Will & Grace Review: Jack’s Big Gay Wedding (Season 10 Episode 18)

Queerly beloved, we are gathered here to celebrate the conclusion of a riotous season of Will and Grace.

At the conclusion of the Season 9 finale, Will remarked, “We’ve got to make some changes,” and certainly by the time the very end of Will and Grace Season 10 Episode 18 “Jack’s Big Gay Wedding” rolled around, all of the Core Four had indeed made some changes (or at least started to do so).

But did it all work? Not quite, but it certainly set the stage for what should be a very interesting Season 11.

Throughout the last string of episodes of the season, Will and Grace essentially turned the state of all its characters’ relationships on their heads and nowhere is that more evident than on this episode.

Noah and Grace, the most central romantic couple of the season, are clearly on the path to a breakup, Estefan and Jack surprisingly make it down the aisle, McCoy and Will are on the fast track to commitment, and Karen’s dalliance with Nikki ends almost as abruptly as it began. 

There was a point in the season where Jack’s wedding seemed unlikely to come to fruition, but ultimately, it proves to be a sweet affair and oddly enough, Jack’s admission to Estefan that he knows him well enough to know Jack has prepared nothing for their vows is bizarrely romantic.

Will’s quickie engagement to McCoy, on the other hand, feels less so. 

While it’s clear that Will’s impulsive decision to propose to McCoy after he gets his dream job in London is supposed to be evidence of Will stepping out of his comfort zone, it’s hard to feel terribly invested in their relationship as we’ve seen so little of it.

It reasons that Season 11 will kick off with the two of them in London trying to make it work, but given the incredible speed in which this relationship has moved, the cards seem stacked against them.

The biggest disappointment in this episode, and what I suspect will be what many people remember, will be the way it handled Karen’s relationship with Nikki.

There have been hints for several seasons that Karen may be bisexual so while her relationship with Nikki seemed to come out of nowhere (as is the modus operandi for Will and Grace much of the time), it also did not feel altogether surprising.

In fact, it was refreshing to see Will and Grace finally acknowledge the B in LGBTQ, representation it has sorely lacked.

The entire Karen plotline of the finale wreaks of bisexual erasure. Karen could still admit being lost post-divorce and relying too much on Nikki to shape her identity while also acknowledging that she liked women too, rather than wiping it all away and coming back out as straight. 

It’s a tremendous missed opportunity and one, quite frankly, incongruent with what we’ve seen of Karen over the years, to write off her relationship with Nikki as a reaction to a wandering, confused heart rather than a valid exploration of sexual preference.

What the finale does well is capture the anxiety that comes with dating, especially as you get older, as well as the importance of silencing the voices in your head — or having someone else silence them for you —  and pushing forward to try and live the life you want.

There are still some lingering questions about when, and how, Grace became such a passive observer to her own life, as it doesn’t line up with much of what we’ve seen of her over the season, nor does it fully compute how Noah went from somewhat curmudgeonly to open and vulnerable to “total bummer.”

Similar to the Karen storyline, there’s some evidence of lazy writing at play.

With that said, even if the reasons that led Grace to the crossroads she faces in the finale are somewhat patchy, the frustrations she expresses are very relatable.

Will: Are you happy?

Grace: I’m happy enough. Noah is kind and he loves me and you get to a point in your life where you’re lucky if you get 60% of what you want. Don’t tell me I can do better. I can’t. I can’t do better.

Will: I wish you knew you deserved 100% of what you want.

Will and Grace wisely taps into the common fears of being alone or not being loved, as well as the magic of meeting someone and it feeling like the entire universe conspired to bring you together.

While the metaphors are a bit heavy in their initial exchange, overall, the meet-cute between Grace and Marcus (Reid Scott) is everything you want the introduction of a love interest to be: charming, brimming with chemistry, and with a cinnamon roll in a strong supporting role, to boot.

We will have to wait several months to see if Marcus and Grace’s runaway European adventure translates into a real-world romance, but even if it does not, the message that you have to keep taking risks, going after what you want, and avoid settling is important, especially as you age and it can feel like more and more pieces of your life are inflexible.

Lastly, while the episode itself is not uproariously funny, it wisely references two significant pop culture moments, first paying homage to Ellen Degeneres’ famous coming out scene from her 90s’ sitcom and later including a whimsical callback to Strictly Come Dancing (naturally, all finales should end with glitter-and-confetti-filled dance numbers).

Both are fun nods, though neither necessarily pushes any plot or character development forward.

Stray observations:

• I don’t fully understand Smitty, but I adore him anyway.
• Anyone else surprised that the coins did not play a larger role in the wedding ceremony?
• Read for filth this episode: Bowflex owners, cargo pants wearers, and the entire state of Florida.
• Are they going to properly wrap things up with Noah or is he just going to disappear into the horizon like Grace and Will’s kids? (I will NEVER forget.)

What did you think of this episode — and this season — of Will and Grace? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Will and Grace airs Thursdays at 9:00/8:00c on NBC. It returns to NBC Fall 2019.

 

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