The Apology (Seinfeld)

"The Apology"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 9 Episode 9
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Written by	Jennifer Crittenden
Production code	909
Original air date	December 11, 1997
Guest stars
James Spader, Brian Levinson
Season 9 episodes
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 Apology" is the 165th episode of the hit NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 9th episode for the 9th and final season. It first aired on December 11, 1997.^[1] It is well known for the appearance of James Spader as Jason Hanky.

Plot

Jerry

Jerry begins dating Melissa (Kathleen McClellan), a woman who is comfortable being naked in his apartment in nonsexual contexts. She walks naked into the kitchen to eat waffles and is also naked while playing board games. While George is envious, Jerry soon grows uncomfortable with Melissa's quirk. He finds her unattractive when she does anything naked that involves her muscles contracting. Eventually, Jerry tries casual nudity himself, but Melissa does not support male nudity ("bad naked"). Elaine later explains that the female body is art while the male body is just utility. Ultimately Jerry convinces Melissa to wear clothes more often, but regrets his decision when he can not stop thinking about how good she looks naked. Unfortunately Melissa can not stop thinking of how bad Jerry looks naked, and the relationship is ruined.

George

George learns that Jason Hanky (James Spader), a childhood friend of his nicknamed "Stanky Hanky", is a recovering alcoholic and, as part of Step 9 of the Alcoholics Anonymous's Twelve Steps, is apologizing for all his old misdeeds. George gets angry when he does not receive an apology from Jason for having insulted him at a party a few years earlier by refusing to give George a sweater for fear it would be stretched out by George's "large" head. But Jason refuses to apologize, saying that the largeness of George's large head is a fact, and that the sweater was expensive. This enrages George so much that he is brought by one of Jason's sponsors to an anger management class.

Kramer and Elaine

Kramer decides he enjoys showers so much that he is going to spend most of his time in his shower, even going as far as to buy a waterproof phone, prepare a dinner there and install a garbage disposal in his bathtub drain.

Elaine's co-worker Peggy (Megan Cole; also seen in the episode "The Susie") is a germophobe who dislikes Elaine because she thinks she is promiscuous and therefore full of germs. Insulted, Elaine takes revenge on Peggy by going to her office and rubbing her stapler under her armpit, the keyboard on her rear end, and finally coughing on Peggy's doorknob.

David Puddy reveals to Elaine that he too is a recovering germophobe. Later, Elaine makes up with Peggy by inviting her for over for a dinner cooked by Kramer. But when Kramer reveals that he prepared the dinner in the shower, they are all horrified and Peggy and Puddy have to go back to Germophobes Anonymous, with Elaine joining them.

Episode notes

• Actors Jason Alexander and James Spader had previously appeared together in the movie White Palace.
• The first kid ("Gregg") who orders ice cream from Jason "Stanky" Hanky (James Spader) is played by Michael Fishman, best known for his role as D.J. in Roseanne.
• Elaine gets her curly hairstyle back in this episode.
• The guy who plays the owner of the anger management class is the same actor who played the security guard in the third season episode,"The Parking Garage."

References

1. ^ "The Apology" - TV.com

External links

The Apology at the Internet Movie Database