‘Will & Grace’ Season 11 Finale Review: An unemotional ending makes it easier to let go and we're thankful for it
Spoilers for Season 11 Episode 18 ‘It’s Time’!
And it’s a wrap, finally! 22 years (if you want to ignore the 12 years of hiatus) and 246 episodes later, NBC’s hit sitcom draws the curtains on its audience. But this isn’t really the first time the show has said goodbye to its audience.
In 2006, after eight seasons, the series ended (for the first time) with a quick flashforward of Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and Grace Adler (Debra Messing) in the future with two adolescent kids, going to college. And we thought it’s all over until they came back, after a decade-long break and reprised the adventures of the New York lawyer and the glamorous designer.
In the last three years, ‘Will & Grace’ 2.0 (as we all call it now) saw the quirky quad of Will, Grace, Jack (Sean Hayes) and Karen (Megan Mullally) once again cracking us all up with their tug-of-war. But this also had to end somewhere, and finally that “somewhere” is right here right now, as we speak. The show bid farewell in a simple, unemotional finale and that was the beauty of it.
Most shows (especially sitcoms) end on a significant note or a dramatic, happy ending, leaving you with a big smile and some tears. But not ‘Will & Grace’. And that’s what should be appreciated about this episode (and the show overall).
Grace is about to have a baby and the scene opens with Jack telling Will "How crazy is it that the two of you are both having babies!" It is indeed crazy. Will and Grace are not a “couple” couple and they are anything but “normal”. Plus, they are leaving their city of dreams, where they grew, evolved, worked and succeeded, and are now moving to the quieter suburbs for a simpler, home life.
Then Jack gets the good news of his Broadway appearance, which he had always dreamed of but never had a chance to realize it. Karen, on the other hand, is contemplating whether to return to her ex-husband. After a few false alarms, Grace decides to induce labor by walking up the stairs of Statue of Liberty. As they all stand there, reminiscing their life in the big city, it tells you more than it actually does. While Grace wants to finally say goodbye to the city (figuratively to the audience), Will believes this is just the start. Even for Jack and Karen, this is a start as Jack finally gets his piece of the proverbial sky and Karen gets to be with her man all over again.
For a series finale, especially for a show of this breadth, you would expect some dramatic, emotional or shocking moments. But there’s none! Instead, it shows the milestones of each of the four character’s lives and it’s nothing surprising, to be honest. You can keep those tissues away and enjoy the fun as they take you through their craziness and simple humor one last time.
'Will & Grace' has been groundbreaking, by every definition of it. It was one of those few, rare shows of its time that addressed LGBTQ rights most effectively and aesthetically. Despite Will being a gay man and Grace being a straight woman, they decided to take their friendship ahead and turn it into a family bond. Yes, the thought and the concept is indeed intense and emotional in its own way but that didn’t push the writers to make the finale a tearjerker, making it an incredible ending but still leaving us wanting more.
The series finale of ‘Will & Grace’ aired on NBC on Thursday, April 23, 2020 and you can soon expect it to be on your favorite online channel, so you can relive the farewell all over again.