The Accidental Tsuris is the eleventh episode of the sixth season and 127th overall.
Grace's older sister Janet comes to visit. Karen devices a plan to exact revenge on Stan's mistress Lorraine Finster.
Synopsis[]
Hello, Daddy[]
I am in love with Karen.
Stanley Walker's mistress Lorraine Finster learns that Karen has met and caught the attention of her father Lyle, so she pays Karen a visit and warns her to stay away. Fueled by this, Karen exacts her revenge by sleeping with Lyle and setting up Lorraine to catch them together.
Lyle is then forced to admit to Karen that he has fallen in love with her and is even willing to choose her over his own daughter. When Karen tells him the truth that she was initially simply using Lyle as revenge on Lorraine, he feels betrayed and breaks things off.
Hey, Smudge![]
Grace is dismayed that her "screwed-up older sister" Janet is in town and warns Will that she might come to borrow money or ask for a place to stay. However, her warning came too late, as Will has already offered Janet their apartment to stay in while she starts selling jewelry at St. Mark's Place. This annoys Grace that she angrily tells Janet to "get a life" and throws her out.
Days later, Janet visits again, seemingly transformed her life by getting a job and a tiny apartment. She thanks Grace for pushing her to do better in her life and they reconcile. Later, they visit her new apartment where Grace voices out her frustrations that she could not handle one of her sisters having her life together because she is, in her own words, the "perfect one in the middle" that holds the "two losers together". Janet finally comes out that she is still a screw-up because all of her successes including her new job and apartment were all orchestrated by Will for Grace.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Eric McCormack (Will Truman)
- Debra Messing (Grace Adler)
- Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland)
- Megan Mullally (Karen Walker)
Guest[]
- Geena Davis (Janet)
- Minnie Driver (Lorraine Finster)
- John Cleese (Lyle Finster) (uncredited)
Notes[]
- The title is a play on the 1998 film The Accidental Tourist, for which Geena Davis won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. "Tsuris" is a Yiddish word meaning trouble or aggravation or misery.
- John Cleese is not credited for his role as Lyle Finster.
- This is the only appearance of Geena Davis as Janet. She is replaced by Mary McCormack when the character appears again during the revival series.
Cultural references[]
- Lorraine was working in the chorus of Taboo the stage musical which featured lyrics by English singer Boy George. The show had recently started on Broadway after a successful debut on the West End in London a year prior.
- When Lorraine shouts at Karen in her office, Karen calls her "Saliva Doolittle", after Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney lead of My Fair Lady.
Media[]
Quotes[]
I cannot tell you how many times anonymous sex has led to a career change for me. — Jack