Monday 13 September 2010

Series Three: Episode Run Down

Episode 1 - Do Over:
As Liz is returning to studio 6H, the TGS studio, she meets Jack Donaghy returning from Washington. Jack tells her that he intends to get his old job back and Liz tells him of her upcoming adoption evaluation. When he confronts Devon Banks in his office, Devon offers Jack a position in the mail room, laughing, but Jack accepts. Jack later tells Liz of his plan to work his way back to his old job through honest means, though Kathy Geiss shows a sexual interest in Jack he could leverage into a quicker promotion.

Following a home evaluation Bev comes to work with Liz where she checks the safety of the studio and interviews the TGS cast and crew including Jenna, Pete, Frank and Cerie. The workplace evaluation goes badly, with many of the interviews reflecting badly on Liz or the safety of the studio for a child. However, before Bev files her report she sustains a head injury and forgets that she has done the evaluation. Liz gets the crew to help her "do over" the evaluation, hoping for a better result.

Tracy Jordan's pornographic video game, Gorgasm: The Legend of Dong Slayer, has been very successfully released since it was developed in the previous episode "Cooter". He shows off a large royalty check and Jenna grows angry that she has not been compensated for her voice acting work in the game.

Episode 2 - Believe in the Stars:
The episode starts with Liz announcing to her boss, Jack, that she needs to go to Chicago for jury duty because she is still registered to vote there. Jack gives Liz a powerful sedative for the trip. Later, Kenneth walks in on a meeting between Jack and the American silver medalist in tetherball, Tyler Brody. Tyler is angry at Jack for not selecting him as the gold medalist, and is threatening to go public with the revelation that there was no Olympic tetherball competition during the 2008 Summer Olympics, as it was staged to boost NBC's ratings. To keep him quiet, Jack tells him that he can "be the voice of Knight Rider" in a film adaptation, which Tyler considers. Afterwards, Kenneth tells Jack that he "lost two heroes today", as he looked up to both Jack and Tyler. As a result, Jack wants to be in Kenneth's good side, but wants to break his moral absolutism, after Kenneth tried killing himself to save others while stuck on an elevator. Jack goes so far as to give him cable in his apartment due to his good morals.

Meanwhile, Jenna demands compensation for her voice work in Tracy Jordan's pornographic video game, Gorgasm: The Legend of Dong Slayer. The argument escalates and Liz orders them to stop their bickering. After Liz leaves for Chicago, Jenna and Tracy decide to conduct a social experiment to see whether Tracy can survive better as a white woman better than Jenna can as a black man, after arguing respectively that black men and white women have it harder in society. Later, while on her flight, Liz takes Jack's sedative. Liz realizes that the woman sitting next to her is Oprah Winfrey. When Liz arrives back at the 30 Rock studios, Tracy is dressed in female drag with his body covered in white makeup and soon after, Jenna enters in blackface and male drag. Jack worries that the situation has gone out of control, but Liz assures him that Oprah, who is coming to the studios, will be able to make them come to terms. As it turns out, her inflight conversation with Oprah was a hallucination. The person who Liz thought was Oprah is actually a 12-year-old girl named Pam. Even so, Pam engages Tracy and Jenna in a heart-to-heart, and manages to settle their differences.

Episode 3 - The One with the Cast of Night Court:
Liz and Jenna await the arrival of their old Chicago roommate, Claire Harper. The two are not thrilled with her visit as they find her exhausting to be around with. Immediately, their boss Jack is attracted to Claire, but Liz tells him not to get involved with her. Jack, however, reveals to Liz that the two have already slept together. At a General Electric formal function, Claire surprises Jack by singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He tells her that she needs to leave, so Claire loudly threatens to kill herself. To help Jack, Liz gets Claire to abandon her plans with Jack and instead go out nightclubbing with her and Jenna. At the club, Claire does not show up, which prompts Liz to call Jack to warn him about potential danger. He finds Claire inside his apartment and ends up sleeping with her again. When asked to choose between Liz and Claire, Jack chooses Claire, but Claire, thinking that the relationship has gotten boring, turns on Jack.

Meanwhile, Kenneth is not happy with the new page uniforms. Wanting to see Kenneth happy again, Tracy gets actors Harry Anderson, Markie Post, and Charlie Robinson from the television show, Night Court. Kenneth is excited when he finds out that he can watch the Night Court wedding between the Anderson and Post's characters, Judge Harry Stone and Christine Sullivan, before the show is canceled by the network. When a conflict between Anderson and Post ensues, it seems that the wedding will not take place. However, Anderson and Post make up and rehearse. As Tracy and Kenneth finish taping the final scenes of Harry and Christine's wedding, Harry declares it illegal to wear the new page uniforms and demands the old ones be brought back. Tracy tells Kenneth that he added that part in the script as he complained to Kenneth's superiors to bring back the old uniforms, which makes Kenneth happy.

