The Betrayal
| "The Betrayal" | |
|---|---|
| Seinfeld episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 9 Episode 8 |
| Directed by | Andy Ackerman |
| Written by | Peter Mehlman & David Mandel |
| Production code | 908 |
| Original air date | November 20, 1997 |
| Guest stars | |
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Justine Miceli, Brenda Strong, Wayne Knight, Heidi Swedberg, Mike McShane, Bart Braverman, Shaun Toub, Noor Shic, Jocelyne Kelly & Brian Kaiser |
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| Season 9 episodes | |
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| List of Seinfeld episodes | |
"The Betrayal" is the 164th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the eighth episode for the ninth and final season. It aired on November 20, 1997. The episode is colloquially referred to as The Backwards Episode due to its use of reverse chronology, starting with the final scene and playing in order backwards. The episode can be played in "correct" order (chronologically) on the DVD release of season 9.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
This episode presents a backwards narrative, beginning with the Castle Rock Entertainment logo in reverse (but has the music in forward) and goes from the final scene to the first scene.
Jerry and George are walking down the street and they run into Nina (Justine Miceli), an old girlfriend of Jerry's whom he never slept with. Elaine receives an item in the mail from India. Elaine's mail from India is an "unvitation" to Sue Ellen Mischke's wedding in India to Pinter Ranawat, whose name seems familiar to Elaine.
George asks Jerry to call Nina about setting them up on a date and realizes he must wear his Timberlands every time he sees her. Jerry and Nina suffer an awkward pause in their conversation, causing them to have sex on Jerry's counter. Elaine meets Pinter's parents, Usha and Zubin Ranawat, who try to convince her not to go to India for the wedding; after all they aren't even going. While at Jerry's to talk about the incident, Elaine discovers that he and Nina have just slept together. Elaine buys tickets to India to spite Sue Ellen by showing up at her wedding. When Kramer refuses a ticket and George takes Nina instead, Jerry goes with Kramer to Newman's. By offering schnapps to Elaine, George finds out the secret she is keeping about Jerry and Nina.
Elaine, Jerry, George and Nina arrive in India, where Elaine discovers that Pinter is a man whom she has slept with and that they are the only people from the United States who are attending the ceremony. Jerry "schnapps" Elaine to find out why George is so bitter about him. George finds out that Jerry slept with Nina and that Elaine had slept with the groom. Sue Ellen calls her wedding off, and Nina hates George and isn't interested in Jerry. Jerry, George, and Elaine return from their disastrous trip to India that they don't want to talk about. It was revealed that two years ago, Elaine indeed dated Pinter (whom Elaine calls "Peter") and Jerry tells George and Susan that Nina might be the one. He is very impressed when she mentions something he's never heard of, called "e-mail".
Meanwhile, Kramer attends FDR (Franklin Delano Romanowski)'s birthday and FDR gives him the evil eye right before blowing out the candles on his cake. Kramer confronts FDR about his birthday wish, which is for him to "drop dead". Kramer tries to get Newman to use his birthday wish to protect Kramer from dropping dead. When he found out Newman didn't use his birthday wish to save Kramer from FDR, Kramer scolds at him, while Jerry sits by him, explaining he only came "because of George". Kramer tries to out-wish FDR by a shooting star, throwing coins in the fountain, pulling out eyelashes, and even pulling the wishbone. In the end, Kramer and FDR settle their scores with a snowball. It is revealed that Kramer nailed FDR in the back of the head with a snowball two years ago. At the end of the show, A flashback, taking place eleven years ago, shows how Jerry met Kramer (whom Jerry calls Kessler, the name on the buzzer) and tells him the phrase "What's mine is yours", giving reason to why Kramer will frequently go uninvited into Jerry's apartment later on.
[edit] Production
[edit] Inspiration
"The Betrayal" alludes overtly to Harold Pinter's play (and film) Betrayal. The debt to Pinter's play appears in the episode's title, "The Betrayal", in the use of reverse chronology, which mimics a prominent feature of Pinter's play, and in the choice for the first name of the groom, Pinter Ranawat, whose wedding Jerry and his friends travel to India to attend.[1] The episode develops motifs relating to the theme of betrayal, exposing various betrayals in the plot. In one segment of this episode, Jerry betrays George by having a relationship with George's girlfriend, Nina, while it turns out that Elaine has previously had an affair with Peter, named Pinter in India, who is marrying her rival friend, Sue Ellen Mishke.[1] The backward chronology begins in India, ending in Jerry's very first meeting with Cosmo Kramer in his apartment, eleven years earlier.[1]
[edit] Kramer's storyline
On the "Audio Commentary" with David Mandel and Peter Mehlman, the development is quite different.[citation needed] The original story had Kramer going to India, but Peter Mehlman suggested - based on his own experience - that he attends a birthday party in which a person makes a wish. Mandel and Mehlman agreed, in part because of the lollipop gag and also having the character Newman involved, the storyline for Kramer is trying to avoid a birthday wish from FDR that he "drop dead". Mike McShane portrays FDR in the episode.
[edit] Other Notes
This was the only episode to use Castle Rock Entertainment closing logo twice: once during the start of the episode, since the episode goes backward, and another to end the episode.
[edit] Deleted scenes
- George, staying in India for a few days, is trying to walk off the need to go to the bathroom.
- Before Elaine hands out the plane tickets, George and Nina are hanging out together; also noting the Timberlands he's wearing at the time.
- Kramer, coming back to greet Jerry, George and Elaine after the Sue Ellen wedding incident, bumps into a kid who gives him the evil eye before he blows out his candles on his birthday. Because of this, he runs out of the restaurant fearing it will happen again.
- On the plane, after George announces that "Jerry Seinfeld's a funny guy", Elaine tells Nina that she put the fact that Jerry and Nina slept together "in the vault." She then takes the pillow from the man next to her, who turns out to be "Vegetable Lasagna" (last seen in "The Butter Shave").
[edit] Continuity
Jerry mistaking Kramer's name as "Kessler" is a reference to the "The Seinfeld Chronicles" where Kramer's character was originally named Kessler. The episode also gives us a clue as to why Kramer always helps himself to anything in Jerry's apartment.
Susan Ross, despite having died at the end of Season 7, makes a return appearance in this episode. She appears during a brief flashback to "two years earlier", during the time when she was still alive, and when she and George were engaged. She also provided the phrase George claims he owns: "You can stuff your sorries in a sack, mister." In "Notes About nothing", this flashback supposedly took place between "The Secret Code" and "The Pool Guy" in terms of the timeline. Also at the time revealed by Peter Mehlman in the "Audio Commentary" and Heidi Swedberg in "Inside Look" that she already had her head shaved for another episode in a different show so she has to wear a wig for this appearance.
Mike McShane apparently makes his final brief appearance as FDR in "The Wizard", talking to George as a hot dog vendor while Mr. and Mrs. Ross come out of the store.
Vegtable Lasagna aka Magnus seen in "The Butter Shave" in a deleted scene makes a final brief appearance next to Elaine on the plane.
[edit] Forward chronology
This episode's inclusion on the Seinfeld Season 9 DVD is accompanied by a special feature that allows the viewer to watch the episode front-to-back with normal chronology, preceded by a brief introduction from writer David Mandel. This "forward" version has never aired on television.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c "The Betrayal". Episode Guide for Seinfeld. Sony Pictures, n.d. World Wide Web. 6 Feb. 2009. (Includes a video clip.)
[edit] External links
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