Elaine gets a raise at Pendant Publishing, which is merging with a Japanese conglomerate to avoid bankruptcy, and is publishing Kramer's coffee table book. She has also reunited with her boyfriend Jake Jarmel (it is never revealed how they got over their exclamation point dispute). At Monk's, George declares that every decision that he has ever made has been wrong, and that his life is the exact opposite of what it should be. Jerry suggests that he try doing the opposite of what he would normally do, saying, "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right." George then resolves to start doing just that. He orders the opposite of his normal lunch, which gets the attention of a beautiful woman (played by Dedee Pfeiffer) who had ordered the exact same lunch. Again following the opposite of his natural instincts, George walks right up to her and introduces himself by saying, "My name is George. I'm unemployed and I live with my parents." To his surprise, she is impressed and agrees to date him.
Jerry gets a call from a comedy club telling him they're cancelling his upcoming show, frustrating him since it's too short notice for him to book another club for that weekend. Miraculously, another club calls him five minutes later to offer him a gig for the same weekend and the same pay as the one that just got cancelled, prompting Kramer to call him "Even Steven". This causes Jerry to start noticing how everything always ends up leaving him exactly the same as when he started, never losing or gaining. George continues to do the opposite of his instincts on his date with Victoria. He stops shaving, yells at noisy cinema patrons, and refuses to come up to her apartment. Meanwhile, Elaine, about to go into a movie, hears that Jake has been in an accident, and quickly buys a box of Jujyfruits from the concession stand before heading to the hospital. Jake takes extreme exception to her lack of consideration and breaks up with Elaine on the spot because of it.
The next day, Kramer appears on Regis and Kathie Lee to promote his book. After kissing Kathie Lee on the mouth, he accidentally burns his mouth on the hot coffee and spits it all over Kathie Lee. This leads to a premature cancellation of his book tour. George discovers that his date's uncle works for the New York Yankees, and uses that connection to score a job interview with them. At the interview, George openly admits to his interviewer (the aforementioned uncle) without a hint of shame or regret that he was fired from his last job for having sex with the cleaning woman and quit the job before that because his boss wouldn't let him use his private bathroom. The interviewer is impressed, calling George "the complete opposite of every applicant we've seen." He introduces George to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner (voiced by Larry David), at which point George angrily berates Steinbrenner over his history of terrible management decisions. Steinbrenner immediately orders the interviewer to "Hire this man!" George is hired for the position of Assistant to the Travelling Secretary, and with his new job, he can now afford to move out of his parents' house. Before he leaves, he makes sure to tell them that he loves them both very much. Which is, of course, the complete opposite of how he actually feels about them.
Elaine finds out that she is being kicked out of her apartment building. The list of grievances includes putting Canadian quarters into the washing machine and buzzing a jewel thief and a group of Jehovah's Witnesses past security (the latter of whom proved extremely difficult to get out of the building). Later, when her boss, Mr. Lippman, forgets his handkerchief in her office, Elaine, her mouth full of Jujyfruits, cannot tell him to take it. On his way into the meeting with the Japanese conglomerate to finalize the merger, Lippman sneezes, but as he doesn't have his handkerchief, he is forced to sneeze directly into his hands. At the meeting, he refuses to shake hands with his Japanese counterpart so as to not spread his germs; the Japanese executive takes this as a sign of disrespect and becomes angry, refusing to close the deal, thus putting an end to Pendant Publishing, and along with it, Kramer's book. By the end of the episode, Elaine claims that she has "become George," but Jerry can only marvel at how things always even out for him: first, Elaine was up and George was down; now, George is up and Elaine is down, but he still has one up friend and one down friend, so his own life is still exactly the same.
This episode features examples of the following tropes:
- Badass Boast: George's rant to the noisy patrons in the movie theater."If I have to tell you again, we're gonna take it outside and I'm gonna show you what it's like!"
- Brutal Honesty: George adopts this as part of his plan to act opposite of how he usually does, trading his usual lies for harsh, up-front honesty. He introduces himself to Victoria by admitting he's unemployed and lives with his parents, and calls Mr. Steinbrenner out on his incompetence. It all works in his favor; Victoria becomes interested in George and starts dating him, and Steinbrenner hires him on the spot.
