In my humble opinion, this is the funniest episode of any sitcom I've ever seen. Huge fan of the long payoff and this is the best I've ever seen it done. I still can't believe LD and JS wrote that final scene only a few hours before filming and gave Jason less than an hour to learn it.
9 Reviews
Is it a Titleist?
DKosty12322 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This is a classic episode. George is the center because Jerry sets him up with a girl by telling her George is a Marine Biologist. George gets upset with Jerry because his dream is to be an architect. Still, in order to date this girl he plays along in the role Jerry set him up with.
Meanwhile, Jerry tells Elaine a terrible joke about Tolstoy really wanting to name War & Peace - "War, What Is It Good For?" By coincidence Elaine is meeting a noted Russian Author. She gets a new pocket organizer that is screwed up, and makes noises. She takes it when she meets the writer, tells him the bad joke and he promptly tosses the annoying organizer out the window with unexpected results.
Kramer tries to take up golf. He is no good at it but spends time at the beach driving a bunch of balls towards the ocean. How he tees up golf balls on the sand? Think that could be a part of the problem.
Anyhow, all of this comes together in a fire storm of humor that leads to one really funny result while leaving several funny results along the way. The humor is funny, and even timeless in a lot of ways.
Meanwhile, Jerry tells Elaine a terrible joke about Tolstoy really wanting to name War & Peace - "War, What Is It Good For?" By coincidence Elaine is meeting a noted Russian Author. She gets a new pocket organizer that is screwed up, and makes noises. She takes it when she meets the writer, tells him the bad joke and he promptly tosses the annoying organizer out the window with unexpected results.
Kramer tries to take up golf. He is no good at it but spends time at the beach driving a bunch of balls towards the ocean. How he tees up golf balls on the sand? Think that could be a part of the problem.
Anyhow, all of this comes together in a fire storm of humor that leads to one really funny result while leaving several funny results along the way. The humor is funny, and even timeless in a lot of ways.
Funniest episode in the entire series!
FlushingCaps8 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
To me, this is the funniest episode in the series, and it has the greatest finishing scene of them all. I saw it a few hours ago and wanted to provide a good review for any IMDBers not familiar with this episode.
The plot is quite complicated. Jerry runs into an old friend from college, Diane, who seems quite interested in learning how George is doing. Because George had just told Jerry all about a TV show involving marine biologists, and because Jerry doesn't want to admit that George is unemployed and living with his parents, he tells Diane that George IS a marine biologist. A bit later, George questions why Jerry didn't tell her he was an architect, saying, "I always wanted to pretend to be an architect." On a couple of occasions he shows that marine biology might not be his things because he keeps referring to whales as "fish." When corrected, he says, "Whatever." Meanwhile, Elaine has a chance to work with a famous Russian author. Just before going to pick him up at the airport, with her boss, Jerry and Kramer accidentally sabotage her chances of making a good impression. Jerry does it by getting her to believe a joke story about the novel War and Peace. Kramer by giving her an electronic organizer that has an alarm, that Elaine only partially gets to use before picking up the author.
In the limo, right after Elaine embarrasses herself with the story about the novel, her organizer goes off. The Russian is driven, instantly, nuts by the noise and when Elaine can't turn it off, he flings it out the window.
Since this is Seinfeld, you know it doesn't just drop on the ground. It hits a woman in the head. She finds Jerry's name in a list of contacts. Jerry meets her, and, of course, wants to date her, and promises to help find out who's organizer it is. He soon figures it out and he and Elaine go see the Russian with Jerry secretly trying to record the author admitting he threw the machine out of the window.
Kramer has already asked the others if they'd like to join him in hitting a bucket of golf balls into the ocean. When nobody else is interested, he goes out alone and finds himself mostly swinging and missing.
The next day, George is walking with Diane along the beach when they encounter a crowd of people standing around. They learn that there is a beached whale that seems to be in distress. A voice calls out, "Is anyone here a marine biologist?" We don't see what happens next, but know George will get into trouble no matter how he reacts to that question.
