The Trip (1)

Season 4, Episode 1, Aired
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Episode Summary

With Elaine in Europe, Jerry asks George to accompany him on a trip to LA and The Tonight Show; while there they will try to locate Kramer. While auditioning, Kramer must deal with the advances of an older female landlord (an actress who hasn't worked since 1934) and get someone in Hollywood to read his script treatment. A body is discovered; the victim, a young woman, was strangled. Kramer meets a woman at an audition and he gives her a copy of his script. Jerry loses the correct phrasing for some new jokes and George tries to get Lupe, the chambermaid, to make his bed just right. At The Tonight Show, George disturbs the guests and Jerry bombs. The woman Kramer gave the script to is strangled and his script is found in her possession. Kramer's face is shown on the news as the prime suspect for the "Smog Strangler," a serial-killer.moreless
8.3
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Fan Episode Reviews (4)

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  • Bad

    5.0
    "Mediocre"
    By dillonpickle, Jun 25, 2011 Report Abuse
    Although I am a huge Seinfeld fan, I did not care for The Trip. The major flaw was that it did not have Elaine in the episode which was bad because she is key to every episode. But what the major part was because the episode was boring. It lacked the regular Seinfeld appeal. It wasn't fast, it had no real good storyline, it was generally bad. If you were to ask me, I would say it was a bad way to start off season 4 to Seinfeld. Luckily, Seinfeld only had very few episodes that were like this, and that is why it was one of the best sitcoms of all time.moreless

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  • The lack of Elaine, part one.

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By Canogaparkcindy, Jun 25, 2011 Report Abuse
    The two first episodes just really don't do it for me. I think it is because the lack of Elaine who is my favorite character, that is in Europe. Which I just didn't get. The thing that I did like about this episode is that it continued from the season three finale, unlike the previous season, when Elaine & Jerry are together but really aren't. Anyways what I dislike is that it really isn't Seinfeld. It was just plain boring. I honestly could not wait for the episode to be over, probably the worst of Seinfeld to this day. Rating it a 6 means I really like Seinfeld.moreless

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  • Good, not great, but good.

    7.2
    "Good"
    By thebestoftv, Nov 08, 2005 Report Abuse
    I'm not going to bother explaining what happens in this episode, because you can simply look for yourselves.

    This was an interesting start for a new season. It was a definite change -L.A. instead of New York.

    The acting was a little out of character compared to the previous seasons. There were times when Kramer simply wasn't Kramer, Jerry wasn't Jerry, and George wasn't George. But, eh, it's Seinfeld so I forgive the writers.

    The plot was good, even though I prefer the second half of "The Trip" to this. I give it 7.4.moreless

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  • Kramer is having problems getting his acting career started in L.A. Jerry is going to L.A. to appear on the Tonight Show, George is coming too. They try to search for their friend, who by the chances of several unfortunate mishaps, is accused of being themoreless

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By admiral052000, Aug 08, 2005 Report Abuse
    Originally airing as an hour-long, two-part episode to kick-off season three, "The Trip" looks to capitalize off second-season momentum by picking up where the series left off.

    Kramer is in L.A. as an inspiring actor, while Jerry and George are looking to repent for disobliging their apartment keys to their friend. What follows when Jerry and George fly out west to retrieve their disenfranchised friend, however, leaves steadfast Seinfeld fans wondering how the "sitcom about nothing" becomes a dragnet look-alike.

    Seinfeld fans are hard-pressed to declare any episode outside of season one as "bad," however, few will disagree that episodes such as "The Trip" are a far, far cry from classics found in later seasons. Nevertheless, this early episode in particular still seems to be strangely sidetracked from what viewers had come to expect from a Seinfeld.

    Instead of Seinfeld-esque conversations at Monk's and the subtly unique personality of everyday life experienced at the apartment, the gang is in Southern California looking for their buddy Kramer, who we find out at the end of the episode has been accused as being the "Smog Strangler." Cops are investigating crime scenes. Jerry and George are walking around the scenes of La-La land. Even scenes at the airport and in the hotel are docile compared to similar scenes of their kind.

    Other scenes can be described as, well, awkward. Kramer's meeting with Fred Savage has the potential to be a landmine of laughter, but instead Kramer comes across as, frankly, overly clumsy and unbelievable. Kramer's neighbor down the hall, an old woman who claims to be in a 1934 Three Stooges flick where the stooges are executed at the end, is plain spooky.

    True, Kramer's individualism is unlike any character seen in a sitcom, yet, this instance he is not at his finest. It took several seasons for Kramer to truly define the quirks that are most memorable in his character. Now that the series is in syndication, elder episodes of him are simply more entertaining.

    Let us not just think that the show is entirely about, and the episodes enjoyment solely dependent on, Kramer. Jerry, of course, is the lead role, and George, as it pans out, remains the most consistent character played from season one till nine (Elaine is absent from this episode she was in the later stages of pregnancy during shooting).

    Both Jerry and George are solid, but not spectacular. They are victim of circumstance in this episode. One can only be so funny in the back of a cop car before it becomes clich. Being treated like dirt in a city as a visitor from another part of the country can only take the episode so far. Though some subtle quirks remain, a great part of the distinctive comedy that put this series on the map is, for the most part, abandoned. The episode is an interesting contrast to discover when compared old Seinfeld to new. But if this is one of the first episodes one has seen, be assured that there is much better to come.
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • According to many crossovers, the universes of Cheers and Seinfeld are the same; however, George Wendt plays himself. Plus, Cheers is mentioned as a show seen by the characters of Seinfeld. Edit
    • Ann Talman, Michael Richards' then girlfriend, is the woman bouncing next to him in the exercise video scene. Edit
    • When Kramer is done on the phone in the hallway of the hotel, he talks to the old lady. When she starts talking Kramer puts his right hand in his pocket, but later when she talks about the dead baby, his hand is on his side. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Julia Louis-Dreyfus missed the first few episodes of season four because she was on maternity leave. Edit
    • Jerry Seinfeld has actually made more than 40 appearances on The Tonight Show. Edit
    • Both parts of "The Trip" were filmed in the same week - July 20 - 24, 1992. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Kramer: (to Fred Savage) I'm not crazy. I may look weird, but I'm just like you… I'm just a regular guy. Edit
    • George: (before going through a metal detector) I've always been a little nervous about these things. I'm afraid I'm going to step through into another dimension. Edit
    • Kramer: (giving a lecture) My personal acting technique is working with color. Imagining, then finding the emotional vibrational mood connected to the color. See, if you look through my scripts, you see that all my lines have a special color. So, I don't memorize language, I memorize colors. This way I can go through red, yellow, green, blue, and you have a full palette of emotions. Edit

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Ep 1
The Trip (1)

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