30 Rock Season 6 Episode 8 Recap: The Tuxedo Begins
Liz has had it with New York, she has a horrible cold and is slow to act when she needs to get out of the subway. People pile in, keeping her from getting out at her stop. Liz decides everyone in New York is rude and ill-mannered and don’t follow the rules anymore. Liz decides she’s going over to the dark side and give out what she gets from her fellow New Yorkers. Liz is tasked with playing Jenna’s old self in a TGS spot and decides to use the old lady outfit to her advantage. Liz sets out to freak out other subway passengers and discovers she gets a seat with no one near her by acting crazy.
Jack and Liz talk on the phone walking to work, Liz because she got off on the wrong stop and Jack because the Joint Pain Walkathon participants are slowing him down. As Jack walks down a dark alley towards 30 Rock he is mugged by a middle-aged white guy with a knife purchased from Eddie Bauer. Jack’s fear leads him to live in his office instead of getting back out on the streets and to run for Mayor of New York so he can fix the city’s problems. Jack hires private detective Len Wazniak (Guest star Steve Buscemi) to find out who his mugger is. Tracy can’t take it and tells Jack he’s been mugged many times since he was a kid, the only way to face your fear is to get back out there.
Jenna is waiting impatiently for Paul to arrive back home after a tour with his drag nightclub show. Jenna tells Liz she and Paul will have outrageous sex when he gets back home since they have both been deprived during this time. Paul arrives home exhausted and as he lies on the bed to catch a five minute nap he and Jenna fall asleep instead. Jenna is shocked that they did not have sex and decides this state of being should be called “normaling” where they have vile sexual thoughts while doing mundane day-to-day activities. Jenna and Paul decide to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to buy for their home and continue their normaling deviant thoughts. At work Jenna shares her new racy normaling with Pete who tells her all couples live in normaling, which shocks Jenna.
Liz continues to use her old lady costume to freak people out on the streets and in the subway, and to drive other movie watchers away in movie theaters. Liz is going against all her rules to live by, finding power by acting out her aggressions against the lack of civility in New York. Jack runs into Liz on the top of the 30 Rock building. Liz wants to rule New York with her newfound crazy ways while Jack wants to rule the old New York he knew and loved. Tracy convinces Jack he is afraid of going back out on the streets of New York. Jack ventures out into the streets where he is accosted by Liz dressed in her costume and looking for money for a movie while Jack thinks she is someone trying to mug him again. Jack knocks Liz down and he realizes New York is ok without him in charge and he is no longer afraid of the city. Liz realizes New York doesn’t follow any rules and decides to live with it.
Paul and Jenna decide to bed anyone they want over the next three months: if they still feel the way they do now, they are meant to be together forever. Paul and Jenna kiss on the streets of New York; Paul dons a long pink wig and runs off completely naked from the waist down as Jeanna smiles.
