The Opposite

"The Opposite"
Seinfeld episode
George tries doing the opposite of his natural instinct.
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 86
Written by	Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld & Andy Cowan
Directed by	Tom Cherones
Original airdate	May 19, 1994
Guest stars
Siobhan Fallon, Paul Gleason, Melanie Smith, French Stewart, Regis Philbin & Kathie Lee Gifford
Season 5 episodes
Seinfeld – Season 5 September 1993 – May 1994
"The Mango" "The Puffy Shirt" "The Glasses" "The Sniffing Accountant" "The Bris" "The Lip Reader" "The Non-Fat Yogurt" "The Barber" "The Masseuse" "The Cigar Store Indian" "The Conversion" "The Stall" "The Dinner Party" "The Marine Biologist" "The Pie" "The Stand In" "The Wife" "The Raincoats, Part 1" "The Raincoats, Part 2" "The Fire" "The Hamptons" "The Opposite"
List of Seinfeld episodes

"The Opposite" is the eighty-sixth episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which was also the 22nd and final episode of Season 5. It aired on May 19, 1994. This was the first episode shot for Season 5, but it was intended to be the season finale. This is the last episode Tom Cherones directed. Andy Ackerman would take over as the primary director for the remaining seasons.

Plot

George, upon visiting the beach (where many of the characters are seen having a major revelation), decides that every decision that he has ever made has been wrong, and that his life is the exact opposite of what it should be. George tells this to Jerry in Monk's Cafe, who convinces him that “if every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right”. George then resolves to start doing the complete opposite of what he would do normally. This idea of doing the opposite is what George recommended to Jerry in the first episode when Jerry anticipated a woman to stay with him for the weekend.

By doing the complete opposite of his instincts, George suddenly begins to experience good luck, getting a girlfriend, moving out of his parents' house, and even landing a job with the New York Yankees. At this point, the character of George Steinbrenner makes his first appearance. As always, Steinbrenner's face is not seen, and Larry David provides his voice.

Elaine, upon hearing that her boyfriend Jake Jarmel has been in an accident, buys some Jujyfruits before heading to the hospital, burdening her relationship. Later, because she has so many Jujyfruits in her mouth, she is unable to tell her boss to take his handkerchief with him to a merger meeting, as he has a cold. When her boss, Mr. Lippman, sneezes without his handkerchief, he will not shake hands with his Japanese counterpart (and spread germs), and the Japanese executive becomes angry and refuses to close the deal, thus putting Pendant Publishing out of business. On top of all this, Elaine finds out that she is being kicked out of her apartment building. The list of grievances include "putting Canadian quarters into the machine" and buzzing a jewel thief and Jehovah's Witnesses past security, after which "[we] couldn't get them out of the building."

Jerry regularly "breaks even", striking the medium between his two friends, earning him the nickname, "Even Steven." Kramer is planning to have his coffee table book about coffee tables published through Pendant Publishing. As a start of his book tour, he appears on Live! with Regis & Kathie Lee. However, upon taking a sip of coffee he spits it out all over Kathie Lee, which quickly ends his book tour.

Trivia

The line from George's angry rant at the movie theater – "...we're gonna take it outside and I'm gonna show you what it's like!" – is taken almost verbatim from Buddy Rich, who would berate his big band players for playing too loud.^[1]

References

External links

• TV.com Episode summary - The Opposite