Grace Under Fire Episode Rating Graph

Libby wants to go to Washington on a class trip, but Grace can't afford to send her. A tornado has hit Victory and there has been much destruction: the church steeple blew off, and an armored car from the casino took a direct hit and money flew all over town. After the storm, Quentin finds a cloth bag by the house with two-hundred-thousand-dollars in it. Everyone has an idea about how they could use the money, but Grace makes it clear that they'll be returning it. The casino management calls a press conference to thank the Kellys for returning the money, but when Grace hands over the bag, twenty-thousand -dollars is missing. Grace is interrogated for hours. She's afraid Jimmy took the money, and Wade makes her furious by hinting that maybe she took it herself. But when Grace finds the missing money in the cookie jar, Jean confesses she took the money to help the church rebuild. As Grace returns the rest of the money, she cleverly tells a TV reporter that the casino has offered to pay f

Jean is upset, complaining that the new bridge will cut off Emmet's (grave) view of the river, so Grace suggests that she move the grave site. Jimmy and Quentin attempt to do that and Russell takes Dot to the gambling boat, but won't gamble.

Grace tells Quentin that he can't get a driver's license until he improves his grades just as Jimmy arrives driving a 1969 red GTO and announces that he bought the car for Quentin using Quentin's college fund to pay for it. Grace insists that Jimmy has to return the car and get the money back, but Jimmy suggests that maybe Quentin isn't really cut out for college. Quentin says he'll keep a straight A average if Grace will let him keep the car, but Grace won't hear of it. At the car lot Grace encounters Rob, a guy she's dated sporadically, and learns that he's the one that sold Jimmy the car; Rob agrees to resell the car, and Grace agrees to go out with him again. Rob tells Grace he hopes their relationship can move to another level, beyond a mere physical relationship to a committed one. Grace doesn't know how to respond; she tells Nadine she's not sure she wants anything more than what they already have--after all she doesn't have a great track record, but Rob is a smart, multi-facete

Jimmy's back in town to stay, and, on Grace's recommendation, he gets a job at the refinery, but his first day is a disaster, and Nadine and Wade say she shouldn't jeopardize her job for someone who used to treat her so badly; Grace, however, says that Jimmy's a different person than he was when they were married and he deserves to make a fresh start. Quentin goes to Jimmy for advice on dating, and he suggests that Quentin go on a practice date with a friend before asking out the girl he really likes. Grace goes to the motel where Jimmy's staying and finds Jean there with her son. Jimmy's depressed and thinks he'll lose his job (in reality, Grace's co-workers have been sabotaging him as revenge for the way he used to treat Grace) but he says he'll never leave his kids again. Jean reproaches Grace for all the ""lies"" she told about Jimmy abusing her, but Jimmy makes Jean face the fact that the things Grace said were true. And Grace is livid when she hears about Jimmy's advice to Quentin,

Grace and Russell are so bored with their lives that they decide to go out on a pretend date. Grace and the guys at the refinery learn that they've been fired and rehired as independent contractors which means they'll get no benefits. The guys decide to stage a group protest on the decision; they don't get their benefits back, but they do get free coffee. On her pretend date, Grace meets Rob, a very attractive man who she thinks would be great for cheap, meaningless sex, and agrees to go out with him, but when he comes to pick her up she discovers he's far too intelligent to use as a sex object, so they just go for coffee. And Wade and Nadine go back to the lakeside cottage where they spent their honeymoon, but all they do is go fishing.

Jimmy's back in town to stay, and, on Grace's recommendation, he gets a job at the refinery, but his first day is a disaster, and Nadine and Wade say she shouldn't jeopardize her job for someone who used to treat her so badly; Grace, however, says that Jimmy's a different person than he was when they were married and he deserves to make a fresh start. Quentin goes to Jimmy for advice on dating, and he suggests that Quentin go on a practice date with a friend before asking out the girl he really likes. Grace goes to the motel where Jimmy's staying and finds Jean there with her son. Jimmy's depressed and thinks he'll lose his job (in reality, Grace's co-workers have been sabotaging him as revenge for the way he used to treat Grace) but he says he'll never leave his kids again. Jean reproaches Grace for all the ""lies"" she told about Jimmy abusing her, but Jimmy makes Jean face the fact that the things Grace said were true. And Grace is livid when she hears about Jimmy's advice to Quentin,

