The Strike

Season 9, Episode 10, Aired
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Episode Summary

An increase in the minimum wage is enough to finally meet the demands of the striking employees of H&H Bagels, and as such, Kramer announces that after 12 years, he's going back to work. Jerry meets an attractive woman at a party, but when he later tries to date her, she doesn't look nearly as good. Elaine's use of a fake phone number backfires when she loses a card that will entitle her to a free sandwich. George tries to get away with giving away fake donation cards as Christmas gifts at work, and much to his chagrin, his father decides to revive Festivus, a unique holiday he'd invented years earlier.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (10)

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  • "A Festivus for the rest of us!" And for me!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By El_Schemo, Sep 06, 2010 Report Abuse
    Out of all the Seinfeld episodes I've seen, this one is hands-down the best (I haven't seen every episode yet, but it's highly unlikely the few that I haven't seen yet could be better). Jerry trying to handle having a girlfriend who becomes ugly in the wrong lighting, Elaine trying to contact a man she gave her fake phone number to, because she wrote the number on the back of a card that could get her a free sub and a captain's hat, Kramer going back to work after a 12-year strike (he wanted $5.35 an hour, and they only complied with that because the minimum wage was raised to precisely that), and best of all, George and his family's annual celebration of Festivus. I was somewhat annoyed at George's dislike for Festivus, for to me, it seemed like a great holiday. Soon, I found George's dislike for the holiday more comedic than annoying. I found it very funny when George used the holiday as an excuse to Kruger for handing out fake donation cards as Christmas gifts. Though throughout the episode, I couldn't help but wonder what the Feats of Strength was! Both times that the Feats of Strength was mentioned, George raced out of the coffee shop in a mad panic, and no classification on what it is was given, other than Frank seemed to enjoy it. Then at the end, when Frank said "As Festivus rolls on, we come to the Feats of Strength", I listened more closely than I had been. I liked the idea of the Feats of Strength being a wrestling match. The only point of the episode I have a Greivance to Air about is the very end, where Kramer gets fired. But given the rest of the episode, especially the Festivus dinner, I found that Kramer getting fired didn't negatively affect my opinion of this at all. Happy Festivus!moreless

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  • The alternate reality of George's family. The Festivus for the rest of us.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Dawnsdinosaurs, Sep 06, 2010 Report Abuse
    Welcome to the alternate reality of George's family. This is definitely one of my favorite episodes, and one of the reasons this show was on as long as it was. Another Seinfeld episode that kept everyone talking for a long time. Even now almost 8 years later we still talk about the festivus fo the rest of us. Some of the best episodes in the series had to do with George's family. Seinfeld was a classic show and this was another episode that will be talked about over and over again.moreless

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  • Festivus!

    9.7
    "Superb"
    By thefanof, Sep 06, 2010 Report Abuse
    Hoe often is it that a sitcom was able to create a Holiday, talk about it briefly for about 3-5 minutes and get millions around the world to actually celebrate it? Not too often. Seinfeld was one of the few shows with the power to do that. Festivus is such a relatable concept to so many individuals. We all want to air our grievances with our family members, we do not want to pretend to care about them.

    Great, great episode of Seinfeld that will definitely go down as one of the best in series history. A must watch for any fan of comedy.moreless

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  • The human fund a fund for humans.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By TMFMM2022AD, Sep 06, 2010 Report Abuse
    "all the ways they have disappointed you"

    Elaine has gotten 23 submarine sandwiches from a sub shop and she has 23 stamps on her sub card. With 24 stamps she gets a free sub, but she misplaced her sub card and figures that she gave the card away to a man that she gave a fake number to at a party she was at with Jerry. Kramer tells Jerry he was on strike and now the strike is over and he is going back to work. Elaine stops by the race track to see if she has gotten any phone calls because for the last five years she has been giving the phone number from the race track as her number. She told the people there to give them her number if the vest guy calls. Jerry notices a two face girl with one face good looking and the next you see her she is ugly. Elaine tells Kramer she is expecting a phone call because she gave the men at the track her number. In the beginning of the episode George got a gift of a donation to a charity in his name and was pissed about it so now he passing out donations to the Human fund to co-workers he works with.moreless

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  • 'Another Festivus miracle!'

    8.5
    "Great"
    By OnePerCentClub, Sep 10, 2009 Report Abuse
    I just love that phrase, because Kramer screws it up by telling Gwen she's not Jerry's real girlfriend because of all the bad and good light.

    What cracks me up is Mr. Costanza. He steals the show. His whole speech at the dinner was hilarious. Elaine has her own problems and all created by her, like always. I just couldn't stop laughing when she asks the guy about the horse and he just says 'He had to be shot' in a very cruel way!

    George... poor man, he's all traumatized by his parents that there's no way someone can help him... For our fun of course.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • (introducing himself to Gwen) Jerry: Hi. I'm Jerry. You might not know it to look at me, but I can run really...really fast. This most likely is a reference to Season 6 episode "The Race". Edit
    • "Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us" is the name of a book by Allen Salkin about the celebration of Festivus in the real world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus Edit
    • Jerry says that Gwen always looks good when sitting in the back booth at the coffee shop, and that he'll try to always sit there with her. However, the two subsequent times that they eat there, they sit in the booth directly behind the cash register. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris (Frank & Estelle Costanza) received the "With" credit. Edit
    • For the first time, a second after the director is credited, the show goes into commercials. Edit
    • For the first time, all the main credits are showed in one scene, instead of usually being separate between scenes. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Jerry (surprised): Gwen, what are you doing here? Gwen: Kramer told me you were here. Kramer (excited): Another Festivus miracle! Edit
    • Frank: At the Festivus dinner, you gather your family around and tell them all the ways they have disappointed you over the past year. Kramer: And is there a tree? Frank: No. Instead, there's a pole. Requires no decoration. I find tinsel distracting. Kramer: Frank, this new holiday of yours is scratching me right where I itch. Edit
    • Jerry: Why didn't you ever mention this? Kramer: Jerry, I didn't want you to know I was out of work. It's embarrassing. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Jerry: Two Face..like the "Batman" Villain?
      Jerry mentions that his girlfriend goes through strange changes, Her face gets very dim in certain light, and he parallels this to the Two Face. Two Face is a Batman villain, and this makes sense that he would mention this, being that Seinfeld is a very big Comic Book buff, and Batman is a comic book character. Edit

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