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Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur sat down to recap the next episode as they go through the entire Seinfeld series. “The Fix Up” first aired during the third season on February 5, 1992. Rob and Akiva disagreed with how good the episode was, with Akiva feeling it wasn’t that good, while Rob has always really liked it. The only bit of current news in the Seinfeld universe was an all time sitcom episode ranking, with “The Chinese Restaurant” topping the list. Akiva was blown away by this, considering he had it at 79. Akiva did share how he recently attended a Shiva, which reminded him of something out of Seinfeld.
The opening standup from Jerry is a piece about a conductor at a symphony, which had nothing to do with the episode itself. Rob noted that Jerry was dressed in vest and collared shirt, but not a suit jacket. The episode opens with Jerry and George eating at a restaurant, with George sharing how he thinks he’ll never meet a woman. Also, Elaine is having dinner with her friend Cynthia at a different restaurant, and Cynthia is bemoaning never meeting a good man, and she’s looking for one who has nothing. Cynthia is the actress better known for her role as Janice on Friends. Back to George, he shares that he wants to be hopeless, so he won’t care anymore. Rob likened this philosophy to that Jets fans should have, leading to a number one draft pick.
In the next scene, Jerry and Elaine talk about their respective dinners, both realizing that they could fix up their sad sack friends with each other. Rob and Akiva discussed how they both have set people up, with Rob having success, and Akiva having an 0 for 4 record. The one hiccup that Jerry and Elaine have is that Elaine thinks Cynthia is too good for George, which causes Jerry to uncharacteristically defend him. He tells her how George is fast, strong, and he can bait a hook to help sell him. They agree to set them up, both fully knowing that it will probably end in disaster.
When Jerry talks with George about this fix up, George is not on board at first, thinking it’s one step above a prostitute. George hears him out though, but not without asking an array of questions about her physical appearance first. When Elaine tries to sell Cynthia on George, she first asks what he does for a living, learning that George is currently unemployed. After hearing that George is short, stalky and bald(ing), she still agrees to go out with him.
Later, George shows up at Jerry’s apartment, excited about his phone conversation with Cynthia, adding that he didn’t even need his notes halfway through. Elaine comes in, and George wonders if Cynthia talked told her about their conversation. When he learns Cynthia didn’t say anything, he is disappointed, ready to scrap the whole thing. Kramer comes in with a paper bag full of condoms from Bob Sacamano. Rob enjoyed Kramer’s devilish smile when Jerry asked what he plans to do with all of them. He tries to push the condoms on them, but Jerry and Elaine decline. George decides to take one, just in case.
There is a mid episode standup bit about how difficult it is to buy condoms at the pharmacy. According to Rob, this was a very outdated reference. Back to the episode, Jerry and Elaine are talking, wondering how George and Cynthia’s date went. They both receive calls at the same time, so they switch over to hear the details of the date. They both share that they ended up having sex, with George quite happy about it all, and Cynthia not so much. The next scene is with Jerry and Elaine on the phone, but they can’t share their details, as they both promised they wouldn’t.
A few days later, George is upset because Cynthia won’t return his calls, feeling like she was just using him. Akiva and Rob wondered why, concluding that she was probably embarrassed from sleeping with him on the first date. Jerry is upset with this snubbing, and is going to call her up. George tries to wrestle the phone away, and while tussling, Kramer comes in and breaks it up, making them shake hands. Rob particularly enjoyed this scene for it’s inane fun. Before he leaves, Kramer warns them not to use the condoms he gave them because they were defective.
In the next scene, Cynthia is on the phone with Elaine, explaining that she missed her period. When Elaine shows up at Jerry’s, he immediate gets on her case about Cynthia blowing off George, which causes a slap fight between the two that Kramer comes in and breaks up. He tells them that they shouldn’t be doing this, and it’s obvious that they still love each other. Elaine blurts out that Cynthia didn’t call because she’s panicking for missing her period. She doesn’t realize that George walked in at that moment, but his reaction is not fear, but jubilation, exclaiming that his “boys can swim”.
Out at dinner, Cynthia is telling Elaine how great George was about it all, much to Elaine’s surprise. When Jerry and George meet them, all is very fun and flirty with Cynthia and George, but it all changed when she saw him eating like a slob. The final standup is a bit about setting people up, which Rob and Akiva felt was pretty weak.
When talking about where the episode ranks, Rob points out that this episode won the show it’s first Emmy for best writing, with Jerry actually presenting the award. Akiva still wasn’t high on it, and ultimately ranked it at 136. He originally had it at 144, but after the recap decided to move it up.
There were only a couple of emails. Chester emailed how he felt it was a terrible episode. He wondered why it was such a big deal to set people up on a date. Akiva thought that it’s not that out of bounds to get fixed up, even nowadays, though with social media, there are much easier ways. Johnny De Silveira wondered if Rob and Akiva have been fixed up. Akiva had never been on a date with anyone but his wife, while Rob was once fixed up, but didn’t enjoy it. Johnny also wondered why balding men get such a bad rap. Akiva is not sure why, but as a balding man himself, he’d like to put a stop to it.
Tune in next week as the guys will recap “The Boyfriend”, a two-part episode that they’ll recap in one podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast by going to postshowrecaps.com/seinfeld
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