Swimming from Cambodia

Swimming from Cambodia is the eighth episode of the sixth season and 130th overall.

Synopsis

Grace comes back from Cambodia, ostensibly for her mother's 50th birthday party, but she later admits to Will that she's back for good. Her being in Cambodia with Leo wasn't working out, and there's something wrong with their marriage. She's going to stay in New York and wait for him to be done with his assignment in Cambodia. Will offers to let her move in with him again, and she happily accepts. Jack has a new tough teacher in nursing school, and when she makes Jack sad, Karen threatens her, guaranteeing Jack an A. However, when Jack starts coasting and skipping classes, he soon realizes that he actually misses his classes and studying.

Cast

Main

• Eric McCormack (Will Truman)
• Debra Messing (Grace Adler)
• Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland)
• Megan Mullally (Karen Walker)

Guest

• Lea DeLaria (Nurse Carver)
• Dion Basco (Student Nurse Arpie)
• Lela Lee (Student Nurse Ping)
• Karen Bankhead (Student Nurse Burnadean)

Notes

• Title is a play on the 1987 Spalding Gray film Swimming to Cambodia.
• Karen mentions doing a prank on Candace Bergen. Their rivalry was first alluded to in Heart Like a Wheelchair. Bergen eventually appears in the next episode.
• Will and Grace's tradition of shopping at the Barney's sale was first mentioned in The Third Wheel Gets the Grace.
• Will buys a coat he is planning to wear to The Sound of Music Sing-Along. This event is the plot of the season 8 episode Von Trapped.

Cultural references

• Will mentions model-actress Cameron Diaz "rooting through a half-price bin" during the Barney's Sale. Diaz is one of famous celebrities often photographed by paparazzi shopping at Barney's.
• When telling the story of a teacher she once had, Karen tells the plot of the Sidney Poitier film To Sir, With Love (1967), complete with the theme song.

Quotes