Life and Breath is the 42nd episode of the series George and Martha that aired on April 1, 2000. It's sister episode is The Blabbermouth.
Summary[]
George and Martha watch an opera, featuring a duck singing that he's madly in love, and he'll starve to death if he doesn't get a girl. Martha gets a whiff of George's breath, so she moves to the next seat, but George moves right next to her. George jokes that both of the singers sound like they're dying, when he accidentally tips the seats over.
Martha talks to Oscar and Wilde about George's bad breath, which they say that they have noticed before. However, they never said anything to George because he's a big friend, and they wouldn't want to hurt his feelings. And only the person closest to him, Martha, should tell him. Wilde tells her to pick a number from 1 to 10, and the number which is right has to tell George. She guesses "7" which is exactly correct, making her think this was just a set up. While George and Martha walk in the park, she offers George a breath mint, but his excuse is that he is trying to cut off candy, so she eats one instead.
Later, George and Martha have dinner together. At the table, George has something he wants to tell Martha, but first, before he attempts to speak, he gets thirsty and drinks his glass of juice which actually turns out to be mouthwash. Martha tells him to just drink it anyway and gargle, as she says gargling before meals reduces cavities. George doesn't get it, though. They later play cards with Oscar and Wilde, who put on dental masks, claiming they have allergies. Wilde says "Go fish", and Martha brings up how smelly fish can be that can be bothersome, trying to allude to George's breath. George claims he doesn't know what they're talking about and wants to continue playing, winning and shouting with his awful breath.
Martha calls Oscar and Wilde about how George still doesn't get his breath problem, so Oscar tells her to be direct and straight up tell him he has bad breath. Martha talks to George in his yard, about how friends should always tell the truth no matter what. George agrees, and says that Martha's feet smell, which angers her. She walks away and shouts that George has bad breath, which George laughs at. Martha goes into Oscar and Wilde's book store and tells them what he said, however, they say that her feet do smell, and like they said before, some things can only be said by the person closest to them. Martha goes to George and gives him a gift of mouthwash, while George gives her flowers, containing foot spray. Both apologize and Martha mentions that George's gargling sounds like opera, which he says sounds better.