Will & Grace – Where in the World is Karen Walker?

By: Kelly Kearney

If you were wondering what happened with Will and Grace and their parents impending nuptials, the wait is over! Not only did we get an update on Mom and Dad, but we also found out that Jack is still having issues getting over his fear of commitment. Where one relationship begins, another is on the rocks. Speaking of “on the rocks,” Karen gets some bad news from Stanley after she was outed for being cheating on him with Malcolm. The ups and downs of relationships dominate this week’s, Will & Grace.

Marriage is Forever

It’s official, Martin (Robert Klein) and Marilyn (Blythe Danner) got hitched and their children are less than pleased now that they’re step- brother and sister. It just adds a fun new angle to their already complicated gay/straight/kind of married/roommate/former co-worker vibes. At the bar, the new step siblings can’t stop thinking about their parents “hooking up” for the long haul. It doesn’t help that Jack (Sean Hayes) and Karen (Megan Mullally) are there to share in their uncomfortable horror. “Your Maw’s inside your Paw,” Karen says and Will and Grace are so not amused. In fact, the two are so freaked out by their parent’s happy ending and they both vow to make personal changes in their lives, like growing a beard or running for President of the New York Interior Designers. Big changes are in the works for everyone.

Speaking of changes, Jack has gone from playboy to wedding planner, but the more his friends talk about commitment, the more Jack panics over his engagement to Estefan (Brian Jordan Alvarez).  Karen, who is three martinis deep into her wedding celebration, can’t stop reminding her Poodle that marriage is forever.  Every time she reminds him that “I do,” goes hand in hand with monogamy, the more Jack breaks out in a cold sweat.

Grace Adler, the Unqualified President You Never Knew You Needed

Last week we learned that Grace is running for President of the New York Society for Interior Designers, a/k/a the Queen of the New York gays, and she’s reveling in her glory. After her campaign launches, Grace scores an interview with the local paper and throws our current Commander in Chief under the bus when she jokes about being unqualified for her actual quest to be city mayor. She jokes that since she’s under qualified to run New York so she must be a shoe in for President of the United States. All political shade aside, she’s doing her best to charm the journalist into writing a totally truthful (she claims to be thirty-eight years old) and glowing piece about her campaign. The interview abruptly ends when Grace gets interrupted by a phone call from the police. The flustered red head takes off to find out what the call was all about.

Meanwhile, Will actually is making changes to his life. He’s grown a beard that is mysteriously darker than the rest of his hair and just accepted an offer to teach law at Columbia University. Things are looking up for Will, so maybe something good did come out of the Truman/Adler wedding? Will doesn’t have time to ponder career changes and “Just for Men” hair dye because he gets a phone call from the police, just like Grace.

Marriage, Undercarriages and Phone Calls With Judith

With all this talk of marriage and forever, Jack’s having trouble keeping it together. While shaving his “undercarriage” Jack talks to his mother Judith on the phone about Estefan’s fear of commitment. I say talk, but what I really mean is hostile monkey screeches of blaming his mother for both his out of control body hair and his inability to hold on to a relationship. Of course, Judith knows that Estefan isn’t the one with cold feet, she knows her son too well to believe that nonsense but Jack doesn’t really have time to explain. Just like Will and Grace, he gets a call from a police detective who wants to talk to him.

All three are nervous about why the police want to speak with them and Grace is pretty sure she’s about to go down for stealing a truffle she assumed was free at a check out counter. When the detective shows up, she informs them that Karen has gone missing. After checking all the gay bars, strip clubs and the usual Walker haunts, she is nowhere to be found. Karen is off the grid, but why?

Anastasia Beaverhausen Goes Deep Undercover

Karen, a/k/a Anastasia Beaverhausen, is hiding out at the Los Angeles’ Universal Tour from Stan who found out about her affair with Malcolm (Alec Baldwin). Back in New York, her friends start to piece together the last time they saw Karen, which was less of a friendly pop in and more of a “help me my husband’s trying to kill me,” dramatic meltdown. First, she told Will that Stan found out about her infidelity, but Will blows her off because Stan is a “big old softy” and wouldn’t dream of hurting his wife. Next, she goes to Grace Adler Designs and if being at work isn’t a good tip off that something is wrong with Karen, now someone’s following her.  Grace is too self-absorbed to listen to Karen’s paranoia even if Karen’s convinced Stan’s sent someone to snuff her out. Grace ignores the situation because she’s too distracted with her campaign’s Twitter followers. Finally, Karen barges in on Jack and Estefan taking a shower to tell her GBF that she’s leaving and he may never see her again. She leaves him with strict instructions to burn down Grace’s fashion nightmare of a wardrobe and reminds him to feed her pet hamster to her snake. The two tummy touch through the shower door and Karen is off to the land of sun and undercover fun, L.A., here she comes!

While hiding out on the back lot of the Universal tour, Karen meets a scary but friendly woman named Linda, if that’s even her real name, and confides in the woman about her marital woes. Linda (Jennifer Kenyon) is a good listener and helps Karen realize the answers to her problems are in New York, not hanging out on a tour tram with a woman who is secretly poisoning her father in law. Yeah, Linda’s a psychopath, but so is Karen who thanks her new friend for listening and heads back to the East Coast.

Malcolm’s Love Comes at a high price

Back in New York we see Will, Grace and Jack are still mulling over the clues to where Karen might be hiding and decide to text Malcolm to see if he has any ideas. Within seconds Malcolm comes flying through the apartment door, his fast response comes from the fact he apparently has all their phone’s bugged. Not only is he using the strong arm of his government connections to keep tabs on Karen and her friends, he’s also the one who told Stan about their affair! Apparently, Stan came to Malcolm with fears that his wife was having an affair. The fluffy billionaire hired his wife’s boyfriend to dig up dirt on himself. Of course, Malcolm took the money and told Stan it was him and he’s in love with Karen. “Easiest five grand I ever made,” he says. At that point, Karen walks in and slaps Malcolm silly for ruining her marriage to Stan. Normally, physical violence is foreplay for these two, but Walker is serious, and she is livid that Malcolm would betray her. That’s when the detective shows up, only she isn’t a detective at all, she was searching for Karen to serve her divorce papers. Malcolm leaves and Karen is completely devastated. Years of being by Stan’s side are all wrapped up in one ominous manila envelope. She turns to Jack, who just announced his wedding is off because commitment isn’t a thing for a man who is a “Jack of all Gays,” but she tells him to try again. If Jack loves Estefan then Karen thinks he should make it work because even with her impending divorce, she wouldn’t give up a single moment she had with Stan. Jack agrees to talk to Estefan later and the group of friends all hug it out, letting Karen know she’s never truly alone if you have great friends.