"Will & Grace" Whatever Happened to Baby Gin? (2006)

Director:

James Burrows

Writers:

David Kohan (creator) &
Max Mutchnick (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Will & Grace" (1998)

Original Air Date:

11 May 2006 (Season 8, Episode 22)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Vince has a surprise for Will that causes him to question his commitment to Grace and the baby. Meanwhile, the gang learns that Karen has a long-lost sister, and Jack has a party for the premiere of his new TV show. |

Plot Keywords:

Gay Character | Gay | Lawyer | New York | Best Friend

Cast

Eric McCormack	...	Will Truman
Debra Messing	...	Grace Adler
Megan Mullally	...	Karen Walker
Sean Hayes	...	Jack McFarland
Shelley Morrison	...	Rosario Salazar
Bobby Cannavale	...	Vince D'Angelo
Bernadette Peters	...	Gin
Josh Lucas	...	Josh Lucas
Charles C. Stevenson Jr.	...	Smitty (as Charles C. Stevenson)

Runtime:

28 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

KoMut Entertainment

Quotes:

Karen: Oh. It's easy to get caught up. You spin the spinner and call your spot. Twister will tie you up in a knot.

Movie Connections:

References Jaws (1975)

Selflessness, selfishness, giving out and giving up...

Next-to-last episode of "Will & Grace" allows the show's underrated leads (Eric McCormack and Debra Messing) to do some of the best acting they had ever done on the series. McCormack, in particular, drops the fa-la-la charade and gets us to see Will's frustration over being Grace's caretaker/keeper/mother-father-sibling, as well his confusion and anger about his own passive-aggressive nature (you can see where it has gotten him). Grace, unmarried and pregnant, finds out through a chance meeting with a friend that her ex-husband has called off his engagement and moved to Rome. Not seeing how chasing after Leo would affect Will (who has appointed himself the baby's "only father"), she decides to hop a flight to Italy--while Will has just left his lover after being forced to choose between his boyfriend and his best friend (perhaps his real soul mate). The emotions that come to a head in this episode practically make the looming series finale irrelevant. Telling Grace, "I can't believe I was stupid enough to put you first," Will's explosion reveals so many ugly truths (jealousy, possessiveness, helplessness) that the writing just about obliterates the sitcom shell. It's that precise shell (and it's unreal world of funny narcissists) which, in my opinion, kept "Will & Grace" from becoming a compulsively watchable TV show. Yes, the writing was pretty much always sharp, sometimes two steps ahead of the audience, but the characters were outlines for the bitchy humor (supporting characters Jack and Karen got the majority of the critical kudos because of this). Here, the main characters, Will and Grace, reclaim the heart of the show, and it was about time. Elsewhere, Bernadette Peters carries on the torch of celebrities appearing in kooky guest bits, yet Peters puts herself right out there as Karen's heretofore unseen sister (she follows Demi Moore, Chita Rivera, Madonna, Michele Lee, and even Britney Spears in reinventing herself as a flexible cut-up willing to go out on a limb for the sake of an outlandish laugh). Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes had their dramatic hugs the episode before this (a smart move), leaving this installment available for the leads to shine. They do.