Saving Grace, Again (Part 2)

Saving Grace, Again (Part 2) is the 9th episode of the seventh season and 155th overall.

Will takes Grace to the Berkshires to help her get her mind off what would have been her and Leo's anniversary. Jack and Karen try to persuade a commercial actor to be the face of OutTV.

Synopsis[]

It's sinfully delicious![]

While at a hotel, Jack and Karen meet struggling actor Peter Bovington, who appeared in a famous 1970s commercial as "The Cocoa Devil". Jack offers him to work for a promo for OutTV and Peter, wanting a career as a serious actor, agrees and quits his hotel job. However, when Peter learns that the job is actually to dress up in his Cocoa Devil outfit, he refuses to put in on, describing it to be humiliating and runs away.

Karen goes back to the hotel to find Peter begging for his old job back. She then shares her own experience becoming the face of an energy drink in Japan, losing herself from the fame, and refusing to do another commercial. She tells Peter how she regrets the decision ever since, claiming "you are never closer to God than when you are on television". Peter then agrees to star in Jack's commercial.

Good night, fluffer-nutter[]

After receiving the message Leo left at their answering machine, Will and Grace go to the Berkshires to clear her head. As Grace and Leo had originally planned to go to the rooftop of the Peninsula Hotel for their anniversary prior to their divorce, Will fears Grace might regret not knowing if Leo showed up.

That night, Will sneaks out to go to the rooftop but Leo is absent. Grace follows him and asks why did he come. Will answers "I'm here so that if any time in the future you start wondering if he came or not, I'll have the answer." Grace reassures him that he does not have to take care of her anymore and they go home together.

Cast[]

Main[]

Guest[]

Victor Garber (Peter Bovington)
Rip Taylor (Himself)
John Ducey (Jamie)
Sam Pancake (Jimmy)
Deborah Carson (Margaret)

Notes[]

In this episode, Will takes Grace out of town to get her mind what would have been her and Leo's anniversary. Grace did the same thing to Will in the episode Secrets and Lays, although she did it on the pretense of wanting to see winter in the woods.
At the time the episode first aired, actor Victor Garber (Peter) has not yet publicly come out, but has been in a relationship with Rainer Andreesen since 2000. He eventually comes out publicly in 2012.

Cultural references[]

Peter mentions that 20 years ago, the closest they had to a gay network was the police drama Cagney & Lacey, which featured female leads.
While showing his headshot, Peter compares his "outdated" haircut to that of figure skater Dorothy Hamill who famously sported a bobbed haircut at the 1976 Winter Olympics.
Peter mentions spending "three years at Williamstown, two seasons at the Guthrie, and spent a winter at the Old Vic," referring to the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts, and the Guthrie Theater in Minnesota, and the Old Vic Theater in London. Jack mistakes these places as prisons.

Media[]

Quotes[]

Will:	For the rest of the weekend, let's just not mention the words "Leo", "marriage", "anniversary" or "ointment".
Grace:	Ointment?
Will:	I just hate that word.

—on the road trip

But let me tell ya a little story. Between my first and second marriages, I did what many girls in my position do... I backpacked through Japan, Vietnam, and Bhutan. One day while was worshipping at the Golden Temple in Kyoto, I was discovered by a commercial director. Hmm. Long story short, I became the face of "Atooshi Kodki!" The energy drink of today's youth. It was a health drink... chock-full of vitamins, minerals, and 22 grams of nicotine. Anyway, I became a sensation. Everywhere I went, I was mobbed by Japanese people. Fortunately, it was right around the time they invented pepper spray. — Karen

Grace:	Don't worry. We'll get a new machine.
Will:	It won't be the same. I was saving a message from Vince. Now all the swans in the lake are gonna know he calls me "fluffer-nutter".

—when Grace throws the answering machine out the window