The Handicap Spot

"The Handicap Spot" is the 22nd episode of the fourth season and the 62nd overall episode of Seinfeld. It aired on May 13, 1993.

Plot

The group travels to a suburban shopping center to buy a big-screen television as an engagement gift for their friend, "The Drake". George, who has borrowed his father's treasured car, parks in a handicapped parking space, since they assume they will only be a few minutes. However, they are mistaken and are in the store for much longer. When they return they find an angry mob starting to trash the vehicle, because a disabled woman, who had to park in a distant spot because of their illegal parking, has been injured in a wheelchair accident. After sneaking away for a time, they return to find the car completely demolished.

While George invents a preposterous story about the group being attacked by hoodlums to explain the car's disappearance, the rest decide not to go to The Drake's engagement party. While visiting Lola (Donna Evans Merlo), the injured handicapped woman, at the hospital, Kramer falls in love and feels compelled to replace her wheelchair. George and Kramer go on to buy a used wheelchair which is much cheaper than a brand-new one. Jerry and Elaine go to have lunch with The Drake after missing his party and discover that he and his fiancée have broken off their engagement.

George's father Frank Costanza receives an award for outstanding service in helping the handicapped. In the middle of receiving the award, he is arrested for George's parking in the handicap spot, as Frank is the registered owner of the vehicle. As a result of the accusation, Frank's award is taken away from him. Amusingly, George's father forces him to become his butler as punishment, which was initially an idea for the pilot episode that George is writing with Jerry.

Lola breaks up with Kramer and is later seen screaming and rolling down a hill in her wheelchair, which she can not stop due to bad brakes. George's first job as his father's butler is to retrieve the wide-screen TV at The Drake's house, so that it can be donated to charity. George and Kramer retrieve the TV from the ex-fiancée's apartment, then re-unite with Jerry and Elaine to return it for a refund. In the final scene, the gang is once again looking for a parking space at the mall, and Kramer tries to talk George into parking next to a fire hydrant, using near-identical rationales as he had at the handicapped spot.

Quotes

• Jerry: You don't like the Drake?
• George: Hate the Drake.
• Elaine: I *love* the Drake.
• Jerry: How could you not like the Drake?
• George: Who's the Drake?
• Elaine: "Who's the Drake"?
• Jerry: The Drake is good!

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• (the four of them approach George's car, which is smashed to pieces)
• Jerry: (as George picks up a broken piece of his car) You know, a lot of these scratches will buff right out...

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• Kramer: She's got everything I've always wanted in another human being ... except for the walking.

Trivia

• This is the first appearance of Frank Costanza, George's father. He was played in this episode not by Jerry Stiller, but by John Randolph. In 1995, the scenes featuring Randolph were re-shot with Stiller for syndication in order to maintain better continuity. Both versions, which were shown on TV, can be seen on the Season 4 DVD set, along with an introduction from Jason Alexander explaining the existence of two sets of scenes for Frank Costanza.
• Upon parking, Kramer says "Make sure we don't forget where the car's parked," prompting Jerry, George, and Elaine to exasperatedly assure him that they will remember. This is a callback to the memorable Season 3 episode The Parking Garage, chronicling the gang's fruitless efforts to locate Kramer's car in a parking garage. Jerry would later make a similar comment, "remember where we're parked", in the season 9's The Puerto Rican Day, after his car has been tipped over on the sidewalk by an angry mob.
• Upon returning to the car to find its exterior almost completely destroyed, Jerry says "Y'know a lot of these scratches will buff right out". This line was completely improvised.
• While at his parents' house, George sits on the couch and reads Glamour, the magazine that had got him in trouble in The Contest.
• George's Father's car was a 1978-1980 model Mercury Monarch.
• Jerry mentions to George that he is considering 'getting a yoyo'. This is a reference to 'The Junior Mint' (Ep. 60), where Jerry is found to play with a yoyo in the hospital. First he does it to non-verbally allude to the possibility that a formerly obese person who had recently slimmed will gain weight again ("yo-yo effect"). Later, he attempts to impress a physician with it.

Other references

The "love the Drake" line from this episode became popular among media and fans of the Drake University men's basketball team during its run to the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships in 2008.