The Junk Mail

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Junk Mail
Series = Seinfeld


Caption = Newman telling the truth about mail
Season = 9
Episode = 161
Airdate = October 30, 1997
Production =
Writer = Spike Feresten
Director = Andy Ackerman
Guests = Wilford Brimley & Toby Huss
Episode list = List of "Seinfeld" episodes
Season list = Infobox Seinfeld season 9 episode list
Prev =
Next =

"The Junk Mail" is the 161st episode of the NBC sitcom "Seinfeld". It was the 5th episode of the 9th and final season. The episode aired on October 30, 1997.

Plot

Jerry's childhood friend "Fragile" Frankie Merman promises to get Jerry a new car because of a show he did for Frankie's car dealership. George prepares for his weekly call to his parents. Kramer plans his revenge on Pottery Barn because of the over abundance of catalogs they've sent him in the past month. Elaine is back with David Puddy, but after having a "love at first sight" encounter with diner patron Jack (played by Toby Huss), she plans to keep Puddy in reserve until she finds out if the new guy can "handle the workload."

Kramer gets deluged with more catalogs and plans to stop the mail. George's parents cut him short on his weekly phone call. The "car" Jerry gets is a conversion van and not the Saab he'd hoped for. Frankie reminds him of the childhood dream they had where they got a van and toured the country. George pops in on his parents and reminds his parents that they didn't call him back, but they have to leave right away. Kramer bricks up his mailbox, but that doesn't stop his mail from being delivered to Jerry's mailbox.

Jerry plans to sell the van; Kramer helps him out by composing a want ad that cites "interesting trades considered." Kramer goes to the post office to cancel his mail permanently. Newman confesses to him that no one really needs their mail but that there is a greater conspiracy at work.

George demands to know what's going on with his parents; they tell him they are cutting him loose. George isn't ready for abandonment; he plans to date his cousin Rhisa as a means of getting his parents involved in his life. While going through an old VHS tape, Jerry discovers an old commercial that features Jack as "The Wiz," a mascot for the electronics store of the same name. Meanwhile, Kramer wants Jerry's van and offers Anthony Quinn's old tee shirt as an "interesting trade".

Elaine wants Puddy back but is rejected by him. Kramer uses the van to launch his anti-postal campaign. George's cousin is into their relationship; however, George schemes to have his parents catch him making out with her. Jerry searches Central Park for Frankie, who has gone to dig a hole and sit in it. Meanwhile George parks the van there and Frankie finds it and yells "Seinfeld's Van, Seinfeld's Van", which George thought was "Son of Sam". He runs out of the car yelling, "I knew it wasn't Berkowitz!" The Costanzas find the van and begin having sex in it. George, Rhisa, Jerry, and Frankie open the van and see them "in flagrante delicto".

Kramer is captured and enlightened by the Postmaster General (Wilford Brimley, with the scene a parody of his role in the climactic scene of "Absence of Malice"). As he leaves he sees Newman being led into the room who tells Kramer, "tell the world my story". Elaine's new boyfriend gets his second piece of good news in one day, he's "The Wiz" again and she is taking him back. Jerry must sell the van after seeing what they saw.

Trivia

* The old lady who got the flyer from Kramer was the same lady who wanted the seat that Elaine was saving in Season 4's "The Movie".
* While reading "GQ", George asks Jerry if he thinks Mira Sorvino would go out with him. This was the August 1997 issue of the magazine.
* Newman's sidewalk warning to Kramer is very similar to Max von Sydow's warning to Robert Redford in "Three Days of the Condor."