Episode 4 - Gavin Volure:
Jack brings Liz along to a dinner party hosted by his friend Gavin Volure. Gavin becomes intrigued by Liz and invites her to spend the weekend with him, which she accepts. She wonders how the relationship between them will work, as he is agoraphobic. Gavin explains his daily routines to Liz, and also discloses that due to his phobias, he cannot be intimate with women. Liz starts to think that maybe a relationship with Gavin could work. As Liz gets ready to leave, Gavin admits to her that he is not agoraphobic, and that he is under house arrest for arson and fraud. This shocks Liz, and when she returns to New York, she tells Jack about it. Jack feels awful for investing Kenneth's money with Gavin, after Gavin told him he was forming a new company and interested Jack to be part of it. Later, Gavin escapes from house arrest and shows up at the 30 Rock studios. There, he tells Liz that he was on his way to the Canadian border but came back to bring her with him. After Liz refuses to go with him, and not wanting to go to prison, Gavin climbs to the top of the TGS with Tracy Jordan set and threatens to jump. Jack tries to talk Gavin out of jumping, distracting him in the process, resulting in Tracy tackling Gavin down.

Meanwhile, Tracy begins to question the reason why his sons want to spend so much time with him. One day, Tracy sees a special about Lyle and Erik Menendez—the two brothers who became famous for killing their parents—which leads him to believe that his sons are plotting to kill him. As a result, Tracy buys a life-Japanese sex doll that looks like him to use as a decoy to fool them. Eventually, Tracy realizes that he overreacted with his sons but warns his son, Tracy Jr., that if he were to die, that he and his brother will face jail time.

Episode 5 - Reunion:
Liz Lemon receives an invitation to her upcoming high school reunion in White Haven, Pennsylvania. She is reluctant to attend as she was a lonely nerd but is persuaded to go by her boss, Jack. Don Geiss wakes up from his diabetic coma and tells Jack he will remain CEO of General Electric. Distraught by the revelation, as Don had chosen Jack as the CEO to run GE, Jack decides to fly to Miami for a vacation, and offers to drop Liz off on the way to her reunion. When they land in White Haven after a major snowstorm, Jack is stranded with her.

Meanwhile, at the 30 Rock studios, Tracy, is shocked when Kenneth gets more laughs than him in the elevator and so he goes to Jenna for help. The same thing happens to Jenna and in retaliation, she starts singing "Wind Beneath My Wings", prompting Kenneth to start singing "99 Bottles of Beer", to which everyone in the elevator joins in. As revenge for upstaging them, Tracy and Jenna start doing his page duties which upsets Kenneth, and so swears never to upstage them again.

Liz goes to the reunion but learns that she was not the quiet, lonely nerd she thought, but the angry bully everyone hated. Jack in search of a drink ends up at the reunion as well, and is mistaken for a former popular student Larry Braverman and still unhappy with Geiss' decision, takes on the persona. Liz tries to regain the friendship of her classmates—Kelsey Whintrop, Erin O'Neil, Rob Sussman, and Diane - without success. Jack, as Larry Braverman, persuades them to like Liz, until an ex-girlfriend of Larry's reveals he has a son, at which point Jack confesses he is not Larry and Liz and Jack both make a quick escape whilst being booed off stage.

Episode 6 - Christmas Special:
Liz announces to the staff of The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan that she is participating in a charity which provides gifts to underprivileged children who write letters to Santa. She buys far more than what is requested in the letter, wanting to see the children's happiness. When Liz delivers the presents to the apartment in the letter, however, the door is answered by two adults who take the gifts, and she believes she has been tricked. Receiving no help from the US Postal Service, who run the charity, she attempts to have it shut down. This upsets Kenneth who refuses to believe anyone would scam a Christmas charity. She takes Kenneth back to the apartment to prove she was right, but two children answer the door and Liz accidentally reveals to them that Santa Claus is not real.

Meanwhile Jack accidentally backs into his mother, Collen Donaghy, with his car in Florida. Bedridden, she decides to stay with Jack, and her presence greatly annoys him. Jack reveals to Liz that after he hit his mother he waited eight minutes before calling 9-1-1, and is worried she will find out. Jack tries to stay away from his mother by having the cast and crew of TGS produce a last-minute Christmas special. However, Colleen discovers the secret, and confronts him with it. Jack responds by expressing his anger with her for her behavior at Christmas while he was a child. Ultimately, after talking with Liz, Jack realizes that Colleen was actually a caring mother, and reconciles with her.

Episode 7 - Senor Macho Solo:
Liz desires to have a baby, but her adoption process is taking a long time. She begins to act "baby-crazy" when she is around little children. While outside of 30 Rock, Liz pats a boy in front of her on the head, only to discover that it is not a child but a dwarf man, Stewart LaGrange. To cover up, Liz lies to Stewart, telling him that the reason she pat his head was to get his attention, which he accepts and the two go on a date. During their date, Liz tries to pick Stewart up to stop him from touching fire. Stewart asks Liz if she first thought he was a child when they first met, and she admits this is true, displeasing him. The next day, she calls him to apologize and asks that he give her a second chance and meet her at the Brooklyn Bridge. At the bridge, however, Liz mistakenly thinks a boy is Stewart, which prompts him to realize this will never work between them.

