The Bookstore

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“The Bookstore”
Seinfeld episode

Jerry and Uncle Leo at the coffee shop. Uncle Leo hears ringing in his ears, thinks a phone is ringing and yells, "Will somebody answer that damn phone!"
Episode no. Season 9
Episode 173
Written by Spike Feresten & Darin Henry & Mark Jaffe
Directed by Andy Ackerman
Guest stars Jonathan Penner
Original airdate April 9, 1998
Season 9 episodes
Seinfeld - Season 9
September 1997 - May 1998
  1. The Butter Shave
  2. The Voice
  3. The Serenity Now
  4. The Blood
  5. The Junk Mail
  6. The Merv Griffin Show
  7. The Slicer
  8. The Betrayal
  9. The Apology
  10. The Strike
  11. The Dealership
  12. The Reverse Peephole
  13. The Cartoon
  14. The Strong Box
  15. The Wizard
  16. The Burning
  17. The Bookstore
  18. The Frogger
  19. The Maid
  20. The Puerto Rican Day
  21. The Clip Show, Part 1
  22. The Clip Show, Part 2
  23. The Finale, Part 1
  24. The Finale, Part 2
List of Seinfeld episodes

"The Bookstore" is the one-hundred and seventy-third episode of the hit NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 17th episode for the 9th and final season. It aired on April 9, 1998.

[edit] Plot

Kramer "hangs-out" more than usual at Jerry's place. Jerry and George are at a bookstore where George hopes to meet women and Jerry spots Uncle Leo shoplifting. George takes a large book into the bathroom with him. Elaine is at the annual Peterman party, where everyone is anxious to know if she is going to dance again and when the bookstore makes George buy the book that he took into the bathroom. Elaine didn't dance at the party instead she and a man named Zach got drunk and made out at their table. George suggests that she tell everyone that she and Zach are dating, that way she won't be known as the "office skank." Kramer and Newman plan to implement Kramer's idea for running a rickshaw service in the city. They are getting a rickshaw from Hong Kong, now they need to find someone to pull it. Jerry confronts Uncle Leo about the stolen book. Uncle Leo claims it is a right as a senior citizen. Elaine catches her man with another woman. Kramer and Newman attempt to interview potential rickshaw pullers from a collection of homeless men; however, their first candidate takes off with the rickshaw. George tries to return his book, but is told the book has been "flagged" as having been in the bathroom. Jerry rats out Uncle Leo at the bookstore.

Jerry talks with his parents about Uncle Leo's theft and finds out about his prior, the crime of passion of which his mother will not tell him the details. His parents also inform him of the senior approach; it is not stealing if you need it. Elaine plans to use the cheating angle to protect her reputation. Jerry tries to talk with Uncle Leo, but the only thing Uncle Leo tells him is that he never forgets when he's been betrayed. George discovers his book has been "flagged" in all the databases as a bathroom book. Elaine's plan goes awry when J. Peterman demands that she help Zach get off the "yam yam" by helping him to quit cold turkey. Jerry has a nightmare about Uncle Leo. Newman and Kramer discover where the rickshaw is and Kramer loses the contest to determine who will pull the other. George tries to donate his book to charity, but even they won't take the marked book. When Kramer gets tired pulling Newman in the rickshaw up a hill and lets it go, the results are disastrous for Elaine's recovered "boyfriend" Zach. George plans to steal a good copy of the book, so he can return it to get his money back. Just as Jerry finds out from the manager that the manager has been told that the store needs to make a good example out of a shoplifter, any shoplifter, as long as they catch him in the act. Jerry then points out that George is shoplifting, and he gets caught.

[edit] Trivia

  • The thrift store clerk's name is Rebecca DeMornay, the same name as the real-life actress Rebecca De Mornay. The same character, as played by actress Sonya Eddy, also appears in "The Muffin Tops" as a homeless shelter employee.
  • Zach was played by Jonathan Penner, who became a contestant on Survivor: Cook Islands in 2006.
  • Jerry's dream sequence of Uncle Leo doing chin-ups in prison is an homage to the movie Cape Fear.
  • 5150, the code the security officer calls in to bust Uncle Leo, is actual police code for an involuntary psychiatric hold in California.
  • The scene with Newman rolling down the hill in the rickshaw was shot in Downtown Los Angeles.
  • When Kramer says to one homeless rickshaw applicant named Rusty, "I once knew a horse named Rusty", he is referring to the horse that pulled the Hansom cab in The Rye.
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