Respawn (30 Rock)


"Respawn" is the and season finale of the fifth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 103rd overall episode of the series. It was directed by Don Scardino, and written by Hannibal Buress and Ron Weiner. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company network in the United States on May 5, 2011. Guest stars in this episode include Victor Garber, Chris Parnell, Will Forte, Adriane Lenox, and Ina Garten.
In the episode, TGS head writer Liz Lemon has her vacation ruined when Tracy Jordan shows up; Jack Donaghy uses Kenneth Parcell to get over the abduction of his wife Avery ; Jenna Maroney has to choose between her role as spokeswoman for the Wool Council and her relationship with Paul ; and the TGS writers are engaged in a continuous session.

Plot

With the fifth season of TGS with Tracy Jordan over, and having been fined for incurring a hate crime against what the council is claiming to be a "Jewish tree" in the previous episode, Liz Lemon escapes to The Hamptons for a relaxing summer vacation. However, her peace and quiet is disturbed when she discovers that Tracy Jordan is staying in the house next door to hers and plans on having a disruptive summer full of loud partying.
Meanwhile, Jack Donaghy is coming to terms with the abduction of his wife Avery by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il and he begins to grow very close to Kenneth Parcell as he seeks to fill the void left in his life. Elsewhere, Jenna Maroney has been made honorary spokeswoman of the Wool Council but her new employer Eugene Gremby warns her that her relationship with crossdresser Paul creates an unwholesome image that the council doesn't wish to be associated with.
Back at TGS, the writers celebrate the end of the season by having a marathon, in which they each avoid being killed by one of the others by purposefully dying and "respawning". In order to get away from Tracy, Liz refuses to pay her fine and is sentenced to community service all summer, whilst Kenneth is forced to literally take on the role of Avery in order to make Jack see what he is doing to him, and Jenna decides that her relationship with Paul is more important than the Wool Council. With the summer over, Liz returns to TGS to find the writers still playing Halo: Reach.

Reception

According to the Nielsen Media Research, this episode of 30 Rock was watched by 4.20 million households in its original American broadcast. It earned a 2.1 rating/6 share in the 18–49 demographic. This means that it was seen by 2.1 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 6 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast.