30 Rock Season 5 Episode 1: The Fabian Strategy
The fifth season of 30 Rock starts with Liz and Jack comparing notes on their love life, which both seem to be going well for a change. Jack raves about his relationship with Avery and their four-week vacation on Paul Allen’s yacht. Jack doesn’t even mind their power struggle over wallpaper vs paint when redecorating after Avery moved into Jack’s place, nothing bursts Jack’s love bubble. Liz tells Jack about Carol (Guest star Matt Damon) who visits twice a month, happy enough that Carol stays as a hotel and Liz stays with him. Liz assures Jack when Carol is not around she keeps herself safe at home by wearing a Life Alert button. Jack tells Liz a hotel tryst is more like a prostitute, she needs to have Carol stay at her place and rev up their relationship.
Tracy talks to the head page, thinking it is Kenneth. When the new head page corrects Tracy, he realizes he can’t stop thinking about his friend Kenneth. Tracy see Kenneth everywhere and misses him. Pete tells Liz he is panicking over Jenna’s five year contract stipulations kicking in. Pete tells Liz Jenna’s contract says in fine print she is to become TGS’ newest producer. Liz and Pete are horrified at the thought of Jenna in charge.
Liz realizes she needs to have a real, adult relationship with Carol. When Carol calls Liz about the next visit, he asks if he can stay at her place, all the hotel rooms of his favorite hotel are booked in town. Liz agrees, then storms off to see meddling Jack, who booked all the rooms in advance.
Pete discovers Jenna is a great producer, totally organized, and handles all the dirty work he hates to do. Pete tells Liz he has time to relax finally in his job and loves having Jenna as a producer. Jenna fires an old woman who has been with NBC for decades and no one else would dare fire. Jenna enjoys her producer job and starts looking into ways to cut back on the budget and save TGS money.
Tracy walks in front of CBS and runs into Kenneth, who is working for Late Show With David Letterman and is thrilled to see Mr. Jordan. Kenneth cannot convince Tracy he is real and not a hallucination, finally throwing himself into traffic so Tracy sees he is real. As Kenneth lies on top of a cab, Tracy is overjoyed to see the real Kenneth again.
Jenna discovers the TGS budget cannot afford an extra producer position and tells Pete she must resign to save TGS money. Pete is reluctant at first, but finally agrees that Jenna has found the best way to save TGS’ budget.
Jack wants to meet with Avery’s home decorator to discuss wallpaper vs paint. Jack tells Liz Avery’s decorator is gay and he will use his awesome attractiveness to convince the decorator that paint is the way to go. Jack meets in his office with the decorator and proceeds to flirt and prance in front of him to sway his opinion.
Carol is staying at Liz’ place and they both find it a little awkward. Carol and Liz compare notes, realizing they love the same things: they both have the same idea about what to do with Palestine; the cooking show The Barefoot Contessa; Muppets at awards shows; sweater weather; they both hate Geico’s branding commercials; and when Frank asks Liz and Carol what they would choose, wearing a shirt made of pubic hair or would they rather be single for the rest of their lives, they both choose the pubic hair shirt. After more awkward moments, Carol breaks down crying and confesses he wants a big boy relationship, not a part-time relationship. Liz tries to comfort Carol as he cries into her lap and she pats him on the back. In the morning, Carol has another meltdown, his head down on the breakfast table crying about relationships, while Liz comforts him by patting his back and trying to sneak her morning cereal.
Liz meets up with Jack in his office where Liz tells Jack about Carol’s crying jags during his visit. Jack tells Liz he and the decorator came to a decision together to knock down the wall instead of wallpaper or paint it. Liz wonders out loud if Avery didn’t have this in mind all along, and Jack agrees, becoming even more enamored of his girlfriend’s clever ways.