The final scene has the gang in Monk's as George captivates everyone with his story about how he was the hero of the day. I won't report the finish, figuring you either don't want it spoiled or you well remember how hilarious it was. The DVD extra reports that the laughter at the end was as long as any in the entire series. I will provide one line from George's story: "The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli." This produced hilariously puzzled looks from his friends and great laughter from the audience.
All the segments were tremendously funny and I even think the behaviors of each of the group were more logical than usual, which makes for less to criticize. This is a 10 on my list because I don't give anything a higher score.
The plot is quite complicated. Jerry runs into an old friend from college, Diane, who seems quite interested in learning how George is doing. Because George had just told Jerry all about a TV show involving marine biologists, and because Jerry doesn't want to admit that George is unemployed and living with his parents, he tells Diane that George IS a marine biologist. A bit later, George questions why Jerry didn't tell her he was an architect, saying, "I always wanted to pretend to be an architect." On a couple of occasions he shows that marine biology might not be his things because he keeps referring to whales as "fish." When corrected, he says, "Whatever." Meanwhile, Elaine has a chance to work with a famous Russian author. Just before going to pick him up at the airport, with her boss, Jerry and Kramer accidentally sabotage her chances of making a good impression. Jerry does it by getting her to believe a joke story about the novel War and Peace. Kramer by giving her an electronic organizer that has an alarm, that Elaine only partially gets to use before picking up the author.
In the limo, right after Elaine embarrasses herself with the story about the novel, her organizer goes off. The Russian is driven, instantly, nuts by the noise and when Elaine can't turn it off, he flings it out the window.
Since this is Seinfeld, you know it doesn't just drop on the ground. It hits a woman in the head. She finds Jerry's name in a list of contacts. Jerry meets her, and, of course, wants to date her, and promises to help find out who's organizer it is. He soon figures it out and he and Elaine go see the Russian with Jerry secretly trying to record the author admitting he threw the machine out of the window.
Kramer has already asked the others if they'd like to join him in hitting a bucket of golf balls into the ocean. When nobody else is interested, he goes out alone and finds himself mostly swinging and missing.
The next day, George is walking with Diane along the beach when they encounter a crowd of people standing around. They learn that there is a beached whale that seems to be in distress. A voice calls out, "Is anyone here a marine biologist?" We don't see what happens next, but know George will get into trouble no matter how he reacts to that question.
The final scene has the gang in Monk's as George captivates everyone with his story about how he was the hero of the day. I won't report the finish, figuring you either don't want it spoiled or you well remember how hilarious it was. The DVD extra reports that the laughter at the end was as long as any in the entire series. I will provide one line from George's story: "The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli." This produced hilariously puzzled looks from his friends and great laughter from the audience.
All the segments were tremendously funny and I even think the behaviors of each of the group were more logical than usual, which makes for less to criticize. This is a 10 on my list because I don't give anything a higher score.
"The sea was angry that day, my friends..."
itamarscomix27 September 2011
Season 5, Episode 14, "The Marine Biologist"
"The Marine Biologist" is possibly the best episode in Seinfeld's fifth season, and one of the best in the whole series. While other episodes usually had two, three or four parallel story lines, here George is the clear star of the episode, and Jason Alexander delivers some of his best, most hilarious acting. His monologue at the end of the episode, in particular, is genius and one of the finest moments in the series.
That's not to say that the other actors don't pull their weight. Elaine has some hilarious moments, and Kramer has brief but fantastic scenes. Rosalind Allen and Carol Kane drop by for great guest appearances. All around, one of the very best episodes of this wonderful show.
"The Marine Biologist" is possibly the best episode in Seinfeld's fifth season, and one of the best in the whole series. While other episodes usually had two, three or four parallel story lines, here George is the clear star of the episode, and Jason Alexander delivers some of his best, most hilarious acting. His monologue at the end of the episode, in particular, is genius and one of the finest moments in the series.
