"The Couch" is the 91st episode of Seinfeld and the fifth episode of its sixth season. It originally aired on October 27, 1994. It is directed by Andy Ackerman and written by series creator Larry David.
Plot[]
Kramer plans to start a pizza place where you make your own pie (a call back to his idea in "Male Unbonding") with Poppie (Reni Santoni). Jerry and Elaine's discussion of the abortion issue causes trouble at Poppie's restaurant when it turns out Poppie is pro-life. George joins a book club to impress his girlfriend and is assigned to read Breakfast at Tiffany's, but tries to rent the movie instead, saying, "If it's not about sports, I find it very hard to concentrate!" Elaine dates the hunky man (David James Elliott) who delivered Jerry's couch. George ends up watching the movie at an apartment with a man named Joe and his daughter Remy (who would later make a brief appearance in “The Diplomat's Club”). He accidentally spills grape juice all over the family's couch and is kicked out of their apartment before he can see the ending of the movie. Meanwhile, Poppie pees on Jerry's new couch, and Jerry is forced to get rid of it. He takes his old couch back from Elaine, who took it when Jerry got his new couch. Later, Elaine falls in love with the moving man. Jerry casually asks her what his stand is on abortion. She asks him and breaks down in tears after finding out that he, too, is pro-life. She is forced to break up with him, since she is pro-choice. Kramer's pizza business with Poppie ends because Poppie objects to Kramer putting cucumbers on his pizza. Poppie and Kramer get into an argument that alludes to the theme of abortion in the rest of the episode, where they disagree over whether a pizza becomes a pizza when it comes out of the oven, or when you first start to make it. Elaine offers her ex-boyfriend something to drink while he is in her house getting the couch back to Jerry's. She throws grape juice over to him, but the bottle breaks and spills all over the couch. During the last scene, the book club is meeting and George, not having read the book or seen the end of the movie, says that Holly Golightly got together with George Peppard. Realizing his mistake, he quickly changes to calling him Fred, but George's girlfriend just looks at him and says, "George...Fred's gay."
Notes About Nothing[]
- The couch Poppie ruins is mentioned again in season 6's "The Doorman".
- Kramer's 200th entrance is in this episode.
- The discussion about "whether a pizza becomes a pizza when it comes out of the oven, or when you first start to make it" is in fact about the abortion and about the question when does the fetus become a person.
Season Six Episodes |
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The Chaperone | The Big Salad | The Pledge Drive | The Chinese Woman | The Couch | The Gymnast | The Soup | The Mom and Pop Store | The Secretary | The Race | The Switch | The Label Maker | The Scofflaw | The Highlights of 100, Part 1 | The Highlights of 100, Part 2 | The Beard | The Kiss Hello | The Doorman | The Jimmy | The Doodle | The Fusilli Jerry | The Diplomat's Club | The Face Painter | The Understudy |