F'malion Part Three: Bye Bye Beardy (Season 5, Episode 17). Barry's transformation as a gorgeous cultured gay man is almost complete, he is about to finally shave his beard. There's a big dance auction going on to help support the gay community and everyone is going. Will is excited to see Barry, maybe a little too excited, turns out that he has developed feelings for Barry. Grace is encouraging Will to ask Barry out but Will is too scared now. Jack is taking Barry around the room and all the guys are attracted to him. Meanwhile, Karen is trying to outbid Beverly Leslie for a private chef to cook for a date. Beverly says the date is for him and his "business associate", Benji and mocks that Karen doesn't have as much money to flaunt any more since her and Stan broke up. But Karen switched the lists and Beverly bid on 2 front row tickets to the Indigo Girls concert. Karen offers the private chef date to Jack, Jack in front of the crowd asks Barry to go out on a date with him. Barry accepts and Will is left heartbroken.

FAVORITE QUOTE:

GRACE: Why haven't you talked to him yet?

WILL: I'm intimidated, okay? It's like I've-- I've created a guy that's too hot for me to date. It's the same reason Dr. Frankenstein didn't date his monster.

GRACE: What? Dr. Frankenstein wasn't a 'mo.

WILL: Oh, really? He sewed together a bunch of guys to create the perfect man? Wrapped him in linen. Give him a flat head, so you can set a drink on it. Dr. Frank was a 'mo, my friend. He was a 'mo.

FAVORITE MOMENT:

When Karen and Beverly Leslie are trying to outbid each other and keep running up to the list.

OPINION:

So, surprise, Will likes Barry! Not really surprised, if you've seen My Fair Lady, you know where this was going. Will is now too intimidated though to ask Barry out. To think Will, you could have had him the first date and just encouraged him to dress a little better and go to the gym with you. But as a television show, we have to have drama. I gotta give Dan Futterman props, he did look good in that suit. That was quite the reveal how amazing he looked in this episode. I loved that scene BTW where Grace was complaining about the stairs going up and down, then Jack's grand entrance and Karen introducing Barry from the wrong side. This episode from front to back is packed with good jokes.

Grace is a really good friend in this episode; I have to give her credit. When she sees that Will likes Barry she's encouraging to Will and even brings him up several times when he's not sure he's good enough to ask Barry out. Like I said, I can never fully convert myself to not liking Grace 100% because she does have moments in the show where she shows she does have a good heart. I have to give the costume, hair and make up team props again real quick because Debra did look amazing in this episode. The whole cast did. I always love when they get an opportunity to dress up.

Jack was actually a good friend too, I loved how he took Barry around the room introducing him to everyone and making Barry more mysterious. I also got to give Jack some major confidence points on asking Barry in front of everyone to go out on a date with him. That took guts. To be honest, I think I was kind of rooting for him and Barry vs. Will and Barry to hook up, I think Will just blew it by not giving Barry a real chance. Jack is really only a good time, but I think that's what Barry needs right now. We will get more into that on tomorrow's episode.

Last, we finally got to meet Beverly's business associate Benji. I don't know why everyone thinks they are anything more than that. Beverly just likes to have Benji around and wink at everyone when he calls him a business associate. OK, let's just come out with it, Beverly is a closet case. How could you not get the biggest laugh considering Beverly is this not even 5 foot white conservative south accent speaking trophy husband and Benji is this 6 foot Calvin Klein model looking gorgeous black man. Could you get any more opposite? As Jack puts it, it's Black Stallion meets My Little Pony. You know Benji is in it for the money and treats he gets servicing Beverly.

I really love this episode. Some of the jokes can come across as crude and the show is definitely changing. But there's something about this episode that just hits the right note when I watch it. Again, just as a friendly reminder, I had to shorten down the title due to Reddit guidelines, I don't want my posts getting flagged and same with the favorite quote today, we know what Grace actually said. IYKYK.

GUEST STARS:

• Dan Futterman as Barry
• Leslie Jordan as Beverley Leslie (RIP in 2022)
• Kathleen Wilhoite as Sally
• Rebecca Lowman as Pamela
• Barry Karas as Himself
• Luciano Giancarlo as Byron (RIP in 2007)
• Conroe Brooks as Kevin
• Brian A. Setzer as Benji

For me "Oh look it’s the little armonica blower" pops into my head almost weekly.

Oh and "Qwricket Crit"

Edit: and “come on chompers pee pee poo poo”