Grace is going crazy trying to finish her paper on ""The Grapes of Wrath,"" and she keeps reminding Quentin that he also has a book report that's due. When Martha, one of Grace's classmates, says she's apartment hunting, Grace jumps at the chance to have her as a tenant. Martha moves in with her parrot, Ignatius, and Libby and Quentin are both charmed by her. Even Jean thinks she's great, but Wade says he thinks he's met her before but just can't place her until he sees the parrot and realizes that Martha is a stripper that he knows from patrolling the strip club where she works. Grace has no problem with Martha's profession and admires her efforts to continue her education. Grace encounters Mrs. Sheffield who tells her she's given Quentin a C+ on his ""Grapes of Wrath"" book report, and Grace confronts Quentin about stealing her work. And when Martha drops out of school and moves back to St. Louis without even saying goodbye to the kids, Grace feels Martha has let both them and her down a

Holiday festivities are underway in the Kelly household with Jean making her famous punch loaf to Grace's dismay and Jimmy's delight. Floyd is so much in the holiday spirit that he's giving away the entire inventory at the pharmacy, and an exasperated Russell decides to get rid of him by sending him on a cruise. Grace gets suspicious of Quentin's mellow mood and at first thinks that he's been drinking beer with his friends. When it dawns on her that he's been smoking pot, she fears that she's about to see him repeating all her teenage mistakes and decides that ""tough love"" is the only way to handle the situation.

When Grace isn't invited to Rick's weekend getaway because he has made plans with someone else, Grace decides to go Vegas for the weekend with Jean, Jean wins it big on the slots and Grace finds out she is only lucky for other people and not herself

With Grace at work all day and taking college classes at night, the kids are a little resentful that she's away so much and let Grace know it, and when she learns that the refinery will no longer pay for her classes it's the last straw. She knows she has no way to pay for her education, so when she learns that she can take a proficiency test to get many of the credits she needs, she's faced with a dilemma. She's scheduled to work the day of the test, and no one can switch with her, so it's her education or her dead-end job. Her co-workers remind her that she really needs her job--her children are depending on her, but the kids say they'll support whatever decision she makes. Grace actually shows up for work the day of the test, but a conversation with her boss, John Shirley, convinces her that she has do what she knows is the right thing and quit her job.

At the construction site, Grace feels the resentment of her co-worker, Derrick, who wanted the job Grace has. Grace, who has asked D.C. for more responsibilities, is surprised when her old pal Vic from the oil refinery shows up and says he's desperate for a job. D.C. leaves the decision to Grace, who's on the spot because she knows that Vic is lazy. Feeling sorry for him, she tells him he can have the job, but warns him he can't let her down. Vic immediately begins to slack off and Derrick is smug that Grace has made a poor decision on hiring Vic. D.C. warns her that Vic better shape up or they'll both be out on the street, and points out that Vic is now up on a scaffold without a safety harness eating his lunch, even though lunch hour is long over. He tells Grace to go up and have Vic come down. Grace has vertigo but reluctantly goes after Vic. She orders him to put on a harness and come down and as he does, he falls to the ground and is rushed to the emergency room. Also, D.C. somewh

Russell thinks all his friends are being disloyal because they're shopping at the new chain store pharmacy that's opened in the neighborhood. Libby is so involved in planning her birthday party that it's become an obsession, while Quentin is so eager to get a driver's license that he's letting Wade, Russell and even Jean give him driving lessons. Grace's back problems have gotten so bad that even Stevie Ray at the bar notices that she's in pain. She's taking more and more pills and is falling asleep so much that at one point Libby has trouble getting her to wake up. Nadine, Wade, Russell and Jean do a sort of intervention, and Grace reacts angrily and defensively. But when she realizes that Jake, the guy at the bar who's supported her in her pill consumption, is not a shoe salesman as she thought but really a drug dealer, she's so disgusted that she calls Jimmy and tells him she has a problem. Jimmy is completely supportive and promises to be there for her as she works through her prob

