"The Stake Out" is the second episode of the first season of the NBC comedy Seinfeld.
It aired as the second episode of the season on May 31, 1990. The episode was written by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David and directed by Tom Cherones. The narrative features Jerry Seinfeld agreeing to attend a birthday party with his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes. During the party, Jerry tries to flirt with another woman, but fails to learn anything about her except her place of work. Jerry is reluctant to ask Elaine for the woman's number because he does not talk to her about other women. Jerry's father, Morty, suggests that he "stake out" the woman's workplace and pretend to meet her accidentally, which Jerry does. "The Stake Out" is the first episode to feature Jerry's parents. The episode was nominated for a Writers Guild Award in 1991.
Plot
Jerry and Elaine have just ended their relationship, but have chosen to remain friends. Elaine invites Jerry to a birthday party; he agrees to go on the condition that she accompanies him to a wedding that he and his parents have been invited to. At the party, Jerry meets an attractive woman named Vanessa. He wants to flirt with her, but is uncomfortable doing so in Elaine's presence. The woman leaves with another man before Jerry finds out her name; however, he learns that she works at a law firm called "Sagman, Bennett, Robbins, Oppenheim and Taft". During the party, Elaine tries to tell Jerry about a dream she had, which featured him. Jerry tries to end the conversation but this results in an argument after the party is over.
Back at his apartment, Jerry's parents, Morty and Helen, sleep over, with Jerry sleeping in Kramer's apartment. He talks about the party and claims that he cannot get the phone number of the woman from Elaine because he does not talk about other women with her; additionally, she is still angry with him. Morty suggests that Jerry "stake out" the woman by waiting outside her office, an idea which Jerry likes. The following day, Jerry and George Costanza perform the stake out, pretending that they are coming to see someone else in the building named "Art Corvelay", but under pressure, George insists that they make it "Art Vandelay". They meet the woman, who says the man she left the party with was her cousin. The two then decide to go out on a date.
Later that night, Jerry finds out from his mother that Elaine knows about the stake out. On the day of the wedding, Elaine tells Jerry that the reason that she was angry was because it was the first time she saw him flirt with another woman. They decide that they have to be able to talk more about their relationships if they wish to remain friends. Elaine then reveals that she has recently met a man using a stake out.
Production
"The Stake Out" is based on a real life incident in which David was with a woman that he had dated previously named Monica Yates (daughter of author Richard Yates). They then went to a restaurant and David met another woman. However, he could not flirt as much as he wanted due to the presence of Yates. David did find out the name of the building where she worked at and staked her out. The names of the people in the title of the law firm are friends Larry David made at college.
This episode prompted running gags that were used in later episodes. These were the importer-exporter, George's ambitions of becoming an architect and Art Vandelay. The character of Vanessa (named after a woman David once went out with) also reappears in a later episode from the first season, "The Stock Tip".
"The Stake Out" is the first episode to mention the past relationship between Jerry and Elaine. Although it was the third episode to be filmed (after "The Seinfeld Chronicles" and "Male Unbonding"), it was the second episode to be broadcast. The episode order was changed because "The Stake Out" provided more background information about Elaine and her relationship with Jerry. Julia Louis-Dreyfus commented that she liked the script for the episode because it made the character seem human. She also commented on the fact that it was racy due to the mention of a pornographic film.
The opening scene caused some problems because it featured a woman walking off the set and taking one step down to get off it. Gleen Forbes, the set designer, thought that this made the show look cheap. The scene in which Jerry and Elaine are in a taxi was filmed in a studio using a black background and moving a fake taxi, due to budget restraints, in a method known as "Poor Man's Process."