"The Blood"

Seinfeld episode

Episode no.

Season 9
Episode 4

Directed by

Andy Ackerman

Written by

Dan O'Keefe

Production code

904

Original air date

October 16, 1997

Guest appearances

Wayne Knight as Newman
Barney Martin as Morty Seinfeld
Liz Sheridan as Helen Seinfeld
Lloyd Bridges as Izzy Mandelbaum
Gene Dynarski as Izzy Mandelbaum Jr.
Kellie Waymire as Vivian
Colton James as Jimmy
Yvonne Farrow as Employee
Audrey Kissel as Tara
Ruth Cohen as Ruthie Cohen (uncredited)

Episode chronology

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"The Serenity Now"

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"The Junk Mail"

Seinfeld (season 9)

List of episodes

"The Blood" is the 160th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the fourth episode for the ninth and final season.^[1] It aired on October 16, 1997. This was Lloyd Bridges's last television performance before his death. He reprised his role as Izzy Mandelbaum, who becomes Jerry's personal trainer in the episode. Other plotlines include George becoming obsessed with combining sex with food and TV and Kramer donating three pints of blood to save a mortally injured Jerry.

Plot

Jerry feels he is getting out of shape and starts a purification program to improve his diet. His parents buy him sessions with a personal trainer, Izzy Mandelbaum.

Elaine is offended when her friend Vivian implies that Elaine is not responsible enough to babysit her son Jimmy and asks Kramer to babysit him. Elaine follows Kramer to Vivian's house, pushes him into the bushes, and takes over. Jimmy turns out to be badly behaved, but wanting to thoroughly erase her irresponsible image, she tells Vivian she had no trouble. This prompts Vivian to have her babysit more often, and even suggest that she will leave Jimmy in Elaine's care if her ongoing health problems flare up.

George decides to add food to his sex life after his girlfriend Tara's vanilla-scented incense makes him hungry. Although Tara is disgusted when he suggests integrating a pastrami sandwich into their lovemaking, he is so delighted at combining sex and food that he begins covertly eating food from the nightstand drawer during sex. However, when he starts to eat a sandwich and watch TV during a sexual encounter, she breaks up with him. By this point, George's carnal and culinary desires have become intertwined. Elaine brings George to Vivian's house to make up an excuse to get her out of taking care of Jimmy. When George finds Vivian shares his pastrami and TV fetish, they have sex on the kitchen floor. This leaves George saddled with babysitting Jimmy.

Kramer is upset at rising fees at the blood bank and stores his own blood at home. Jerry accidentally launches a knife into his own jugular, and Kramer donates three pints of his at-hand blood to save his life. Kramer guilt-trips Jerry into letting him and Newman make sausages in Jerry's kitchen. When Izzy Mandelbaum sees the sausages, he thinks Jerry is eating unhealthy and confiscates them. Irate at this, Newman stops allowing Kramer to store blood in his refrigerator. Kramer takes it back to the blood bank, using Jerry's car since his own doesn't have working air conditioning. The car overheats, so Kramer puts some blood in the radiator. For a workout, Izzy ties Jerry to the car and makes him run behind it. The blood leaks onto the driver’s feet, causing him to panic and accelerate. Jerry is dragged down the street and requires another blood transfusion, this time from Newman.

Production

The scenes in Jerry's car were filmed on September 22, 1997, while the scenes in Jerry's apartment and Monk's Cafe and the George/Tara sex scenes were all filmed live before a studio audience on September 24.^[2] Due to scheduling conflicts, guest actor Lloyd Bridges could not be present for the audience taping, so crew member Pete G. Papanickolas (who had previously played Don Tyler in "The Muffin Tops") acted as his stand-in during the taping.^[2]

