What I’m Watching: Will and Grace (Series Finale)

Will and Grace: Season 11, Episode 18 “It’s Time”

I remember sitting down to watch the original finale of this show fourteen years ago and thinking that it was really time for it to end, since it had for a while been featuring big-name guest stars to try to attract attention for its lackluster laugh track. I wasn’t sure about it coming back as a result, but these last three years have actually been decent. What I experienced watching the unexpectedly sentimental retrospective special was a yearning to go back and watch some of the early episodes where the cast was so young and this show was truly influential. I think I probably started watching regularly around season four, and so it’s nice to know that I can still go back someday and watch what are widely regarded as the best years (including the second, which won Best Comedy Series). I actually found this farewell episode to be very strong, and I like that it didn’t offer definitive answers on Will’s future with McCoy or feature Grace giving birth. Instead, they took a taxi ride through New York City, which was nice to see, and we only had to endure one high-profile guest spot from Minnie Driver, which wasn’t so bad. I was sort of hoping that we’d get to finally see Stan, but him arriving not like King Kong but in a helicopter to invite Karen back into his life was actually perfectly fitting. My favorite part was not Jack finally getting to be on Broadway without being able to take his big bow but instead his asking himself whether he still had all these different jobs we hadn’t seen him at in a while. It’s a humorous nod to how shows, including this one, tend to forget certain plotlines just because they’re no longer convenient or relevant. This is a great high note to go out on for a show that’s been perfectly fine in its three-season return if not entirely necessary. Since I haven’t seen (and certainly don't remember) every episode, I’m omitting my traditional “best season” and “best episodes” accolades below.

Series finale: B+
Series grade: B+
Season MVP: Sean Hayes as Jack
Season grade: B
Series MVP: Sean Hayes

What I’m Watching: Weeds (Series Finale)

Weeds: Season 8, Episodes 12 and 13 “It’s Time”

I turned this one-hour episode on about sixty seconds too late and was entirely confused, though starting over at the beginning of the episode just revealed that this was an unexplained flash-forward, picking up right before Stevie’s Bar Mitzvah. There’s something very appropriate about ending a show with a life-cycle event because it’s a logical time to bring people from many parts of your past back together, allowing for people to have fallen out of touch or out of favor (Celia, the most notably absent one). The most intriguing and unexpected guest, who had previously appeared only on the pilot but was evidently on loan from another Showtime series, “Shameless,” was Justin Chatwin as Josh, Doug’s son, who got taken from his apartment twice so that Guru Doug could apologize to him (sort of) for being a bad father. I most enjoyed Guillermo sitting down to correct Stevie’s perception of his birth father, though it had interesting and uncomfortable results as played out during Stevie’s speech during his Bar Mitzvah. Four dead husbands is quite the legacy for Nancy, and owning an enormously successful chains of legal marijuana stores didn’t seem to be fulfilling for her or her relationship with either of her older children. Oddly enough, Silas turned out just fine, thanks in part to Megan, while Shane went down the deep end and grew the world’s worst mustache. Andy, on the other hand, was the picture of serenity, and it’s nice to see him end on such an inspiring serious note, even if we pretty much missed much of that development. The final scene out in the snow was a bit overlong but generally effectively nostalgic. Some of the futuristic innovations, namely the see-through phones, were a bit odd, but this is hardly supposed to be science fiction. It was nice to hear about Isabelle becoming Bruce, and seeing Conrad and Sanjay in relationships that worked for them. This show, perhaps more than any other, has been a wild rollercoaster ride since its second season introduced other players besides Nancy in the game, yet it’s managed to stay interesting and often quite good in the process. It’s most worthwhile for getting the opportunity to see those five core characters grow from their original young selves in the first season to these bona fide accomplished adults now.

Series finale: B+
Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Justin Kirk as Andy
Series grade: B+
Series MVP: Mary-Louise Parker as Nancy
Best Season: Season 1 and Season 4
Best Episode: “You Can’t Miss the Bear” / “Go”