The Red Dot

Elaine gets George a job at a publishing company; to repay her, he buys her an ostensibly expensive, cashmere sweater, that has a minor flaw, for which it was marked down considerably (the flaw is visible to the characters but not to the camera). Elaine spots it and becomes furious at George and immediately returns the cashmere sweater to him. After meeting Elaine’s boyfriend Dick, and feuding off-screen, Jerry inadvertently reintroduces Dick, a recovering alcoholic, to liquor. This causes Dick to “fall off the wagon”, thus losing his job at the same publishing company where George and Elaine work. Even though Jerry accidentally left the drink nearby, Elaine accuses him of doing it on purpose.

Later, a drunk Dick heckles Jerry during one of his stand up comedy acts. While George was working at his new job, he becomes sexually attracted to a cleaning lady and has sex with her after they both drink Hennigan’s Scotch, which is a recurring brand in the episode (and series).

The next day, the cleaning lady gets upset over what happened the previous night and threatens to report what happened to the boss of the company. George tries to compensate with her by offering the flawed cashmere sweater. The cleaning lady is extremely overjoyed by the gift, launching into an emotional story about her first cashmere experience. Unfortunately for George she then notices the red spot, thus consequently getting him fired. Jason Alexander has said that he considers this scene to be the defining moment for his character, specifically the way in which George reacts to the situation.

As George is packing his things in the office he is met by Elaine and Jerry. After getting into an argument they suddenly hear a drunken Dick rampaging through the office hallway, coming to gain his revenge on Jerry for losing his job. The three quickly hide under George’s desk and wait as the drunkard approaches them. Just then, George offers the cashmere sweater to Dick, this manages to calm down Dick’s rage until he sees the spot.

The episode ends when the viewers see Jerry doing his usual last part of his stand up comedy act before the end of the episode. Dick is among the audience, happy, sober, and with a non-alcoholic drink in his hand. Jerry and Dick are seen getting along, apparently putting their feud behind them although the episode does not explain how this happened.

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