In another storyline, Jack hires a new nurse, Elisa Pedrera, to take care of his mother. Meanwhile, Jack helps Tracy manage his money because his spending has gotten out of control. Jack recommends a "post-nup" agreement for Tracy and his wife, Angie, as Tracy fears that Angie might leave him if she ever were to have enough money to live on. Angie agrees to sign the agreement but promises Tracy that she will never leave his side, which moves Tracy and he stops her from signing the agreement. Later, Jack feels a lump in one of his testicles, and believing he has gotten testicular cancer, he begins to look at life differently. He admits to Liz that he has fallen in love with Elisa after they spent some time together. When he gets his tests results, which come back negative, he has second thoughts about Elisa. In the end, however, Jack comes home to Elisa, with the two sharing a kiss.

Finally, Jenna learns that Sheinhardt Universal is producing a biographical film on singer Janis Joplin, and she decides to audition for it. As a way to get the role, she goes into Jack's office in character. The plan works after Jack is easily convinced. Much to her dismay, Jenna learns that actress Julia Roberts and director Martin Scorsese are also making a Janis Joplin movie and that Sheinhardt Universal has yet to secure the song and image rights of Joplin. In order for the company to avoid legal problems, Jenna is introduced as "Janet Jopler" on TGS and sings the song "Piece of My Heart" but with reworded lyrics.

Episode 8 - Flu Shot:
Liz is excited about her vacation week, until she gets a text message from her assistant, Cerie, that the hotel she had planned to stay at was overbooked. Liz goes to see Dr. Leo Spaceman who is giving out flu shots at the 30 Rock studios. She learns that the shots are given to select few employees. Her boss, Jack, asks her to let him know about the most important individuals in her staff that should receive flu shots. Liz does not agree with Jack that he should ration out health care, which results in Liz not getting a shot. Jack considers giving Kenneth, one of the remaining shots, as he is very ill with the flu, though Kenneth refuses. Later, Jack continuously asks Liz, but still refuses. This time, she displays her solidarity in front of the TGS crew who show her their appreciation. However, as she sees the crew getting sicker, as days go by, she panics and gets the shot.

Meanwhile, Jack wants to spend time with Elisa, but her job as a nurse does not allow it. While taking care of an elderly man named Mr. Templeton, who suffers from dementia, Jack persuades her to spend time with him, to which Elisa gives in to, and results in the two bringing Mr. Templeton along on their dates. One day, as they prepare to go out again, Jack and Elisa are shocked when Mr. Templeton's son, Michael, visits unexpectedly. The elderly man tells his son about the late night escapades, though Elisa tells the son that his story is not true. As Elisa distracts the son, Jack tries to leave the apartment, until Mr. Templeton sees him. Jack explains his situation with Elisa to Mr. Templeton, which he understands, and promises Jack he will not tell his son anything more of the late nights.

At the 30 Rock studios, Jenna and Tracy, the stars of TGS, decide they want to help the sick crew. They think about getting the crew soup but are too lazy to do it; instead they decide that laughter is the best medicine. Jenna and Tracy, dressed as clowns, put on a very unsuccessful show at the TGS stage where they end up throwing a pie on Liz's face. The crew stands up for Liz until they see the red dot where she received the shot. She confesses that she chose the vacation over the crew, as she later was told by Cerie that the hotel had rooms available, which results in the crew hating her for it.

Episode 9 - Retreat to Move Forward:
Jack asks Liz Lemon to accompany him to the Six Sigmas Retreat, following his Bush administration and CEO debacles. There, Jack meets with the Six Sigmas, six men who each embody a core feature of Six Sigma: teamwork, insight, brutality, male enhancement, hand-shake-fulness and play-hard. They disapprove of Liz's antics during the team building exercises and demand that Jack distance himself from her if he wants to succeed, which he does. Before his dinner speech, Jack psyches himself up in the men's room, completely forgetting that he is wearing a microphone and that everyone can hear him. Liz quickly takes the stage to draw attention away from Jack's embarrassment and finally ends up ripping her blouse open and dancing in front of everyone. She succeeds, and is banned from the retreat forever.

Meanwhile, Jenna employs method acting for her upcoming role as singer Janis Joplin, thus allowing Frank to take advantage of her. He tells her to do her research on Joplin on Wikipedia, then quickly edits the page contents with nonsense when Jenna goes off to read it. Jenna, however, believes what she reads and proceeds to imitate all the "facts" on the page to the amusement of everyone. When she finally confronts Frank, they end up having sex and Jenna is affronted when Frank wants to keep it a secret from their co-workers. She reveals their fling in front of the other TGS with Tracy Jordan writers to the dismay of Frank. At hearing this the show's hair dresser and Frank's girlfriend, ruins Jenna's hair and face making her look like a witch.

