The Pen

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Pen
Series = Seinfeld


Caption = Jack shows Jerry the astronaut pen.
Season = 3
Episode = 20
Airdate = October 2, 1991
Production =
Writer = Larry David
Director = Tom Cherones
Guests =
Episode list = List of "Seinfeld" episodes
Season list = Infobox Seinfeld season 3 episode list
Prev =
Next =

"The Pen" is the twentieth episode of "Seinfeld". The episode was the third episode of the third season. It aired on October 2, 1991.

Plot

Jerry and Elaine go to Florida to visit Jerry's parents for the weekend and go scuba diving. Morty Seinfeld, Jerry's father, is also being honored at a ceremony the next night. Jack Klompus comes over to write Morty a check for a previous night's dinner and Jerry notices Jack's pen. When he asks Jack about it, he tells Jerry that it can write upside down and that astronauts use it in space. Jack offers an interested Jerry the pen. Jerry refuses his offer several times, but Jack persists and Jerry finally gives in. Helen Seinfeld, Jerry's mother, asks why he took the pen and says he should give it back because Doris Klompus will tell everyone in the condo that Jerry made Jack give it to him.

At her own insistence, Elaine sleeps on a sofa bed with a bar that sticks up through the mattress and hurts her back. She is extremely uncomfortable and it is not helped by the fact that the air conditioning is turned off. Jerry tries to console her by saying they only have two more days left before they go back to New York. The next morning, Elaine's back is so hurt that she cannot go scuba diving with Jerry. Morty suggests she take muscle relaxants. Rumors begin to spread around the community that Jerry wanted Jack to give him the pen. Jerry goes scuba diving without Elaine. When he returns, he has black eyes because the capillaries around his eyes burst when he went underwater and pressure was too tight on his mask.

Jack comes over again and Jerry returns the pen. Morty yells at Jack for "taking Jerry's pen". Elaine decides she wants to take the muscle relaxants, but takes a slight overdose and acts goofily at the ceremony. Jerry has to wear sunglasses because of his black eyes. Jack is the Master of Ceremonies and turns the dinner into a "Roast", making cracks about Morty at the podium. Morty starts arguing with Jack again about taking back the pen and they start fighting. The next day, a chiropractor looks at Elaine's back and tells her she should not go anywhere for at least five days, extending both her and Jerry's stay even longer.

Trivia

* This is the only episode of "Seinfeld" in which neither Kramer nor George make an appearance. (Kramer also does not appear in the Season 2 episode, "The Chinese Restaurant".) Jason Alexander confessed in the DVD extras that he walked up to Larry David and told him he would quit if he was ever written out of the story line again. This was the second-to-last episode not to feature all four main characters. (Elaine Benes was not seen in Season 4's "The Trip")
* Despite not appearing in this episode, both Jason Alexander and Michael Richards were still credited in the opening titles.
* This is the first appearance of Jack Klompus and his pen. He makes five more appearances, in The Raincoats, Part 1, The Raincoats, Part 2, The Cadillac, Part 1, The Cadillac, Part 2, and The Money. The pen would reappear again in "The Raincoats, Part 1" and "The Money". He would lose the pen in the latter episode when he drives Morty's Cadillac into a swamp.
* Tucker Smallwood, the actor who appeared as a photographer (though only seen through the back) will later appear in two more episodes of the show. He played "Man In Mercedes" in "The Parking Garage" and as "Malcolm" in the Season 8 finale "The Summer of George".
* The second appearance of Uncle Leo (Len Lesser), who becomes a recurring character appearing in 15 episodes.
* There are several references to "A Streetcar Named Desire" in the episode, including characters named Blanche and Stella. When Elaine, under the influence of muscle relaxants, first meets Stella, she cries "Stella!" several times, parodying Stanley Kowalski, who was most famously portrayed by Marlon Brando in the 1954 Academy Award-winning film.