S08E17 - The English Patient
No: 151 | Season: 8 Episode: 17 | Air Date: 13-Mar-1997 | Production #817
Summary
A woman mistakes George for her boyfriend Neil, a guy who looks just like him. This intrigues George; he wants to meet Neil. Jerry is going to Florida to help his parents move. Kramer asks him to pick up some Cubans from his cigar guy and also gives him a T-shirt. Elaine and her boyfriend see "The English Patient"; she absolutely hates it and that makes her unpopular and dumped. Jerry's dad gets the T-shirt, #1 Dad, that he is very proud to wear, despite its small size. At his parents' exercise room, Jerry meets Izzy, an 80-year-old man who can't stand to lose; he challenges Jerry to a weightlifting competition; "It's go time!" He throws his back out again and again. Kramer's Cubans arrive; they're real people and not the cigars that Jerry thought he would be getting. George is overly obsessed with Neil, to the point where he is missing out on Danielle. Jerry is back in New York, where Izzy has returned to see a back specialist. Though Kramer's Cubans are really Dominicans he tries to pass them off as "Cubans" anyway; it doesn't work. Elaine's dislike for the film alienates her from everyone. When she tells Peterman that she hasn't seen the film, he immediately takes steps to correct the situation. Jerry meets the rest of Izzy's family all of who are fiercely competitive. He finds work for Kramer's "Cubans." Elaine still hates the movie, but must go to the Tunisian desert to live in a cave to save her job. Kramer thinks his unemployed Dominicans, whom he educated about communism, are planning to revolt; later they do. George gets a last word on Neil when Danielle makes a decision between the two of them.
Director and Writers
Director: Andy Ackerman
Writers: Steve Koren
Quotes
George: I'm gonna go meet Danielle. (grabs his coat) There's a new Neil in town! Ha ha ha!
Izzy: Hi, son.
Izzy Jr.: Hi daddy.
Jerry: This is your son?
Izzy: I got married in high school.
Elaine: You know, sex in a tub, that doesn't work!
The Three Mandlebaums: Mandlebaum! Mandlebaum! Mandlebaum!
George: How old is the son?
Jerry: I think he's the same age as the father.
Izzy: Call an ambulance!
Jerry: We're already in a hospital!
J. Peterman: That's it! Drop everything. We're going right now.
Jerry: I swear to you, I didn't know the TV was bolted to the table.
Jerry: George, you've got Danielle. Forget about Neil. You've out-Neiled him.
Neil: George, (comes closer) I win.
Dugan: (enthusiastically about "The English Patient") Oh yes. It was so romantic. It ravished me.
Izzy: How 'bout that, huh? "The World's Greatest Dad." My son made it for me.
Elaine: So do you think they got shrunk down, or is it just a giant sack?
Danielle: How could you not like that movie?
Elaine: How 'bout... it sucked?
George: So, we meet at last. I admire your skills, Mr. Peanut.
Notes and Trivia
When George finally meets Neil, he is in the hospital with his face bandaged after being burned, just as the English Patient's was.
One of the investors in Kramer's cigar rolling business is Earl, Kramer's airport lounge gambling partner from the season 6 episode 'The Diplomat's Club'. Apparently, Earl has forgiven Kramer for "hustling" him in that episode.
This is the first Florida - based episode where Jack Klompus doesn't appear.
Instead of the Castle Rock logo closing music, we hear the three Mandelbaums saying "Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!"
One of the reasons Elaine gives as to why she hated The English Patient is her contention that sex in a tub "never works". Actually, in the movie, the main characters do share a bathtub, but they do not have sex in it.
Goofs
When Elaine and Mr. Peterman are in the theatre, different people are in the seats behind them in different parts of the movie.
Cast
Jerry Seinfeld | Jerry Seinfeld |
Julia Louis-Dreyfus | Elaine Benes |
Michael Richards | Cosmo Kramer |
Jason Alexander | George Costanza |
Lloyd Bridges | Izzy Mandelbaum |
Liz Sheridan | Helen |
Barney Martin | Morty |
John O'Hurley | J. Peterman |
Chelsea Noble | Danielle |
O'Neal Compton | Earl Haffler |
Lisa Mende | Carol |
Gene Dynarski | Izzy Mandelbaum Jr. |
Marco Rodr | Guillermo (as Marco Rodriguez) |
Joe Urla | Dugan |
Jill Talley | Gail |
Jill Holden | Lisa |
Todd Jeffries | Blaine |
Earl Schuman | Izzy Sr. |
Edgar Small | Sid Luckman |
Lauren Bowles | Waitress |
Juan Garcia | Jaime |
Jeff Miller | Neil |
Ruth Cohen | Ruthie Cohen |