Seinfeld has been in the spotlight again for the past couple of months because the entire series has come to Netflix. Previously, it had been on Hulu for several years before moving to the other streaming platform, where many of Jerry Seinfeld's projects wait for viewers to enjoy.
It is a great opportunity for longtime fans to relive hilarious episodes, but hopefully, the series' new home makes it easier for millions of new fans to come and understand what is so great about this legendary sitcom. One thing new viewers should understand about Seinfeld is that all the main characters are fairly abhorrent people. Even Elaine Benes is just as bad as George, Jerry, and Kramer, as evidenced by the entries below.
8 Eats An Extremely Valuable Cake
- The Frogger (Season 9, Episode 18)
Elaine initially despises the daily birthday celebrations at her job. After she voices her displeasure and her coworkers stop inviting her to the celebrations, she starts to miss the daily sugar intake. Her boss, J. Peterman, happens to have an extremely valuable cake from King Edward VIII's wedding.
Elaine decides to just take a bite of the cake but then cannot resist consuming the rest. Peterman has a camera in his office and when he shows the evidence to Elaine, he concludes that the effect such an old cake will have on her stomach is more than enough punishment. The other side-story of the episode involves George and an old Frogger arcade machine.
7 Potentially Breaks Up With Somebody After They Injure Their Face
- The Stall (Season 5, Episode 12)
One of her boyfriends, Tony, goes out rock climbing with George and Kramer. During the trip, Tony falls and severely injures his face. Exposing her vanity, Elaine worries about the accident injuring his face beyond repair.
Throughout the episode, Jerry accuses Elaine of liking Tony purely for his looks. Funnily enough, the relationship between the two is never resolved. The rest of the plotline was cut because of time issues. Unresolved plotlines are not uncommon for Seinfeld.
6 Pretends To Be Deaf
- The Lip Reader (Season 5, Episode 6)
Elaine does not like talking to taxi and limo drivers. To avoid the small talk she finds so irritating, she pretends to be deaf. However, the driver soon finds out about her lie, which causes her and the rest of the main cast to lose out on an important cab ride. In the same episode, Jerry is dating a deaf woman, played by Marlee Matlin.
The episode ends with the girlfriend entering the same cab driver's car and he is immediately skeptical of her actual inability to hear. Pretending to fake a condition such as being deaf is a particular low. George Costanza would steal from her playbook in the last season when he fakes having a disability for a more cushy position at his job.
5 Breaks Up With A Falsely Accused Man
- The Little Jerry (Season 8, Episode 11)
After discovering her new boyfriend shaves his head because he likes the way it looks, Elaine convinces him to grow it back. Unfortunately, regrowing his hair shows that he is actually going bald. Elaine decides to stay with him for a year or so until he goes fully bald.
Later in the episode, he is arrested and sentenced to over a year in prison because the cops confuse him with George. Elaine then breaks up with the man because she concludes that he'll be fully bald by the time he gets out of the slammer.
4 Vindictively Destroys A Business
- The Soup Nazi (Season 7, Episode 6)
Yev Kassem, known as the Soup Nazi, is one of the most legendary supporting characters of the show. It may surprise fans when they realize he is only in two episodes, "The Soup Nazi" and the series finale.
After becoming fed up with the way the character runs his business, Elaine finds the restaurant owner's secret soup recipe and decides to ruin his livelihood by giving out the recipe to all. With the recipe public, there is no need for anyone to put up with Yev's strict rules.
3 Taunts A Germaphobe
- The Apology (Season 9, Episode 9)
One of Elaine's coworkers seems to be a germaphobe, but after Elaine sees the woman sharing a drink with someone, she grows suspicious. Eventually, the coworker says she disapproves of what she perceives to be sexual promiscuity.
In response, Elaine coughs on the woman's belongings and ends up getting her sick. While Elaine's coworker was wrong, so was Elaine. After going through the 2020 pandemic, such an act seems even more heinous. The real joke comes at the end when both of them end up at a Germaphobes Anonymous meeting.
2 Kidnaps A Dog
- The Engagement (Season 7, Episode 1)
Most people who have lived in cities can sympathize with Elaine in this situation, but none of them would go as far as kidnapping a dog. Elaine enlists Newman and Kramer to kidnap a dog who is keeping her up at night with its incessant barking.
They successfully nab the canine but it escapes and rips off a piece of Kramer's clothing. This is enough evidence to get the three of them caught. Stealing someone's animal is cruel, so it is a good thing they were caught and the dog ended up safe.
1 Tries To Convince A Gay Man To Become Straight
- The Beard (Season 6, Episode 16)
Elaine goes on a date with a man named Robert because he wants to hide his homosexuality from his conservative boss. She enjoys the fake date so much that she resolves to try and convert him to heterosexuality.
Trying to change someone's sexual orientation is a huge no-no. Even in the 1990s, this was questionable behavior. The episode doesn't portray this as a positive thing to do, since Elaine is already established as a selfish person by this point in the series.