The Worst Things The Seinfeld Group Ever Did Together On The Show

Each member of the "Seinfeld" crew does some pretty questionable stuff over the show's nine seasons. Be it Jerry's meticulous standards driving the women he dates to run for the hills, Elaine's impulsivity and hot-headedness, Kramer's chaotic disregard for consequences, or George's pointlessly elaborate manipulations, this is a group where each member could have benefited from forming outside bonds with people who would have challenged them on their behavior and helped them improve. Yet where would the fun be in that? A major part of the appeal of "Seinfeld" is watching each of these characters create their own silly scenarios only to dig deeper holes for themselves. Insofar as a show about nothing can be said to have character arcs, the "Seinfeld" posse's traits worsen over time, with hilarious results.

Yes, every one of the four central friends has been accused of being a bad person from time to time, but when they get together on a misdeed, their common lack of compassion for others can take on epic proportions. Watching the "Seinfeld" crew navigate their own chaotic escalations is a delight from the comfort of our own homes, but for some characters, spending time with these friends was the worst choice they made in their lives. Here's a list of all the worst things the quartet ever did. 

We'll start with the ninth season episode, "The Finale," in which the gang is put on trial for their general misdeeds and ultimately imprisoned to mitigate the harm they've done to society. When the four friends witness an active robbery taking place in small-town Massachusetts, they not only choose not to help but also actively make a spectacle by openly mocking the man being attacked. Kramer even stands idly by with a big grin on his face and films the whole thing on his personal camcorder, offering up self-incriminating evidence of their collective repeat violations of the "Good Samaritan" law. During the trial, a series of guest stars from episodes past are brought up to speak against the friends in court. We have to admit, sometimes we're kind of on their side in thinking there's something a little off about this group of friends.

This is also potentially one of the least funny scenes of the entire series due to the cruel fat-shaming behind their "jokes." The victim of the crime seems horrified not just by their lack of assistance during his traumatic ordeal, but also by their casual cruelty as it occurs. The bystander effect is one thing, but this scene shows the gang at their absolute worst, egging each other on and failing to acknowledge the gravity of a situation simply because it doesn't affect them personally. At least they finally get their comeuppance. 

With the series winding down in its ninth season, the bad behavior of the group seems to increase as they prepare for their eventual farewell to the primetime slot. In "The Betrayal," we see Jerry, Elaine, and George burst into the cafe, Elaine holding her apparently broken nose and George shouting while Jerry seethes with annoyance. The episode works backward to tell us what is actually going on here, and it ain't pretty.

We've met Elaine's pal Sue Ellen before, and the general bad behavior Elaine has shown toward her convinces Elaine and the audience alike that she and Sue Ellen are more frenemies than friends. When she receives a late-in-the-game invitation to Sue Ellen's wedding in India, Elaine assumes that Sue Ellen is simply being polite and doesn't actually want her to come. Instead of taking the hint and keeping her distance, Elaine boards a plane purely out of spite with Jerry, George, and George's girlfriend Nina in tow. She discovers Sue Ellen's husband is a man she herself had a short fling with at one time, which ultimately leads Sue Ellen to call things off and send them all packing. 

This is a relatively Kramer-light scenario, but trust us, he makes up for it later, and the other three act foolishly enough to make up for his absence. Bonus points to Jerry for sleeping with Nina behind George's back. 

In the sixth season finale, "The Understudy," we're treated to a fun cameo from the iconic Bette Midler as she stars in the in-universe musical version of "Rochelle, Rochelle," an art house film that is a running joke through the series. As Jerry is dating her understudy, Gennice, the crew comes into contact with Bette herself during a charity baseball event. With George in the role of catcher showing a dismissive attitude when she steps to the plate, Bette turns the tables when he steps up to bat, yelling, "Step up, get your shrimp!" and "Get your big mouth shrimp here!" All of this could be chalked up to friendly teasing, but as it so often does on "Seinfeld," the situation soon takes on a mind of its own.

Attempting to score a home run, George crashes right into Bette, leading the other players to turn on Jerry and George and chase them off the field. To make matters worse, Gennice becomes convinced that this was a malicious act on their part to ensure that she'd get the part she's understudying for, which leads her to treat the group with fear and apprehension. Though Jerry, George, and Elaine attempt to visit the hospital, Bette superfan Kramer is now smothering Bette with attention and worship, which ultimately leads to him slightly kidnapping Bette (though she doesn't seem to mind). Meanwhile, Elaine invites women from her nail salon to "Rochelle, Rochelle," but when they see it's not Bette, they become infuriated and leave, helping to throw off Gennice's already struggling performance.

