What I’m Watching: Will and Grace

Will and Grace: Season 10, Episode 12 “The Pursuit of Happiness” (B)

After a few episodes that have felt very unifying and have managed to capture some of the old energy that this show used to have, I didn’t feel that this one really had that. The one exception was Alec Baldwin’s hilarious return as Malcolm, emerging from the box much to Grace’s shock and then communicating with his star-crossed lover through Grace since they weren’t able to be on the same level with each other. Baldwin wouldn’t work as a regular star on this show, but having him show up every once in a while is always fun. Will has been thinking a lot recently about compromising himself at work, whether it’s making his class into a television episode or now beginning a discouraged romance with another teacher. Finding out that he had both a child and a partner was enough to snap him back to reality, especially after Paul didn’t seem to feel any remorse about not having shared that part of his life, only nervousness about having nearly been caught. I know many are enamored with Andrea Martin, star of the recently-cancelled two-season NBC comedy “Great News,” and it was somewhat entertaining to watch her toy with Jack so that she could steal his job and show him that, after years of perfecting his craft and his act, he’s still not a terribly good actor. Jack’s acting is usually a positive center of attention on this show, though I’m not sure anything will compare to his one-man Gaybraham Lincoln show that we saw previewed earlier this year.