Penultimate 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.
2 Reviews
The show really ended here - harshly but brilliantly
HillstreetBunz15 March 2023
This episode was brilliantly written. It deals with the reality of the situation that the comedy stems from. I.e. As Vince says to Will 'When are you gonna stop playing house with this woman (and commit to me)?'
Seen from twenty years distance it's of it's time. Nowadays, gay men may feel less inclined to attempt to create such a family because the possibility of a family as described by Vince (two guys raising a child that doesn't look like them) seems more possible. The fundamental truth of the relationship between will & Grace is that it was always substitutional. She was always gonna flee if a straight man beckoned her, and Will would always have lacked the courage to break free from her. I loved the show, and Debra Messing is a brilliant actress, but as a Gay man, I knew she was Wills problem not his solution (the writers knew it too and showed us that here). I enjoyed the reboots etc. But this was the real ending of the original convent from a narrative pov.
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