In this episode, Elaine learns that her boyfriend David Puddy is religious, Jerry does not recognize his girlfriend's voice on the phone when she greets him with "It's me", Kramer and Mickey act out sick conditions for medical students and George tries to garner respect by walking out on Kruger meetings at comedic high notes.
Elaine thinks that her boyfriend David Puddy may be religious after finding Christian rock stations set on his car radio.
At the next meeting, George takes Jerry's suggestion and leaves the room after a well-received joke, but his showmanship backfires when Mr. Kruger throws everyone else off a large project because they are boring in comparison.
Kramer and Mickey Abbott get an acting gig playing sick for medical students and are assigned gonorrhea and bacterial meningitis, respectively.
[5] "The tractor story" is an homage to the Happy Days episode "Fonzie the Substitute", which similarly has its comedic climax when a troubled young woman reveals she thought she got pregnant by necking in a bathing suit.
Any episode with Puddy is a relative gem, and his and Elaine's ongoing argument over whether she is going to Hell ends in a revelation that fits Seinfeld to a T: They both are — and so are the rest of the cast, too.
"[9] "The Burning" is one of the few Seinfeld episodes in which religion plays a prominent role,[10] with Puddy's Christianity contrast against Elaine's lack of religious belief.
[10][11] Whitley Kaufman, in his book Seinfeld and the Comic Vision, interpreted this subplot as highlighting the "emptiness and hypocrisy" of religious convictions, consistent with the series' treatment of religion in other episodes.
"[13] Barry Brummett criticized the episode's portrayal of Mickey as someone "easily offended, quick to anger, and prone to aggressive behaviour", which he perceived as stereotypical of people with dwarfism.