A New Lease on Life is the second episode of the first season.
After her breakup with Danny, Grace is on the lookout for a new apartment. Jack and Karen meet for the first time.
Synopsis
Playing the "Guess where all my stuff's gonna go?" game.
Will urges Grace to find a new place before her ex-boyfriend Danny comes back into town. Grace suggests they move in together but Will thinks it is a bad idea for both of them and since Jack has already moved in with him while his apartment is being finished. Jack however turns out to be a terrible roommate and Will gets more and more frustrated. Grace eventually finds an apartment in Brooklyn and signs a 2-year lease.
Going home to an empty apartment that night, Will realizes how much Grace is a part of his everyday life that he now thinks it is best if she rooms in with him. After Will tells him to move out, Jack goes to Grace's office to tell her she is making a big mistake to move in with Will. He sees Karen there instead and introduces himself.
The next day Will goes to Brooklyn and asks Grace to move to his apartment instead, but she had already completed moving and unpacking her things. Frustrated, Grace expresses how Will can no longer persuade her to live together because he had already persuaded her to live on her own. Later that night, however, Grace quietly drinks wine and immediately feels lonely in her new apartment so she decides to finally move in with Will.
Cast
- Eric McCormack (Will Truman)
- Debra Messing (Grace Adler)
- Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland)
- Megan Mullally (Karen Walker)
- Gary Grubbs (Harlin Polk)
Media
Notes
- Grace mentions her Aunt Reba and Uncle Joe. They later appear in the episodes Lows in the Mid-Eighties and Moveable Feast.
- Guapo's first actual appearance.
- Grace briefly moves to Brooklyn in this episode before she moves in with Will in Manhattan. She later moves back to Brooklyn after she gets married.
- While Will is watching Conan O'Brien, the voice over announces the guests include comedian Sandra Bernhard and 12-year-old pig caller Jhoni Marchinko. Bernhard later appears in two episodes as herself. Marchinko is a writer for the show.
Cultural references
- When Will and Grace are having lunch, they talk about celebrity host Regis Philbin's reaction to Susan "La Lucci" Lucci's recent loss at the 1998 Daytime Emmy Awards. Lucci has then become notorious for being nominated but never winning an Emmy Award after 18 consecutive years for her role in soap opera All My Children. She eventually won in 1999.
Quotes
Whoever cancels the marriage is forced to wander the streets of New York without a place to plug in her hot rollers. — Grace, the breakup rule
| Grace: | I want to marry "the one." |
| Karen: | And well you should, honey. How else are you gonna get to "the two" and "the three"? |
Welcome to Cynical Island. Population: you. — Jack, To Will
Peter, Paul and Mary, you are fabulous! — Jack, meeting Karen for the first time