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"The Wizard” is the fifteenth episode of the ninth and final season of Seinfeld, and the 171st episode overall. This episode first aired on February 26, 1998. It was written by Steve Lookner and was directed by Andy Ackerman.

Plot[]

Jerry buys his dad a $200 Wizard organizer for a birthday present. George receives a message from Susan's parents, the Rosses. Jerry and George debate about the race of Elaine's new boyfriend, Darryl, and that intrigues her – is he black? George returns the call from the Rosses; the Foundation is having an event this weekend, but George doesn't want to attend, so he comes up with a story that he has to close on his house in the Hamptons. Kramer announces his retirement, a Hollywood big shot has optioned his coffee table book about coffee tables. Elaine finds evidence that leads her to believe her boyfriend is black. Susan's parents see George on the street in the city, during the time he is supposed to be in the Hamptons.

At Del Boca Vista Phase III, Jerry is woken up early in the morning at his parents' house and gives his father the Wizard which Jerry claims he got from a deal at only $50. Morty is only impressed by it being a "tip calculator" although Jerry claims it does other things. Later, he discovers that Kramer has moved down there, to join the other retirees.

Elaine laughs when Susan's parents ask her about George's house in the Hamptons, revealing the lies.

Jerry is seen dining with his parents in Del Boca Vista's restaurant as Helen comments that Jerry's gift serves as a distraction for Morty due to the upcoming election for president of the condo association. Jerry comments that Morty can't run for president of the condo association because he was impeached from The Pines of Mar Gables Phase II. Morty claims that he was never impeached, he resigned. Helen quotes that the condo newsletter The Boca Breeze would've buried Morty. After being told from a local resident that Kramer scored a date with the young aquacise instructor (who's 50), Morty decides that Kramer should be elected condo board president of Del Boca Vista Phase III, so Morty will run things from behind the scenes, like a "puppet regime".

Elaine schemes to try to determine her boyfriend's race.

As George finds out the Rosses knew that he lied, and they allowed him to continue lying, he keeps building on his lie and picks up the Rosses to take them to the Hamptons, to "see who'll blink first".

Kramer begins his campaign and the condo newsletter, The Boca Breeze has good things to say about him. When Elaine's boyfriend says they are an interracial couple, she is convinced he is black. Kramer receives some bad press from The Boca Breeze upon having gone barefoot to a club when he couldn't find his shoes. Morty considers it a huge scandal and decides that it's damage control time. Kramer suggests buying each member of the board one of those Wizard "tip calculators". Jerry knows he can't get the deal he told his father he'd received, but Kramer says not to worry because Bob Sacamano's father lives down there and can help them out.

Elaine discovers her boyfriend is not black, and that he referred to them as an interracial couple because he thought she was Hispanic, leaving both to contemplate how they're just two white people.

Sacamano's father comes through with knock-off "tip calculators" called "the Willard", which can't calculate tips properly and in some cases lack a full complement of numerals, costing Morty and Kramer the election and causing everyone to vote for the candidate in the wheelchair. Kramer decides to move back to New York upon coming out of retirement. When Morty makes a comment about the Wizard to Jerry, he tells Morty that it has other features.

During the credits, George and the Rosses reach the Hamptons, where he blinks first and the truth is revealed. The Rosses confirm that they dislike George, and blame him for Susan's death.

Notes About Nothing[]

  • In the Seinfelds' condo board newspaper, Boca Breeze, Larry David is mentioned in smaller headlines: "Larry David Gets Hole In One!, "Larry David Hurts Elbow", and "Larry David Never To Play Golf Again"
  • Morty (or perhaps the episode's writers) evidently made an error when calculating the tip on his Wizard. He says he entered a 12.4% tip, which Jerry then says is $4.366666, but there is no possible bill which could be multiplied by 12.4% to get this result; 12.4% of $35.21 is $4.36604, and 12.4% of $35.22 is $4.36728. A percentage other than 12.4% must have been entered in the calculation.
  • George's line "You wanna' get nuts? Come on! Let's get nuts!" is from the 1989 movie Batman, as spoken by Bob Kane and Bill Finger's character Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton).
  • The DVD release's "Notes About Nothing" for this episode has a blooper. It states that Kramer was scripted to tell Morty there is an extra Willard intended for Norm Bergerman, who "won't be leaving any tips where he is", but the line was "excised before broadcast." However, the line does in fact appear in the episode, and is even spoken right as the note saying it was deleted pops up.

Clues that Elaine uses to conclude that Darryl is black

  • Jerry says that Darryl is black
  • At his apartment, Elaine hears hip-hop music being played from a stereo. She thinks it is Darryl's only to find out that it was his neighbor playing the music.
  • Darryl yells at his neighbor in a stereotypical African American voice, "Yo yo! Turn it down!"
  • Darryl has various African artifacts in his apartment.
  • Darryl claims that his family left South Africa many years ago for "obvious reasons" (referring to Apartheid).
  • After a couple in the coffee shop make a comment, Darryl is upset that they are being made fun of for being an interracial couple (in fact, he believed that Elaine was Hispanic).
Season Nine Episodes
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 | The Finale, Part 1 | The Finale, Part 2
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