The Mango


"The Mango" is the 65th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. It aired on September 16, 1993, and is the premiere of the show's fifth season. The episode's working title was "The Orgasm." It was filmed in front of a live studio audience on Tuesday, August 17, 1993. In the "Inside Look" commentary on the Seinfeld Season 5 DVD, Larry David revealed that a friend of his came up with the setup of this episode: Elaine never having orgasms with Jerry. Larry David said that the idea was "too good to pass up."

Plot

In Monk's Café, George tells Jerry about his lack of confidence in bed with his new girlfriend Karen, and entertains the possibility that she is faking her orgasms. Elaine mentions that she feigned all her orgasms when she and Jerry were dating. Jerry is flabbergasted at this revelation.
Kramer takes a bite out of a bad peach, which he tries to return to the store where he bought it. This leads to him being banned from the store after he insults the owner, Joe.
Meanwhile, Jerry begs Elaine to give him another shot at giving her an orgasm, which she rebuffs in the belief that sex will ruin their friendship. This causes Jerry to become bitter and resentful toward Elaine.
George becomes so obsessed with his performance in bed with Karen that he experiences what seems to be erectile dysfunction. Kramer asks Jerry to buy fruit in his place at Joe’s store. Jerry is banned when Joe realizes he is shopping for Kramer. George winds up buying fruit for both Kramer and Jerry. George tastes one of Kramer’s mangoes, which causes an erotic transformation, prompting him to race to Karen's apartment. Though he impresses her with his sexual performance, Karen throws George out of her apartment when he ridicules her vocalizations during orgasm, incorrectly assuming she was faking.
Elaine agrees to sex with Jerry, after concluding it will destroy their friendship if they don't. However, Jerry again fails to give her an orgasm, and blames George. Elaine then asks: "Y'know, I'm a little hungry... you wouldn't happen to have any of that mango left?" Jerry then realizes his solution.

Reception

This episode gained a Nielsen rating of 19.3 and an audience share of 29, meaning that 19.3% of American households watched the episode, and 29% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into it.
This episode was first read by its cast on August 11, 1993 at 10:30 a.m. to much anticipation, as it was to premiere in a new 9:00 timeslot. NBC officials, however, were a bit more apprehensive because it was taking over the timeslot of the highly successful sitcom Cheers.

Production

The Mango was written by Larry David and Lawrence H. Levy. The subplot in which Kramer is banned from a fruit shop is based on one of David’s personal experiences, where he himself was banned from a fruit shop for squeezing the product too much.
When the episode aired, David found himself in the middle of a media frenzy surrounding the now-popular show. David gave some insight to his approach on writing the script by saying, "I like taking the worst qualities that a person has and trying to make something funny out of it. Doesn’t everybody do terrible things and have terrible thoughts? Just by trying to be as funny, you’re going to deal with a lot of things that are real, so the show’s really about something. The whole thing about the show being about nothing is ridiculous."
Kenny Kramer said that Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer are "the most shallow, superficial, self-indulgent people...but we see there’s a little of us in them, our own dark character."

Awards and nominations

The Mango received the following awards/nominations: