Grace, Replaced

Grace, Replaced is the 18th episode of the first season. Guest star Molly Shannon makes her debut as Val.

Grace is swamped at work and starts spending less time with her friends. Will gets acquainted with a new neighbor. Jack gets sentenced for slapping a meter maid.

Synopsis[]

Mamma Mia![]

Jack starts serving his 40 hours of community service for slapping a meter maid. While cleaning up the streets in New York, he picks up a phone bill belonging to Soon-Yi Allen so he and Karen decide to give her a crank call.

Will & Val[]

Grace has become increasingly occupied at work that she has been spending less and less time with her friends. She starts to feel somewhat threatened when Val, a new neighbor whom Will met at the elevator begins to spend more time with them, including their game nights with Rob and Ellen.

When Will gets sick, Val stays over to take care of him much to Grace's chagrin. Grace rushes over at the apartment to throw Val out and the two end up in a brawl.

Cast[]

Main[]

Guest[]

Notes[]

This episode marks Val's first appearance in the show.
The episode was originally entitled "Baby It's Cold Inside".^[1]
In this episode, Jack finds a phone bill belonging to Woody Allen's wife Soon Yi, who is also the adoptive daughter of Woody Allen's former partner Mia Farrow. In the episode Grace in the Hole, they referenced again when Karen mentions looking in her observatory to watch "Woody Allen get in on with his daughter-wife".

Cultural references[]

Grace compares herself to a young Rita Hayworth, who was a well known pin-up girl before becoming an actress and also had red hair. She later mistakes a picture of Hayworth to be of her in the episode Ice Cream Balls.
When giving legal advice to Jack, Will refers to him as "Perry Gay-son", referring to the 1950s legal drama P erry Mason.
When Jack walks into Will's office in an orange jumpsuit after his court date Will comments, "...and they said Tinky Winky was the only gay teletubby," referencing the British children's program Teletubbies. Tinky Winky gained controversy during the 90s when conservative critics labeled him as a homosexual symbol because of his purple color and the fact that he always carries a handbag.
After Jack gets sentenced for slapping a meter maid, he does an impression of Hollywood actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, who also had a slapping incident with a police officer in 1989.
Jack sings Downtown by Petula Clark. Will and Val sing it later in the elevator.
When Jack and Karen find Soon Yi Allen's phone bill, she exclaims "mamma mia!... and I mean that literally", a reference to actress Mia Farrow who is the adoptive mother of Soon Yi.
As Grace and Val wrestle on the floor, Will refers to them as the titular character in Xena: Warrior Princess and her companion Gabrielle.