30 Rock Episode 7.13 Last Lunch

accepts the challenge to produce one final episode. She and Pete begin planning, realizing that Tracy may try to undermine the show to collect the penalty money. They meet Tracy in the hall. He seems to have something up his sleeve, but he's not revealing it. Liz heads to the writers' room to get them cracking on the script. Their first order of business is to order lunch. Following long-established protocol, the next person on the lunch picker's list is, to everyone horror, Lutz. He makes his choice quickly: Blimpies. The room groans collectively.

Jack surprises Liz in her office. He hated the awkward encounter earlier and has come to make amends before he goes away. But Liz wants none of Jack's soul-searching; she's got a show to produce. Jack's heartbroken. He seeks Jenna's counsel. She explains that Liz really can hold a grudge. Jack spirals emotionally. Through tears, he sobs to Jenna that he has so few people in his life; losing Liz is devastating. He doesn't know what to do.

Liz steps into the hallway to find the staff in chaos. On a nearby monitor, Al Roker is sounding the alarm: apparently a "snowicane" is descending on mid-town Manhattan. Liz smells a rat. She confronts Tracy about coercing Al Roker into making a false report. He admits it. The staff gets back to work; score that one for Liz. But Liz has another problem. A weepy Jack has entered the studio and is telling everyone goodbye. She consults with Pete, who notes that Jack's been giving his personal effects away. Perhaps he's suicidal. Pete says Jack's capable of it. Pete goes on to explain that a real man fakes his own death.

Back in the writers' room, the staff continues to try to thwart Lutz as the lunch picker. They try several procedural angles and tricks, but Lutz is ahead of them at every step. Finally, at 5:00 p.m., Liz returns to check on tonight's script, but the writing staff is crazed; they simply cannot crack Lutz. Lutz explains that for seven years he's been the butt of their jokes and today, revenge is his. Liz and the writers finally shove Lutz into Liz's office and lock him inside. Liz orders sushi for the staff from Nobu 57 and dessert from Make My Cake in Harlem. The writing staff cheers as Liz heads out to find Tracy, who's now gone missing.

Jack finds Liz once again. His mood is reflective and despondent. He tells her that her light always shone the brightest. He promises to watch the final show from somewhere. Liz is concerned about Jack's well-being but she has a million details to attend to. Foremost, she can't find Tracy. She quizzes Grizz and Dotcom, but they profess ignorance. But when he finds out Tracy's promised to give Grizz more of the penalty money than him, Dotcom tells Liz where Tracy's gone: the strip club.

Liz enters the strip club, Dark Sensations, and finds Tracy on stage singing and cavorting with two dancers. She tells him to come down. They sit at a table and Tracy explains that he's run away not because he wants the penalty money, but because he really doesn't want to say goodbye. His own father abandoned him as a child, claiming to head out for a pack of cigarettes but never returning. Tracy's never really known how to say goodbye. Liz explains that they'll stay friends and get together. Tracy doesn't believe her. Liz gets real. She tells Tracy that they were forced to work together and that she wore him out. She loves him and will miss him, but tonight might be it. Tracy appreciates the honesty. He agrees to come back and do the show, right after the "Skank Train" act is over.

Back in the writers' office, the magnificent food spread has arrived. The staff begins chanting and cheering. Liz, feeling bad about locking Lutz in her office, opens the door, only to find no sign of him. She looks up and realizes he's escaped through the ceiling. Before she can warn the staff to cover the food, Lutz falls through the ceiling, right onto the spread. "Blimpies," he mutters triumphantly. Defeated, Liz instructs Cerie to order from Blimpies.

The show is in the final stages of preparation. Pete divulges some more details of how a man intent on killing himself might act. Liz realizes that Jack may indeed be looking to kill himself. She rushes up to Jack's office to find a note on the remote control instructing her to press play. Jack's taped a goodbye message for her, a video suicide note. Liz rushes out of the office, intent on stopping Jack from doing himself in.

Pete sneaks out a fire door, prepared for his new post-death life. Tracy wanders the studio floor saying his final goodbyes and hugging staffers. But when he gets to Jenna, Tracy can't bring himself to say an honest goodbye. Evoking his own traumatic childhood, he tells Jenna's he's going out for cigarettes and will be back in 15 minutes.

Liz finds Jack on the docks, standing on the rail. She yells at him that he has so much to live for. But he pays her no heed and jumps off toward the water. Screaming, Liz rushes forward only to see that Jack hasn't thrown himself into the water at all - he's simply landed on the deck of his new boat. He explains to Liz that he's heading off to go find what makes him happy. He tells her he's already realized 1) he'd make a great boat model and 2) he feels love for her (though he can't quite get himself to use the word). Liz tells Jack she loves him too. Jack motors out on his voyage of self-discovery. But within a few moments, he's already had another epiphany: clear dishwashers! It's his best idea ever. He announces he's turning around.

Back in the studio, the final show comes to a close. Tracy, surrounded by the cast and crew, thanks the audience and throws to Jenna for the final number. Jenna renders "Rural Juror" with all her heart. In an epilogue, we flash forward a year later to see a fit Pete out running in rural Carolina. His wife Paula drives up and busts him on faking his own death. Then we see Jenna on stage accepting someone else's Tony award, then flashing her breasts before scooting off the stage. In another vision we see Grizz on the set of his sitcom, an inherited bed and breakfast. Liz Lemon is his producer. Between takes, Liz gets a reminder on her phone: it's Tracy's birthday. She calls her former star; he's got great news: his long-lost father has finally come back from his errand to get cigarettes. Lastly, we see Jack, back in his CEO office, calling Liz to remind her about Tracy's birthday. He's got a gorgeous new second assistant working in the outer office. It's as if he's died and gone to heaven. We widen out to see Kenneth watching the whole scene in his snow globe. We're in the distant future hearing a pitch for a sitcom to take place at 30 Rock as described to him by a nervous young producer, the great granddaughter of Liz Lemon. "I love it," Kenneth tells her.