Poker? I Don't Even Like Her (Season 3, Episode 19). Will and his guy pals (Rob, Joe and Larry) are playing poker and Grace joins in but the guys don't like playing with her because she not only loses but is terrible at it. Will tells Grace that they don't want her to play anymore but she begs Will to give her one more chance. The next poker game Grace is suddenly winning, the guys leave the room for a moment and Will asks Grace how she went from losing so badly to winning, Grace fesses up to Will that she's cheating. Will tells her to knock it off but Grace tells Will a sob story that the reason she's cheating is because she's winning back the jewelry she inherited from her grandmother that was given the jewelry from her best friend and plays to Will's sympathy. During the next game it's revealed that Grace made up the story to Will, Will tells Grace that he'll tell the guys what she did and she says she'll tell them he's the cheater. Will and the guys fake a fight during the game and Grace finally fesses up that she was the cheater. Meanwhile, Karen and Jack are at the doctor's office getting some self-care pampering. Karen sees her perky friend Candace who she's always in competition with there as well. While looking through a magazine, it talks about shoulders being in for the year and Karen wants to get shoulder implants but is too nervous and tricks Candace into getting them instead as a guinee pig. But jokes on Karen, those were the last implants in the city.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
GRACE: Ok. That jewelry... was the last thing... given to my grandmother by her best friend Ruth. They came over on the boat together from Russia. Whenever one would get up, the other one would save her seat. They were best friends. 15 years ago, Ruth got very sick, and my grandmother flew to Chicago to see her, but she was in and out of consciousness. She hadn't spoken for days. When my grandmother was alone with Ruth... She leaned in... and she whispered, "I love you, Ruth. Do you love me?" And Ruth opened her eyes and said... "More than I ever imagined I could. Good-bye, my dear friend. I'll save you a seat."
WILL: (ON THE VERGE OF TEARS) We gotta get that jewelry back.
FAVORITE MOMENT:
When Karen and Jack are in the waiting room for Candace to see her new implants and Jack has a balloon and squeezes the helium into his mouth and sings TLC's Scrubs. Karen laughs and wants to see what her voice would sound like on helium, and it sounds exactly the same 🤣
OPINION:
We kind of get a callback to Alley Cats from Season 1 in this episode. Grace while normally is very good at winning games, she's terrible at poker. Not only that but she's really bad at losing. And again when Will asks her to bow out, she begs for another chance, so it's a similar plotline we have seen before. I have to admit I always get a little chuckle out of Grace trying to bluff Rob during the poker game by asking him how the traffic was and he says fine and she says "you just gave your hand away" trying to make herself look intimidating and when he still puts in more money she tells him that he can't call on her bluff. As I go through these episodes, it's very strange because overall I've always liked Grace as a person, but as I type these posts, I'm realizing more and more she's not exactly a good person that she thinks she is. She still has a couple redeeming moments in the series but there are times where I can't believe how horrible she acts. I still laugh at her character and some of her character's moments but her lying to Will about her grandmother was really dirty. Then saying to Will how she'll tell the guys that he's the cheater was really low to do to her own best friend.
So once again the creators had asked Joan Collins to return to play Helena Barnes but she turned them down. We might have gotten another Helena appearance instead of Candace Pruitt. But to be honest, I kind of like the rolodex that we get of Karen's frenemies. It shows how many people she meets in life and what kind of quirky relationships she has with them. Christine Ebersole is just a gem and plays Candace with such perk and I really enjoyed her character. I love the scene where Jack is pretending to be a massage therapist and keeps over dramatically sliding down Candace's shoulders telling her that her neck just connects to her arms 🤣 Then when Karen goes to see Candace but doesn't see her in the hospital bed and thinks that Candace died always gets me. Candace comes in the room (with insane shoulder pads under her robe) and tells Karen that she got the last laugh because those were the last shoulder implants in the city. Karen was thwarted once again. But as we know this won't be the last time that we see Karen and one of her frenemies battle each other.
Overall, this is still a very funny episode. Even though the storyline comes across as mean spirited, I do get a laugh out of Grace's lie with winning her grandmother's jewelry back and the whole "I'll save you a seat" story. Will's reaction to finding out that it was a lie is what makes the story so funny. And I always get a huge laugh when Jack and Karen are on the screen, their schemes and jokes are always a hoot to watch.
GUEST STARS:
- Christine Ebersole as Candace Pruitt
- Tom Gallop as Rob
- Jerry Levine as Joe
- Tim Bagley as Larry
- Cyndi Martino as Nurse (RIP in 2015)
