Season 2, episode 2 of Will & Grace feels like it should’ve been the premiere instead based on the subject matter that happened within it.
The show starts with Jack and Karen cackling delightfully after Will’s mother Marilyn marries Grace’s father Martin. Of course, Will & Grace are devastated by all of this, but then the rest of the episode focuses on something much different and pushes this subject matter to this side. It’s quite confusing that the reality of W&G becoming related isn’t the total focus, nor do we get to see the actual wedding happen. All we get is their misery mixed with Jack and Karen’s delight… and Smitty the Bartender (which is never a problem).
Will, Grace and Jack’s characters do have their own storyline happen after that scene fades to black, but it becomes part of a bigger issues when a “detective” call each of them. They all convene at W&G’s apartment to find out that Karen has gone missing. It was there where they each recall where they saw her last (she visited Will when he was dying his beard hair, showed up to work at Grace’s studio and chatted with Jack when he was in the shower with Estefan).
The other storylines are a tad menial compared to Karen going missing. Will’s has to do with him dying his beard but claiming it’s “good genes” when other people compliment him on it, Grace panics that she has no social media followers amid her running for President of the New York Society of Interior Designers and Jack freaking out about the whole “forever” thing with Estefan. Each have their funny moments, but it wasn’t about them this time around.
Karen is eventually found taking a tour at Universal Studios as her alter ego Anastasia Beaverhausen. She talks with a woman from the Midwest about why she went missing, which she thinks has to do with her husband Stan finding out about her affair with Malcolm.
Malcolm (Alec Baldwin) eventually shows up to reveal that it was he who told Stan about the affair. Karen comes back at the end of the episode to slap Malcolm and find out that she’s been served with divorce papers from the woman who claimed she was a “detective” (she’s wasn’t, she’s a process server). They all happily hug her and wish her support before the episode ended.
Notes from the Episode:
- Can the writers please give Will a better storyline? A relationship, another friend… something? Having this episode be about him dying his beard really fell flat and he’s a much better actor than what they are giving.
- No “West Side Curmudgeon” this week AKA David Schwimmer who appeared on the season opener. He’ll be back at some point, I just still wonder as to why his episode was the premiere and not this one as it seemed a tad backwards.
- Jack and Estefan won’t last. Maybe I’m wrong, but Jack doesn’t have the ability to be a one-man kind of… man. He even said during this episode that he’s a “Jack of all Gays,” so I wonder if Esetefan’s time is numbered on the show.
- I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Malcolm either.
- Here’s hoping that there’s some flashbacks to Marilyn and Martin’s wedding, as it would’ve been great to see how Will and Grace acted during it.
Thoughts on last night’s show, Instinct Magazine readers?