Alongside The Parking Garage and later episode The Boyfriend, The Red Dot is the essential show of Seinfeld's third season, all because of one single scene, which Jason Alexander described on the DVD "Inside Look" featurette as the defining George Costanza moment (more about that later).
The topic of the episode can be summed up in three words: sex, booze and clothing. The first occurs when George lands a job at the publishing company Elaine works for and gets involved with the cleaning lady. The second has to do with Elaine dating a recovering alcoholic who falls off the wagon (or should it be "on" the wagon, some characters wonder), due to Jerry's lack of tact and Kramer's bizarre antics. As for the third, that's the usual random conversation subject, triggered by the cashmere sweater George buys as a thank- you gift for Elaine, fully aware of a red dot that decreases it aesthetic value.
The writing is as ingenious as ever: not since Cheers' early seasons has there been a better way to handle alcoholism from a comedic point of view. In fact, only Ted Danson appearing as Sam Malone could have been better. Basically, though, this episode deserves immortality for just one conversation which occurs between George and Elaine's boss, Mr. Lippman, regarding the former's "extracurricular" activities in the office. The way everyone's favorite "lord of the idiots" responds to the allegations is a blueprint for Ricky Gervais' performance in The Office (and it's a fact that Gervais considers George the greatest sitcom character ever created). The real "shocker" ? Jason Alexander manages to be a hell of a lot more memorable in that one scene than Gervais was in the 14 episodes of the quintessential British TV comedy. 'Nuff said.