Will & Grace Review: Family, Trip (Season 10 Episode 9)
It’s not often that I find myself missing the days of supersized Must See TV episodes (shout out to the early 2000s!) but midway through Will and Grace Season 10 Episode 9, “Family, Trip” I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I was not ready for the show to be over so soon. I wanted more.
It’s a good problem to have, to be sure. When Will and Grace really gets into a groove, it’s quite unstoppable, and this episode is a huge improvement from its last, Will and Grace Season 10 Episode 8 “Anchor Away.”
The best episodes of Will and Grace mix madcap humor and pathos and this does so beautifully.
As in almost every episode this season, there’s one character who shines a little bit less, or who gets the short end of the stick storyline wise. This week is Grace’s turn, as she’s stuck in the middle when her sister Janet (Mary McCormack) hooks up with her hard-edged client Donna (Chelsea Handler).
Handler is well cast and Grace and Janet’s relationship is interesting but I wish they had saved this storyline for a later time when they could have paid more attention to it.
Handler isn’t a draw for me, but her relationship with Janet is the catalyst for a heartfelt conversation between Grace and Janet, as they dissect why their relationship isn’t stronger.
Earlier in the season, on Will and Grace Season 10 Episode 5, “Grace’s Secret,” Grace hit a breaking point in the relationship with her father, and their conversation afterward established a new dynamic for the two of them.
That storyline illuminates something I’ve appreciated about Will and Grace over the years: it has not always focused on romantic relationships.
It explores all kinds of relationship dynamics and it would have been interesting for Grace and her sister to have a deeper conversation about why their connection has suffered over the years, rather than the very brief discussion, resolution, and yes, hilarious Josh Groban joke that we got instead.
Let’s face it though, the best parts of this episode all come down to chocolate milk, as Jack, Will, and Karen all imbibe some hallucinogenic (surprise!) chocolate milk that Will got from his law students, setting up drug-induced hilarity perfect excuses for Mullally to sing and Hayes to do The Floss.
Will and Jack are high out of their minds as they see imaginary cursive writing and butterflies in the air around them.
McCormack often has to play the “straight man” so to speak in his scenes with Hayes, so it’s particularly delightful when the two of them get to really go for it and lean into their weirdest, silliest instincts together.
Wide-eyed and delirious, they talk about sandwiches and soulmates in equal measure.
As is often the case with Will and Grace, there are some emotional truths lurking underneath the comedy and this storyline prompts so many questions.
Is Estefan really Jack’s soulmate? Is Will, Jack’s longtime caretaker, actually his soulmate too? And how does Jack and Will’s relationship have to evolve when Jack ultimately marries someone else? There’s some fear and vulnerability surrounding the answers to all of those questions.
For years, both in the revival and in the original run, the show has subtly toyed with the idea of making Jack and Will “a thing.”
Every time it suggests that there may be something more to these two, it gently pulls back, reasserting that they are lifelong friends and that there is huge value in that.
Still, there’s always a glimmer that there’s something more there. As Jack and Will vow, “in front of God and all the high-end male erotica in [Will’s] apartment” to be in each other’s lives forever, it’s hard to shake the idea that this storyline isn’t quite over. After all, it’s kept bubbling up for years.
Truthfully, I don’t know how I feel about the relationship between Will and Jack being anything more than platonic, though anyone who reads this column regularly knows I’m no Estefan fan.
Their friendship has been a nice balance to the relationships between Grace/Will and Jack/Karen and I don’t like subscribing to the idea that every meaningful relationship between people has to have romantic undertones.
It also feels important that we have a visible relationship on TV between two gay men that isn’t romantic or sexual (sadly, this is far too rare).
And yet…
Verdict: Unresolved. We will have to see if the shows picks this potential coupling back up again. I maintain my right to change my mind on this topic!
Overall though, the episode belongs to Megan Mullally (how often will I type that this season?). Karen does not do anything in a normal, typical fashion, so it’s appropriate that in dealing with grief over the end of her marriage, things get messy.
It’s clear that her divorce from Stan has hit Karen hard; while the show has not laid it on thick when given the opportunity, it doesn’t shy away from the fact that Karen deeply loves/loved Stan and that processing the end of their marriage has taken a toll on her.
In this case, the writer’s choice to have Karen, who in reality is high, and singing into a hot dog at a laundromat, envision herself in a moody, dimly lit piano bar crooning her sorrows away, feels a bit poetic.
Her marriage didn’t live up to the dream, and she’s closing the door on that chapter of her life and giving it the dramatic wistful goodbye that reality has denied her.
In her real voice, Mullally bellows “The Man That Got Away” from 1954’s A Star is Born (all while clad in a dress echoing Judy Garland’s wardrobe from the film — nice touch!). It’s revelatory, and even more powerful than Mullally’s stunning work last season at Rosario’s funeral.
Farewell, Mrs. Stanley Walker. I, for one, cannot wait to see what you do next.
Stray observations:
- Is it just a thing that all of our mothers want us to marry Josh Groban?
- While I appreciated that both were at least mentioned in the episode, are we ever going to actually see Will’s law students or Estefan again?
- Both Debra Messing and Megan Mullally have had tremendous dramatic material to work with this season, and while Eric McCormack has had some as well, I’d love to see the male leads of this show have equally meaty, complex stories to showcase their talents.
- Award for best bit player goes to the delightful laundromat customer, who unapologetically plans to steal Karen’s shoes (and yes, as you’ll note in the final scene, clearly succeeds).
What did you think of this episode of Will and Grace? How do you feel about Jack and Will as a couple? Where do you think Karen’s storyline will lead? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Reviewer Rating:
User Rating:
Will and Grace airs Thursdays at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here
Cristina Iskander
Cristina is a Broadway enthusiast, book lover, and pop-culture fanatic living in New York City. She once won a Fantasy Bachelor contest (yes, like Fantasy Football, but for The Bachelor), and can banter about old school WB (Pacey + Joey FTW) just as well as Stranger Things and Pen15. She's still upset Benson and Stabler never got together and is worried Rollins and Carisi are headed down the same road, wants justice for Shangela, and hopes to one day walk-and-talk down a hallway with Aaron Sorkin.