Being a worse person than Jerry Seinfeld, Elaine Benes, or Cosmo Kramer is challenging, but George Costanza succeeded in doing so. In the nine seasons of Seinfeld, Jason Alexander’s character George schemes, plots, and charms his way into—and out of—all manner of unpleasant situations.
Although Seinfeld is “a show about nothing,” George’s actions have some very significant repercussions. At least one fatality and several physical injuries are directly his fault. George is cheap, judgmental, neurotic, self-centered, lazy, and self-aware. I’m upset, dejected, inadequate, I got it all, as he puts it.
He bought a disabled woman a broken wheelchair
When George isn’t making the lives of disabled people unpleasant in other ways, he’s pushing them out of the way to get away from fires or, you know, pretending to be one of them. In the appropriately named episode “The Handicap Spot,” George chooses to leave his car there rather than scouting out a permit in a congested lot.
A furious mob is waiting for him and the rest of the gang when they get back. Lola, a disabled woman, apparently had to settle for a position far from the store’s entrance since George claimed the handicap space, and as a result, she experienced a wheelchair mishap. The car—father’s—doesn’t George’s survive, but George, Jerry, Elaine, and Kramer do. It is destroyed by the mob when they are not around.
Kramer’s visit to Lola in the hospital worsens the situation. Kramer has a serious crush on Lola and demands that they buy her a new wheelchair as compensation for the mishap. But they quickly discover that wheelchairs are pricey. The two decide for a second-hand chair devoid of the majority of contemporary features rather than a top-of-the-line one. We also refer to “modern features” as things like brakes. As soon as Lola leaves the hospital, Kramer is silenced, but before long, she is back where she was before. Soon after being released, Lola zooms down a hill in the cheap wheelchair’s broken brakes, reinjuring herself.
He drugged his boss
The episode of “The Revenge” that George leaves his work due to being forbidden from using the executive restroom, regrets his decision, and returns the following Monday as if nothing ever occurred is probably how most people remember it.
That’s stupid, but it’s not evil—despite the fact that Seinfeld co-creator Larry David allegedly did the exact same thing in real life. Later on, the horrible thing happens. George’s supervisor, understandably upset by Mr. Costanza’s actions, responds angrily to George’s plan. George chooses to exact justice. At a party, he injures his boss’ drink with Elaine’s assistance. George tries to block the alcohol from reaching his superior’s lips as the employer offers him his job back. George changes his mind and lets nature take its course after the same boss gives him a snarky speech to welcome him back to the workplace.
Whatever the medicine does, we will never know for sure, it isn’t good. When we next see George, he’s back on the job market. Job joyously lost for a second time, mission done.
He let a serial killer escape
George occasionally causes trouble on his own. He occasionally finds himself in the wrong spot at the wrong moment. In the latter, George and Jerry visit Los Angeles in the fourth season episode “The Trip.” They are supposedly in La La Land so that Jerry may sing on The Tonight Show, but the most of the trip is spent avoiding the evil Smog Strangler, a serial killer who prowls the streets of Los Angeles. Kramer is ultimately accused of being the killer due to some very Seinfeld-like antics, and it’s up to George and Jerry to clear his identity.
George and Jerry are picked up and driven to the station by a police cruiser. But on the way there, the police stop a carjacker, making him snuggle with a disgruntled George. Jerry and the stranger argue over tips as they travel on; the carjacker claims Jerry is too frugal. A police alert stating that the Smog Strangler is in the vicinity causes the journey to be cut short once more. When the police arrive at Kramer’s apartment, Jerry and George go with them, leaving the carjacker alone and free to flee.
Of course, the true Smog Strangler is the carjacker. While Kramer is being held in detention, he kills someone, clearing his name, and the entire team returns to New York. The Smog Strangler is still preying on helpless Angelenos, but at least he tips well, according to the final news report.
He killed his fiancee
Susan wasn’t murdered by George. Yes, he makes every effort to avoid the upcoming wedding. Susan is asked for a prenuptial agreement by him. He begins to smoke. He doesn’t attempt to murder her though.
He’s to blame for her passing in typical George fashion. For the couple’s wedding invitations, George decides to purchase the cheapest envelopes he can find at the start of “The Invitations,” the season seven finale, but allows Susan to handle the sealing and addressing. The envelope adhesive is deadly, and after repeatedly coming into contact with the chemicals, Susan keels over dead. It’s the last thing she ever does.
That’s not good at all, but George’s response makes it even worse. George feels relief rather than guilt or, at the very least, remorse (the doctor who cared for Susan in the hospital described George’s attitude as “restrained jubilation” in the epilogue). Even for Seinfeld, this is a depressing time, and the audience concurred. While most of George’s evil plans were cheerfully accepted by the audience, actor Jason Alexander claims that George’s supporters lost patience with him twice: when he killed Susan and when he ate an eclair out of the trash. Because they are two things that are identical in every way.
He pretended to be handicapped to get a job
George Costanza worked 14 different jobs during the course of Seinfeld’s nine seasons, including sitcom writer, salesperson, and paper pusher for the New York Yankees. Not to mention the positions he claims to have (but does not), such as those of a marine scientist, an architect, or a journalist.
