Episode no. Season 4
Episode 18 Written by Peter Mehlman Original air date February 25, 1993 | Directed by Tom Cherones Production code 419 | |
"The Implant" is the 59th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. It is the 19th episode of the fourth season, and first aired on February 25, 1993.
Contents
Plot
Jerry dumps his girlfriend, Sidra (played by Teri Hatcher), after Elaine convinces him that her breasts are probably the result of implants. Kramer claims to have seen Salman Rushdie (played by Tony Amendola) at the health club, and says that Salman is living under the pseudonym "Sal Bass". Later, Elaine and Sidra are in a sauna together, and Elaine accidentally feels Sidra's breasts after grabbing onto them to break her fall after tripping in the sauna. Elaine later goes to Jerry and admits that she is now convinced that Sidra's breasts are real and not implants--this puts Jerry in a predicament by taking Sidra back. However, Sidra later finds out that Elaine was Jerry's former girlfriend (when Kramer indirectly mentions Jerry and Elaine going on a previous trip together) and, thinking he put Elaine up to the incident in the sauna, subsequently dumps Jerry; as she leaves, she tells him "And, by the way. They're real and they're spectacular."
In a subplot, George accompanies his current girlfriend, Betsy (Megan Mullally), to Detroit for her aunt's wake. While there, he tries to get a copy of her death certificate so he can get a 50% discount on the airfare. However, he gets into an argument at the funeral reception with Betsy's brother, Timmy (Kieran Mulroney), when accused of double-dipping a chip. In the end, Betsy breaks up with him and he does not get the death certificate; instead, he tries to pass off a picture of him next to the casket, but the clerk does not buy it.
Production
During the opening scene in the health club, Jerry alludes to George's being right-handed, using his own left-handedness as a basis of comparison. This characterization comes in spite of the fact that George can be seen using his left hand to write in previous episodes, such as "The Outing".
Sidra's parting shot to Jerry at the end of this episode was scripted as simply "And, by the way, they're real." Teri Hatcher ad-libbed the kicker "...and they're spectacular." This line is repeated by Jackie Chiles in "The Finale".
Reception
The television show MythBusters tested the theory that double dipping was like "putting your whole mouth right in the dip" on the April 22, 2009 episode. The MythBusters found that double dipping produced fewer microbes than putting all the dip in your mouth. Also, the amount of microbes present was negligible compared to the amount found in regular dip.
In Salman Rushdie's non-fiction book Joseph Anton: A Memoir, Rushdie recounts bumping into Jerry Seinfeld at a cocktail party where Seinfeld nervously asked his opinion of "The Implant" and "visibly relaxed" upon Rushdie's telling him "that he had thought the episode very funny."