Grace Under Fire
Season 4
TV-PG
After divorcing her abusive, alcoholic husband and recovering from her own alcoholism, Grace tries to rebuild her life and protect her children from making the same mistakes. Against this serious backdrop, this show is actually a comedy, finding humor in the relationships between Grace and her co-workers at the oil refinery, her neighbors Wade and Nadine, and bachelor pharmacist Russell Norton.
Where to Watch Season 4
25 Episodes
- Neither a Borrower or a Roofer Be
E2Neither a Borrower or a Roofer BeWade inspects Grace's new house and says it's in bad shape. Russell lends her the money to take care of it. Jean also offers to lend the money for the roof and can be considered rent if Grace will let her move in. Grace discovers that Jean has been lying about her full social life, so invites her to move in. - Quentin Returns
E3Quentin ReturnsQuentin returns from spending the summer with Jimmy in Ohio. He upset that his father made him return to Grace's and believes it's because Jimmy was tired of being 'daddy'. Grace tries to get Jimmy to repair things by talking to Quentin, but Jimmy has decided to move back to be closer to the kids. - Grace and Sailor Bob
E4Grace and Sailor BobDougie moves into Grace's garage apartment, and it soon becomes apparent that he's a forty-two year old man who still needs his mother. Grace comes up against a brick wall in her attempts to communicate with Quentin. Libby gets a present from the sailor she's writing to as part of a class project and confesses to Grace that she's never told him her age; Grace says Libby will have to stop the deception, but it's too late as sailor Bob arrives in the Kelly's driveway. Grace is determined to straighten everything out until she gets a look at Bob; she then says she's Libby and goes on a date with Bob to a Star Trek convention, but Libby resents that she's lost her new friend to Grace, and Grace finally tells Bob what's really going on. - Dating Buddies
E5Dating BuddiesRussell and Grace think everyone's life is more exciting than theirs, so they decide to go on a date together. The refinery gets rid of everyone as employees, but hires them back as 'independent contractors', meaning a slight raise but no benefits. Grace makes plans to go out with the smarmy guy she met while out with Russell, but that's only his bar personality. He's actually well-read, nice, interested in kids, etc. - The Ghost and Mrs. Kelly
E6The Ghost and Mrs. KellyGrace finds some of Mrs. Walker's old dresses and tells Libby she can use one of them for a Halloween costume. Jean's chairlift suddenly stops working, and Wade agrees to have a look at the wiring in the house, but Libby says that Mrs. Walker's ghost, who she claims to have seen around the house, probably has something to do with the problem. Grace meets Tom at a Halloween party and then learns that he's Reverend Maxwell from Jean's church--the minister that Jean's always raving about. Tom Maxwell stops buy and asks Grace out on a date; she accepts and they have a terrific evening and a great conversation in which Grace encourages Tom to have the courage to pursue his dreams. Patrick tells Grace that there's a ghost outside, and an unbelieving Grace gives him a water pistol and tells him to squirt the ghost, but when she and Libby find a warm pie in the backyard and no one else is around, even Grace begins to wonder. When Reverend Maxwell turns in his resignation at the church, Jean ho - Redeeming Jimmy
E8Redeeming JimmyJimmy'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, - The Show-Me State
E9The Show-Me StateWhen Libby's poem wins the ""Why I Love My State"" contest, Grace, Nadine and Libby go to New York for the national competition. Rick follows Grace to New York to tell her that he's about to get married but will call it off if she still has feelings for him. Libby meets a cute boy who's also a contestant and tells Grace she wants him to win; Grace's tells her she's disappointed that Libby would lose her competitive spirit for the sake of a boy's approval. And Grace tells Rick that she still loves him but that their feelings for each other apparently aren't enough for them to have a life together. They regretfully part, unsure if they'll ever see each other again. - Fire Music
E10Fire MusicGrace, Libby and Nadine are still in New York, and Grace is obsessing that she's somehow failed to make this the perfect trip for Libby. Back in Victory, Russell is taken over babysitting chores, and, though he's wary of Quentin, it's Patrick who inflicts the torture. When Grace accidentally locks herself along with Libby and Nadine out on their hotel room balcony, Terry, a handsome fireman, comes to their rescue, but Grace is irritated by his condescending attitude toward out-of-towners. Later, at a jazz club Terry recommended, Grace is surprised to see him on-stage performing. Grace and Terry spend the evening together at his place where Grace meets Terry's son Robby who's just been dropped off by Terry's ex-wife. Grace marvels at how much she and Terry have in common but thinks that starting a long-distance relationship after just having her heart broken by Rick would be insane. - Grace Tests Out
E11Grace Tests OutWith 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. - A Holly, Jolly Christmas
E12A Holly, Jolly ChristmasHoliday 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. - Matthew's Old Lady
E13Matthew's Old LadyWhen Matthew shows up at Grace's and announces he's about to marry Joan, a woman old enough to be his mother who also happens to be pregnant, Grace tries to keep her cool, especially when Matthew tells her his adoptive mother has no objections. But when Grace speaks to Emily, she learns that the only reason she didn't object was that Matthew seemed so adamant about marrying this woman. As the wedding day gets nearer, Joan confesses to Grace that although she definitely wants the baby, she doesn't want to marry Matthew in spite of how determined he seems to go through with the marriage. When Grace confronts Matthew about Joan's feelings, Matthew says he wants to marry Joan because he won't abandon this child. Grace understands that Matthew feels on some level that he himself was abandoned by her, and she tells him that he can still be very much a part of the baby's life without marrying the baby's mother. - Grace of Wrath
E14Grace of WrathGrace 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 - Wade's Partner
E15Wade's PartnerLibby 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 - Pills
E16PillsRussell 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 - Waiting for Peugeot
E17Waiting for PeugeotGrace 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 - Birthin' Babies
E18Birthin' BabiesGrace brings Rob home to meet her kids just as Nadine announces that the baby's on it's way; Wade's off on an undercover assignment so Grace has to take her to the hospital, leaving Rob alone with Libby and Patrick. Grace and Nadine reminisce about how Nadine was always around when Grace delivered all her kids. Grace flashes back to how Jimmy stole hundreds of dollars worth of toys as presents for Quentin and is caught by the police and how she had to take baby Quentin to the county jail so his dad could see him for the first time. Grace and Nadine arrive at the hospital, and Wade is still nowhere to be found; Grace takes over as Nadine's Lamaze coach. Grace flashes back to when Libby was born and Nadine took her to the hospital because Jimmy wanted to go hunting. Grace tries to coach Nadine, who's in great pain, as Grace remembers when Patrick was born, and again it's Nadine who's with her, not Jimmy. On the way to the delivery room Nadine says she's changed her mind about having this
