The Opera doesn't sit well with some Seinfeld fans
In Season 4, Episode 9 ("The Opera"), the character Joe Davola (Peter Crombie) is a mentally unstable individual off his medication who stalks and terrorizes the "Seinfeld" core four. Threats of Kiboshing and clown karate all add to the bizarre nature of the threatening personality, which makes for a dark chapter in the series.
In a post to the r/Seinfeld subreddit, u/derpferd wrote, "I'm watching The Opera, and this is, without question, the most unnerving sitcom episode I've ever seen. Crazy Joe Davola is terrifying." Similarly, u/pilchard_slimmons posted, "The first time I saw it, I actually forgot what I was watching and felt very uncertain about it. It had a certain darkness about it that was so out of character for the show, buffered on each side by a normal episode." Others like u/Cellarzombie also agreed "The Opera" was a tough pill to swallow, calling the episode "one of the most unsettling and uncomfortable episodes of TV that I can recall."
Notably, a number of commenters brought up their thoughts on the cringe-worthy scene where Elanie is trapped in Davola's apartment. For example, u/MybklynWndy wrote, "Not my favorite episode. A little too dark. When Elaine was trapped, it wasn't funny." In another comment, u/julia_fns also added, "Elaine being trapped by him got way too real for me, nothing funny about that at all."
The Seinfeld Episode That Always Gives Fans The Creeps
