue an acting career in California. This is the kind of Charles-esque ending we were expecting – something to shake up the sit for the sake of the com. Kramer is now on the road and he won’t be coming back till season four. We’ve lost him. And we’ve lost who he is, at least for now. As I’ve mentioned before, as soon as Kramer takes the lead in a story, he loses a little bit of the magic that made him Kramer in the first place. The best example of Kramer’s character in an episode of Seinfeld is The Fix-Up – he has no direct involvement with the sophisticated plot, he simply turns up halfway through with his own hilarious and offbeat subplot that will cleverly interfere with, and reroute, the main event. This is Kramer. What we’re witnessing in this finale is a sculptor who can’t leave his statue alone. The more you tinker with Kramer, the more you distance yourself from its original, brilliant concept.
The little stories that accumulate as Kramer hitches a lift to LA through a variety of people from spaced-out hippies to long-distance truckers are virtually unwatchable. The timing, the humour and the acting is completely off which is some achievement considering how pitch perfect the scene between George and Kramer was from earlier.
The continuing story of the keys however is still hitting all the right notes with Jerry, George and Elaine falling out over key ownership, apartment visitation rights and a whole lot of misplaced trust. It’s a joyous crescendo.
The season concludes with Jerry and Elaine watching Murphy Brown on television and discovering that Kramer has a substantial part on the show. So Kramer’s story was that he hitched a series of rides to Hollywood and in the next scene appeared in a top-rated sitcom with no explanation of how he did it. Kramer’s desire was to escape his fantasy world in New York but all he ended up doing was creating a new one for himself in LA. Just what was that his actual objective? Who knows. None of it made any sense, it was just a sequence of indulgent scenes that amounted to nothing more than ‘Hey look Kramer is with hippies! Hey look Kramer is on rollerblades now! Hey look Kramer is on Murphy Brown!’ It’s all rather boring and a not at all satisfying end to their first full season. The saga of the keys however was excellent and should have been the storyline that involved all four characters, right up to the end.
This is an excellent example of where the show is and what they want it to be. The keys plot could have easily been from season one or season two because it was just a build-up of tension between the triumvirate over a tiny yet relatable incident; it didn’t enter into any third act where they apologised for their behaviour or learnt from their rash decisions; they just argued and fought, took back their keys and moved on from it. But conversely you have these scenes of Kramer on his journey through California and landing a role on Murphy Brown, signifying that the writers want to continue to do more with the cast, to stretch that rubber band of reality to breaking point.
So what does this mean for season four? More outlandish plots? More episodes about nothing? What will die and what will gain momentum? The next season is a crucial one.