Megan Mullally was the only cast member from Will & Grace to receive an acting nomination at the 2018 Emmy Awards this year. Since the show’s reboot, the sitcom's stars have received a variety of nods (minus Debra Messing, sadly), yet none have come up with a win yet.
Although Megan faces some very strong competition (not to mention the high number of nominees this year: 8 total), I truly believe that she should pick up her first Emmy win for the reboot and third overall due to one particular episode from this past season.
Traditionally, people submit an episode for Emmy consideration prior to the nominations being revealed. Megan exceeded in her comedic abilities throughout this season, however there was one particular performance that resonated for me on a much higher level than the others. It was the episode entitled “Rosario's Quinceañera,” which dealt with the death of her maid played by Shelley Morrison.
The character of Rosario became a vital part of Will & Grace’s original success when the show was on between 1998-2006. Her witty and clever comebacks to her boss Karen was shade personified, and the battles between these two were truly hilarious each and every time they fought.
At the same time, Rosario was a friend to Karen when she needed her the most, which allowed both of their characters to explore their emotional sides in a show that balanced both comedy and drama really well over the course of eight seasons.
It was revealed last year that Shelley had retired from acting and would not come back to the show. That was a heartbreaking moment for many of us, as so many other recurring cast members returned for the reboot and it would’ve been nice to see how Rosario was doing today. Little did we know, at the time, that they were planning on doing something very special to close her character out.
‘Rosario’s Quinceañera’ was emotional from its first moments, where it was revealed that Rosario had died after surgical complications from collapsing in Karen’s home. What’s truly awe-inspiring to see is the range of emotions that Megan puts into her character as the episode progresses, which culminates in a tissue-grabbing moment at the end when she has a funny yet very poignant conversation with Rosario at her funeral.
Karen originally denies that Rosario is dead, before Grace tries to make her come to grips with things. Throughout the show, each character tries to comfort Karen in their own way. Grace makes it all about her, of course, and talks about her mother Bobbie’s (Debbie Reynolds) death which bore little to no relation to Rosario’s. Then, Karen makes Jack (Sean Hayes) dance emphatically to a variety of songs which provided some much needed comic relief for such a heavy episode.
Finally Will (Eric McCormack) does his best to help Karen out while she sits at the bar by simply embracing her with a big hug. This allows her to walk bravely into the funeral, which was taken place while she was across the street, and have her final moments with Rosario.
If you haven’t seen the episode yet, go on Hulu and watch it as its one of the best the show has ever done and definitely could earn Megan her 3rd Emmy in September.
This was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.