Among the many harmed by the overall presence of the "Seinfeld" friends, Susan Ross' family definitely gets the rawest deal. In the fourth season episode "The Bubble Boy," an early moment of chaos shows the direction that Susan and George's relationship will ultimately lead, and we can only look back and wish she'd taken the hint and gotten clear of the pals when she had a chance. While attempting to make it to Susan's family's cabin to enjoy a nice wilderness getaway, the group agrees to stop off to say "hello" to the so-called "bubble boy," a fellow named Donald who relies on a plastic bubble to stay alive and just so happens to be a big fan of Jerry Seinfeld's comedy.

With George speeding down the highway, he loses Elaine and Jerry, who are following him, and he and Susan are forced to kill time waiting for the other two to arrive. This leads to him and Donald having a hostile game of Trivial Pursuit, which ends with Donald attempting to strangle George and Susan accidentally bursting the bubble while trying to defend him. By the time the friends all make it to the cabin, it's late, and they are stunned to discover that it is aflame. It turns out that Kramer arrived early and sparked the cabin, leaving it to burn as he ran out for a swim. No one is hurt, but this issue is so serious that it bleeds over into the next episode, "The Cheever Letters," with George struggling to apologize to Susan's family.

Though there are plenty of characters wise enough to steer clear after their initial dealings with the "Seinfeld" friends, others aren't so lucky. In the fifth season episode, "The Hamptons," the four pals head out to a nice vacation spot in order to meet a friend's baby, a task they treat with the exact level of sensitivity you might expect from them at this point. Jerry brings his girlfriend, Rachel, who had previously been forbidden from dating Jerry by her father after the episode "The Raincoats." Frankly, it might have been for the best if they'd stuck to that rule.

Most of this episode can be summed up by the friends causing general mayhem just by their presence, with Elaine fixating on the offhand use of the word "breathtaking" by a doctor and Kramer committing actual crimes by stealing lobster from a commercial trap. Yet, Rachel fares worst of all. She initially declines to eat the lobster Kramer brings due to it not being kosher. When Rachel, casually gossiping with George's girlfriend Jane, leads to a disinterested Jane boarding a flight home unannounced, he takes revenge by feeding her lobster mixed in with eggs the next morning. Though this final offense is more George acting alone than anything else, the wild behavior of the friends spoils the weekend for all as they center themselves and behave selfishly throughout.

Sometimes the friends cause wild amounts of chaos seemingly just by their collective bad vibes, which is how things go when they meet Lola, a disabled woman who relies on a wheelchair to get around. In this fourth season episode, "The Handicap Spot," the friends make the decision to park George's father's car in a reserved handicapped parking space, causing Lola serious injury when she is forced to park far away. When they emerge from the mall, they are surprised to discover an angry mob tearing the car to pieces — an especially bad outcome considering how much George's father loves that car. The friends slink away. While George was the driver and Kramer the one who urged him to take the marked parking spot, this is certainly an example of how each of them enables the other, as Elaine and Jerry go along with this obviously selfish act.

Sadly, it doesn't end there. When Kramer visits Lola in the hospital, he decides that he's fallen in love with her, which turns out to be a serious portent of doom for Lola. He and George buy her a wheelchair to make things up to her, but due to their own lack of care, they buy a cheap one with faulty breaks that only causes greater physical injury. While Jerry and Elaine branch off into their own misadventure, the TV that they purchased at the mall on the day of Lola's original accident plays a huge role for them in this episode. They give it to two friends as an engagement present. When the pair splits and calls off the nuptials, they contravene social etiquette and try to get their gift back. 

In the ninth season episode "The Serenity Now," the saga of Lloyd Braun draws to a close, but not after the gang does a number on the poor guy. Braun is a childhood friend of George's whose major crime in life appears to be nothing more than being the kind of kid a mom would like. George is consumed with jealousy due to his mother's regular comment, "Why can't you be more like Lloyd?" Years down the line, they meet again. Taking Elaine's suggestion in "The Nonfat Yogurt" ultimately costs the guy his job and causes a domino effect that sees him institutionalized due to extreme mental health struggles. Still, when Kramer needs help in securing historical landmark status for a theater, Lloyd Braun is there to lend a helping hand.