At the same time, NBC page Kenneth tries to help Tracy understand how diabetes affects him after Dr. Leo Spaceman told Tracy that he is at risk of getting diabetes. Kenneth tells him a story of how a wicked witch will come and take him away if he continues to consume his unhealthy eating habits but Tracy does not believe him. Tracy gets disgusted when Kenneth tries to scare him by dressing as a witch but suddenly Jenna comes running in screaming and looking like a witch complete with a broomstick in hand. This scares both Kenneth and Tracy who fearfully vows to change his eating habits immediately.

Episode 10 - Generalissimo:
Liz receives the mail of her new neighbor, Dr. Drew Baird. After going through it, she believes he is the perfect man for her. To try and woo him, she follows the actions of an evil Spanish soap character called "The Generalissimo" from Los Amantes Clandestinos, despite the warnings of Jenna and Elisa. She invites Drew to a nonexistent party, and, when he arrives expecting a party, she informs him that the party is scheduled for the following evening, but nevertheless invites him in. While this plan initially appears to work, things go wrong when Liz accidentally gives Drew rohypnol and he finds some of his opened mail in her handbag. The next day Drew receives some of Liz's mail and reads it. He says that based on her mail he probably would have wanted to meet Liz, in the same vein as she had wanted to meet him. They decide to start with a clean slate and go on a real date.

Jack meets his girlfriend Elisa's grandmother. The grandmother does not like Jack because he reminds her of the Generalissimo. Jack buys Los Amantes Clandestinos and tries to kill the Generalissimo off, but the actors on the show refuse to do so. Jack then meets Hector Moreda, the actor who plays Generalissimo, and asks why he will not follow the script. According to Hector, his role as the Generalissimo allows him to cut in line at Disney World, among other perks. Jack shows him a picture of Elisa, explaining that he wants to kill off the character for her. Understanding Jack's feelings, Hector agrees to help Jack by making the character fall in love with an elderly Hispanic woman, thereby winning the affection of Elisa's grandmother. The grandmother subsequently accepts Jack as Elisa's boyfriend, but makes one more request of him, to make NBC News less depressing. Jack responds by airing a montage of pictures of Puerto Rican infants to the music of Tito Puente on The Today Show, much to the displeasure of Matt Lauer.

Meanwhile, NBC has hired recently laid off brokers from Lehman Brothers as interns on TGS. Tracy is invited to go out on the town with them, but finds that he is incapable of keeping up with their lifestyle. Tracy fears that if the public were to learn that he no longer lives a fast lifestyle, his image would be severely compromised and he would be forced to change from a comedic actor to a dramatic actor. Tracy refuses to allow this to happen, so he buys out Lehman Brothers and sends the interns back to their old jobs on Wall Street.

Episode 11 - St. Valentine's Day:
Liz invites her neighbor, Dr. Drew Baird, on their first date, accidentally scheduling it for Valentine's Day. At the suggestion of her boss, Jack, Liz decides to have the date at her home. Many things go wrong during the date, including Liz exposing her breast and Drew seeing Liz on the toilet. The date gets worse when Drew's ex-wife drops off their daughter at Liz's apartment. Later, Drew gets news that his mother is critically ill. The two visit her at the hospital and after Drew steps out, Liz is left alone with her. She tells Liz she is in fact not Drew's mother, but instead his grandmother, and that his sister is really his birth mother. Following the passing of his grandmother, Liz and Drew still decide to move forward in their relationship, and Liz telling Drew everything his grandmother told her.

Meanwhile, Jack's Valentine's dinner plans with his girlfriend Elisa are postponed when they have to attend church. Jack calls his office assistant, Jonathan, telling him to hold his dinner reservations. Before they can leave church, Elisa tells Jack that they need to go to confession. After horrifying the priest with his admissions, Elisa becomes furious with Jack and breaks up with him. Later, however, she laments her fight with Jack. After finding a McFlurry coupon in the collection plate, she believes it is a sign from God because both she and Jack love the McDonald's dessert. The two reconcile their relationship as a result, and spend Valentine's Day together at a McDonald's.

Finally, Kenneth falls for a new staffer, a blind woman named Jennifer. Kenneth cannot bring himself to ask Jennifer out, so Tracy decides to help him. On their date, at the 30 Rock studios, Kenneth and Jennifer are joined by Tracy—who does all the talking. Jennifer believes Kenneth is black, but Kenneth reveals he is white and expresses his feeling for her, and admits to her that Tracy was doing all the talking. Jennifer tells him she does not mind of what has happened. However, after feeling Kenneth's face, she leaves.

