30 Rock: The Bubble

Posted by: Jeff Anseeuw  •  March 26, 2009 @ 3:44pm

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Liz lemon goes uptown to meet up with her boyfriend, the handsome and successful Dr. Drew. She notices some strange things happen when Drew is around. People treat him incredibly well, and he always gets his way without being demanding or ever being involved in conflict. A table suddenly opens up for them at the hottest restaurant in town, random strangers compliment him on his appearance, he gets out of a parking ticket just by smiling at the (male) ticketer, and Calvin Klein sees him on the street and offers to make him his next underwear model. Too many good things to be mere coincidence she thinks, although she doesn't understand the reason for it.

Back at 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan's contract for TGS is about to expire and Jack has decided to personally handle the negotiation of a new one. He doesn't want Tracy to leave, and thinks that the personal-touch will be the key to success because Tracy doesn't need money- he made millions on his video game (and then invested it all in a company that dismantles bank signs- "They are doing very well" says Jack). He opens up by offering him a 3% raise just to get the ball rolling and to his delight, Tracy agrees. A relieved Jack then mentions that since money isn't a requirement for Tracy anymore he is glad that he wants to stay with the TGS "family". Dot-com tries to stop jack, but it is too late. Tracy apparently had never realized that his fortune meant that he didn't NEED to work on the show. Once Jack inadvertently points it out to him, he promptly stands up, quits, and leaves the building.

Liz comes to talk to Jack about the odd goings-on with Drew. He tries to tell her that negotiations with Tracy are ongoing but Kenneth spills the beans that Tracy quit. Liz taunts Jack a little that he screwed up and it blew up in his face for once rather than hers. She does have a show coming up though and needs Tracy back for it....so she tells him to "get it done!". Afterwards, he explains that because Drew is fantastic looking, he exists in a "bubble" with all other amazingly good looking people wherein they are treated differently than regular people. Liz spends more time with Drew and realizes that Jacks explanation is actually true. She comes to realize that Drew is actually pretty horrible at everything he thinks he is good at- Tennis, cooking, sex......even being a doctor (when he cant save her from choking on a piece of food). That proves the other part of Jacks explanation, too.....that no one tells people in the "bubble" the truth about their abilities. Liz does an experiment with Drew to show him that his looks are paving the way for an easy existence and he tells her that he doesn't want to live that way.

Tracy turns the living room of his house into a recording studio and keeps demanding that his family dote on him the way that Kenneth used to when he was at work. Jack calls Tracy's family to his office to see if they have any insight as to how he can convince Tracy to come back to work, but they don't. They just say that Tracy is driving them crazy at home and that he needs to come back to work ASAP. Jack learns that Kenneth has still been doing chores for Tracy and tells him to stop taking his calls, trying to get the advantage back in negotiations.

Liz beats the tar out of Drew in tennis to show him that he isn't as good as he thinks he is. He throws a tantrum (and his racket) and calls her a cheater before storming off the court. Later he comes to visit Liz on his new motorcycle. He apologizes for his behavior and asks her to come on a ride with him. He tells her that he wants to keep living in the "bubble" for as long as he can, and that he wants Liz in there with him. She regretfully tells him that it isn't going to work out between them in that case as she doesn't want to live a lie-even a really good looking one. He then rides off, crashing into virtually every parked car on the street and nearly causing several accidents- turns out he is a horrible motorcycle rider, too.

Tracy comes to 30 Rock looking for Kenneth who has been ducking his calls under orders from Jack. Kenneth cracks under the pressure and agrees to continue to look after Tracy, costing Jack his most powerful bargaining chip. Just as it looks as if Tracy is gone for good, Jack hits on the solution- he tells Kenneth that he is no longer needed as an NBC page now that Tracy is gone. Kenneth freaks out over losing his job and Tracy makes a deal with Jack that if he comes back to work, Jack has to rehire Kenneth, too. Just like that, Tracy is back, the show will go on, and it cost Jack nothing more than the 3% raise he initially offered.

Tags: 30 rock, Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, tracy morgan

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