Due to time constraints, both the opening and closing scenes were deleted before broadcast. The former featured Jerry sitting next to Newman in Monk's Cafe, and the latter saw Jerry unsuccessfully trying to get the blood bank to arrange a total blood transfusion for him in order to purge out the Newman blood.^[2] Other significant cuts included the resolution of the Jerry dieting subplot; following his blood transfusion from Kramer, Jerry orders a Reuben sandwich with extra cheese, and when Elaine questions what happened to his purification diet, he replies "That's oat bran compared to what I got inside of me."^[2]

The network considered running the episode as a Halloween special due to its dark subject matter, but ended up airing it two weeks earlier, on October 16, 1997.^[2]

References

External links

Seinfeld episodes

Seinfeld episodes
Season 1	"The Seinfeld Chronicles" "The Stake Out" "The Robbery" "Male Unbonding" "The Stock Tip"
Season 2	"The Ex-Girlfriend" "The Pony Remark" "The Jacket" "The Phone Message" "The Apartment" "The Statue" "The Revenge" "The Heart Attack" "The Deal" "The Baby Shower" "The Chinese Restaurant" "The Busboy"
Season 3	"The Note" "The Truth" "The Pen" "The Dog" "The Library" "The Parking Garage" "The Cafe" "The Tape" "The Nose Job" "The Stranded" "The Alternate Side" "The Red Dot" "The Subway" "The Pez Dispenser" "The Suicide" "The Fix-Up" "The Boyfriend"† "The Limo" "The Good Samaritan" "The Letter" "The Parking Space" "The Keys"
Season 4	"The Trip"† "The Pitch" "The Ticket" "The Wallet" "The Watch" "The Bubble Boy" "The Cheever Letters" "The Opera" "The Virgin" "The Contest" "The Airport" "The Pick" "The Movie" "The Visa" "The Shoes" "The Outing" "The Old Man" "The Implant" "The Junior Mint" "The Smelly Car" "The Handicap Spot" "The Pilot"†
Season 5	"The Mango" "The Puffy Shirt" "The Glasses" "The Sniffing Accountant" "The Bris" "The Lip Reader" "The Non-Fat Yogurt" "The Barber" "The Masseuse" "The Cigar Store Indian" "The Conversion" "The Stall" "The Dinner Party" "The Marine Biologist" "The Pie" "The Stand In" "The Wife" "The Raincoats"† "The Fire" "The Hamptons" "The Opposite"
Season 6	"The Chaperone" "The Big Salad" "The Pledge Drive" "The Chinese Woman" "The Couch" "The Gymnast" "The Soup" "The Mom & Pop Store" "The Secretary" "The Race" "The Switch" "The Label Maker" "The Scofflaw" "The Highlights of 100"† "The Beard" "The Kiss Hello" "The Doorman" "The Jimmy" "The Doodle" "The Fusilli Jerry" "The Diplomat's Club" "The Face Painter" "The Understudy"
Season 7	"The Engagement" "The Postponement" "The Maestro" "The Wink" "The Hot Tub" "The Soup Nazi" "The Secret Code" "The Pool Guy" "The Sponge" "The Gum" "The Rye" "The Caddy" "The Seven" "The Cadillac"† "The Shower Head" "The Doll" "The Friar's Club" "The Wig Master" "The Calzone" "The Bottle Deposit"† "The Wait Out" "The Invitations"
Season 8	"The Foundation" "The Soul Mate" "The Bizarro Jerry" "The Little Kicks" "The Package" "The Fatigues" "The Checks" "The Chicken Roaster" "The Abstinence" "The Andrea Doria" "The Little Jerry" "The Money" "The Comeback" "The Van Buren Boys" "The Susie" "The Pothole" "The English Patient" "The Nap" "The Yada Yada" "The Millennium" "The Muffin Tops" "The Summer of George"
Season 9	"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 Strongbox" "The Wizard" "The Burning" "The Bookstore" "The Frogger" "The Maid" "The Puerto Rican Day" "The Chronicle"† "The Finale"†
† Indicates two-part episode