S11.E11: Accidentally on Porpoise

[FormerMod-a1]

Quote

Grace and her neighbor, James, give their relationship one more shot, but when James invites Grace to his job at the aquarium, she endangers his job and a species; Jack takes Will to an unexpected place to blow off steam -- church.

Original air date: February 20, 2020

[Annber03]

*Will talks about how gay guys often tried to bury their feelings in alcohol and drugs*

Jack: "Well, Leviticus does say if a man lies with another man, he should be stoned..."

Got a really big laugh from that one :D. I also loved the whole "God is 'NCIS'" thing. I really liked that storyline with Will and Jack. That ending between them was very sweet. 

[Madding crowd]

Why is Grace getting these vulgar story lines? I did like Will and Jack and their discussion on religion.

Edited February 21, 2020 by Madding crowd

[Harvey]

Grace saying no means no to a porpoise was hilarious 🤣

The scenes with Smitty and Karen were just gold all the way through, like when she yelled "after" him to slow down. Oh god XD.  And when God "knew" Karen was in the church that was so good.

 

[Blakeston]

I thought at first that Grace had killed the porpoise, so I was relieved that she'd merely brought it to orgasm.

i wish they had given a shout-out to the Metropolitan Community Church of New York, which has been serving the LGBT community for a long, long time. But I guess they needed a church with confessionals, so that they could do the bit with Karen and the priest. 

"Karen Walker terrifies a priest by giving confession" is a great premise, but I don't think they did nearly enough with it. The part with Smitty was great, though. I laughed for a long, long time about him not having a pelvis.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Blakeston

[iMonrey]

Ahh, Smitty.

One of the things that has continued to bug me about this reboot is the way Jack constantly refers to his mother, as though she is a major presence in his life. She appeared exactly once in the original series and that was it. Whoever is writing the reboot is leaning hard into the stereotype of gay men and their mothers being co-dependent without any regard for the history of those characters. I also think the idea that Jack and his mother have been attending church together every Sunday a stretch, if only in that his friends never knew it. It's not as if Jack keeps things to himself, y'know? 

The stuff with Grace was typical slapstick but I got the biggest kick of all out of James showing up at the apartment at the end willing to forgive Grace again. Her reaction was great.

[Bruinsfan]

The bit that had me rolling on the floor was all those votive candles going out as Karen walked past!

[ams1001]

You'd think James would know better than to leave Grace alone around anything she could destroy by now.

Also how did he not notice her hair was wet and there was water all over the floor and the side of the tank?

[Annber03]

5 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Also how did he not notice her hair was wet and there was water all over the floor and the side of the tank?

I was thinking about that, too, yeah. Not the most observant guy, James. 

[Aileen]

I LOVED how Grace sent James packing.

And I totally thought she killed the porpoise at first. 

[msrachelj]

12 hours ago, ams1001 said:

You'd think James would know better than to leave Grace alone around anything she could destroy by now.

Also how did he not notice her hair was wet and there was water all over the floor and the side of the tank?

And he said before he left that she really wasn't supposed to be there, but later on we are told there are security cameras, so how did he think he was going to get away with bringing in his girlfriend to swim with the dolphin?

[DXD526]

Will and Jack's discussion of religion was so well done. The Jack-going-to-church plot elicited an eyeroll from me initially, but they didn't shy away from the subject matter, they came at it head-on, which was unexpected. And it was funny! 

Will had the line of the week: "So, God is NCIS and the Bible is...the Rawhide?"

I wish we'd get to see Jack's mother again. I wonder why Veronica Cartwright has never returned? "Homo for the Holidays" is still one of my all-time favorite episodes!

[Aileen]

On 2/22/2020 at 8:30 AM, msrachelj said:

And he said before he left that she really wasn't supposed to be there, but later on we are told there are security cameras, so how did he think he was going to get away with bringing in his girlfriend to swim with the dolphin?

I assumed from the start that there were security cameras that would kick on once motion was sensed past the yellow line. And that, when he came back, it would be fine since she was accompanied by him.

Edited February 23, 2020 by Aileen

[sashayshante]

On 2/21/2020 at 12:56 PM, iMonrey said:

One of the things that has continued to bug me about this reboot is the way Jack constantly refers to his mother, as though she is a major presence in his life.

I admit that I howl every time Jack refers to her as Judith. The one scene we got of them in the first season gave me enough of a picture to see they had an affectionate is trying relationship.

Wasn't crazy about the sudden reveal that Jack went to Church every Sunday. Grace is supposed to be about 7 months pregnant by now. Shouldn't she be showing? The way they're handling her pregnancy, like it's happening but it's not, is really weird.

 

[Bruinsfan]

Normally Grace is wearing billowy caftans or coats that could easy disguise a pregnancy up to the last trimester, but a wetsuit really isn't that forgiving. Unless she made extra room by losing some internal organs in that adventure in James' apartment, she should have been showing more in this episode.

[Bill1978]

I think Grace may be part kangaroo and has paused her pregnancy, to allow Will's child to catch up with hers. Once they are at the same stage, Grave will resume her pregnancy so that she and Demi can go into labour at the same time.

[Gothish520]

The ending scene with Grace and James had me howling: "Raise your standards, man!"