Season 3, Episode 23, "The Keys"
With the season 3 finale, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld finally had the confidence to bring Seinfeld to its full potential. After a full season of expanding and forming the show's unique humor, and for the first time with more confidence in the series' future, "The Keys" was the first season finale to end on a cliffhanger, and the first time an episode set up a story arc of multiple episodes, after three seasons of nothing but standalone episodes, and it also paved the way for the groundbreaking fourth season - the first full-season story arc.
That's not all "The Keys" is notable for. The episode doesn't have as many memorable one-liners as some earlier episodes, but it has some of the best writing of any episode so far; it's a rare case in which all four characters take part in one complete storyline, rather than four separate threads, and it makes for some wonderful interaction between them we rarely get to see, as the relationships are explored beyond the one between Jerry and Elaine which formed much of the humor of the first seasons. It also may be the first time we get to see Kramer as a fully-formed, complex character rather than just the buffoon he was before, and his one scene with George is one of the series' defining moments. Great acting and great writing make "The Keys" the first truly classic season finale for Seinfeld and a great sign of things to come.
With the season 3 finale, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld finally had the confidence to bring Seinfeld to its full potential. After a full season of expanding and forming the show's unique humor, and for the first time with more confidence in the series' future, "The Keys" was the first season finale to end on a cliffhanger, and the first time an episode set up a story arc of multiple episodes, after three seasons of nothing but standalone episodes, and it also paved the way for the groundbreaking fourth season - the first full-season story arc.
That's not all "The Keys" is notable for. The episode doesn't have as many memorable one-liners as some earlier episodes, but it has some of the best writing of any episode so far; it's a rare case in which all four characters take part in one complete storyline, rather than four separate threads, and it makes for some wonderful interaction between them we rarely get to see, as the relationships are explored beyond the one between Jerry and Elaine which formed much of the humor of the first seasons. It also may be the first time we get to see Kramer as a fully-formed, complex character rather than just the buffoon he was before, and his one scene with George is one of the series' defining moments. Great acting and great writing make "The Keys" the first truly classic season finale for Seinfeld and a great sign of things to come.