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Festivus has become the largest contribution to culture that Seinfeld managed. They effectively created a new holiday of sorts. Now, the Festivus jokes and bits done by the general public have perhaps become a bit tiresome. Not everybody is as shrewd comedically as Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David. Lynda Carter did have a funny tweet, though. This year, I decided to watch the Festivus episode of Seinfeld for the first time in a couple years. Would it hold up? Is it a worthy part of the holiday season?
Of course, the episode isn’t called “The Festivus.” The episode is called “The Strike,” and it is from the ninth and final season, when the show was sillier. The titular storyline involves Kramer returning from a strike after years away from H&H Bagels, where he worked, and then going back on strike because he is told he can’t have Festivus off. George makes up a charity, The Human Fund, so he can avoid giving gifts. Jerry dates a woman who is a “Two Face,” which is to say sometimes she is good looking and sometimes she isn’t. Elaine gave out her standard fake number and trying to get her sub shop card back leads her to an offtrack betting spot.
Everything culminates at the Costanza house for Festivus. George’s father Frank created the holiday, an anti-commercial “Festivus for the rest of us” that takes place December 23. There’s an unadorned aluminum pole. The Airing of Grievances. The Feats of Strength. You name it, it’s all there.
Festivus, I will say, is funny. Yes, it has been worked into the ground a bit, but there is a reason why people glommed onto it. However, the other storylines are all funny, to some degree, as well. “The Strike” is one of the top episodes of the final season, and a great episode in total. I have no grievances to air here. “The Strike” is worth working into your holiday rotation.