Episode 12 - Larry King:
Tracy appears on Larry King Live. During his appearance on the program, a breaking story interrupts his interview with show host Larry King—it is being reported that the Asian stocks are falling. Larry King asks Tracy's opinion on the this story, which results in Tracy giving chaos-inducting views, including, "New York as we know it will no longer exist tomorrow" and he calls for panic, sending the people of New York into madness. At the 30 Rock studios, the TGS staff try looking for money that Tracy has hidden in the building after revealing this on Larry King Live. Pete calls the program asking Tracy where he stores the money. Tracy reveals that the safest place he has it hidden has "a hard top and soft bottom, no matter where it moves, the cash stays in the same place."

Meanwhile, Kenneth escorts Liz to Queens to retrieve the cellphone she left in a cab. The taxi driver finds an adult picture of her and threatens to send it to everyone in her address book unless she pays him $2,000. While on their way to get the phone, chaos is happening around them, which prompts Kenneth to want to turn back. Trying to change his mind, Liz lies to Kenneth, telling him that her phone has sentimental value, although she later tells Kenneth the real reasons she wants her phone back. Feeling betrayed by Liz, Kenneth abandons her and returns back to 30 Rock. Liz arrives at the taxi depot and tells Asif that she does not have the money to pay him because rioting children took her handbag. Then Kenneth shows up and they watch Tracy reveal his secret to the whereabouts of his money, prompting Kenneth to realize that the money is stored in his page blazer. Kenneth pays Asif and Liz's phone is returned.

Finally, Jack decides to be committed to his girlfriend, as she wants to take their relationship to the next level. Jack persuades Elisa to cancel her annual trip to Puerto Rico so that the two can spend time together. As a result, Jack devotes a whole week to Elisa at exactly the same time as the economic crisis unfolds, forcing Jack to steer General Electric through the Asian market crash. After a video tape of Don Geiss surfaces—taped in the event of a financial meltdown—Geiss says "it is the end, and love is all that matters", which makes Jack realize his love for Elisa. He proposes marriage to her, which she accepts. The day after, Elisa leaves Jack for Puerto Rico.

Episode 13 - Goodbye, My Friend:
Liz befriends a pregnant teen, Becca. When she sees Becca reading adoption literature and that she is upset with the baby's father, Liz realizes this may be her chance to adopt a baby. Liz creates a job for Becca as the TGS with Tracy Jordan youth consultant. Liz believes that encouraging Becca to follow her dream as a singer will lead her to give up her baby to Liz. However, when Becca's boyfriend, Tim, comes to the 30 Rock building, Liz realizes that Becca and Tim should be together so that they can raise their child together, and tells them to make their relationship work.

Meanwhile, Jack decides to spend time with the TGS writers. At Jack's home, they watch the movie Harry and the Hendersons. Jack and Frank bond over the fact that they both grew up with deadbeat fathers. The next day, Jack decides to help Frank to achieve his dream of becoming a lawyer. In return, Frank invites Jack over for dinner. During dinner, while Frank is out of the room, his mother, Sylvia Rossitano, tells Jack that Frank's father is in hiding as he is a lawyer for the mob, and that she does not want her son to follow in those footsteps. For Frank's sake, Jack tells Frank to forget about becoming a lawyer, and to return to being a writer on TGS.

At the same time, Jenna's birthday is approaching. Kenneth appeals to Jenna to allow Tracy's birthday celebration to be combined with hers, as Tracy has never celebrated a birthday. Jenna dislikes the idea, but plays along. On her birthday, Jenna, upset that no one pays attention to her, decides to fake an injury to get sympathy, to no avail. To get attention, Jenna is seen riding a wheelchair, but this fails, so she gets fed up with everyone. Tracy sees Jenna jumping out of a wheelchair to get attention and tells her that his birthday wish was that she get better, after seeing her wear a back brace at the birthday party.

Episode 14 - The Funcooker:
Liz is assigned to solve a public relations problem caused by the show's stars, Tracy and Jenna, during their hosting duties of the St. Patrick's Day parade, in which Jenna passed out and Tracy cursed during the live television broadcast. To make things worse, Liz is summoned to jury duty and cannot avoid it despite claiming to be Princess Leia. When she leaves for jury duty, she does not leave anyone in charge and allows the staff to go without direction—until later when she puts Kenneth in charge after learning that the staff has gotten out of hand. Liz is on a court case about a woman whose work life and frustrations parallel her own; the two both have employees named Tracy and Jenna, both believe their employees waste their time, and make their lives difficult.

Meanwhile, Jenna, worn out from working on TGS during the day and on her unlicensed Janis Joplin biopic at night, visits Dr. Spaceman for help so she can work on both. He gives Jenna a military-grade experimental drug currently being tested on rats to stay awake. At the same time, Tracy believes that having enough money to pay FCC fines means that he can say anything on television. As a result, Tracy curses on The Martha Stewart Show, and after learning that the show's advertisers are pulling out, due to his actions, decides to sponsor the show. Meanwhile Jack desperately tries to find a name for a pocket microwave oven that is not offensive in any language. With Liz gone, Jack assigns the TGS writing staff to this task. After their unsuccessful attempts, Kenneth suggests "The Funcooker" which Jack decides is the perfect name.

