The Apology

"The Apology" is the 165th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the ninth episode for the ninth and final season. It first aired on December 11, 1997. In this episode, Jerry learns his girlfriend is a nudist, George tries to get an apology out of his old friend Jason Hanke (played by James Spader) through Hanke's participation in Alcoholics Anonymous's twelve-step program, and Kramer gives up on keeping his showers short, opting to instead spend all day in the shower. Plot Jerry is dating Melissa, a woman who is comfortable being naked in his apartment in nonsexual contexts. While initially amused by Melissa's quirk, he finds that certain commonplace actions, such as coughing and squatting, make her nudity repulsive. Jerry plans to make Melissa understand his revulsion by using a belt sander while naked, but Melissa objects to his nudity before he even turns on the sander. Jerry convinces Melissa to wear clothes more often, but Jerry and Melissa now cannot stop picturing each other naked. George learns that his childhood friend Jason Hanke is a recovering alcoholic and, as Step 9 of Alcoholics Anonymous's Twelve Steps, is apologizing for all his misdeeds. George gets angry when Jason moves on to Step 10 without apologizing for embarrassing him at a party a few years earlier. George asked to borrow his sweater, and Jason refused, saying the neck would be stretched out, which made everyone else laugh. When George broaches the subject, Jason refuses to apologize, saying that his concern about his sweater was sincere. George petitions Jason's sponsor to intervene; his anger over the old embarrassment instead convinces the sponsor to enroll George in an anger management class. Jason goes to the anger management class after snapping at George and some teenagers at his job at an ice cream shop. He and George have another confrontation at the meeting. After Jerry informs Kramer that his hour-long showers are not normal, Kramer attempts to reduce his time showering. He cuts it down to a half-hour, but only by not rinsing off the lather or drying off. Jerry gives him some pointers on more efficient showering, but refuses his request for a personal demonstration, and when Kramer tries observing in a public shower he is mistaken for a voyeur, given a black eye, and ejected. Frustrated at these failures, he decides that since he enjoys showers so much, he should go the other direction and spend all his time showering.