"The Soul Mate" is the 136th episode

Episode

An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...

 of the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 sitcom Seinfeld

Seinfeld

Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

. This was the second episode for the 8th season. It was originally broadcast on the NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 network on September 26, 1996.

It features plot elements similar to Edmond Rostand

Edmond Rostand

Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...

's play Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac (play)

Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play bears very scant resemblance to his life....

.

Plot

George

George Costanza

George Louis Costanza is a character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" , "Lord of the Idiots" , and as "the greatest sitcom character of all time"...

 believes the foundation lawyer thinks he might have killed Susan. Jerry

Jerry Seinfeld (character)

Jerome "Jerry" Seinfeld is the main protagonist of the American television sitcom Seinfeld . The straight man among his group of friends, this semi-fictionalized version of comedian Jerry Seinfeld was named after, co-created by, based on, and played by Seinfeld himself.The series revolves around...

 suggests using a method employed by Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...

 to find out. Kramer

Cosmo Kramer

Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Michael Richards...

 falls for Jerry's girlfriend and he consults Newman

Newman (Seinfeld)

Newman is a recurring character on the television show Seinfeld, played by Wayne Knight from 1991 until the show's finale in 1998.-Background:...

 for advice. Elaine

Elaine Benes

Elaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld; she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer...

's friends insist that she have a baby; she'd rather not, and meets a man who shares her ideals. George leaves a running tape recorder

Tape recorder

An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...

 in his briefcase at the next board meeting and leaves the room. He returns to find the briefcase damaged and the tape stopped. Newman gets in the middle of Jerry and Kramer's relationship with Pam; he bribes Jerry in hopes to find out more about his obsession, Elaine.

Meanwhile, Elaine's new boyfriend gets a vasectomy

Vasectomy

Vasectomy is a surgical procedure for male sterilization and/or permanent birth control. During the procedure, the vasa deferentia of a man are severed, and then tied/sealed in a manner such to prevent sperm from entering into the seminal stream...

 to show her how committed he is to not having children. The guys find out Pam isn't interested in having children and they line up for their own vasectomies. George gets to the bottom of what happened to his briefcase and finds out that a fellow employee had lost his balance and fallen on it. Elaine and her new friend go and get his vasectomy reversed and Jerry and Newman leave after Kramer gets his vasectomy.

Trivia

• George says in the beginning of the episode he wanted to be in prison someday. That is exactly what happened in the end of the series.
• Elaine gets shocked with the picture of one of the babies. It was the same unseen baby from "The Hamptons."
• The episode is dedicated to Victor Wayne Harris, an assistant prop master for the show. Harris appears in the episode "The Pilot", in the scene where George is on the phone calling for his test results; right at the end of the scene Harris appears as a man with a white t-shirt and a cap approaching the phone.

Goofs

• Jason Alexander can be seen briefly smiling just before Michael Richards drags him out of Jerry's apartment by the chair.
• When Jerry corners Newman in the hallway, the apartment door behind Newman reads "4D", yet apartment "5E" can be seen behind Jerry.