Will & Grace – Grace’s Secret

By: Kelly Kearney

In the wake of Bill Cosby and Brett Kavanaugh, “Will and Grace” tackled the emotionally daunting subject of sexual assault with a powerful performance by Debra Messing. While the subject of #MeToo has gripped the country in both horror and resilience, Grace’s Secret offered an interesting side of the debate while simultaneously weaving in a hilarious subplot that focused on Jack’s engagement party. It wasn’t all drama, the comedy this show is known for offered a break from the reality of Grace’s trauma in a way that “Will and Grace” is known for.

Road Trip

When the episode begins, Grace (Debra Messing) is desperately trying to get out of a road trip to Schenectady with her father Martin (Robert Klein) and tries roping Will (Eric McCormack) into making up a story about the two having, “a thing,” that they can’t get out of. Will, who lost his father a few years back, thinks Grace is being ridiculous and should cherish the time she has left with her aging parent. When Martin shows up at the apartment, Will announces that the “thing” was canceled, forcing his bestie to send him a lewd text explaining exactly what he can do with his, “thing.” She is even less pleased when she finds out they actually did have plans that day, it was Jack’s (Sean Hayes) engagement party, but now that Martin is ready to head Upstate to visit his wife and best friend Harry’s grave Grace has no choice but to tag along. She agrees to go visit her mother’s grave, but refuses to pay respects to Harry, which confuses Martin, but the subject is dropped fairly quickly. As she’s walking out the door, Will offers Grace some parting advice about talking with her father about the important things in life; like fear of death or whether or not Martin ever had a gay experience. Grace reminds him that she and her father are not close and any conversations that dig too deep, the elder Adler avoids. Be that as it may, it’s a long trip to Schenectady and Grace has no choice but to tag along, something she wishes Will could join her for, but he has their, “thing,” celebrating Jack’s big day.

Later, when Grace and Martin stop at a diner on the way to the cemetery, Grace notices her father flirting with their waitress, Patty (Martha Kelly). She asks him what is up with all the flirting and Martin claims it’s something that men do that women love. Grace responds with, “They don’t love it,” which segues into a conversation about the #MeToo movement which Martin refers to as the #NotMe stuff that prevents men from being their true selves. He says people (women) are too sensitive these days and back when he was young, women liked to be flirted with, it made men fell like men, as if acknowledging sexual assault victims somehow castrated an entire gender. Just as Grace is about to slam dunk her father with facts, she backs off and reiterates that she has no interest in visiting Harry’s grave. Martin, who is frustrated with Grace’s attitude towards his lifelong best friend, tells her that he doesn’t understand what her issue was with Harry. He goes on to call her an embarrassment for stealing money from the deceased man after Martin asked Harry to give her a summer job. Grace loses it and tells Martin that was not how it went down and asks her father if he ever noticed how Harry flirted with her. Martin blows her off chalking his friend’s interest in his daughter as purely harmless and normal for that era in time. Grace’s anger is tangible and she asks him what the time has to do with it, it was still wrong and still ignored by the one man who was supposed to protect her. Martin doesn’t want to hear anymore but Grace decides its time her father heard the true story about what happened the summer she worked for Harry.

“I Was Fifteen…”

The story of what happened to Grace is a brutal and heart wrenching look at what so many women have experienced throughout their lives. It begins when she was fifteen years old and working for Harry over the summer. It’s obvious that Grace is upset and Martin interrupts her to wonder if she could be remembering things all wrong. She says, “I remember every single thing that happened that day,” and that catches Martin’s attention. She explains that after work Harry called Grace into his office where he pushed her up against the wall, forcibly kissed her, shoved his hands down her pants and put his fingers inside her.  Grace screamed for help and when it was over, all she wanted to do was get out there. So, she stole some money from his office to pay for a cab ride home and has been living with this trauma ever since. Martin asks why she never said anything, and Grace admits to telling one person, but she never thought anyone else would believe her. She asks her father, why when he saw his friend’s interest in her, didn’t he protect her? The guilt cripples Martin and with his head in his hands he begs for her forgiveness. He even goes as far as to say Harry is dead to him, which Grace finds ironic since Harry is already dead so technically he is dead to everyone. After the two are interrupted by the most monotone waitress serving shrimp salad that Upstate ever made, Martin asks his daughter how she got through this. Grace explains what so many women around the world already know, that you divide yourself into two parts. One part is reserved for the person who was assaulted and the other, the person who tries to forget. Eventually, the latter overshadows the former and you just try to get on with your life, but that little 15-year-old girl is still in there, hoping her daddy will save the day. It’s a truth that Martin finally hears, and he begs for Grace’s forgiveness, which she grants. Getting it off her chest was a relief and the two finish their meals and head to the cemetery with a better understanding of each other.

Later, at Bobbi’s grave, we learn that the one person Grace confided in was her mother. She tells Bobbi that all these years she thought she needed an apology from Harry, so she could move on, but really, she just needed one from her dad. Then she tells Bobbi that she is happy and dating a straight, Jewish boy who complains a lot and now Bobbi can stop spinning in her grave and be happy for her.

Miss Coco’s Jack-Off

After the most rainbow-tastic brunch at Miss Coco’s (Miss Coco Peru) gay bar, Will and Karen (Megan Mullally) start feuding over who should be Jack’s best man. Will thinks he is the obvious choice since he’s known Jack the longest, but Karen begs to differ, she’s the only one who was willing to procure a severed hand for her poodle’s Halloween costume and that means she is the best, best man. Will makes some crack about her real best friend, “…is in the basement of the White House trying to tunnel her way out with the heel of her Jimmy Choo,” and the gloves are off, Karen is not about to back down in this fight. The two, bicker back and forth until Miss Coco decides to settle this once and for all, “like men…with a lip sync monologue throwdown!” That’s right, Miss Coco’s has a spin the wheel of diva monologues that quite honestly, is far more enjoyable than your average trivia game or karaoke performance.

First up is Will, doing his best rendition of the famed YouTube influencer, “Leave Britney Alone!” With his clip-on bangs and full on crying meltdown, Will captures the essence of the monologue and literally melts Miss Coco into a pile of mush and heart eyes. Yeah, this girl loves her some Will Truman and if it was up to her, he would be the winner, but Karen’s up next and she is pumped. Her monologue, which is very fitting, comes from the Wicked Witch of The Wizard of Oz, and of course, she nails it.

The way you win at Miss Coco’s Wheel of Monologues is by audience applause and the gay patrons loved both the performers making this one, a tie. That doesn’t help Jack decide who should be his best man, so Miss Coco comes up with a tie breaker idea. What if both Karen and Will had to prove which one of them knows Jack better by answering some questions in the bar’s first ever, “public Jack-Off?” The two dueling divas agree, and Jack starts with a question about his greatest fear. Will assumes that’s his failing acting career but Karen interrupts to say it’s actually aging into Angela Lansbury. After another question about manhood sized measured in Good and Plenty’s (yes, the movie theater candy) Jack decides to change the rules on the best man position. In a speech that winds up going viral, Jack declares that marriage is a social construct to own women, and while owning a woman is great if you need someone to hold your purse, he’s a gay man and they make their own rules. He decides to forego the best man position for the best men, both Karen and Will, since he equally loves them and wants them at his side. It’s a fun ending to a deep episode that tackled some very important topics in a real and heartfelt way. Grace got her closure with her father, a man she saw as closed off and unapproachable and Jack got to redefine marriage in a way that would suit any gay man worth his crop top and fringed shorts. All in all, a solid episode of, “Will and Grace,” showcasing what they do best, heart with a dash of humor.