Libby visits the bridge construction site on a field trip and discovers that the Victory Tree that holds a significant place in the town's history is to be cut down. She's very upset, so Grace suggests she start a letter writing campaign to save the tree. Libby even stages a demonstration at the site, which makes D.C. irate that construction has been halted. He thinks the whole thing is Grace's fault because she's the one who suggested the field trip. Libby's amazed that Grace doesn't share her concern for the tree; but Grace tells her the bridge is important too, both for the town and for their family. A town meeting is called to discuss the fate of the tree. When D.C. tells everyone that the bridge represents thirty- million-dollars in revenue for the town, it's certain that the Victory Tree is doomed, but Grace demands that Libby also be allowed to have her say. Also, Russell has expanded his store and has built a fancy soda fountain. Russell used the town meeting as a chance to plu

Libby reminds Grace of their deal that if she could keep her goldfish alive for six months, Grace would buy her a dog. Tomorrow, Libby tells Grace, Fishy Fishman will be six months old, and a deal's a deal. Grace is willing to do anything in her powder to convince Libby that a dog isn't a good idea. Wade drops by to introduce Ted, his new partner. Grace tells Russell about Fishy Fishman's upcoming birthday, and Russell says a lot can happen overnight, but Grace warns him not to try anything.Wade and Ted return to Grace's and want to see Quentin; some kids climbed the fence of the Victory Country Club the previous night, went skinny-dipping in the pool, put lipstick on a statue of Ben Hogan and made off with some very expensive golf clubs. Against Wade's wishes, Ted insists on taking Quentin in and booking him unless he's willing to rat on his friends. At first Grace gives Wade a hard time until she finds out this isn't his idea. Jimmy shows up at the police station saying there's no wa

Grace buys some new clothes for the first time in years and the next day learns that her paycheck will be late because D.C. is having trouble getting his payroll money from the government. On the way home from work, Grace's car catches fire, and will need a couple thousand-dollar's worth of repair. Jean volunteers to loan her the money, but the bank tells Jean that her account, which is also in Jimmy's name, has insufficient funds. There is a two-thousand-dollar withdrawal that Jean knows nothing about. When Grace and Jean investigate, they learn that Jimmy took the money to purchase swans, which he'd been persuaded were going to be the next food craze. Not knowing that swans fly, he built a pen with no top, and the swans flew away along with Jean's money. Meanwhile, a burglar has been hitting pharmacies in Victory, and Wade persuades Russell to let him set up a stake-out. And Grace and D.C. are forced to go to the federal building in St. Louis to take on the bureaucrats to get the mon

Grace arrives home very late from her job in St. Louis and finds the kids still up, the house in disarray, Jean asleep on the sofa and Libby cleaning the kitchen. The next day Grace gets an unexpected work assignment and Libby must cancel her plans to go to the bookstore with Grace. Later they all go to a construction site where a bridge is being built, to see the large tractors. At the site, they're approached by an African American man who Jean thinks is about to mug them, but he's D.C., the owner of the company that's building the bridge. They talk briefly, and when Patrick gets his arm caught in a piece of equipment, D.C. rescues him and gives Grace some grief about working out of town and not being around for her kids. On Sunday night, as Grace is preparing to leave for St. Louis, she realizes it's getting more and more difficult for her to leave her family. When everyone gets up in the morning, Grace is there cooking breakfast. She's quit her job.

After years of doing improvements on her rental house, Grace learns that her landlord is putting it on the market. Grace and Nadine attempt to discourage potential buyers, but the house is sold. When Libby's ""pet"" squirrel bites her, Wade, Russell and Floyd round up all the neighborhood squirrels so the culprit can be identified and tested for rabies. Libby is devastated to learn that the rabies test required killing the squirrel, and she tearfully ""runs away"" to the deserted, ramshackle house across the street. Grace follows her there to console her, and after seeing the inside of the house, decides to buy it and fix it up.