Will & Grace – The Things We Do For Love

By: Kelly Kearney

In “The Things We Do For Love” Will is struggling to keep quiet about Grace’s new living arrangement with Noah. It seems the quirky designer’s creativity has been squashed by her Westside Curmudgeon who isn’t big on opening his mind or his home. Speaking of opening up, Karen’s keeping her new girlfriend Nikki a secret from her friends and her new lover is not feeling it. Meanwhile, Jack’s bachelor party was a hit, minus the lost family heirlooms that could turn his happy day with Estefan into a bad luck nightmare. Losing yourself in love is the theme of this week’s Will and Grace.

Good Morning, Mrs. Maisel

It’s the morning after Jack’s (Sean Hayes) rainbow-fabulous bachelor party and it seems like every NYC gay was there. Even Lady Gaga left Jack a love note in lipstick on Will’s (Eric McCormack) living room mirror. Surrounded by rainbow confetti, feather boas, a miniature horse with a unicorn horn and enough glitz and glam to make RuPaul cry the gang wakes up with a serious case of hang over amnesia. Will manages to come to first, hugging a blow-up doll and dream mumbling about his other favorite Jewish New Yorker, “You talk too much, Mrs. Maisel.” A groggy Grace (Debra Messing) and Jack, who seemed to have switched clothing, follow suit and the two notice Karen (Megan Mullally) passed out on the couch and possibly dead. That’s when Larry (Tim Bagley) dressed as Little Bo Peep with the word “hetero” scrawled across his head in marker wanders in from the balcony grumbling about how much he hates them all for forcing him into this party vibe. He warns them not to post any photos of him in fear his daughter, who lacks a sense of humor, will see it and he will never live it down. After Jack revives Karen, who by the way wakes up from her coma singing, we watch as Will tries to soothe his hangover headache with a little clean up giving everyone their cue to leave.

Once the apartment is downgraded from gay disaster zone, Grace shows up with breakfast and a gift for Will. Apparently, Noah (David Schwimmer) doesn’t approve of Grace’s interior decorating and he’s banished her favorite ceramic sculpture “Asian Baby Fish Humper.” Will is happy to take the weird ceramic tchotchke off her hands, but asks if this is a sign that Noah is struggling to share his space with Grace. Has he truly opened his home to her and given her the space and creative outlet a partner should like he has done with McCoy (Matt Bomer)? Grace blows him off and utters something about relationships and compromise, but Will’s not buying it and he swallows his feelings instead of starting a fight.

Secrets and Lies

After last week’s kiss between Karen and Nikki (Samira Wiley) the two really hit it off and started dating. The new love birds are hot and heavy and Karen’s decided, “presidentially speaking, I prefer Bush to Johnson.” All lesbian compliments aside, Nikki wonders if Karen is so into their relationship why hasn’t she told her friends about them. It’s a good question and one that Karen tries to side step with an idea about dropping all of her friends and making new gay ones. Nikki doesn’t want to be Karen’s secret and tells her she needs to be with someone who takes their relationship seriously. This is who Nikki is and she will not let Karen use her like some kind of bi-curious experiment. If Karen isn’t okay with that, then Nikki can’t continue to date her.

While Karen is having a sexuality crisis Will and Jack are having crises of their own. After his conversation with Grace we see Will is worried he might say something about her relationship with Noah during their house warming dinner party. Jack schools him in how to act like a supportive friend while really hating everything your friend is doing. He compares it to the theater and how a people congratulate each other on their work, even if the work is awful – cue Gaybrahm Twinkin. Will knows all about the complimentary nodding and smiling through, “Just Jack” performances and thanks his friend for the advice the best way he knows how – by hiding Jack’s thirteen gold wedding coins he’s supposed to give to Estefan (Brian Jordan Alvarez) during their vows. It seems these coins are a Spanish family tradition and Jack misplaced them during the riotous bachelor party. To add to his stress he’s been keeping the missing coins from Estefan, who can’t stop reminding Jack about how important it is to keep the golden heirlooms safe. Jack tears Will’s apartment apart, screeching about the coins and how heartbroken Estefan will be when he finds out Jack lost them. Will just sits back smiling, holding a coin purse he found when he was cleaning up from the party. Just when Jack’s about to lose his hope and his mind he spots the purse and Will’s smile. He rolls his eyes, snatches the change purse and calls his bestie an S.O.B. Upon inspection, he immediately notices that one coin is missing from the lucky thirteen! Thereare only twelve coins and now he has to lie to Estefan while he calls every person who attended the party to ask them if they’ve seen the golden trinket.

The Dinner Party

If there’s any indications that Noah and Grace’s relationship has hit a rough patch it has to be the fact the two can’t even agree on a throw rug or a scented candle. Noah has very specific tastes. Grace might even say he has no taste at all. Every chance he gets he stifles Grace’s decorating ideas for their shared living space. He hates her rugs, her Asian Baby Fish Humper, her favorite scents, anything with color and on and on…Their apartment is has no perky shades of Grace’s personality anywhere and Will notices this the minute he steps foot into their home. Jack nudges him as a reminder to act happy and swallow his negativity and Will’s trying but Grace has, once again, lost her true self to keep a man who doesn’t appreciate her. Thankfully, Karen shows up and occupies the attention in the room thanks to her lumberjack outfit and the announcement that Nikki is her new girlfriend. Leave it to Karen to take stereotypes to whole new level. Now that she’s out and proud, she’s traded in her Louboutin’s and Chanel jackets for a pair or Timberlands and a flannel shirt. As offensive as she is loveable, it just like Karen to miss the point as she dives head first into cultural stereotype. Her heart is in the right place, but she just misses the finer details of what it really means to be a bisexual. To Nikki’s credit, she doesn’t mind teaching Karen the ins and outs of the lady lovin’ lifestyle, even if she thinks Karen “looks like a mid-90’s rapper.”

As if Karen’s coming out wasn’t awkward enough, Will can’t seem to keep his mouth shut when Noah announces he’s skipping Jack’s wedding for a visit from his college friend he hasn’t seen in over a decade. Noah seems to think Jack is Grace’s friend and his no-show at the wedding isn’t a big deal. After keeping quiet about Noah’s inability to include Grace in pretty much all aspects of their cohabitation, Will learns his “Game of Thrones” addicted bestie, even gave up her TV because her new roomie doesn’t like the distraction. This, plus the wedding blow off, is why Will decides to leave the dinner party before he says something he will regret. He barely makes it out the door before Grace overhears him telling Jack he can no longer hide his disappointment behind some fake, grandiose compliments. Grace confronts Will and agrees he should leave if he can’t be supportive of her and Noah. Will reminds her that isn’t the first time she lost herself to keep a man, forcing her to admit that Noah is impossible to live with. Too bad for her Noah was listening while quietly ranted about the difficulties of living with him and his curmudgeon attitude. People’s true feelings have a way of spilling out at the worst times, leaving Will, Grace and Noah’s future up in the air. Everyone’s future except Jack’s whose marriage is golden thanks to Larry and the missing coin.

After keeping his carelessness from Estefan as long as he could, Larry swoops into the dinner party with good news. He found the coin or should I say a doctor removed it from his body after Karen put it in his “slot” to make Little Mr. Bo Peep dance. Boy, that bachelor party was one rockin’ good time! With the thirteen gold coins reunited and luck on his side, Jack’s Spanish wedding to Estefan is a go!

Next week, the two-part episode continues with Jack’s wedding, Karen and Nikki’s out and proud adventures, as well as some serious self-reflection from Grace, who always loses herself in her search for true love.