That's not to say that the other actors don't pull their weight. Elaine has some hilarious moments, and Kramer has brief but fantastic scenes. Rosalind Allen and Carol Kane drop by for great guest appearances. All around, one of the very best episodes of this wonderful show.
Died and Gone to Heaven
Hitchcoc6 October 2022
This is one of those episodes where Elaine can't keep her mouth shut. She has the chance of working with a major literary figure (her firm is publishing his book). Jerry gives a bit of false information about Leo Tolstoy and she won't let it go, even though her boss pleads with her to shut up. There is another subplot where a pocket organizer gets thrown out the car window because the Russian can't stand the sound. It hits Carol Kane and sends her to the hospital. The central plot is that Jerry runs into a former college classmate, a beautiful young woman. She asks about George and Jerry tells her that George is a marine biologist. This leads to one of the most hilarious monologues we will ever hear. George explains how he saved a whale. But there is a kicker because Kramer and his obsession with golf comes into play. Subperb.
Connected
ThunderKing619 March 2023
March 18th 2023rd.
What was this episode about?: George pretends to be Marine Biologist thanks to Jerry covering for him.
Elaine oversees a Rigid Russian writer who is weak to sound like the Venom character.
Kramer can't golf
Jerry is just being Jerry,
Story and the production: This was a George story, with bits and pieces from everyone else. Everyone else was a supporting cast member.
Highlight: The final monolouge from George Costanza... and the H**ker quote.
Laugh meter: 10
Girlfriend attractiveness level: 6. She was a normie girl. She was obviously wearing a wig which brought down her score.
What can be learned?: Always know Georges Alley's.
Verdict: A splendid episode. One of Seinfeld's Best.
What was this episode about?: George pretends to be Marine Biologist thanks to Jerry covering for him.
Elaine oversees a Rigid Russian writer who is weak to sound like the Venom character.
Kramer can't golf
Jerry is just being Jerry,
Story and the production: This was a George story, with bits and pieces from everyone else. Everyone else was a supporting cast member.
Highlight: The final monolouge from George Costanza... and the H**ker quote.
Laugh meter: 10
Girlfriend attractiveness level: 6. She was a normie girl. She was obviously wearing a wig which brought down her score.
What can be learned?: Always know Georges Alley's.
Verdict: A splendid episode. One of Seinfeld's Best.
Short Cuts
safenoe9 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The connection between the various storylines (the whale, the personal organizer) in The Marine Biologist has that Short Cuts feel, being from the short story by Raymond Carver, later adapted into the movie by Robert Altman. Anyway, I think one reason why The Marine Biologist has more imdb user votes than most other Seinfeld episodes is the twist with George's whale monologue at the end. It brought the house down in the studio audience and would have broken the internet if there was social media at the time. Carol Kane, famous for her role in Norman Loves Rose and Annie Hall, guest stars in this episode.
A good but wildly overrated episode
juanmaffeo6 May 2016
It's funny how everyone remembers "The Marine Biologist", especially one particular scene. You all know what I'm talking about. And that's it. The whole George's story is magnificent and Alexander gives one of his best performances on the show. But what's really fascinating to me is that everyone regards this episodes as one of the best in the show's entire run and this story is the only one memorable. And this episode is not a single story one (like The Limo or The Dinner Party). It has three different stories and the only one people talk about is George's. Kramer's story is funny.. i guess, but it's so absurd you would expect this kind of Kramer-story in season 8 or 9. And I find Elaine's story particularly annoying (not to mention Jerry having virtually no story at all). Talking the Tolstoy bit aside, this plot is not that funny. The organizer is obnoxious and it leads nowhere. And there's that Newman cameo for no reason whatsoever. In the end you'll find yourself with a half-great episode that doesn't come close to the 5th season's greats.
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