Seinfeld : Season 7 [DVD] [2006]

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By the time Seinfeld reached Season 7, it was already firmly established as one of the top shows on TV. But Jerry Seinfeld and series co-creator Larry David still had plenty of stops to pull out to keep the show at the top of its form. This is the season where George--yes, George (Jason Alexander)--gets engaged. Elaine (Julia Louis Dreyfuss) judges her dates to see who is "sponge-worthy." Jerry deals with low-flow showerheads, buys Chinese gum, and tries to date Debra Messing. And Kramer (Michael Richards) solidifies his own essential Kramer-ness by putting a hot tub in his living room, going around town in Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, buying jeans so tight he can’t take them off, and taking advice on court strategy from his caddy. If there is a unifying theme in this season, it would be growing up (or rather, futile attempts to grow up), as Jerry whines to George right off the bat, "What are we doing? What kinds of lives are these? We’re like children, we’re not men." As a result, marriage emerges as a theme, and George proposes to Susan (Heidi Swedburg) in Episode 1. And because George is, well, George, things inevitably go downhill from there. But it’s not all navel-gazing. After all, this is the season that gave us "The Soup Nazi," and years later, "no soup for you" is a still a pop culture touchstone. Other classics include "The Calzone" where Jerry points out that Elaine’s boyfriend never asked her out; "The Bottle Deposit," featuring Kramer teaming with Jerry’s nemesis, Newman (Wayne Knight), to make millions out of a bottle deposit scheme; and "The Cadillac," where Jerry’s gift of a Cadillac to his parents inevitably leads to trouble, to name just a few. In due course through the season, all attempts to grow up inevitably, and hilariously, fail. That seems to be the world of Seinfeldian existentialism. Seven seasons in, who wants to see these characters actually change anyway when it’s so much more fun to watch them flail in their own skins? --Daniel Vancini, Amazon.com.