Back at the studios, the taping of TGS is interrupted by Dr. Spaceman who desperately forces Jenna to sleep because she might die like one of his test rats. Tracy creates a diversion by dropping his trousers and exposing his buttocks, which he refers to the "Funcooker". Everyone realizes that this is where Kenneth heard the name. Fed up with the chaos, Liz sends the entire show's staff—including Kenneth and Dr. Spaceman—to her office. Liz ponders over a box of matches and thinks of the woman in court, in which she admitted to committing arson as a way of getting back at her out-of-control employees. She accidentally does start a small fire which is quickly put out but scares everyone out of their bad behavior.

Episode 15 - The Bubble:
The episode begins with Liz noticing that people treat her boyfriend, Drew Baird, differently because of his good looks. After watching a meter maid rip up a ticket for Drew, and fashion designer Calvin Klein offering him a job as an underwear model, Liz brings the matter up with her boss, Jack, who tells her that Drew is in "the bubble". Jack tells Liz that she should stay with Drew and enjoy the perks of the bubble, but Liz begins to realize that living in the bubble has left Drew without some essential skills. After discovering that Drew can not perform the Heimlich maneuver, even though he is a doctor, and cannot play tennis, despite the fact that he worked as a tennis coach, Liz decides that she has to leave Drew, and ends their relationship.

Meanwhile at TGS, it is time to renew Tracy's contract, and Jack decides to approach the matter carefully as Tracy does not need the money he makes on the show. While negotiating Tracy's new contract, Jack mentions this fact, which comes as a shock to Tracy, who had never realized that he could survive financially without the income. After realizing that Tracy has quit the show, Jack must find a way to bring him back, after Tracy's son, complains to Jack about how unbearable his father is to have around the house. Meanwhile, in order to get attention for herself, Jenna decides to cut her hair for charity as a publicity stunt. Jenna makes an appearance on NBC's Today Show, where her hair cut will be broadcast. Meredith Viera asks Jenna's opinion on the news that Tracy has left TGS. At learning this, Jenna bails out on her haircut.

After discovering that Tracy is still in contact with Kenneth, Jack realizes that their relationship is the key to bringing Tracy back to TGS. Jack, therefore, orders Kenneth to break off all contact with Tracy, although this fails because of Kenneth's relationship with Tracy. Seeing an opportunity, Jack states that since Kenneth's duties were primarily taking care of Tracy, and Tracy no longer works at NBC, Kenneth is no longer needed. Not wanting Kenneth to lose his job, Tracy agrees to return on the stipulation that Kenneth keeps his job.

Episode 16 - Apollo, Apollo:
The episode begins with an announcement by Tracy on television that he plans to travel to outer space, and is willing to pay up to thirty million dollars to do so. Jack agrees to help Tracy with his dream of traveling in space, promising to call his friends at NASA. Instead of doing this, however, he asks Pete to create a fake space experience for Tracy. Pete and the TGS crew construct a model space shuttle and place Tracy in it after disorienting him by flying him in a helicopter blindfolded. The deception is a success, and Tracy believes that he is, in fact, flying in space.

Liz is visited by her ex-boyfriend, Dennis Duffy, who informs her that he is a sex addict, now atoning for his past errors. Liz is unimpressed and asks Dennis to leave, before going to work. Later, after arriving at work, Liz answers Jenna's cellphone, and is surprised to find that Dennis is calling Jenna. Liz pretends to be Jenna and discovers that Jenna and Dennis slept together. Liz is determined not to let this revelation affect her friendship with Jenna, so the two go to confront Dennis about his behavior. During the confrontation, Liz discovers that Jenna and Dennis actually slept together in her bed, leading her to resent Jenna's actions. As a result, she fails to tell Jenna about an improperly attached piece of equipment, leading Jenna to injure her leg.

Meanwhile, Jack's fiftieth birthday is approaching and he has received home videos of some of his earlier birthdays from his mother. While watching the tapes, Jack discovers just how happy he was when he was younger, and is determined to reclaim that happiness and innocence. After examining a list he made while he was younger, he discovers that he has done all of the things but one, befriending Batman. In an effort to reclaim his happiness, Jack attempts to find the same toy that made him so happy on his tenth birthday, a model of an Apollo Lunar Module. He buys one from a vintage toy store, but still remains unhappy.

Later, Liz apologizes to Jenna for allowing her to be injured, and agrees to let Jenna tell the TGS writing staff about her role in an advertisement for a phone sex line. The writers find the ad online, and greatly enjoy watching it. Jack comes in while the writers are watching and laughs so hard that he vomits. The laughter lifts Jack out of his bad mood, and he tells Liz what an important friend she is.