Finally, in "The Serenity Now," we see Lloyd working to keep things together despite the chaotic circumstances of his life. Sadly, he gets involved with the Costanzas, which is not how you achieve peace in life. With Frank engaging in a shady computer-selling scheme, he hires Lloyd and George to work as telemarketers, and we see George's one-sided competition with Lloyd once again rearing its ugly head. Ultimately, Lloyd is fired by Frank, who yells, "Serenity now!" during moments of turmoil due to his new obsession with a series of self-help tapes. Lloyd notes that the tapes are a scam and they don't really work, leaving us on the memorable one-liner, "Serenity now, insanity later."

Elaine has Trinbagonian runner Jean-Paul staying with her as a houseguest in the seventh season episode "The Hot Tub." With Jean-Paul terrified of a repeat of the prior year, when he overslept and missed the Olympic marathon, he relies on Elaine to make sure he wakes up on time. Sports fan Jerry increasingly worries that Elaine isn't up to the task after he realizes how often she's late and becomes obsessed with making sure that Jean-Paul gets to the race on time this year. Meanwhile, Kramer somehow installs a hot tub in his apartment, but when the heating pump breaks, his core temperature drops, and he's unable to get warm again.

George influences bad behavior in Jean-Paul when the runner overhears him cursing and assumes that's simply the way Americans talk, letting the profanity fly and ultimately leading him to get booted from Elaine's apartment. This comforts Jerry, who welcomes Jean-Paul into his apartment, as he feels confident he can get Jean-Paul to the race in time. However, Kramer's hot tub once again causes problems by tripping a circuit breaker and causing the electricity in the building to go out. Due to their collective panic, Jerry and Jean-Paul do actually get to the race in time. All seems well until the friends bestow one final traumatic event upon the man: when Jean-Paul reaches out for a refreshing splash of water, he accidentally grabs Kramer's coffee, scalding himself instead. This is more of an unfortunate accident than malicious scheming, but the group's chaotic dynamics and egotism still contributed to Jean-Paul's bad luck. 

With their vocal griping and painstaking cheapness, the "Seinfeld" friends are an unending menace to the livelihoods of small business owners in mid-'90s New York City. There are countless examples through the series' nine-season run of skipping out on bills, showing unneeded hostility, and complaining loudly about establishments ranging from laundromats to bakeries. A handful of restaurant owners bear an inordinate amount of this brunt as the group regularly causes chaos for them. One of the best-known examples is Babu, a Pakistani man who takes Jerry's advice only to see his restaurant fail as a result, and who is then shortly thereafter deported due to Elaine's lack of consideration in getting him his mail.

It doesn't end there. Kramer causes a nonfat yogurt merchant to go out of business after taking the product to a lab to prove that it isn't actually nonfat. While he arguably has a point about truth in advertising, publicly denouncing the business with such fervor was definitely overzealous. 

These examples have some moral wiggle room as the friends are either partially correct or don't intend the harm they ultimately cause. Still, nothing is quite so bad as Elaine's treatment of the so-called "Soup Nazi." Offended and infuriated that he bans her from his restaurant for a year after she annoys him during her order one day, she uncovers his secret recipes and publishes them, ruining his business forever.

It's hard to top the death of Susan when it comes to horrible things the gang does throughout the series. The seventh season finale, "The Invitations," sees her meet an untimely demise after George, consummate cheapskate, picks the least expensive envelope option for their wedding invitations. Licking the low-cost but super-toxic adhesive causes Susan to sicken and die. At the hospital, a totally unfazed George, who'd long been plagued by urges to break off their engagement, shrugs off her loss with a callous, "Huh!" before immediately attempting to call up exes for sympathy hookups. 

This is perhaps the worst of the things that Susan is put through as a direct result of her association with the friends, but it sure isn't the only instance of them going out of their way to make her life miserable. Indeed, much of the seventh season revolves around the running joke that no one particularly likes Susan or wants her around despite her not ever actually doing anything wrong — in fact, her only sin seems to be that she's too nice to gel with their contemptible behavior. 

Prior interactions with the friends lead her to lose her job at NBC, for example. Not to mention, George calls her up after putting her and her family through a number of troubles and proposes to her on a whim as part of his plan to "grow up," only to immediately regret it. Getting engaged just to shake up your own life isn't a great move, and it's only compounded by a friend group set on allowing Susan to go through a one-sided relationship without ever taking her aside to warn her. R.I.P., Susan. You never stood a chance!