Will & Grace

Plot

• Main page - Episode guide

Will & Grace's early relationship

Back in college at Columbia University, Will and Grace were actually boyfriend and girlfriend, with Will in denial about his sexuality. However, with the counsel of his new friend Jack McFarland, Will finally came out to Grace during a Thanksgiving weekend at her family home in Schenectady, New York, 1985. Grace was shocked, hurt and angry at the time, throwing him out of the house, but a year later they finally reconciled and renewed their friendship; they have been best friends ever since.

Related Topics:
Columbia University - Sexuality - Jack McFarland - Thanksgiving - Schenectady, New York - 1985

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As roommates

When the show debuted, the pair had just started living as roommates in New York City after Grace had come out of a long-term relationship with Danny which ended badly and needed an apartment. Will and Grace spend a lot of time with one another as well as with friends Jack McFarland, a flamboyantly gay struggling stage actor whose careers over the course of the show range from a Barneys New York and Banana Republic salesman to acting teacher to student nurse; and Karen Walker, a millionairess drunk and Grace's personal assistant. Another character who factored into the early stories was Will's client Harlin Polk, played by Gary Grubbs. At first he was given equal billing in the opening credits with the other four cast members, but interest in his storyline waned, and he was written out of the show early in the second season (it was said that Harlin dumped Will for a new lawyer).

Related Topics:
New York City - Barneys New York - Banana Republic - Nurse - Karen Walker - Gary Grubbs - Lawyer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The show follows both Will and Grace's attempts to establish romantic relationships without sacrificing their often co-dependent reliance on one another for emotional support. A common joke finds Jack and Karen referring to Will and Grace as "non-sexual life partners." At the end of the first season, Grace moved into her own apartment (across the hall from Will's) in an attempt to put some distance between herself and Will, but then ended up moving back at the beginning of the third season. She moved out after getting married in the fifth season, but she moved back in with Will after getting divorced at the start of the seventh season.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Relationships

Grace has had several lovers on the show, portrayed by actors such as Woody Harrelson and Gregory Hines. Frequently, her lovers feel frustrated by the closeness of her relationship with Will, worried that she is on some level still in love with him. (There's a great deal of support for this position: for instance, in the sixth season, when Grace meets her husband's former girlfriend, played by Mira Sorvino, she behaves quite maturely until she discovers that the ex is also the only woman Will had ever slept with, after which she becomes extremely jealous.) Eventually she married Leo, played by singer and actor Harry Connick, Jr.. Leo was unusual in that Grace's friendship with Will seemed not to bother him; at one point, when Grace was extremely upset about Leo's coming six-month absence, she asked if Will could sleep (platonically) with them, and Leo responded with good humor, saying, "I knew this was going to happen one day." They split in the finale of the show's sixth season after Grace discovered Leo had had an affair while working with Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) in Cambodia. Will has been less successful romantically, a fact lamented by many fans who long to see a gay man portrayed on television in a happy relationship. In the show's early seasons, Will did not have any long-term love interests, but this changed in the spring of 2004, when the character of Vince, a New York City policeman played by Bobby Cannavale, was introduced. Their relationship lasted until the spring of 2005, when the two decided to "take a break."

Related Topics:
Woody Harrelson - Gregory Hines - Mira Sorvino - Harry Connick, Jr. - Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) - Cambodia - 2004 - Bobby Cannavale - 2005

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Supporting characters

Meanwhile, the supporting characters Jack and Karen have grown cattier and more spiteful, providing acerbic commentary on the neurotic behavior of the title characters. Jack, whose floundering one-man show and acting career has been established as a hopeless dream, found work in retail sales and married (and later divorced) Karen's maid and long-time friend Rosario Salazar in order to help her establish U.S. citizenship. It was also revealed that he had fathered a son many years prior (through artificial insemination with a woman played by Rosie O'Donnell). Karen is played as a woman who has made hard choices in life in order to live the carefree way she chooses. She sometimes reluctantly reveals intense emotion about rough situations (such as the death of her husband), although she usually prefers to put on a face of cruel indifference and obliviousness.

Related Topics:
Rosario Salazar - Rosie O'Donnell

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Karen's husband, Stan Walker, has remained an unseen character over the course of the show. He is described as an extremely overweight man with some unusual sexual tastes, who gives a lot of business to Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Jailed during season four for tax fraud, Stan was released in season five, but Karen soon caught him sleeping with his British mistress Lorraine Finster (played by Minnie Driver), whom he met when she worked in the prison cafeteria. During Stan and Karen's divorce proceedings at the end of season five, Stan dropped dead, and season six saw Karen explore other avenues of dating, culminating in her 20-minute-long marriage to Lorraine's father, Lyle (played by John Cleese). At the end of the seventh season, it was revealed that Stan faked his death and will likely return in season eight.

Related Topics:
Unseen character - Overweight - Pizza Hut - Taco Bell - British - Minnie Driver - John Cleese

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~