Will & Grace – Real McCoy

By: Kelly Kearney

In this week’s episode Grace’s campaign hits a familiar snag when she finds out her arch nemesis, Val, is a voting member and could cost her the election. If Val wasn’t a big enough obstacle, Karen has been pulling out all the criminal stops to ensure an Adler win. Politics is dirty and the former Mrs. Walker might not make the best assistant and partner, but she knows how grease palms and get things done no matter how many campaign laws she has to break to do it. Meanwhile, Will decides to give the very handsome and annoyingly forward McCoy Whitman another shot at dating, now that he needs a plus one for Jack’s upcoming wedding. Can Will put up with McCoy’s bizarre quirks long enough for his bestie to say, “I do?”

Will’s Single Status Makes Jack’s Wedding “a little Awkwafina…”

Jack (Sean Hayes) is about to get hitched and by the way he bursts into Grace’s (Debra Messing) office/campaign headquarters with an announcement about the wedding’s seating chart he is beyond excited for the big day. The person who seems less excited is Will (Eric McCormack), who Jack mercilessly mocks for not having a date for the big day. Obviously, Karen (Megan Mullally) and Grace plan on bringing Malcolm (Alec Baldwin) and Noah (David Schwimmer) but Will, having struck out with his married co-worker, will be flying solo and Jack will not stop gloating about it. Through the snickers and shade Will swears he is bringing someone, but nobody believes him, including Grace, who at the moment is concentrating completely on her election to become the President of the New York Designer’s Guild. She’s been spending a lot of time trying to appeal to the voters saying, “Once again I find myself begging gay men to love me.” Speaking of the election, Karen has been working overtime to help Grace’s campaign, even if that help comes with a few crimes and misdemeanors. Karen wants her partner to win and she will stop at nothing to make sure that she does.

After Jack and Karen leave to deal with seating charts and voter suppression, Grace spots their apartment on the local news. A rare red hawk built a nest on the ledge outside their apartment and with the dropping temperatures the Mama bird cannot leave the nest or else her eggs will freeze. Reporting this feel good story is McCoy Whitman (Matt Bomer), the hot anchor that Will dated and later dumped once he realized he was more into himself than anyone else. Maybe this red hawk is a sign that Will should give McCoy another shot. After all, he does need a date to Jack’s wedding. Luckily, McCoy saw the news story as a sign and thinks Will could be the one. So, Will invites him over and the two get together to talk it out. For Will the date is exhausting because McCoy is as conceited as ever. He finally tells Whitman that he doesn’t have to impress him with his fabulous life and perfectly good looks noting, “I want to know the real McCoy,” not the buffed and polished anchor from the news. That’s when the real and very teary-eyed McCoy comes out. Nobody ever wanted to get to know the real him and he is extremely emotional about it. He sees Will’s interest as another sign that they are meant to be. From Will’s reaction to his tears, you can tell he wants McCoy to hit the brakes because thing between them is moving going way too fast.

Val: The Arch Nemesis

Grace gets the shock of her life when her arch nemesis Val (Molly Shannon) pops up in the elevator next to her. The unstable woman, who has quickly become a fan favorite thanks to her knock out fights with Grace, Jack and Karen, claims she cured her crazy with some vitamin B and now she’s the picture of perfect mental health. Grace doesn’t believe her and asks, “Were you given that diagnosis by (air quotes) a real doctor or your cat?” To which she gets a typical Val response, “Cats can’t be doctors, only nurses,” and that does not put Grace at ease. Neither does the news that Val is a voting member of the Designer’s Guild and she could cost Grace the election! How Val became a member isn’t too surprising. After she stole Grace’s identity, she joined the guild and now she’s going to make Grace really work for her vote. She claims the new Val doesn’t make rash decisions and for now, her vote is undecided.

When Karen finds out Val is a voting member she’s angry that Grace couldn’t fake being nice for the vote. Maybe Karen wants to risk her life, but Grace isn’t so sure her kindness won’t get her killed. Isn’t being nice, even to a klepto-lunatic like Val, a part of the political game? Karen thinks so and for once she is supremely invested in this campaign. She rants at Grace over the importance of the “presidency of the people who tell people where to hang wall paper!” If Grace won’t go the extra mile to ensure a win than Karen will. In a shady and underhanded way, Karen offers to handle Val. But Grace makes her promise not to do anything illegal. Karen shoots her a smirk, a wink and a totally non-reassuring finger gun and says, “Mama will handle it.”

