Someone Old, Someplace New is the 17th episode of the fourth season and 88th overall. It is the first of a two-episode arc with the same storylines.
As present for Karen's birthday, Jack and Rosario find someone from Karen's past. Will and Grace are in search of a bigger apartment.
Synopsis[]
Someone Old[]
Jack is filming clips for a presentation on Karen's birthday by "figuring out who [she] is by how [she] spends". While going through her checkbook, he finds deposits to a Lois Whitley. When he asks Karen who she is, Karen panics and leaves.
Jack enlists Rosario's help as cameraman and searches Lois' identity and they end up at a bar in Yonkers where they finally meet her. Jack asks her relationship with Karen and she reveals she is her mother. When Jack brings her in as a surprise at Karen's birthday, Karen storms out.
Someplace New[]
Feeling that their constantly on top of each other, Will and Grace decide to look for a bigger apartment so they can have more privacy (instead of living separately). They stumble upon several apartments, including that of Sandra Bernhard which they had previously visited.
They eventually fell in love with an apartment three times than they wanted to pay. To be able to afford it, they sublet their old apartment to Rob and Ellen who are about to have their baby.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Eric McCormack (Will Truman)
- Debra Messing (Grace Adler)
- Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland)
- Megan Mullally (Karen Walker)
- Shelley Morrison (Rosario Salazar)
Guest[]
- Suzanne Pleshette (Lois Whitley)
- Tom Gallop (Rob)
- Leigh-Allyn Baker (Ellen)
- Nella Goron (Eileen)
- Sandra Bernhard (Herself)
- Mitch Kaplan (Mitchie)
- Joseph Will (Bill)
- Jamison Jones (Phil)
- Lyndon Karp (Kid)
Notes[]
- This is the second appearance of Sandra Bernhard, as well as her pianist Mitchie.
- First appearance of Lois Whitley.
- We see Ellen's real brunette hair color in this episode. In other episodes she appears, she is either a blonde or a redhead. This is only the first (and only) time we see her pregnant, despite having at least five children.
Cultural references[]
- When Karen runs away from Jack, she says she needs to "see a man about a horse pill", doing a word play on the idiom "see a man about a dog", but referencing her possible addiction to Ketamine pills.
- When Jack asks Lois, "What's good?" she answers, "Me in Hawaii with Richard Crenna." Crenna is a famous 1950s actor who was then was in his 70s.
- Karen references her closeness with socialite Sunny Von Bülow again, when Jack mentions "that one person that could make [her] life complete again". Karen excitedly asks "Sunny's out of bed?" since Von Bülow had been in a vegetative state since 1980 (until her death in 2008).
Quotes[]
I've been on this shift since — What time is it now? — 1947. My back aches, my feet hurt, and the only thing holding up my boobs is hope. So, you'll enjoy your beer. — Lois
Santa Maria, it has a mother! — Rosario, finding Karen's mother
| Karen: | Why a filthy bar in Yonkers? |
| Jack: | Because...if you take out filthy and Yonkers, what are you left with? |
| Karen: | A bar. See, now, that's why you're the president of "Nothing, Incorporated." |