Will and Grace – Grandpa Jack

By: Kelly Kearney

“Will and Grace” was always been known for its hilarious mockery of pop culture and the current trends of the times but they also did their fair share of tackling the heavier subjects facing the LGBT community and the country as a whole. Those subjects were often a springboard for the public to engage in a much-needed conversation about acceptance and human rights in a time when neither was easily attainable. This week’s episode Grandpa Jack dives head first into some of those timely and uncomfortable topics like sexual harassment, aging twinks turned bear hunters and gay conversion therapy, while staying true what Grace Adler would call staying “WOKE.”

JESSE TYLER FERGUSON SHE’S FABULOUS!

Its Saturday at Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace’s (Debra Messing) apartment and Jack (Sean Hayes) is getting extra friendly with Will’s handheld shower attachment while Karen (Megan Mullally) is being forced to work, something nobody’s seen the drunken socialite do since she worked her way into Stan’s bed and bank account. When Jack exits the bathroom refreshed and sporting a shower cap and kimono, he explains that his shower drain is clogged since he started dating bears. Grace is blown away by this news since she always assumed Jack was into twinks, twunks and everything else found in a Dr. Seuss book. While that may be true with the younger Jack, this new mature Jack has changing tastes and those tastes tend to run to the burlier side of the spectrum.

After Grace and her shade throwing assistant leave for work, Jack and Will get interrupted by a knock at the door by a young boy who resembles a young McFarland. The kid’s name is Skip (Jet Jurgensmeyer) and he’s visiting New York with his family, more specifically his father Elliot (Michael Angarano) who just happens to be Jack’s estranged son! That’s right, Jack is a grandpa and as you can imagine he doesn’t take the news well especially since he lost touch with Elliot after he moved to Texas and married a conservative.  Of course, Will is delighted to hear Skip utter the word Grandpa and insists he uses it as often as possible. While that is no doubt a thorn in Jack’s side, he’s more worried about seeing his son and what they could possibly talk about so he retreats to the back room to calm his nerves. When he returns, Skip has popped a squat on the couch, something Jack says no straight man has ever done. Not to mention the fact the boy is enamored with the Karen who walks back in to grab her purse. “Jesse Tyler Ferguson, she’s fabulous,” Skip says, proving that genetics rule and gays know a good hag when they see one.

HURRICANE RELIEF AND CONVERSION THERAPY

Over at Grace Adler designs, Karen’s caught sexually harassing Tony (Anthony Ramos), Grace’s new employee. In between the cop and feel session, Karen lobs rolls of paper towels at the young man, reminding him who the boss really is yet Grace is outraged by what Tony has to put up with. Karen promises Grace it’s all for a good cause and Tony agrees. Every time Karen harasses him, Tony makes her donate one thousand dollars to Puerto Rico’s hurricane relief.

Back at casa Truman, Skip is talking about his love for Lady Gaga and how his parents are sending him to camp in Upstate. Before Jack can teach Skip about low-key drag outfits, Elliot and his wife Emma (Natalie Dreyfuss) are at the door ready to take Skip to camp…conversion therapy camp to be exact. Both Will and Jack are horrified by Elliot sending the littlest unicorn to Camp Straighten Arrow and it’s quite clear that Jack’s son has deep-seeded daddy issues that turned homophobic. He even cracks a joke about how moving to Texas means he no longer has the ability to separate church from state. Skip, who’s too young to understand that, tells his grandfather that his parents are trying to fix him and the camp will make him normal.

If turning kids straight is the goal than Camp Straighten Arrow chose the wrong counselors to lead the fight. Roberta (Jane Lynch) and Reggie (Andrew Rannells) lead the campers into the kingdom of cisgendered straighties and, of course, they do it poorly because…duh…this is Jane Lynch and Andrew Rannells we’re talking about! Over the watchful eye of a Mike Pence poster, Skip struggles to learn how to ignore his fabulousness as Jack and Will show up with a plan. Like a couple of gay superheroes ready to rescue/kidnap the boy from the clutches of evil and genital electrocution, Grandpa and his lawyer side-kick are on the case. Will is ready to take the camp by storm, but Jack gets caught by Elliot who enlightens his father as to why he can’t accept his son as gay. Elliot reminds Jack that he never approved of Emma or his conservative views so why should he allow his son to be a part of a community that will clearly never accept him? Of course, the entire conversation is ironic since they’re having it in a camp whose sole purpose is to push unacceptance for those that are different but, hypocrisy aside, Elliot isn’t budging on letting Skip be Skip.

GRACE AND HER LONELY SNOOCH

At the design office, Grace and assistant Tony are having a sing-along when something becomes immediately apparent: Grace is lonely and needs a man. When Tony puts his arms around his boss, Grace can’t keep her excitement under wraps. It has been way too long since the designer was touched by a man and Karen calls it when she sees her friend’s reaction. Embarrassed by her needy response, Grace tries running from the awkward embrace, but Karen stops her and says it’s nothing to feel bad about when you ignore your snooch (Grace’s lady parts) she can have a mind of her own. Grace admits she has ignored Sophia (her name for her snooch) and maybe it’s time to get back into the dating pool. A snooch like Sophia can only be ignored for so long before she gets out of control.

Back at Straighten Arrow, Will makes a plan to sabotage the camp’s message by joining the group and bragging about how his conversation camp across the lake is so much better. He goes on to pose a challenge that he could kiss any counselor in this room and not feel a thing. Counselor Reggie asks Will to prove it and he does by panting a huge kiss on the counselor! Of course, this is the first time many of the campers have witnessed two men kiss and boy what a kiss it was! Reggie goes in for a second smooch until his partner Roberta, the buzzkill, steps in to ruin the moment by zapping him with s shock collar. The shock sends Reggie to the floor and puts the breaks on Will’s romance with the hot closeted case.

As Will’s plan starts to pay off, Skip and Jack are outside having a heart to heart. Grandpa tells his grandson what it means to be a gay man and how it might seem difficult now, but things do get better. Skip, who’s still worried his family can never accept him for who he is, learns that families come in all shapes and sizes. There the family you’re born with, the family you choose and even the family who chooses you, not to mention all the fabulous dinner parties. It looks like Skip will have more family than he knows what to do with and they won’t necessarily be blood-related. Jack promises he will be there for the boy, but even when he can’t be all Skip needs to do is think about his grandfather looking at him with pride for being himself.

The episode ends on a bright spot when Elliot finds Jack to let him know he’s had a change of heart. After a fight with his wife, Elliot realized conversion therapy was a bad choice for Skip and pulled the boy from the harmful camp. Father and son start to hash out their issues and, shockingly, Elliot asks Jack when he’s taking Skip to his first Broadway show! Talk about progress! With a grandfather like Jack and friends like Will, Grace and even Karen, Skip won’t need to look far for support. Maybe it’s true that Will and Jack are the gay superheroes we all need. After all, seeing Jack’s Sia inspired drag look they certainly have the right outfit for gay crime fighting.