George is back on the job market in the ninth season’s first episode, “The Butter Shave.” He is hired by Play Now, a firm that makes playground equipment, but not because he is the most qualified applicant. The Play Now executives believe George is disabled and offer the job primarily out of sympathy because George is hobbling around on a cane after falling down a flight of stairs in the previous episode, “The Summer of George.”
A decent person would fix the error. However, George Costanza is a bad man. George accepts the position when Play Now offers him his own handicap-accessible restroom. He will soon be using a specialised lift rather than the stairs. He is carried into his office by coworkers. Play Now provides George a motorised cart so he won’t have to walk anywhere once he hurts his good leg. He gladly agrees.
His downfall is that. George becomes the target of a motorised cart chase after colliding with other patients. George rises to his feet in an effort to escape, betraying his cover and kicking off the clock that would eventually lead to the termination of his Play Now employment.
He punctured the Bubble Boy’s bubble
In reality, Susan, George’s tragic on-again, off-again love interest, is the one who penetrates the barrier protecting the anaemic Donald from the germ-filled environment around him. However, George is the one who initially picks a battle with the Bubble Boy. Due to a misprint on one of the cards that says “the Moops” instead of “the Moors,” George refuses to award the disabled child the points they are due, resulting in The Bubble Boy attempting to strangle George during the world’s most embarrassing game of Trivial Pursuit. In an attempt to liberate her boyfriend, Susan bats at the bubble, which deflates as the plastic snaps. George gets at least a helping hand with this one.
Donald naturally verbally and emotionally assaults his parents and makes vulgar advances toward Susan (asking Susan to remove her top when they first meet, for example), placing him in exclusive company: in comparison to most of George’s victims, the Bubble Boy deserves his fate. On the other hand, George continues to deny that “the Moors” is the right response even as the Bubble Boy is being carried onto an ambulance stretcher.
He pushed aside the helpless in order to save himself
George Costanza isn’t a very nice friend or boyfriend, and all the evidence points to him being an especially bad father if he ever has kids (and let’s pray that never happens).
To understand what we mean, simply watch “The Fire.” George dates Robin, a woman with a young boy, in that episode. As a responsible lover, George goes to the child’s birthday celebration. That is incorrect. The painted performer confesses he has no idea who Bozo is, and George has a battle with the clown right away. But that’s just the beginning. George panics as a tiny fire breaks out in Robin’s kitchen. He yells “Fire!” to startle everyone, then dashes for the door, forcing everyone in his path, including Robin’s elderly mother, a disabled woman using a walker, and most of the children (he shoves the clown, too, but that requires a slight detour, and might be intentional).
Naturally, Robin doesn’t like being abandoned to burn to death in an apartment, so she immediately ditches George. In a rare instance of self-awareness, George responds, “It’s not easy,” when a firefighter asks him, “How do you live with yourself?” after the incident.
He tried to cheat on his fiancee
George isn’t suitable for a committed relationship, as was previously stated. That is never more evident than in Seinfeld’s seventh season, which starts with Susan becoming engaged to George and concludes with her tragic passing. In the interim, George tries to cheat on Susan with a famous person from Hollywood and does everything in his power to show Susan he isn’t worth her time.
George finds out from one of Elaine’s friends in the two-part episode “The Cadillac” that My Cousin Vinny and The Untamed Heart actress Marisa Tomei, who will play Aunt May in Spider-Man: Homecoming, has a thing for oddball, hairless males. George falls in love at first sight. George begins to see Tomei’s movies more frequently, much to Susan’s consternation, and eventually manages to obtain her phone number. With Elaine’s assistance, he arranges a date with Marisa in the park. Everything is going swimmingly until George confesses that he is engaged. After punching him, Tomei departs. When Susan, who believes George is having an affair with Elaine, discovers George lying, he receives a second punch. She doesn’t immediately break up with him, which raises doubts about her judgement.
George continues to be obsessed. The first thing he does when Susan passes away is give Marisa Tomei another call to set up a date. She hangs up on him appropriately, putting a stop to their potential relationship.
He tried to steal an injured man’s girlfriend and removed his IV
When Danielle tells George in “The English Patient” that he looks just like her partner Neil, Danielle points out that George is taller and in superior physical condition. Knowing George, who is quite insecure, you can probably predict what will happen. He is fascinated by Neil despite being attracted in Danielle, who is, let’s face it, completely out of George’s league. In fact, despite missing out on the chance to get to know Danielle better, George won’t stop until he meets his shorter, less fit twin.
He eventually succeeds, sort of. Due to a side plot involving Kramer employing “Cuban” workers—really Dominicans passing for Cubans—to make explosive crepes, Neil ends up in the hospital. Neil’s face is burned as one of the crepes explodes, and medical professionals bandage his face. As a result, Danielle is forced to stay with her current partner, whom she brings to London for medical treatment, and George is prevented from witnessing what Neil looks like. Neil leans over to George after Danielle makes her decision and says, “I win,” in a quiet voice.
George, though, has the final laugh. George quietly removes Neil’s IV drip before he leaves the hospital, leaving Neil confined to his bed. The man is probably not killed, but he is almost certainly in great suffering. George obviously doesn’t give a damn.
