The Seven

"The Seven" is the 123rd episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 13th episode for the seventh season. It aired on February 1, 1996.

Plot

Elaine and Kramer

Elaine strains her neck trying to get a bike down from the wall in a toy store. In pain, she impulsively claims that she would give up the bike to whoever fixes her neck. When Kramer gives her a treatment that makes her feel better, he demands the bike despite it being a girl's bike. Elaine reluctantly allows him to have it, but the next day, her neck pain soon returns worse than ever (Kramer said she should have slept on a board), so she demands the bike back. The pair decide to have a neutral third party, Newman, decide who should keep the bike. He declares that they should cut the bike in half, so that both Elaine and Kramer have it. Elaine thinks the idea is ridiculous but hesitantly agrees, but Kramer tells Newman to give the bike to Elaine, saying he would rather it belong to her than see it destroyed. Much to Elaine's outrage, this leads Newman to decree the bike should be Kramer's.

"Only the bike's true owner will rather see it given, than destroyed" declars Newman in vie with the biblical "Solomonic judgement"

Meanwhile, Kramer starts a system where he writes down what he takes from Jerry's fridge (i.e. half a can of soda or an apple with one bite), and then Jerry will give him the bill at the end of the week. At the end of the episode, he is owed 50 bucks, so he sells the bike to Newman, much to Elaine's dismay.

George

George reveals to Susan that he wants to name his future firstborn child Seven (after Mickey Mantle's jersey number) but Susan disagrees, claiming that a number isn't a name and she doesn't want her future firstborn child to have Seven as its name; regardless, George sticks with Seven. When Susan discloses this to her expectant cousin Carrie and her husband Ken, they love the name and decide to give it to their child. This outrages George (He wanted their child's name to be "soda"), who follows them to the hospital as Carrie is going into labor, desperately trying to get them to switch to a different name but to no avail.

Jerry

Jerry is puzzled because he can't figure out why his girlfriend (who he met at the toy shop) seems to be wearing the same dress every day he sees her. He tries various schemes to find out if she has any other outfits, but they are all frustrated by circumstances and fail to definitively answer the question. Elaine bumps into her and Jerry tries to get her to tell him what his girlfriend was wearing, but because of her neck trouble, she had to tilt her head straight up and she could only see the girlfriend's face. When he wrangles a visit to her apartment, he sees a 1992 photo of her wearing the same outfit. Consumed with curiosity, he finally loses control and starts rummaging through her closet looking for other different outfits but she catches him and dumps him on the spot, insisting that he leave before he can find out.

Superman reference

• Jerry: What in God's name is going on here? Is she wearing the same thing over and over again? Or does she have a closet full of these, like Superman? I've got to unlock this mystery!
• Jerry: (in girlfriend's apartment) So this is the Fortress of Solitude.

Bloopers

• In the scene where Newman mediates the bike dispute between Elaine and Kramer, he is initially wearing an engagement ring. In the latter part of the scene, the ring is gone.
• There is a goof in this episode involving George's car. On exterior shots, the car is a Mercury Sable, but when it cuts to the car's interior, a Buick Regal is used instead.

Trivia

• The scene where Newman suggests cutting the bike in two is based on the Judgment of Solomon in the Bible, in which two mothers are arguing over who is the real mother of a baby. King Solomon's decision is to cut the baby in two so each can have a part of the child. The real mother voluntarily gives up custody of the baby to the false mother rather than see it destroyed, while the false mother instantly concedes to King Solomon's decision. Wise King Solomon decrees that only the true mother would rather see it in the arms of another than to see it killed so she is awarded the baby (1 Kings 3:16-27).
• Elaine/Kramer's and George's plotlines are parallel: they are both about laying claim to something whose ownership is in question.
• Jerry makes a reference to Einstein splitting the atom (which is credited to Ernest Rutherford) instead of one of his own achievements.
• Victoria Beckham gave birth to her fourth child, Harper Seven Beckham. Seinfeld has been a trending topic on Twitter since the name of the baby was revealed. A CNN producer joked: "Victoria & David Beckham gave their daughter the middle name Seven. They're officially an episode of Seinfeld."^[1]
• When George initially suggests the name "Soda", many in the studio audience repeat the word during the laugh track.

External links

• The Seven at the Internet Movie Database

References

1. ↑ "Harper Seven Beckham named after 'Seinfeld' episode?". Digital Spy. 11 July 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2012.