“I can't go from relationship to relationship. It's senseless. I can't do it.”
Why it's great
Three short sentences escalate from refusal to self-blame in one breath.
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Informal
Use it yourself
I can't go from one blind date to the next.
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Isaac Finally Kisses Mary, Explained
Manhattan · 1979
Chapter 17 of 23 · 3'25"
At his apartment, Isaac complains about an ancient corned beef sandwich and then suddenly kisses Mary. He says it is something he has wanted to do for ages; she says she thought he wanted to kiss her back at the planetarium. Then she pulls away, insisting she cannot keep going from relationship to relationship.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:02–0:26
Corned Beef Should Not Be Blue
24s
Isaac Finally Kisses Mary, explained
What happens
At Isaac's apartment, he complains about an old corned beef sandwich and then abruptly kisses Mary. He calls it something he has wanted for ages, and she admits she expected the kiss at the planetarium. But then she pulls back, saying she cannot go from relationship to relationship and that she is trouble.
What's really going on
The kiss is the movie's romantic peak and its complication in one moment. Isaac does what he has been rehearsing internally, and his confession of it is charming: "It's something I wanted to do for ages." Mary's answer is more ambivalent. She had been expecting it since the planetarium, but she also has a speech ready about why she cannot fall into another relationship, and she asks whether he is over Yale. When she says, "I'm really not the person to get involved with. I'm trouble," the line is both a warning and a test — she wants him to say the warning is fine. His joke about his middle name turns it away. The rest of the scene, with the wine and the taxi, shows the two of them happy and a little drunk, but the question of whether she can stay in anything is left open.
Key lines & what they mean
- “I can't go from relationship to relationship. It's senseless. I can't do it.”
- Mary's claim that serial dating is pointless and that she is not willing to start another one now.
- “But you were so sexy. You were soaking wet from the rain and I had a mad impulse to throw you down on the lunar surface and commit interstellar perversion with you.”
- Isaac's comic confession of desire, mixing the planetarium setting with a joke about being unable to resist her.
- “I'm really not the person to get involved with. I'm trouble.”
- Mary presenting herself as a bad idea, which is also her way of asking to be wanted anyway.
- “- I don't have time to cook. - Corned beef should not be blue.”
- The scene's comic opening: an excuse about cooking answered by a line about how badly a sandwich has gone off.
Theme
- Romance — Isaac finally kisses Mary and admits it was long planned, while she frames the same moment as a reason to be careful.
- Identity — Mary describes herself as trouble and someone who cannot maintain a relationship, turning self-doubt into a warning.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
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A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“But you were so sexy. You were soaking wet from the rain and I had a mad impulse to throw you down on the lunar surface and commit interstellar perversion with you.”
Why it's great
Desire turns into a space joke that keeps escalating with every clause.
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Informal
Use it yourself
I had a mad impulse to book a flight at midnight.
“I'm really not the person to get involved with. I'm trouble.”
Why it's great
She warns him off and flirts at once, which is the whole appeal.
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Informal
Use it yourself
I'm not the person to take on this project right now.
“- I don't have time to cook. - Corned beef should not be blue.”
Why it's great
A straight-faced rule about meat makes old food in the fridge absurdly funny.
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Informal
Use it yourself
Milk should not be green.
Up next · 18in the same ballparkThe scene: Isaac Tells Tracy About Someone ElseTakeaways
What you walk away with- A kiss lands harder when it answers a dumb question.
- Naming yourself trouble can be a way of flirting.
- The lunar joke keeps desire safely playful.
- Mary hides her feelings behind fancy vocabulary.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWhy does Isaac kiss Mary when she is dating Yale?
He has wanted to for a long time, and he says he would never have interfered while she was with Yale. By the time he acts, that relationship is over, though the timing is still messy.
Why does Mary pull away after the kiss?
She says she cannot go from relationship to relationship and that she is trouble. The retreat is honest and also a test: she tells him she is a bad idea while hoping he disagrees.
Why does Isaac joke about his middle name?
When Mary calls herself trouble, he answers that trouble is his middle name, then deadpans that it is really Mortimer. The joke eases the tension without answering her question.
What does the story about the first wife involve?
A first wife who was a kindergarten teacher, got into drugs, moved to San Francisco, joined the Moonies, and now works at a talent agency. It is told as a series of comic turns.
How does the scene end?
In a taxi after wine and seafood, both of them a little drunk. Mary worries that she has never had a relationship that lasted, and Isaac tells her she is drunk.