Season Four

Credits | Summary | Quotes | Did You Notice?

"Dyeing Is Easy, Comedy Is Hard"

Episode #4.14 | Original Airdate 01/31/2002

Written by Darlene Hunt | Directed by James Burrows | Eric McCormack (Will Truman) | Debra Messing (Grace Adler) | Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland) | Megan Mullally (Karen Walker) | Michael Angarano (Elliot) | GUEST CAST: Tom Verica (Danny) | Rosie O'Donnell (Bonnie) | Jennifer Aspen (Sarah) | Maggie Wheeler (Polly) |

Summary: Elliot's mother Bonnie is fuming at Jack when he lets their son dye his hair. She is upset that Jack let Elliot get a "gay" haircut without even telling her and tells Jack to stay away from her son from now on.

Of course, this doesn't sit well with either Jack or Karen, so Karen decides to "kidnap" Elliot from school. Jack, however, takes the role of responsible adult and returns Elliot to his angry mother, who sends Elliot to his room while she talks with Jack.

Jack thinks Bonnie is upset because she doesn't like Elliot spending time with a gay man, but it is in fact the opposite: Bonnie herself is a lesbian and is upset that Jack had such an easy time telling their son that he was gay, while she still hasn't told Elliot. Jack suddenly understands, and after agreeing to abide by Bonnie's rules, she decides to let Jack spend time with his son again.

Meanwhile, Grace drags Will along with her to her ex-fiance Danny's wedding. While there, she makes a speech about how chidish and irresponsible Danny is, all in good fun. But his fiance, Sarah, doesn't take it that way, and at the wedding she decides to call it off. Realizing what she's done, Grace spends time with the distraut bride in the washroom, convincing her that Danny is a good man to marry.

Will, meanwhile, finds himself in a fix when he lies to some guests about being a professional tennis player to avoid their typical negative reaction to him being a lawyer. However, Will finds himself caught when the guests introduce him to another tennis player. Luckily, the tennis player acts as if he knows Will and it all goes over smoothly. Later, Will learns that the "tennis player" works for the IRS and was just lying to avoid the usual negative reaction his job gets.

Will goes to find Grace and discovers her sobbing in the bathroom. Grace managed to convince Sarah to marry Danny, but the memory of all the nice things Danny did for her, and how now Grace has no one have hit hard. She manages to make it through the wedding, but she and Will quickly exit after seeing Danny grab his new wife's butt during the kiss and flash a "thumbs up" to his friends.


Quotes
WILL: Why would you show up at your ex-fiance' wedding? You didn't show up as the bride.

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KAREN: Kids ruin everything... look at the stitching on this thing. You can't trust a 10-year-old to do a good hidden button.
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JACK: She looks up to me... and why wouldn't she? She's smaller than me.
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BONNIE: You know.. if there were any justice in the world, there'd be a crocodile carrying you as a hand bag.
KAREN: I like that.
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KAREN: Maybe there is an alligator running around with me as a hand bag. I mean, who knows what they do with the skin they take off.
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GRACE: It's really working for me tonight... the skin, the hair, the smile...
WILL: The row of poppy seeds in your teeth from the bagel you ate this morning.
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(GRACE IS SITTING OUTSIDE THE BRIDE'S BATHROOM STALL)
GRACE: Why don't you get out so that I can convince her to marry him?
WILL: Is there a window in here?
GRACE: Does it smell like there is a window in here?
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BONNIE: Daytime TV sucks.
All above quotes submitted by Tha Buzz


Did You Notice...
~Rosie O'Donnell, who plays Bonnie, Elliot's mother, was offered the role by Eric McCormack live on her talk show, "The Rosie O'Donnell Show", during her special "Will & Grace" hour. After making sure he wasn't kidding, Rosie happily accepted.
~We finally see Elliot's house and meet his mother.
~Rosie and Megan previously worked together on Broadway in Grease.
~Danny is the man Grace left at the alter in the pilot episode of "Will & Grace".
~Elliot is an only child.
~Bonnie's comment about daytime television is obviously a reference to the fact that Rosie O'Donnell had a daytime talk show at the time that this episode was filmed.
~We find out that Elliot's mother is gay, but hasn't told him yet. Coincidently, the week this episode aired, there was speculation about Rosie O'Donnell's upcoming book as to wether she came out as a lesbian in it. Rosie later went on TV and "revealed" that she is a lesbian (though many people suspected/knew it already).
~There were also rumours that Rosie refused to take a role on "Will & Grace" unless she could play a lesbian (though I'm pretty sure this isn't true).
~All week before this episode aired, Rosie showed behind-the-scenes movies of her time on the set on her talkshow. The movies were mainly of the makeup room, but also included brief chats with the cast and crew and the bows at the end of the show.
~In one of Rosie's movies, Rosie and Debra admitted on camera that, with less than an hour to go before read through, neither of them knew their lines.

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