Love Plus One is the 6th episode of the third season and 52nd overall.
Grace gets a peculiar invitation from an ex-boyfriend. Jack enlists Will's help to approach a guy at Banana Republic.
Synopsis[]
Kinky in the boudoir[]
An old boyfriend of Grace's, Nicholas, comes to town with his new girlfriend and asks Grace to join them for a threesome. When Will and Karen laugh at the thought of her being sexually adventurous, Grace decides to go through with it and goes to the couple's hotel room.
As she reluctantly gets undressed, she realizes that it is too much for her and that she was not raised to be kinky in sex. She apologizes and leaves. The next day, when Karen asks, Grace lies and says that the threeway was fantastic to which Karen expresses her disgust.
Baby Bear needs Mama Bear[]
Jack has recently started working at Banana Republic and has his eyes set on a customer whom he is too intimidated to make his move on. Realizing this is because the man, Matt, is a "smarty", Jack asks Will for help. They devise a plan using headsets that would let Will listen and dictate to Jack on how to flirt like an intellectual.
Matt soon figures out about Will and Jack quickly moves on to a new prospect. Later, Matt gives his calling card to Will, saying he had a great conversation with him.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Eric McCormack (Will Truman)
- Debra Messing (Grace Adler)
- Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland)
- Megan Mullally (Karen Walker)
Guest[]
- Patrick Dempsey (Matthew)
- Jeremy Piven (Nicholas)
- Maria Pitillo (Paula)
- Eric Roth (Sales Guy, Scott)
- Will Hall (Man)
- Hope Shapiro (Woman/"Silly Woman")
Media[]
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Notes[]
- This is the first appearance of Matt who would later become Will's boyfriend.
- Jack starts his work at Banana Republic in this episode. Later, he continues to work in retail when he gets a job in Barney's New York.
- It is implied in this episode that Karen has a flirty relationship with Grace's father. In One Gay at a Time, Karen admits to having stripped for him.
- Karen uses her alias Anastasia Beaverhausen again in Banana Republic because according to her, she passed a couple of bad checks there for sport.
Cultural References[]
- Discussing taking a bubble bath with Karen, Jack mentions sponging clean "the Beaverhausen", a tongue-in-cheek joke to "beaver" referring to the female sexual organ.
- Matt mentions reading Wally Lamb's 1992 novel She's Come Undone and being disappointed that it wasn't a biography of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. This is a reference to the controversy surrounding Hoover's alleged homosexuality even after his death. It was reported that Hoover abused his power to come after political adversaries, including those who insinuated that he is gay.
- Will mentions that he has been re-reading John Updike's 1960 novel Rabbit, Run. He previously mentioned Updike in the episode Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner.
- After learning that Matt works in television, Jack asks him if he was responsible for the character Willow who engages in a lesbian relationship during the fourth season in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- After Will and Jack's plan has been spoiled, Matt comes in to talk to Will and tells him, "You and Jerry Lewis need to work on your act," likening them to the popular comedy duo during the 1950s Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Interestingly, Sean Hayes would later play the actual Jerry Lewis in the biopic film Martin and Lewis (2002) where he was nominated for a SAG Award.
- Will and Jack's plan in approaching Matt is a nod to the Cyrano de Bergerac story where a hidden character speaks for the dumber but "more attractive" character.
- After Grace's supposed sexual encounter with the musicians, Karen asks her if she "rolled over for Beethoven", a reference to Chuck Berry's 1956 song Roll Over Beethoven.
- While Grace pretends to have gone through the threeway, she mentions that "there were so many arms and legs Hindus were praying to us", referring to deities in Hinduisim usually depicted having several arms and hands.
Media[]
Quotes[]
| Karen: | Maybe we can take a big bubble bath together. |
| Jack: | Nothing would give me more pleasure than to sponge-clean the Beaverhausen. |
| Jack: | The Banana has changed my life. It's all about The Banana. |
| Will: | Hasn't it always been? |
| Jack: | Hey, save that smut for Loehman's. You're in The Republic now. |
I've been waiting here a half hour. I was so bored, I almost started to read. — Grace, when Nicholas arrives late
You know what? Not only am I the kind of person who would do a three-way, I'm the kind of person who's going to do a three-way. So say good-bye to Prudence McPrude, and say hello to Slutly Slutenstein. — Grace
| Jack: | His pants... Are ready. Have lovelier words ever been uttered? |
| Will: | Say it soft, and it's almost like praying. |
| Jack: | I need you to make me smart. |
| Will: | All right. I'll need a mad scientist, two electric switching helmets, and a willing monkey. |
I like to get to know a shoe before I put my foot in it.; take it to dinner... buy it a sock. — Matt