Episode 17 - Cutbacks:
The TGS crew have finished taping their fiftieth episode and decide to celebrate. Their boss, Jack Donaghy, goes to the writers' room and tells Liz about how the whole company is undergoing cutbacks. After an unsuccessful presentation about TGS, Brad Halster, one of the consultants in charge of the cutbacks, informs Liz that she needs to cut her annual budget by 25 percent. Liz, anxious about her employees losing their jobs, decides to use sexual bartering to solve the problem and asks Brad on a date, which he accepts. Liz dresses in the trashiest outfit she can find, and goes on her date. The next day, she discovers that cutbacks are still taking place at TGS, and confronts Brad. Realizing that he was being used, Brad charges Liz with sexual harassment and she is suspended from work for two weeks. Jack tells Liz that the budget review process will start over again, this time under his supervision.

Meanwhile, Kenneth becomes Jack's office assistant, replacing his former assistant Jonathan. Kenneth asks Tracy to feed his bird, as he is busy with two jobs now. Kenneth asks Tracy not to enter his bedroom, a request that makes Tracy curious. Believing Kenneth might be a serial killer, he tells Jenna and they decide to investigate Kenneth's bedroom. At Kenneth's apartment, they discover a bug bomb in his room, and reaching the conclusion that Kenneth is trying to poison them and they run out of his apartment. They forget to close the door and the bug bomb ends up killing the bird. When they tell Kenneth about his bird, he is more upset by the fact that Tracy and Jenna did not trust him, than the death of his bird. Tracy and Jenna, feeling horrible about what they have done, arrange a surprise for Kenneth at his apartment. When Kenneth goes home, he finds an entire collection of birds.

Episode 18 - Jackie Jormp Jomp:
A sexual harassment lawsuit was filed against Liz in the previous episode, and she must take a sexual harassment training as a result. In addition, she cannot return to work until she is done with her training. Liz, however, cannot handle life without work, as she needs the stress. Her attitude changes when she meets one of her neighbors, Emily. She understands how Liz feels because she was just like Liz and tells her there are better ways to live. Liz hangs out with Emily and her friends, who spend majority of their time getting spa treatments and going shopping. Liz gets so caught up in their lifestyle that she forgets to watch her show. Not wanting to come back to work Liz sexually harasses her counselor, Jeffrey Weinerslav. She goes back to hanging out with Emily and her friends, but soon discovers that they are a Girl Fight Club. In order for her to get out, Liz needs to fight them.

Meanwhile, Jack informs Jenna that her unlicensed Janis Joplin biopic is hard to sell due to test audiences not liking it. They decide to up the PR by going to the Kids Choice Awards where Jenna discovers that she is dead. She is accidentally put in the memorial montage at the show, which Jack decides to use as an advantage for the film. He tells her that all she has to do is stay out of the public eye until he sells the movie. At the same time, all employees from the 30 Rock building need to disclose any inter-office relationships. Kenneth discloses that he fantasizes about marrying a TGS dancer but discovers that "Dot Com" is dating her. A minor conflict ensues between them, but ends when Tracy decides to mediate this. As a result, Tracy fires Daphne, but this backfires when the other dancers refuse to work. This prompts Tracy to solve this problem by hiring new dancers.

Jack tells TGS producer, Pete, to do an on air tribute of Jenna on the show. On the TGS set, a huge poster of Jenna is hung with her real birthday and death date. When Jenna sees that her real birth date is displayed, she comes out of hiding and appears on stage to cover the poster. After witnessing this, Liz confronts Jenna and Tracy for their behavior, but is glad to be back at work.

Episode 19 - The Ones:
Jack is planning to marry his girlfriend Elisa as he believes she is "the one", but Elisa tells Liz she has a secret. She confesses to Jack and Liz that she killed her last husband in a crime of passion after he cheated on her, and did not go to prison because she could not get an impartial jury due to her consequent notoriety. Jack considers marrying her anyway, saying that love requires one to overlook another's flaws, but worries about what would happen if he would ever be unfaithful. Tracy tells Jack that he has never cheated on his wife which makes Jack think that he too can be faithful. However, when Elisa grows too suspicious of Jack's relationship with Liz, he calls off the engagement.

Meanwhile, Frank and Toofer decide to play a prank on Lutz, which results in Lutz getting hurt, after a flat-screen monitor falls on top of him. Jenna becomes romantically interested in one of the paramedics, but unsure of how to contact him, tries to bring him to the studio by giving the show's page, Kenneth, strawberries, which triggers his allergies. Kenneth willingly consumes some, after Jenna tells him that the paramedic might be "the one", only for Jenna to decide against having a relationship with the paramedic because he has a son.

