The Betrayal

"The Betrayal"
Seinfeld episode
A flashback in the episode.
Episode no.	Season 9 Episode 164
Written by	Peter Mehlman & David Mandel
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Original airdate	November 20, 1997
Guest stars
Brenda Strong & Mike McShane
Season 9 episodes
Seinfeld – Season 9 September 1997 – May 1998
"The Butter Shave" "The Voice" "The Serenity Now" "The Blood" "The Junk Mail" "The Merv Griffin Show" "The Slicer" "The Betrayal" "The Apology" "The Strike" "The Dealership" "The Reverse Peephole" "The Cartoon" "The Strong Box" "The Wizard" "The Burning" "The Bookstore" "The Frogger" "The Maid" "The Puerto Rican Day" "The Chronicle, Part 1" "The Chronicle, Part 2" "The Finale, Part 1" "The Finale, Part 2"
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.

Plot

Jerry, George, and Elaine return from their trip to India that they don't want to talk about. Sue Ellen Mischke calls her wedding off, and Nina is not interested in either George or Jerry. George finds out that Jerry slept with Nina and that Elaine had slept with the groom. Kramer and FDR (Franklin Delano Romanowski) settle their score, a snowball with something extra. 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 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 Elaine 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 finds that Jerry and Nina have just slept together. Elaine meets the parents of Sue Ellen's fiancée 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, stare at each other, hop on the counter, and then 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; Kramer nails FDR in the back of the head with a snowball; Elaine is dating an Indian man named Pinter (Ranawat). Eleven years earlier, new resident Jerry tells his neighbor across the hall, whom he calls Kessler (the name on the buzzer), that "What's mine is yours", little realizing the extent to which Kramer will take him at his word.

Cultural allusion and inspiration

"The Betrayal" alludes overtly to Harold Pinter's play (and film) Betrayal. Jerry Seinfeld's debt to Pinter's play appears in his episode's title, "The Betrayal", in his use of reverse chronology, which mimicks a prominent feature of Pinter's play, and in his 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 clandestine encounter with George's girlfriend, while it turns out that Elaine has previously had an affair with the Pinter who is marrying her friend.^[1] The backward chronology begins in India, ending in Jerry's very first meeting with Cosmo Kramer in his apartment, eleven years earlier.^[1]

Miscellaneous information

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (February 2008)

• 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.
• 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. The logo at the start is played backward (and we even hear its jingle played backward as well!). ^[1]
• Jerry mistaking Kramer's name as "Kessler" is a reference to the pilot episode 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 in the final scene of the episode when Jerry insists that "what's mine is yours."
• 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.

Notes

External links

• The Betrayal at the Internet Movie Database