Will & Grace Review: The Grief Panda (Season 11 Episode 5)
Will & Grace Season 11 Episode 5, “The Grief Panda” lands with a thud. This season has been wildly inconsistent so far and this episode fails to elicit much genuine laughter. As an episode, it’s disappointing and as a winter finale, it’s an all-out failure.
It really is a sad state of affairs that this is Will & Grace‘s farewell march; given that the original final season of Will & Grace was much maligned and the show runners have a rare second chance to get things right, they are completely wasting that opportunity.
On this episode, the irritating Karen-baseball storyline is back again. It’s been in three episodes thus far, and its inclusion still feels shoehorned in and unnecessary. When is it going to die? It strikes out every time.
Worse still, it gives the show a reason to bring Vanessa Bayer back and waste her comedic gifts. While I appreciate that this episode gives Bayer a chance to be back on airwaves again, the show doesn’t utilize her character in any way that feels purposeful or even particularly funny.
The Grace/Karen scenes also have a weird energy, and there’s a clear disconnect between what’s written on the page and what’s happening on screen.
Both Messing and Mullally know how to play up a fight scene, hitting emotional beats while also pulling out every laugh possible. Their chemistry falls flat here, and their work feels effortful.
By the end of their final scene when Karen says “Our baby’s going to want for nothing,” I know I should feel a twinge of emotion, but the emotional core and truth of the scene are missing.
The other main storyline of this episode, following Grace and Jack’s efforts to help Will move on from his break up with McCoy with the help of the Grief Panda, doesn’t fare much better.
Over the course of the revival, Will & Grace hasn’t always dealt with the development of relationships very well. I had this criticism of it last season, as we missed huge turning points in Noah/Grace and Will/McCoy’s relationships.
Some of the highlights of the original iteration of the show were dealing with Will and Grace’s respective breakups.
Years later, I still remember Season 4 when Grace and Nathan break up and the Core Four all get in the shower together. The pain is palpable, and so is the overwhelming love amongst the friends. That’s one of the things that has made this show so special over the years. Because I know it can be that good and meaningful, it makes it even worse when it’s not.
It’s a mistake to fast forward three weeks post-Will and McCoy’s break up. The Will/McCoy relationship always felt a bit half baked and glossing over such a critical step in their relationship doesn’t help matters.
Plus, it’s a little tone deaf that Will should be actively moving on from his McCoy relationship three weeks later. They were engaged after all, and this was Will’s first serious relationship post-Vince.
Why should he be suddenly over it and moving on? Let the man keep his framed photos for awhile longer!
Few things about this Grief Panda storyline work. Like much of Will & Grace Season 11 Episode 4, “The Chick or the Egg Donor,” the whole exercise is a study in trying too hard. Will & Grace is at its best when its characters and humor are broad, not its stories.
Fortunately, the one saving grace of the enterprise is Will’s assertion that there’s a difference between moving on and rewriting history, and that he doesn’t want to forget his time with McCoy.
Had the show spent more time in this space — exploring what it means to move forward while honoring your past — it could have been a lot more interesting, and it would have felt more true to Will’s character.
This isn’t a man who gets over things quickly, so the idea that he’d even briefly go along with something as ludicrous as the Grief Panda just doesn’t seem honest.
Altogether, the episode isn’t satisfying. The proceedings feel perfunctory and some of the joy is missing. Plus, there’s no real hook to keep us satiated, gleefully wondering what will happen next post-hiatus.
This isn’t how I want Will & Grace to end. I almost need a Grief Panda of my own to deal with how this season is going.
What did you think of this episode of Will & Grace? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Will & Grace airs Thursdays at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.
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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.
3 comments
Agreed. I’m just not digging this retooling overall. It just lacks the chemistry and wit of the original series, but I watch it every week waiting… hoping… for magic. Sadly, it’s just the same jokes retooled and delivered half-heartedly. Watching each episode leaves me feeling like I should have used my time to watch a rerun instead. They still make me laugh out loud.
Totally hear you. What happened? I actually thought parts of last season were quite good, but this is just…not.
I thought Matt was supposed to be the lobe of his life after all they are having a baby. That alone with surrogacy which Matt knows could have helped a generation see what gay men do to have progeny.
Yes, Matt was busy doing Doom Patrol and The Sinner but they could have facetimed his relationship with Will and given Will a future with a happy ending. Too bad…
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