Episode 20 - The Natural Order:
Liz, Kenneth and Pete Hornberger all attempt to trick Tracy into arriving at a rehearsal on time. Tracy arrives not knowing what time it is and announces that Liz is racist and treating him like a child. Liz challenges Tracy to behave better so he can be treated as an adult, but he responds by sending a gibbon to replace himself at rehearsal. Liz tells Tracy to arrive on time with his lines memorized the next day if he wants to be treated equally. Tracy retaliates by acting professionally but convincing everyone to treat Liz equally too, by making her lift heavy water jugs, passing gas near her, and inviting her to a strip club along with the other writers. Liz in turn stops Tracy from going to the strip club, noting that because he is acting so professionally he has to write notes for the upcoming script. Liz is uncomfortable at the strip club and Tracy hates writing all night so they agree to return to the "natural order" of things with both receiving preferential treatment.

Meanwhile, Jenna adopts the gibbon Tracy sends to rehearsal and treats it as her child. She dresses it in several costumes including a mariachi outfit, a tuxedo, and a sailor suit. In addition she buys the gibbon a baby doll, referring to herself as a "grandmother". At the end of the episode Jenna accidentally shakes the head off of the baby doll and the gibbon attacks her.

Jack is concerned for his mother. He tells Liz that the anniversary of his father abandoning their family is coming up and he is afraid of the effect it will have on Colleen. When Jack arrives at Colleen's hotel room to take her to dinner, however, he discovers she is staying with a man, Paul. Jack, worried she has been taken in by a con man in her time of grief, hires his private investigator Lenny Wosniak to look into his background. Wosniak cannot find anything distasteful in Paul's background, but tells Jack that he is married. Jack reveals this to his mother, but she says she knew and did not care. Colleen is also surprised that Jack thought the anniversary of Jimmy leaving would hurt her, noting that he had once left from the spring of 1957 until he came back and invited her to Some Like It Hot. Jack talks this over with Liz and comes to realize that as Some Like It Hot was released in 1959, Jimmy Donaghy cannot have been his biological father because Jack was conceived in 1958, during the period Jimmy had been absent.

Episode 21 - Mamma Mia:
Jack decides not to search for his biological father, after it was revealed in the previous episode that the man he believed was his father was not. Liz, however, convinces him to find out who his real father is, so Jack contact a private investigator to search for his biological father. Lenny gives him an envelope containing the names of three individuals who could be his father. Jack tells Liz about the envelope, and she suggests they Mamma Mia! this and bring the three men to New York under false pretenses, to which Jack agrees. At meeting the three men, Jack comes to the realization that Milton is his father, as George Park is Korean and Fred O'Dwyer lost his genitals in a grenade explosion during World War II. He tells Milton that he is his son, after Milton admitted to sleeping with his mother around the time Jack was conceived. Milton is happy to have him as his son, and reveals to Jack that he is in need of a kidney transplant.

Meanwhile, Tracy introduces his illegitimate son to the TGS staff. Liz and Pete suspect that Donald is embezzling Tracy as they do not believe that Donald is twenty-one years old, which Donald claims to be. Cerie obtains Donald's birth certificate and gives it to Liz and Pete; the two learn that Donald is forty years of age, thus confirming their suspicions about him. Liz tells Tracy about this, but Tracy knew all about Donald's scam, explaining he decided to go along with it because Donald was putting all of the money into a dojo and doing good for the community.

At the same time, Liz becomes jealous when Jenna takes credit for "That's A Deal Breaker, ladies!" catchphrase, resulting in Liz not getting recognition as she wrote the sketch. As a result of this, Jenna is named the "Funniest Person in New York" and seeing how Liz feels about this, Jenna decides to share a magazine cover with her. At the photo shoot, the photographer wants Jenna to use props for the shoot, but Jenna is reluctant to use any of them. Liz, however, decides to pose with the props, resulting in her being on the cover of Time Out, much to Jenna's displease.

Episode 22 - Kidney Now!:
Jack gets to know his newly discovered father but soon discovers Milton has a serious medical condition and is in search of a kidney donor. After discovering he is an unsuitable donor Jack uses his contacts: musicians Clay Aiken, Sara Bareilles, the Beastie Boys, Mary J. Blige, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, Wyclef Jean, Norah Jones, Talib Kweli, Cyndi Lauper, Adam Levine, Michael McDonald, Rhett Miller and Moby, to arrange a charity benefit entitled "Kidney Now!" in attempt to find a donor for Milton.

Meanwhile, Liz gains notoriety after making an appearance on The Vontella Show, along with Jenna, as a relationship expert after her "Dealbreaker" sketches on the fictitious comedy sketch TGS. As a result of the success she received as the relationship expert on The Vontella Show, Liz signs a book deal based on the sketch, and begins dispensing relationship advice to the female staff of TGS, and to Angie and Paula, the wives of TGS star Tracy and producer Pete, respectively. Though, Tracy and Pete are upset with the advice Liz gave to their wives.

At the same time, Tracy is invited to speak at Frank Lucas High School's, his former high school, graduation and Kenneth tries to help him overcome troubling memories from his high school experience. Kenneth persuades Tracy to go to the graduation, which he does, where Tracy gives his speech and receives an honorary diploma.

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