Will & Grace Season 2 Review:

23 episodes of the second season of US sit-com Will & Grace.

The second season of a sit-com is usually the best, established characters are left in the hands of the now capable actors and the writers are left to make the most of a bigger budget leading to the use of more varied locations and bit players. Will & Grace is no exception and proves that after the barrier breaking first run there is a lot of life left in what is a simple pitch on paper. For the uninitiated Will (McCormack) is a gay lawyer while his best friend Grace (Messing) is an interior designer and together they try and find what all New Yorkers do in these types of shows, the perfect partner. They are helped although mostly hindered by the Cher obsessed Jack “just Jack” McFarland (Hayes) who dreams of acting and the alcoholic socialite Karen (Mullally) who supposedly acts as Grace’s assistant.

The season opens with Grace having moved out of Will’s apartment to across the hall though the majority of the action still takes place at his place, hers smelling of “cat pee” and littered with unpacked boxes. This is probably the best living arrangement of the series and gives the two some much needed time apart but also keeps them in close quarters when the need arises. There are no huge story arks throughout the episodes but the series does find Will losing his job and then being hired by the all too cool Ben Ducett who adds some much needed slick level headedness in the latter half of the series. When I say looses his job Will still seems to be able to afford his huge New York apartment and seemingly endless bottles of wine for this is a series that isn’t too grounded in many people’s realities. The characters bitch about money but still live it up in designer clothes and pricey restaurants. If you can stomach the fact that these snobs have landed themselves this lifestyle then there are plenty of laughs to be had.

Many taboos were shattered in the previous run but there are still a few areas left unexplored here, giving the studio audience something to whoop over and gives the show a bit of an edge that has simply vanished in later ‘outings’. Jack has to tell his mother that he is in fact gay (“she has met you right?”) in Homo for the Holidays while Will has to deal with his father hiding his sons sexuality from his company in Oh Dad, Poor Dad. The showboat episode is Acting Out where Jack, annoyed at NBC (who also show Will & Grace, “of course they’re a gay network, the logo is a peacock!”) for not showing a gay kiss, he and Will protest and end up kissing live on air; a stand-out moment for the series keen to promote a mainstream comedy that deals with the lives of gay people.

However, it’s not always about serious issues and there are some fine comedy moments to be found. Seeing as they’re already on series 6 in the States it’s not surprising that the shows have come to rely on cameos by big stars and while these can be priceless they sometimes over shadow the talent. As with most great ensembles it’s the characters that aren’t the stars who are the funniest and Jack and Karen are memorable, insane party animals who live without fear of consequence. The friendship between them becomes more apparent in this series where they have their own little sub-plots, the best of which comes in Terms of Employment where the pair are filmed for a sexual harassment video. Grace also grabs the laughs with her leaky breast substitutes in Das Boob while Will is always on hand to deal with more adult things such as should he become a sperm donor for an old friend or the appearance of an ex-boyfriend.

With Joan Collins and Sydney Pollack the only big names to pop-up in the series it’s safe to say that season 2 is the best representation of Will & Grace as it’s perfectly honed by this point. It is one of those shows that comes across quite brash, the actors shout and seem to get more screechy and almost inaudible as the show progresses, but there are some heartfelt moments in there. The one criticism of this particular series is the distinct lack of any real relationships of third parties despite the constant complaining and it’s still very much involved in the four main characters. Will in particular never seems to be lucky in love and even Jack with all his flirtations doesn’t seem to get much action. In a series that breaks down a few barriers it’s also one of those in a long line of US shows that does seem overly glossy, more sexless in the city. With Britain always ready to push a few boundaries and show more real people in real situations it’s a shame US TV is somewhat restricted.

Extras

The only things included are a few ‘featurettes’ spread across the 4 discs but are only really compilations of clips from the series. For some reason there are none of the commentaries or outtakes as promised for this release.

NOTE: Although it says on the listings that Ben? Her? Parts 1 and 2 are the season closers for some reason they don’t appear on the discs in that order giving the impression that things happen that are then forgotten.

Rich Badley

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