Will & Grace series finale recap

22 years after first coming on the air in 1998, Will & Grace aired its last episode on Thursday night in a poignant and hilarious fashion befitting the landmark show.

Will & Grace ran for eight seasons in its initial run between 1998 and 2006, but NBC brought back Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing), Jack (Sean Hayes)  and Karen (Megan Mullally) for three more seasons starting in 2017.

The finale marked the end of an era, as the title characters got ready to be parents, leaving their iconic apartment behind, while Jack and Karen make some big changes as well, with a memorable guest star thrown in to boot.

The episode begins with Will packing up the apartment, as Jack asks how crazy it is that they’re both having babies, when Grace screams ‘It’s time!!’

‘Commence Operation Baby!’ Will screams, realizing that no one read his email titled Operation Baby.’

After the title sequence, they come back home and she apologizes for the false alarm, while Karen searches for the booze and finds it.

Graces says he forgot to pack his self-portrait, as she tries to reminisce but Will won’t have any reminiscing.

Jack’s husband Estefan (Brian Jordan Alvarez) bursts in and tells him that he might be performing on Broadway… if for some reason four understudies can’t perform.

Karen gets an email saying her longtime husband Stan (who has never been seen in the show’s long history) wants to meet her on the top of the Statue of Liberty, where they had their first date.

Jack says at least she knows he wants her back but she says she considered it ,though she wants to move forward, not backwards.

Will says it’s not a self-portrait but a painting that his mother gave her father but he didn’t like it because he thought it was too gay… and after a long pause Will says, ‘My mistake.’

They all take a cab to help Karen say goodbye to Stan as they all try to distract each other, when Jack learns the first two understudies ‘can’t stop throwing up.

They see a news report that reveals Will’s ex-fiance McCoy Whitman (Matt Bomer) returning to New York, taking his old anchor spot, which angers Will, because McCoy never told him he was coming back to New York.

It’s fitting that the finale features one final iconic guest starring spot, as it’s revealed that the cab driver is none other than Lorraine Finster (Minnie Driver), who says cab driving is a lot like stripping.

‘Yes we had a four-way with two of the One Directions, but you know zero about me,’ Karen says.

Lorraine also takes a dig at Grace, saying she stole her nose from a gentile, before dropping a truth bomb, stating Karen’s constant is she’s always in love with Stan.

Karen finally realizes that she does love Stan as Lorraine keeps driving.

They all get to the top of the Statue of Liberty as Will and Grace get to the top before Jack and Karen as they gloat.

‘It’s our life, our city, just think of all the stories,milestones, men who have disappointed us,’ Grace says.

Will makes it a point to only look forward, pointing out a pigeon with a syringe in his mouth.

Karen rushes up looking for Stan but they say he’s not there yet, as Jack finally makes it up, saying his bones are like jelly.

Jack tries to realize if he’s still a nurse, as he reflects on old jobs again.

Jack gets a call and lets out a huge scream, and says he’ll be right there, revealing the last understudy has the measles and he’ll finally get to make his Broadway debut, as he screams, ‘Thank you anti-vaxxers!’

Will asks if he needs help getting ready but he says he’s always ready, quick-changing into a sailor outfit.

‘This is the first good thing to happen to me on top of a woman,’ Jack says before rushing off.

Grace marvels that they are going to see their friend on Broadway, but Karen says she’s going to wait for Stan.

Grace says, ‘It’s a big day for both of us,’ when Karen says, ‘What do you got going on?’

When she’s all alone, Karen asks Stan not to make a fool out of her.

At the Broadway play, when it’s finally time to take a bow, Jack can barely stand.

Hours later, Karen is about to leave, saying her ‘torch is getting tired,’ when a helicopter comes in, as Karen says, ‘It aint over until the fat man takes a helicopter over restricive airspace.’

Karen stops, saying they’ve both done bad things, but he gives her a gift, with a note saying, ‘Let’s start over, marry me again.’

She gets on the ladder, telling the Statue of LIberty to ‘lose the tablet, no one likes a girl who reads,’ and the helicopter takes off, as we never see who Stan is after 11 seasons.

At the play, Grace comes back to tell Will that McCoy is here, and she saw him in the men’s bathroom because she didn’t want to wait in line, revealing she saw him at the urinal, adding, ‘Good for you.’

She tells him he’ll regret it if he doesn’t go after him now, so she screams ‘Pregnant woman coming through’ to make a hole through the crowd for Will.

Will tells Grace on the phone that she couldn’t catch up to him and he tried calling out to him, but he gets home and finds McCoy there waiting for him. 

He says it was all too fast, getting married and the baby, and Will says he’s only looking forward.

Will says he made a commitment to Grace and they’re raising their babies together, when McCoy says, ‘Even gay guys get to have their Prince Charming.’

Will sees the apartment is empty except for the couch, when Grace admits that she’s always hated it.

‘Everything’s gonna be so different, a whole new life, a new house, kids, we’ve always just been Will & Grace,’ Grace says.

Will says that, ‘We’ve been Will & Grace long enough.’

Jack and Karen wait outside and they say everything is gonna change, as they start slapping each other and realize they’ll always be ‘us.’

Grace asks Karen if she’s happy with Stan and she thinks she will be, and Grace realizes that the baby is finally coming.

‘Are you ready for this?’ Will asks. ‘100% no,’ Grace replies as they rush out.

Will comes back in and grabs the ugly portrait, before taking one last look at the apartment, turning the lights off and leaving for the last time, as the series comes to an end.

The Will & Graceful Goodbye special aired directly after the finale, beginning with the final table read for the show.

Co-creator Max Mutnick says ‘Not only did we do it again, but we did it better than the first time.’

They show footage of the cast reading the final episode, applauding.

Four years earlier, the cast reminisced on the show coming back after its successful eight-season run from 1998 to 2005.

Messing reveals she never thought they’d get a chance to do this again,as they show footage of the theme song being played on the piano by several fans.

They show a montage of footage throughout the entire run, as McCormack reveals a number of stories from fans who share how much the show meant to them.

TV legend Norman Lear added that the characters were ‘so well-written’ and how lucky the creators were to find the four stars.

They show a montage of footage of Will & Grace playing charades, as McCormack adds that NBC took an ‘incredible risk’ by putting on a show with gay lead characters.

McCormack adds that he didn’t expect how their stories would affect their audience, as we see more footage of fans sharing how the show impacted them.

Lear added that the show reflects, ‘how society behaves’ along with a montage of physical humor that the sitcom’s stars did so well.

Sir Elton John reflects on his guest-starring role, adding that he ‘dropped everything’ to be on it.

‘This is an important show,’ John added, leading into a montage of some of the iconic guest stars the show.

McCormack added how the show was so unique because there were no gay characters on TV at the time, and now gay characters make up 10% of characters on TV right now.

‘On behalf of everyone at Will and Grace, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and the hearts of our bottoms,’ McCormack says, as crew members can be heard laughing in the background as the special, and the iconic series, comes to an end.