Seinfeld: The Switch | Episode 97 Recap Podcast

Listen to the Podcast: Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur continue their journey to watch every Seinfeld episode as they discuss Season 6, Episode 11, “The Switch.” Seinfeld Post Show Recaps: The Switch Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur have already revealed their names, aren’t wasting perfectly good meals, and have no need for a $300 tennis racket, but they do continue to bring you a new Seinfeld recap week after week.  This time they break down “The Switch”, which first aired January 5, 1995 (the back nine of Hammer Time) as part of season six.  The episode was written by Bruce Kirschbaum and Sam Henry Kass. News – Rob talked about how Shawn Falconer worked his magic once again, answering Rob’s recent question about when Seinfeld peaked.  He was able to determine that season five and season seven had similar peaks after running many different rankings through his algorithm.  Akiva also saw a Seinfeld related tweet from Jay Mandium that joked how Gammill and Pross are now writers for Fuller House. Jerry’s story – Jerry is dating a woman named Sandy who doesn’t laugh at Jerry’s jokes, which is a problem for a comedian.  When he goes to her apartment, he meets her roommate Laura, who has a terrific laugh that she puts on display for Jerry.  This leads him to think he got stuck with the wrong roommate, but George comes up with a plan to turn off Sandy   The plan is to ask Sandy to have a ménage a trois and get her to dump him when offended, then ask out the roommate a week later.  When he presents the idea to Sandy, she’s into it, and so is Laura.  George is thrilled when Jerry tells him this, but Jerry just can’t be a threesome guy. George’s story – George is dating a model who eats like a horse, but immediately goes to the restroom after eating, leading him to suspect she is purging the food.  He is concerned about this, but only because he feels it’s wasting money to not digest the food.  He devises a plan to try to catch her in the act of purging, but needs a woman to be in the bathroom to confirm it.  Jerry shares how Kramer’s mother is a matron (bathroom attendant), and if they eat at her restaurant, she can make it happen.  When George gets to the restaurant, he learns from a waitress that Babs had quit, so he bursts into the bathroom when he hears retching, only to discover it wasn’t Nina. Elaine’s story – Elaine runs into the woman Mrs. Landis she interviewed with at the tennis club when she was picking up Mr. Pitt’s racquet. She is taken with the fancy racquet of Pitt, so Elaine lets her borrow it in hopes of earning goodwill getting a second shot at a job at Doubleday Publishing.  When Elaine goes to pick up the racquet, she sees that Landis has badly hurt her arm, making Elaine feel bad and not ask for the racquet back.  She later sneaks into the office to get it back, but is caught by one of Landis’ assistants, again ruining her chance at a job there. Kramer’s story – Kramer has an iconic storyline this episode.  Jerry reveals Kramer’s mother is a matron at a restaurant and can help George determine if his girlfriend is actually bulimic.  When they go to see Babs, she calls Kramer by his first name, Cosmo, leading George to immediately tell Jerry and Elaine when he sees them next.  When they tease Kramer about it, he tells them while he’s run from the name his whole life, he’s now ready to embrace it.  He even reconciles with his mom, convincing her to quit her job as a matron and start enjoying life now that she’s clean and sober.  This foils George’s plan to have Babs confirm if Nina is purging.  The reunion with his mom takes a sour turn at the end of the episode when he walks in on Babs making out with Newman,