12. Verna

Complete story — includes the ending

Jenna learns that her mother Verna ( Jan Hooks ) has come to visit her. Not wanting to see her as she knows this will lead for Verna to ask for money, Jenna turns to Jack for help. Jack, who also does not get along with his mother Colleen ( Elaine Stritch ) shows Jenna a presentation on how to deal with overbearing mothers. Jenna, however, reconciles with her mother. Jack believes that Verna has an ulterior motive for making amends with Jenna. His suspicions are true when Verna admits that she made amends with Jenna solely to convince her to star in a reality show featuring them both. Jack pays Verna off to visit Jenna on a regular basis to make her daughter happy. Meanwhile, Frank moves in with Liz temporarily and the pair decide to make a pact to give up their bad habits: Liz's eating junk food and Frank's smoking. Liz has a hard time adjusting to not eating junk food, and suspects that Frank is still smoking, due to his calm behavior. She decides to hide a recording video camera equipped with night vision in her apartment. The next day, Liz watches the video, however, the footage shows her sleepwalking and eating large amounts of junk food, thus breaking the pact.