‘Will & Grace’ & Karen & Jack Take a Final Bow (Again) in Series Finale (RECAP)
Finale
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the series finale of Will & Grace, “It’s Time.”]
It’s time to say goodbye to Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing), Karen (Megan Mullally), and Jack (Sean Hayes) once again — and for Grace to have her baby in the series finale.
It’s a half hour of laughter and callbacks, dreams coming true and special guest stars. Who got their happily ever after? Read on to find out.
It’s Time! (Maybe?)
The final Will & Grace episode opens up with Will packing up the apartment, and Karen mistaking the portrait on the wall for him. “It’s not me,” he insists, not for the last time. “It’s just some sad, gay man that bums everybody out.” Grace interrupts to inform them “It’s time,” and everyone promptly panics, leading Will to realize no one read his email (subject: “Operation Baby — Read. Important. I Mean It, Guys”).
That means it’s probably a good thing it was a false alarm. “I’m used to false alarms from hysterical women,” Jack says. (Apparently his mother had a panic attack when her DVR didn’t record Chicago Fire.) The doctor recommended Grace walk around and exercise to induce labor, so Will expects the baby to never be born. Grace, too, asks Will about the “self-portrait,” remembering the day he put it up, and he insists they don’t reminisce. He wants to focus on moving forward.
Then Estefan (Brian Jordan Alvarez) comes running in. The stage manager from Jack’s Broadway play called. Sailor number 5 can’t go on, and that means Jack … only has to hope that the other three understudies ahead of him can’t either. “It’s so close!” Jack exclaims. “My dream of taking a bow on a Broadway stage is only a car accident, a death in the family, and a respiratory infection away from coming true!”
(Chris Haston/NBC)
Karen receives an email from Stan requesting that she meet him at the top of the Statue of Liberty, the site of their first date. But while he may still be in love with her and want her back, she’s adopted Will’s attitude and is moving forward.
It’s Time! (Really!)
Instead, she’s going to say goodbye to Stan, with the others joining her. Grace hopes climbing the steps will bring on the baby, while Jack wants a distraction from his potential Broadway debut, especially after the next two understudies fall ill. (He also spends the episode wondering if he still has jobs as a bar owner or a nurse and at the rec center.)
Will’s resolve not to look back is tested when the TV in the cab shows a news report about McCoy (Matt Bomer) returning to New York.
Just as Karen declares that she doesn’t care who Stan ends up with, the cab driver asks if she’s sure about that. It’s Lorraine (Minnie Driver). “Listen, Mommy, I’ve known you for the better part of 300 years, and one thing has remained constant. Not your boobs or your head or your body,” she insists. “How about her seemingly limitless tolerance for drugs and alcohol?” Will asks, and Lorraine corrects herself as she continues, “That, and you’ve always been in love with Stanley Walker.” The others agree, and Karen admits that they’re right.
At the top of the Statue of Liberty, Jack gets the call that he’s been waiting for: the last understudy has the measles. He’s going on Broadway! He stumbles when it comes to his bow, however; his legs give out after walking up all those stairs to the torch deck.
Karen is ready to give up waiting for Stan when he arrives by helicopter. “I guess it ain’t over until the fat man choppers in over restricted airspace,” she says, but she hesitates to just climb up the rope ladder to him. They’ve both done terrible things, she points out. But after he drops a box with a note — “Let’s start over. Marry me again.” — she steps onto the ladder.
(Chris Haston/NBC)
After Jack’s show, Grace sees McCoy at the theater and convinces Will to go after him. She doesn’t want to hear him say in 20 years that he should have. Unfortunately, he doesn’t catch his ex, but McCoy is waiting outside his apartment when he arrives home.
“It was all just so much so fast, getting married and the baby, I got scared,” McCoy admits. He, too, is thinking about the future, and he assures Will that his plans — his commitment to Grace, moving and raising their babies together — don’t have to change, but “the gay guy gets to have his Prince Charming, too.”
“Happily ever after would be nice,” Will agrees before going inside to join Grace (who’s been eavesdropping). She’s happy for him, and she knows he’ll be when it happens for her, too. Before they truly say goodbye to the apartment, however, he joins her in reminiscing about the life they’ve had there.
“Everything’s going to be so different,” she says. “We’ve always just been Will and Grace.” “Maybe we’ve been Will and Grace long enough,” he says. (Meta much as they say goodbye?) And outside in the hall, Jack and Karen get one last round of slapping in.
But then it’s really time for Grace to have her baby. As everyone rushes to the elevator, Will returns to grab the portrait and look back one last time at the empty apartment.
What did you think of this series finale? It was much better than the original one, right? Vote in the poll below.
