| "The Betrayal" | |
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| 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 |
Jerry, George, and Elaine return from their disastrous trip to India that they don't want to talk about. Sue Ellen Mischke calls her wedding off, and Nina (Justine Miceli) hates George but is not interested in Jerry. George finds out that Jerry slept with Nina and that Elaine had slept with the groom. Kramer and FDR (Franklin Delano Romanowski) settled their scores with a snowball. Jerry "schnapps" Elaine to find out why George is so bitter about him. Kramer tries to out-wish FDR.
Elaine, Jerry, George and Nina arrive in India, where Elaine discovers that the groom, Peter, also named 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. Kramer is angry with Newman because he didn't use his birthday wish to save Kramer from FDR. By offering schnapps to Elaine, George finds out the secret she is keeping about Jerry and Nina. Elaine buys tickets to India to spite Sue Ellen by showing up at her wedding.
Kramer tries to get Newman to use his birthday wish to protect Kramer from FDR. Elaine discovers that Jerry and Nina have just slept together. Elaine meets the parents of Sue Ellen's fiancé who try to convince her not to go to India for the wedding; after all they aren't even going. Jerry and Nina suffer an awkward pause in their conversation, causing them to have sex on Jerry's counter.
Kramer confronts FDR about his birthday wish. Elaine's mail from India is an "unvitation" to Sue Ellen's wedding in India to someone whose name seems familiar to her. 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 George are walking down the street and they run into Nina, an old girlfriend of Jerry's whom he never slept with. Kramer attends FDR's birthday and FDR gives him the evil eye right before blowing out the candles on his cake. Elaine receives an item in the mail from India.
Two years earlier, Jerry tells George and Susan that Nina might be the one; he's very impressed when she mentions something he's never heard of, called "e-mail"; Kramer nails FDR in the back of the head with a snowball; Elaine is dating an Indian man named Peter at this moment.
Eleven years earlier, new resident Jerry tells his neighbor across the hall, whom he calls Kessler (the name on the buzzer), that phrase, "What's mine is yours", gives reason to why Kramer will frequently goes to his apartment later on.
"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]
On the "Audio Commentary" with David Mandel and Peter Mehlman, the development is quite different. 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".
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.
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.
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.
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