- Call-Back: George mentioned doing the opposite of his instincts in the pilot, but also mentions he never actually tried it.
- The Chew Toy: The universe has it out for Elaine in this episode. Over its course, her boyfriend breaks up with her, she's evicted from her apartment, and she loses her job after causing the total collapse of Pendant Publishing.
- Comical Overreacting: The Japanese executive becomes extremely offended when he believes that Lippman accused him of having germs, to the point that he calls off the merger.
- Grew a Spine: The usually cowardly George acquires a lot of courage in his commitment to do the opposite. Much like his Brutal Honesty, it goes quite well. He threatens two jerks interrupting a movie and they cow in fear earning him applause from the audience. He also asserts himself to George Steinbrenner, and gets hired on the spot.
- Handshake Refusal:
- Due to sneezing in his hand, Lippman is unable to shake the Japanese executive's hand. Unfortunately, when he tries to explain about his hand having germs, the executive believes Lippman accused him of having germs.
- Similarly, George does not shake Steinbrenner's hand when he offers it to him, using that moment to deliver a scathing Reason You Suck Speech to him instead. It ends up earning him Steinbrenner's respect and gets him a job with the Yankees.
- Hired on the Spot: George, after denouncing Steinbrenner.
- Hourglass Plot: How things change between George and Elaine: George was unemployed, living with his parents, and had no girlfriend while Elaine was on the verge of a successful career and dating a man she was planning to move in with. Throughout the episode, George's situation improved, gaining a girlfriend, his dream job, and moving out of his parents' house, while Elaine's situation fell apart, losing her boyfriend, her apartment, and her job. At the end of the episode, Elaine declares she has 'become George'.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Jake might have thrown a bit of a hissy fit when he found out Elaine got candy instead of coming to see him straight away but he's not wrong to be insulted over someone prioritizing a snack after him, especially after he was in an accident. Elaine didn't even get them as a gift for him; she's busy munching them down as he describes what happened.
- Noodle Incident: Among the infractions Elaine committed to get evicted, she once let a jewel thief and a group of Jehovah's Witnesses into her apartment building.
- No Sympathy: Nobody's particularly sympathetic to Elaine as her life systematically falls apart. Special mention goes to Jerry.Jerry: Elaine, don't get too down. Everything'll even out. See, I have two friends. You were up, [George] was down. Now he's up, you're down. You see how it all evens out for me?
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: The status quo is massively shaken up by George getting a steady job and Pendant Publishing going under.
- Poor Communication Kills: In this case, a business. When Mr. Lippman sneezes directly into his hands without his handkerchief, he says he can't shake his Japanese counterpart's hand "because of germs", meaning he didn't want to spread his own germs to the Japanese executive. The Japanese executive misinterprets this as Lippman accusing him of having germs and becomes angry enough to immediately call off the merger.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: George gives one to Steinbrenner. The response: "Hire this man!"
- Rule of Symbolism: At the end of the episode, George and Elaine are dressed similarly to how the other was at the beginning, showing how they've completely swapped positions in life.
- Shout-Out: George's aforementioned movie theater rant is a reference to an infamous tape recording of Buddy Rich chewing out his bandmates.
- Skewed Priorities: Jake gets extremely offended that Elaine decided to stop for candy on her way to the hospital after hearing about his accident, so much so that he breaks up with her instantly.
- The Snack Is More Interesting: Elaine gives off this vibe when she goes to see Jake at the hospital and stuffs her face with Jujyfruits while he tells her about the accident that sent him there. The fact that she bought the candy after finding out about his accident only cements her callousness in his mind.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: According to Elaine's friend, the bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses she had buzzed into her apartment building one time ended up being extremely difficult to throw out.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: By doing the opposite of what his natural instincts dictate, everything ends up going well for George in this episode. By its end, he gets a beautiful girlfriend, a job with the Yankees, his own home, and strikes up a friendship with Don Mattingly after giving him good advice.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Elaine's love for Jujyfruits is a plot point in this episode, namely in how it blows up in her face. First her boyfriend breaks up with her once he finds out she bought the candies after finding out he had an accident. Later on, she stuffs her mouth with so many Jujyfruits that she's unable to tell Lippman he forgot his handkerchief when he goes to meet the Japanese executives while suffering a cold, which leads to the collapse of Pendant Publishing.
