The Buying Game

The Buying Game is the 8th episode of the first season.

Grace asks Will for help in buying property while Jack tries his hands on massaging with Karen as a guinea pig.

Synopsis[]

Do I look like a ma'am?[]

Grace decides to buy her office space in the building but was tricked into signing without getting the floor price - the lowest possible according to Will. They confront the building owner Mr. Hutt and Will purposely ridicules Grace's business skills to intimidate him and get a lower price than she originally negotiated.

Will admits that he thinks Grace is not a good businesswoman which upsets her so much she could not sign the new contract and starts crying in front of Mr. Hutt. Pitied, he lowers the price more and leaves, after which Grace abruptly stops crying and immediately signs, showing it was an act to prove to Will she is in fact a good businesswoman.

Skin to the wind![]

Ep 01 08-0 — Karen is surprised how good Jack is.

Jack finds a new career in massaging and needs 10 hours of service to get a license. He asks Karen during her lunch hour (from 12 to 4 o'clock) and she surprisingly passes out in pleasure during the massage. Karen has enjoyed Jack's massages so much that she tells her not to massage anyone else.

Jack later expresses his discomfort in touching Karen's naked body without any emotions, making him feel like a straight guy so he quits, quipping "I took an oath in front of God and my mother, 'I'm here, I'm queer, get used to it.'"

Cast[]

Main[]

Guest[]

Ivar Brogger (Mr. Hutt)

Notes[]

The title of the episode is a reference to the 1992 film The Crying Game, which is also mentioned later in the episode Alley Cats during a game of charades.
Jack says the famous gay pride line "I'm here, I'm queer. Get used to it".
Jack mentions that he "took an oath in front of God and [his] mother" that he is gay. However, we learn later on that his mother does not know he is gay. He eventually comes out to her in the episode Homo for the Holidays.
Will is shown contemplating throwing away the soundtrack to the film Footloose (1984). Will will later be dancing to the song Footloose in the season 5 episode Bacon and Eggs with Kevin Bacon himself.
Mr. Hutt is named after producer Jhoni Marchinko's real life partner Antonia Hutt, who was also referenced to in the episode Saving Grace. At the end of the episode, Will also mentions his "gay-girl" friend named Jhoni, in reference to Marchinko.

Cultural references[]

Will complements Grace's black long sleeved turtleneck by saying she looks like Audrey Hepburn, who wore the same outfit in Funny Face (1957).
Grace says she can become a property owner without having to be "the thimble or the top hat or that weird shoe", referring to pieces in the Monopoly game.
Jack sings Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful (1974).
After resolving to hate the British, Grace tells Will to discard the CDs by English musician Boy George.
Grace mentions the "fun and easy" TV Guide crossword puzzle including "Close Encounter of the (blank) Kind" referring to the cult classic film Close Encounter of the Third Kind (1977).
As Grace breaks down in front of her landlord, she mentions how a "Jennifer-Love-Michelle-Sarah-Felicity-looking thing" triggered her insecurities. This is a reference to younger TV stars at the time Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar and the the titular character of the teen drama Felicity.
Will admits not being the kind of lawyer who can deal with clients over golf or drinks at Billy's Topless, a New York topless bar popular among straight men.

Media[]

Quotes[]

Will:	Love the outfit. Very Audrey Hepburn.
Grace:	Great. So you're saying I have the neck of a swan and the chest of a 12-year-old boy.

Will:	Let's celebrate at Pablo's Cantina?
Grace:	Oh, no. No Mexican. Fajita hair. It frizzes when the steaming chicken hits the table.
Karen:	Honey, does it ever un-frizz?
Grace:	Yeah. When you do work.

Jack:	I finally found my life's calling, and it involves these two hands.
Will:	Ah. So you're going to be self-employed.

5% is not the floor. That's like the tchotchke on the coffee table on the throw rug on the floor. — Will

To think, in New York City, that someone could actually try to shaft you in business-- It's...shocking. People can... can be such meanies. — Will, sarcastically empathizing

Grace:	You play hardball, baby. Throw 'em low and inside. He's crowding the plate, and we've gotta go for—
Grace:	Grace. Sports. You're losing me.

Grace:	What is it with you? Why is it every time money and property are involved you turn into a—
Will:	Skillful, savvy negotiator?
Grace:	Mine only had four letters in it, but yeah.

Every day I come in here and I touch your naked body. We don't talk, there's no emotion. I'm acting like a straight guy, and it's making me sick. I took an oath in front of God and my mother, "I'm here, I'm queer, get used to it." — Jack