Saving Grace is the 20th episode of the first season.
Grace gets an important job using Will as leverage.
Synopsis[]
A successful and arrogant New York publicist hires Grace to decorate his house with the condition that she fixes him up with Will. But there's a problem: Will can't stand the guy.
"I want to have cats with you."
An unsuccessful dates leaves Will worried about jeopardizing Grace's chances of landing the job, but it turns out that Nathan is charmed by Will's assertive behavior and requests another date. Grace accepts on Will's behalf, much to his chagrin. Will ultimately wards off Nathan's advances by pretending to be madly in love with him. Meanwhile, Jack uses Karen to teach Will how to kiss someone he finds unattractive.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Eric McCormack (Will Truman)
- Debra Messing (Grace Adler)
- Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland)
- Megan Mullally (Karen Walker)
Guest[]
- Miguel Ferrer (Nathan Berry)
- John Balmer (Waiter)
- Tiffany Fraser (Assistant #1)
Notes[]
- While Grace is in the waiting room, Nathan Berry calls for designer Antonia Hutt. Antonia Hutt is the name of episode writer Jhoni Marchinko's real-life partner who is an actual interior designer.
Cultural references[]
- While mocking Will's lack of sex life, Jack jokes about him being in a nunnery and asks "how do you solve a problem like Will Truman?", a reference to The Sound of Music song Maria ("How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?") sang by the nuns.
- Will jokes that the "Dom and Jerry" Nathan was talking about were the cartoon characters Tom and Jerry.
- Will tells Nathan that he wants to name their cats Grizabella and Skimbleshanks, characters from the musical Cats.
- Annoyed that Nathan keeps shooting down every conversation topic, Will yells out "Let's try Potent Potables for 200!" to sarcastically change the topic, after the game show Jeopardy!
- During their date, Will angrily tells Nathan he should be "twirling a mustache and tying Lillian Gish to the train tracks". Gish was a famous silent film actress and tying damsels on train tracks to be saved by the hero was a popular trope by villains during the silent era (although Gish never actually appeared herself tied on railroad tracks).
Quotes[]
| Grace: | What do you think of this outfit? |
| Will: | It's fine. |
| Grace: | Fine means crap. |
| Will: | It's good. |
| Grace: | Good means fine. |
| Will: | Well, if good means fine and fine means crap, doesn't that mean that good means crap? |
Poor, poor jealous you, stuck inside the nunnery while all the other girls run around in their miniskirts and take the Pill. How do you solve a problem like Will Truman? — Jack
| Nathan: | I like you. If you ever find yourself not working for her... |
| Karen: | Oh, Nate... I find myself not working for her all the time. |
Politically, I'm tolerant of the heterosexual lifestyle, but the actual act is rather revolting. — Jack
| Nathan: | How tough is it to cube a chicken? |
| Will: | Well, let's see. Chicken times chicken times chicken... |
| Nathan: | I'll take the check please. |
| Will: | No, give it to me. |
| Nathan: | I have much more money than he does. |
| Will: | Yeah, but I'll tip you. |
| Waiter: | And we have a winner. |
| Nathan: | Be careful, Will Truman. You wouldn't want to offend me and force me to rethink Grace Adler. |
| Will: | Are you kidding me with this stuff? Nobody actually says something like that unless they're twirling a mustache and tying Lillian Gish to the train tracks! |
I can't believe Will blew this for me. It's so ridiculous. I wasn't prostituting him. All I asked was that he make himself romantically available to somebody he doesn't particularly like so I could make a little money. — Grace