The gang goes out shopping for a joint gift for a couple who are about to get married. George is using his father's car and has trouble finding a parking. He reluctantly agrees to park in a handicapped spot that has serious repercussions when a disabled person is injured. An angry crowd takes care of the car as well. George and Kramer decide to do the right thing for injured person by buying her a new wheelchair - but don't want to spend too much money. They bought a large screen TV for their friends but are upset when the couple call off the wedding and the woman gives away all of their gifts to charity.
Tropes:
- Aesop Amnesia / Here We Go Again!: George can't find a parking spot at the mall and Kramer tempts George to park in the handicapped spot, to which George protests that a handicapped person might need it. Kramer talks him into doing it anyway, which ends up getting him into trouble when a woman in a wheelchair is injured as a result of having to park somewhere else. At the end of the episode, the foursome return to the same mall and George again can't find a parking spot. Kramer tempts George to park in the fire lane, to which George protests that there could be a fire. Kramer says, "Now what are the chances of that?" It's highly likely that George took Kramer's advice again. note
- Continuity Nod: Kramer warns the others not to forget where the car is much to their exasperation since he was the one who forgot where the car was last time.
- Contrived Coincidence: Despite when Kramer says, it turns out there was a handicapped person who needed that spot.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- While it's true that Lola got hurt because George took the handicapped spot, the fact that an angry mob trashed his father's car over it—and before this, was waiting to beat him up, with one woman explicitly stating "He might not get out alive"—was a bit too extreme; by law, it would actually be a more severe crime than George parking in the handicapped spot in the first place.
- Additionally, George's dad gets arrested for parking there. Most jurisdictions just fine you a minimum of 50 dollars and a maximum of 200 dollars. He also gets his well-deserved award rescinded for something that's not his fault, and it's never stated if it got reinstated once everything got cleared up.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Estelle Costanza says that Kramer is "a real troublemaker" and "altogether crazy." In later episodes, she seems quite fond of him, even to the point of flirting with him.
- Indentured Servitude: Frank does this to George when his car is ruined while in George's possession, and when George's parking causes him to be unjustly arrested right when he was about to accept an award from his club.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Elaine and Jerry aren't wrong to be offended that the couple they bought the TV for didn't give the gifts back when they broke up the day after the party.
- George not wanting to buy a 6000 dollar wheelchair for someone isn't entirely unreasonable as even if it was his fault she got injured, he is unemployed and didn't have the means to afford it and he had connections that could get her a quality one for free.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Threefold
- It was Kramer's idea to park in the handicapped spot, and Lola dumps him in a rather cruel fashion.
- Despite it being Kramer's fault, he did genuinely fall for Lola and was devoted to her and went far and beyond to prove it only for her to dump him in such a cruel fashion without ever finding out it was his fault. Turns out the brakes in her new wheelchair were faulty causing her to roll down an even bigger hill and presumably get injured far worse.
- George, who bought the faulty wheelchair and got Lola injured and his dad wrongly arrested, is forced to be his dad's butler to make back the money and deliver a donation to Lola, forcing him to confront the woman he injured twice.
- The Lopsided Arm of the Law: As stated before, while Frank was arrested over the fact that he was supposedly the one who parked in the handicapped spot, there was no indication that the angry mob that had decided to ransack the car received any sort of penalty.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The person Elaine & Jerry are buying the TV for is only ever called "the Drake" by pretty much everyone, leading to lines like "gotta love the Drake," "hate the Drake," etc.
- Parking Payback: In response to George's taking the handicapped spot causing Lola to be injured, an angry mob waited for George to come back and beat him to a pulp, prompting the foursome to stay away until the mob was gone. Unfortunately, when they eventually returned, the found that the mob had decided to ransack Frank's car.
- Stealing the Handicapped Spot: Kramer convinces George to do this, which ends up triggering a disastrous chain of events.
