The reboot of Will & Grace has seen all four characters stay in their lanes as they were in the original series. In other words, Will & Grace still live together in their late 40's, Jack is still his immature but hilarious self and Karen is, well… Karen. But we love all four of them for this in very different ways.
Will (played by the brilliant Eric McCormack) might be getting to the point where his character has become completely insufferable. This couldn't have been truer in the past couple of episodes, and it makes us wonder if he is on the path to having a major nervous breakdown as his ability to want to control everything around him is starting to unravel in ways we didn't really see in the original series.
The latest episode is supposed to be a happy one for Grace (Debra Messing), who gets a spot selling her line of bed linens on QVC. Now that her and Will are in business together (something I haven't really enjoyed that much), it leads to the question of who should be the spokesperson for the brand. Naturally, Grace thinks it should be her but of course Will thinks it should be him.
This leads to the half hour segment that Grace is supposed to do live, where Will insists he speaks to her through an ear piece as he thinks she's not prepared and completely messes her segment up. It's supposed to be really funny (Lauren Weedman is hysterical as some sort of feminist director at QVC) but it really doesn't land as once again its Will taking control of a situation that isn't his.
This echoes a similar sentiment in the episode before that, where Vince (played by the adorable Bobby Cannavale) tells Will that he's getting married to someone else. After Will ponders why it wasn't him, as Vince was afraid of commitment, it leads to a big blow out where Vince calls out Will for always wanting to be in control and point out everyone else's imperfections. You would think that after this happening, things would change for him, but it clearly didn't given how he treated Grace during the QVC segment.
The show has already been renewed for a second season after this one, but in terms of character development for Will… there hasn't been much outside of him working with Grace and what he should have learned as to why his relationship with Vince ended. What's frustrating but so true about the character of Will is that he is like so many gay men in many ways, book smart but so jaded when it comes to everything else.
When you saw Will in the original series run, he was more of a shoulder for Grace to cry on as the program was more about her relationships with men and him being there for her. Sure, he would go on a date every once in a while, but his neuroses would get in the way and put him back at square one. It's something Jack (Sean Hayes) would call him out on all the time. This seems to be yet again the case in the reboot, and it shows Will in the same spot he's been in for 20 years: Grace's roommate and single.
I do hope that he finds someone at some point this season. Someone that will really love him for him, but he does the same for the guy he finds. Will is a very important character for the LGBTQ community, as we root for him but understand why he consistently finds himself at the first lap. Hopefully, that changes very soon.
Thoughts?
in the original “Will and
in the original "Will and Grace" neither Will nor Grace were all that likable if you knew them in real life. That was a huge part of what made the show humorous. Will's compulsions and Grace's self centeredness contrasted to the zaniness of Jack and Karen and weekly laughs were the result.I have yet to see the revival, but I would think Will would need to mellow a bit. This could happen in time. In the original series, the cast had not gelled and while the show was funny, it was a bit contrived. Second season on, the humor was less plot driven and more character driven. Perhaps this year the cast and writers are still trying to figure out where they want to go and next year will be different. Look st any of the great sitcoms "I Love Lucy," "Mary Tyler Moore," "Murphy Brown," "Mash" all developed this way and perhaps this has to happen for the revival of "Will and Grace." The cast and writers need to regroup and gel.