Bribes, Break ups and Red Hawks

While McCoy is in the bathroom wiping away his happy tears, Jack walks in and hands Will his personalized singles invitation. The soon to be married man cannot stop gloating and Will is sure Jack will hold this over his head forever. Too bad Jack’s dream of one-ups-manship dies on the altar of the hottest news anchor in New York because McCoy agrees to go with Will to the wedding! Jack’s choking on his shade and storms out claiming he will put them at the celebrity table next to “J-Lo, Cher, and Teen Wolf’s Tyler Posey.” Once Jack leaves Will gives McCoy a chance to back out of the date, but Whitman is all in and asks Will to go to bed with him. Will’s a little weirded out by how quickly this is all moving, but McCoy is hot and he can’t say no. The next day McCoy showers Will in gifts, forcing him to leave a voicemail about how this is all too much, too fast. McCoy doesn’t get the message because he shows up at Will’s ready to declare his love and devotion! Telling someone you love them after two mediocre dates is a little much, but McCoy never actually dated anyone outside of hookups and he doesn’t know how it all works. Will winds up ending things and a heartbroken McCoy lands on Jack’s doorstep looking for advice. Considering its source, the advice is pretty good. Jack tells him to slow down and let Will get to know him. Even if he is routing for them to fail, like all gay BBFS do, he loves Will and thinks he deserves to be happy.

Back at the apartment Val shows up decked out in a designer dress and offering Grace a thank you for sending Karen to blackmail her. Grace says she never told Karen to do that and Val explains that finger guns mean your lying and Grace better get with the political lingo. Since it’s obvious the dress was a bribe, Grace asks if the dress means Val plans to vote for her. The unpredictable woman says she can’t because she doesn’t vote for criminals!

Without fail, Val has always been a tornado of crazy and this time is no different. After telling Grace the bribe was a fail, she lures the desperate candidate on to the balcony of her apartment and manages to lock Grace out! Not only has she left Grace standing on the ledge of a building in the cold, but she also tells her she’s planning on running in her place and the guild’s bylaws will allow her to do it. Val must’ve done her homework because Grace didn’t even know the guild had bylaws and now she might lose the presidency to a woman who thinks cats can be nurses! Val takes off to campaign for her cause and Grace climbs across the apartment ledge hoping to crawl through an unlocked window. Before she can make her escape she spooks the red hawk from the news report, forcing the bird to abandon her eggs. This leaves Grace with a moral dilemma – squat over the eggs until the hawk comes back or abandon them for her campaign rally and risk the babies freezing. She does what any empathetic person with a ticking biological clock would do and sits on the eggs to keep them warm. Meanwhile, Val wreaks havoc on Grace’s reputation at campaign headquarters, hours before the final vote.

Dirty Politics for the Win!

Back to Val, who’s trying her best to steal the election from Grace based on the fact the designer is a no show and possibly crazy. Cue a dramatic entrance from Grace, who definitely looks crazy covered in hawk filth and ranting about sitting on a Mama bird’s eggs. Luckily, her constituents care more about supporting a corrupt politician than they do one who looks like a hot bird fighting mess. Regardless of the fact she was accused of sending Karen to bribe Val for her vote, Grace still pulled of a big win! Karen breaks it down for her, explaining that this is America and we elect corrupt politicians like it’s a sport. She should forget her integrity and just celebrate the fact she’s the president! Honestly, is there anything more American than that?

The episode ends with McCoy apologizing to Will for moving too fast and hopes they can try again but slowly this time. He explains that relationships are new to him and he was hoping Will would understand that. Will agrees to give him another shot as long as he pumps the brakes and stops all these declarations of love. They agree to take things slow, but McCoy’s good looks are hard to ignore and the two men run full speed ahead to the bedroom. Who needs slow when you’ve got the dangerously handsome McCoy Whitman in your bed?