Summary: The fab four are out at dinner to, among other things, celebrate Jack's first month of nursing school and get a Leo-less Grace out of the house. Will planned to introduce his new guy to his friends, but when said guy fails to show, the foursome are in need of a fifth in order to claim their five-person table.
While his friends argue with the maitre d', Will goes over to the bar and strikes up a conversation with a young woman, Stephanie. Finally, Grace manages to convince a man, Alex, to join them and the fivesome sit down. However, Jack and Karen's mocking of Will's vest drives him back to the bar, where his new friend Stephanie flirts with him, then leaves to return to her boss' party, but promises to be back in ten minutes.
As Will waits, Candice Bergen, Karen's "arch-enemy-slash-best-friend" arrives and is seated immediately, despite the fact that her four table mates failed to show up. Candice and Karen have been engaged in a series of pranks for the past few weeks and Karen decides to pull one more, but Candice ends up pranking Karen with her own prank.
Meanwhile, Will and Grace seem to be forgetting their current love lives as Will acts as though he's met someone, though it's a woman, and Grace flirts with Alex, even though she's married. When Stephanie doesn't return to Will, he feels betrayed and bursts in on the birthday party to tell Stephanie how hurt he is. Stephanie feels bad and joins him for another drink, then for dinner with Grace and Alex.
Back at the table of love's losers, Will, Stephanie, Grace and Alex prepare to order dinner and as they look over the menus, Stephanie plays with Will's hair and Grace holds hands with Alex. The two friends notice what's going on with the other one and call each other on it. Stephanie is shocked to learn that Will is gay (because she resides in the World of the Oblivious) and Alex is shocked to learn that Grace is married. The two prepare to storm out, but decide instead to hook up with each other for meaningless sex, leaving Will & Grace feeling dejected and pathetic.
Karen is still trying to successfully prank Candice and is outraged when Jack refuses to help. But things turn serious when she tells him that Candice is choking on a balloon Karen put in her soup. Jack attempts to help Candice, but in the end is the subject of a prank as Candice coughs up confetti in Jack's face and the trio share a good laugh.
Quotes
KAREN: "A gay man breaking into the ranks of nursing. It's like a butch girl playing softball. You just don't see it every day."
KAREN: "Hey, out-of-work actor! Walker, party of five."
MAITRE D': "Walker. Yes, I have it here. But I only see four of you."
KAREN: "And I only see two of you. What's your point?"
JACK [SEEING WILL'S SHINY RED VEST]: "Uh, mine's the tan Camry with the scratch on the side."
WILL: "What? This is totally now. It's very Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It like it. It's a choice."
KAREN: "Yes, but did you have to choose to be a lesbian comedienne, circa 1986?" [INTO A HER HAND LIKE A MICROPHONE] "Ladies, am I right?"
KAREN: "Honey, you're such a big shot. You're giving me lady wood."
GRACE: "Excuse me, are you alone?"
ALEX: "Yes. But I do have a lot of friends. If you want to check my cell phone, there's a ton of numbers."
KAREN [SEEING ALEX]: "Leo looks good tonight."
GRACE [LYING]: "I just... finished Joy Luck Club."
WILL: "What'd you think of the ending?"
GRACE [GLARING]: "I'll tell ya later, stood-up."
WILL: "Gimme a break. I got stood up tonight."
KAREN: "Did you, Mae Vest? I hope you didn't in-vest too much in him."
[JACK LAUGHS.]
KAREN: "Vest."
[KAREN AND JACK LAUGH.]
JACK: "Karen, that's genius."
STEPHANIE: "Ugh, I'm at this awful birthday party for my boss. She yelled at me for an hour for putting regular milk in her coffee. And now, she's licking whip cream off a male stripper. Hello? Are you allergic to dairy or not?"
JACK: "Oh, my God, Karen, isn't that Candice Bergen, your arch-enemy-slash-best-friend?"
KAREN: "Oh, my god. This is a nightmare-slash-delightful."
KAREN: "We're in a little bit of a war. See, I crank called her and pretended to be The Kennedy Center. Told her she was getting a lifetime achievement award. And then, I said ‘psych!' But she got me back."
JACK: "Really? What'd she do?"
KAREN: "I'll tell ya. She waited ten minutes. And then, she crank called me pretending to be -- Get this -- The Kennedy Center." [SCOFFS] "Told me I was getting a lifetime achievement award. Then, when I got excited, she said, ‘gotcha!' Can you imagine? ‘Gotcha!' Never saw it coming!"
JACK: "Sitcom legends are so smart."
ALEX [TO GRACE]: "I gave you my number. And you never called me."
GRACE: "Yeah, you were too into me. Back then, I was only into guys who were into guys."
WILL: "How many single girls do you know who wear a-- Who don't wear a wedding ring?"
GRACE: "It's being resized."
WILL: "Yeah, in your pocket, whore."
WILL: "You thought this was a date?"
STEPHANIE: "You offered to buy me a drink, then you made me feel guilty and horrible about myself. That's a date!"
GRACE: "They totally took advantage of us. He never once said he was single."
WILL: "And she never said a word about not having a penis."
Did You Notice...
~Candice Bergen was mentioned in the previous episodes "Women and Children First", "Heart Like a Wheelchair" and "Swimming from Cambodia".
~Kali Rocha (Stephanie) and Oliver Muirhead (the Maitre d') played recurring characters Cecily/Halfrek and Watcher Phili respectively on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Both characters met a fiery end in different episodes of the 7th-season of "BtVS".
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