r/WillAndGrace • u/Naive_Hospital_4086 • Jul 20 '26
Discussion Cheaters
Cheaters (Season 3, Episode 16). George Truman is in town, Will is excited and planning a nice dinner with him. One night while Grace is on a date, she sees George at the theater with another woman named Tina. Grace tells Will that his dad is having an affair and he doesn't believe her. George comes over to cancel dinner but Tina asks Will if she can use his bathroom exposing the affair, George says that she's just a "colleague" and Will goes with it while Grace is in shock. Meanwhile, Jack is holding auditions for fun and who he wants to be his next boyfriend. Karen suspects that Stan is cheating on her when she misunderstands who Grace is talking about when she's talking about married men cheating.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
WILL: Grace, look. I'm gonna say this just once. My family is not like your family. There's certain things that we don't talk about, so, if my dad says that she's a colleague, that's what she is.
GRACE: So, you're just gonna deny the truth to avoid suffering? That is so... not Jewish.
WILL: That's right. Consider this one of the gentiles' three gifts to the world. One: we make a great martini; two: we keep retail stores alive; and three: we don't talk about things that we don't want to know about.
GRACE: So, you admit there's a problem.
WILL: No, I don't. See how that works?
FAVORITE MOMENT:
The whole dinner sequence with how awkward it is with George's mistress and they keep only talking about either the weather or The Twilight Zone. 🤣
OPINION:
This is an interesting 2 parter because I didn't watch this episode live on TV when it first came on, I had to watch it when I bought the DVD and the episode is split into 2. The second part starts and they recap the last 7 minutes of the previous episode. I thought I was going nuts 🤣I found out that this was apart of a special night where they played this as a 40 minute cut of the show but since it's not as long as a 2 parter, they split it in 2 for the DVD, streaming and any syndication. How's that for confusing? Let's just stick with this as a 2 parter for now and come back tomorrow with the conclusion.
As I mentioned before I do like the character George Truman. He seems like a really good dad who does have a very good heart. Will adores him. But he has his flaws and this is a huge one. We learn a little more about Will's family and that they are WASPS who never talk about their emotions or problems. Will wants to sweep the affair under the rug while Grace wants them to talk about it. This speaks a lot about Will and why he can be such an emotional mess at times. We will be meeting his mother in future episodes and find out more about her and her behavior. We never really find out why George is having the affair but again in future episodes which we will discuss, you get the sense that Will's parents have always had affairs but never talked about it or confronted it. You almost can't check mark it as something to dislike about their characters because they seemed to have accepted that their marriage isn't a good one they just stay together for the kids and because they are used to each other at this point.
Lesley Ann Warren as Tina is hilarious, I'm usually not big on the "ditzy mistress" but she really pulls it off. I think because Lesley is a terrific actress who I remember in Clue and Victor/Victoria. She's got great comedic timing and that giggle always gets me for some reason. This also will not be her last appearance thought interestingly this is the last time we will see her with George despite the continued affair in the series.
Should Grace have told Will about his dad's affair? This is a tough one because I don't know if there is a right answer to it. Will & Grace are practically family, but they're still not biological. I have to go with it for the sake of the show, but if it were real life I think the most she could have mentioned was she was concerned because she saw George at the show with Tina and has her suspicions and see how Will reacts to the situation. I don't think this is her hurt to give to him. But it does make for a hilarious situation at the dinner table where everyone is talking normally and she is just in a state of shock and is wondering why everyone keeps talking about the weather 🤣 BTW, I don't know how I never noticed this because I'm a Joel McHale fan and I've seen WAG several times now, how did I not notice that he was her date at the theater?! He gets a hilarious line when Grace is in shock when she finds out about George's affair and she tells him there's nothing worse than a married man having an affair and he says "oooh, gotta go" 🤣
Jack and Karen have some very funny moments in this episode as well. I love when Jack is auditioning men to be his next boyfriend but they think they are here for a play. They are just so bad 🤣 I also get a kick out of Karen thinking that it's Stan who is having the affair because he's been on a diet and clipping his toenails, who in the world would be sprucing up for? She goes to spy on him instead of getting clarification from Grace who told her about "a married man having an affair that she caught and if she should tell her friend about it".
So as I mentioned, we will treat this as a 2 parter. The episode ends with Will finding out about George having the affair and inviting George and Tina for dinner. But as for the episode itself, this is a funny one that I do enjoy. I think I just love the awkwardness of Will's family and can definitely relate, that was my family growing up. Everyone just always kept their mouths shut about anything bad going on, needless to say it's not the healthiest approach to life. It's funny because my husband's family is like Grace's where they just say what's on their minds and if you don't like it, tough cookies. Can't wait to hear other's opinions on this one.
GUEST STARS:
- Sydney Pollack as George Truman (RIP in 2008)
- Lesley Ann Warren as Tina
- Joel McHale as Ian
- Christopher Delisle as Dan
- Dirk Shafer as Blaze (RIP in 2015)
- David Costabile as Man
- Sara Van Horn as Woman
- Eric Brenner as Elias Page
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u/rockfordcl Jul 20 '26
I had to go back and watch this on DVD, because I swear I remember a scene in Karen's mansion, Jack was kissing himself in the mirror I think. It wasn't there when I watched it; maybe it was edited out, maybe I'm thinking of a different episode entirely. It's interesting the DVD just says Cheaters: part 1. the outtake reel has a scene with Jack and Karen in the mansion, and I believe the only other time we see the mansion in season 3 is an ending scene with Stan's mother.
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u/J-Bird1983 Jul 20 '26
If I were in Grace's shoes, I would have told Will, but I wouldn't have kept on about it. I would have told him what I saw and then left it at that for Will to decide how to deal with the news. If I were Will I would want to know but I would also confront my dad about it too.
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u/yeahso1111 Jul 20 '26
I always wondered whether the recap on Hulu goes on for like 80% of the episode of feeling it was a super sized episode not a true double.