Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) hasthe distinction of being the only lead female characteronSeinfeld. She was surrounded by men, including George Costanza (Jason Alexander), Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards), and her ex-boyfriend, Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld). That could have been bad news for her, but Elaine proved to be just as self-centered as the rest. She had a history of picking bad boyfriends over the years, with the best beingher on-again, off-again, and on-again beau, David Puddy (Patrick Warburton). In one episode, however,Elaine dated a man so creepy and obsessive that she had to physically attack him to get away. The stalker plotline she and the rest of the gang found themselves in was so dark and disturbing that the show about nothing became one about something all too real.
The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends.
During its nine-season run,Seinfeldhad some hilariously over-the-top episodes. The series was purposely offensive because the entire point was for the gang to do awful things and get their comeuppance. For example, whenGeorge’s fiancée, Susan (Heidi Swedberg), dies from licking toxic wedding invitation envelopes, he’s relieved to be single again. But then he’s stuck volunteering at a foundation created in her honor.The much-maligned series finalehad everyone they’d ever harmed come back to testify against them in court, resulting in theSeinfeldfour ending up in jail.
SomeSeinfeldepisodes, though, went too far, even for them.“The Puerto Rican Day” was banned from syndicationbecause it had offensive portrayals of Puerto Ricans and even burned their flag. In “The Merv Griffin Show,” Jerry drugs his girlfriend repeatedly so he can play with her toy collection. Though he gets caught, he faces no repercussions except being dumped. Then there’sthe strangestSeinfeldepisode of all, “The Opera,” with a plot so dark that it had Elaine fearing for her life.
In “The Opera”, Elaine Benes Is Stalked by a Psychotic Boyfriend
“The Opera” wasthe ninth episode of Season 4 ofSeinfeld. In it, Elaine is dating “Crazy” Joe Davola (Peter Crombie), a man so creepy that it’s hard to buy that Elaine would ever see anything in him. He has a bit of an obsession with Jerry, blaming Seinfeld for ruining his deal with NBC. “You put the kibosh on me, now I’m gonna put the kibosh on you,” he says in a phone message. Meanwhile, Kramer has convinced Jerry to go to the opera with him, George, and Elaine. Jerry, not having heard the message yet, tells Elaine he can’t wait to finally meet her new boyfriend, Joey. No one knows yet that Joe and Joey are the same person. She’s smitten with the guy due to his love of the arts. She also calls him well-adjusted, but then we cut to him listening to opera and crying while doing bench presses in his apartment.On the floor beside him lie several photos he’s taken of Elaine out in public without her knowledge. What could go wrong, especially when Elaine leaves to do a pop-in, surprising Joey at his apartment for the first time?
After Elaine leaves, Jerry hears the voicemail from Joe and freaks out that he’s going to get murdered.When Elaine gets to Joey’s place,she finds the secretly taken photos of herself all over the wall. Joey then walks in with more photos and slams the door, making Elaine jump. “Fear is our most primal emotion,” he says, confessing to taking pictures of Elaine at work and in her shower with a telephoto lens. Freaked out by his behavior and robotic tone, Elaine makes an excuse to leave, but Joey blocks the door. He breaks down because Elaine says she can’t get tickets to an opera about the clown Pagliacci, who is cheated on by his lover. “Do you think I’m a clown?” he asks. Accusing Elaine of infidelity, Joey calls her by the wrong name. When Elaine tries to get away, he forces the door closed and tells Elaine that the clown killed his cheating wife. Scared for her life, Elaine sprays Joey in the eyes with breath spray and makes a break for it. Wait, this is a plot inSeinfeld?
The next time we see Joe/Joey, he’s painting his face white like a clown. Then, in full clown regalia, he takes a nighttime walk through a park, where he’s accosted by three thugs. Without showing any emotion, he quickly beats them up.This feels more like the origin ofJoaquin Phoenix’s Jokerthan a 90s NBC sitcom. Waiting outside at the opera, Jerry and Elaine discuss their scary encounters with Joe and Joey, finally figuring out they’re the same person. The realization terrifies them even more, with them both now convinced that he’s going to kill them.When Kramer is scalping tickets in the alley,Joe Davola, as Pagliacci, approaches him from the darkness, as intimidating and void of emotion as ever. Even Kramer is scared of him. Davola then goes up to Jerry and Elaine, who quickly realizes who is under the makeup, causing them to run away and hide for cover. “A crazy clown is after us,” Jerry says. “He’s trying to kill us.” Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer are seated inside the opera theater when Kramer tells them he sold his ticket “to some nut in a clown suit.” Jerry and Elaine’s mouths drop in horror, and that’s it, no comeuppance, no typical bringing together of several plotlines likeSeinfeldis known for. What the hell is going on here?
“The Opera” Doesn’t Feel Like a ‘Seinfeld’ Episode
Seinfeldhas done scary episodes before, but ones so silly and outrageous that you laugh at them, just like they want you to.In “The Doll,” George discovers that Susan has a massive doll collection, with one that looks just likehis controlling mother, Estelle (Estelle Harris). It traumatizes him so much (and the audience, too) that George can hear it talking to him in her voice. To compound our natural fear of dolls, another Seinfeld episode, “The Chicken Roaster,” hasJerry freaked out by a ventriloquist dummy named Mr. Marbles. In one scene, we hear the pitter-patter of his little feet running across the floor at night, and in a deleted moment, we even see the shadow of him holding a knife, but this is so absurd we don’t buy it.
“The Opera” is scary in an entirely different way because it feels so real.Seinfeldis a show about nothing, but here it became a show about something, even if it didn’t want to. It tries to tackle subjects like voyeurism, psychotic breakdowns, the fear of physical and sexual assault of a woman trapped all alone by a man, and even potential murder. ButSeinfeldis not a serious series, so its light approach makes everything come across as incredibly awkward. Even the studio audience’s laughter sounds uncomfortable and forced. You can just imagine these people showing up, excited to see a live taping of their favorite sitcom, then having to sit through some bizarre story about a psychotic clown.
Perhaps the scene at the end of “The Opera” can simply be excused for being a misfire, something that often happens in comedy. The idea of a man dressed up as a clown making Jerry and Elaine wonder if they’re about to be murdered isn’t all that funny, but they’re in a crowd, so we assume they are safe. The earlier scene of Elaine alone with Joe Davola, however, is uncomfortable, and if you’re a woman watching it, terrifying, with your worst nightmare portrayed as a joke.It’s like a plot out of aLaw & Orderepisode, notSeinfeld.
Seinfeldis available to watch on Netflix in the U.S.
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