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Summary: The final episode of "Will & Grace" begins with a dream. Set in the future, Will and Grace have made good on their plan to raise Grace's baby together. Unfortunately, neither are very happy with the results. Grace is fat, wrinkled, with greying hair, wearing a tracksuit the same colour as the Kool-Aid Man (with an ass to match). Will is also older, fatter, wrinkly, and wearing a toupee. They are grouchy, unfriendly to each other, and both resent the fact that they gave up the loves of their lives to raise the baby.

And Grace's son Warren isn't too happy, either. Will informs Grace that Warren has been suspended for writing "Hey fellas, for a good time, call Will Truman" on the men's room wall. Grace finds this funny, but Will believes that Warren shouldn't disrespect his father like that. Warren replies that Will isn't his real father and after more bickering (and Grace smacking Will's toupee off), Warren storms out, completely ignoring his parents wishes that he not leave.

Will and Grace snap at each other, though their is no hint of the friendliness their bickering normally reveals. Will calls Grace hideous and she reminds him that times hasn't been good to any of them...

Except Karen, who arrives for game night looking exactly the same as she always does. She attributes her good looks to Noxema and the love of a good man. This "man", it turns out, is Rosario, sporting a mullet and a leather jacket.

Jack enters next, looking a little older and a lot darker thanks to a mega-tan. He reveals that he got married, and his husband is none other than Kevin Bacon, the man he once stalked.

Karen comments that they're all lucky to have found the one they truly belong with...except for Will and Grace. They begin the game, and when Grace gets to the word "crushed", she uses the examples, "Our souls, our hopes and dreams". Will is depressed and tells Grace that being with her has ruined his life...

...at which point, Grace wakes up in the present, still pregnant, with Will looking over her. She doesn't tell him what she dreamed, but the next day it's clear that she's having doubts about their plan to raise their baby together. Will goes out to do the laundry, leaving Grace alone in the apartment. She hears a knock at the door, and thinking it's Will, she tells him to come in.

But it's not Will; it's Leo.

He quickly fills her in on what's happened. He called off his wedding because after reuniting on the plane, he realized he wanted to spend his life with Grace, to marry her and have children with her. He jokes that he's getting ahead of himself, then Grace stands up, revealing her very pregnant stomach. Leo realizes the baby is his, and the two kiss...

It's Will's birthday, and he hopes that Grace has called him, but Vince reminds him that they haven't spoken in over two years, since Grace left him to raise her baby with Leo. Vince also reminds Will of what Will told him: that fate brought he and Grace together, and fate was going to keep them together.

Over at Grace and Leo's place, Grace is feeding Cheerios to 2-year-old Lila, her and Leo's daughter. Leo comes downstairs and reminds Grace that it's Will's birthday and maybe she should give him a call. Grace is against that idea, as she has been for the past two years. She tells Leo that Will is not her best friend, that a best friend would've returned the phone calls she made, begging for forgiveness, that a best friend would be there for the birth of her daughter. She just wants to put it all aside and take Lila to the zoo.

Jack and Karen are irritated by the behaviour of their friends. The two hatch a plot to get Will and Grace together; Karen calls Will and tells him that Jack was in an accident and is at the hospital in a full body cast; Jack tells Grace the same thing, substituting himself for Karen. Will and Grace fall for it and meet in the hospital room of a very homophobic body cast patient. The two former friends decide to have some cafeteria cake and talk.

Meanwhile, Jack and Karen are out to lunch, celebrating their ingenious plan and Karen's huge divorce settlement. Karen is called away to when there's a problem with her credit card, and while he waits, Jack is approached by Beverley Leslie. Newly single Beverley wants a new boy toy and is willing to pay Jack for the pleasure of his company. Jack is disgusted, but Beverley tells him to think about, reminding him that he has millions.

Karen returns, disheartened, and tells Jack that she's broke. Everything Stan had he borrowed, so she has no money.

Back at Will and Vince's, Will and Grace are swapping stories about their lives over the past two years. Jack wants to tell them about Karen's money woes, but she won't let him, so instead he tells everyone about the offer Beverley made to him. This intrigues Karen, and she drags Jack out to the elevator. Once in, she hits the emergency stop and pins Jack to the wall. She reminds him of all the years she spent supporting him, and tells him that it's his turn to support her.

Back in the apartment, Will and Grace are happy to be friends again and plan to meet up later. However, both have families and busy lives and they decide they'll just call each other. However, the look on Grace's face as she leaves indicates that she is worried.

Over at Beverley Leslie's pent house, Jack has taken the job of boy toy, much to his obvious chagrin. He and Beverley have yet to "consummate" their relationship, and Jack seems intent on keeping it that way. Karen and Rosario arrive to get Karen's weekly allowance and Jack reveals to Karen that he isn't happy. Karen is angry at first, reminding Jack that her marriage was no picnic either, but she stayed with it.

Then she softens up, acknowledging that Jack doesn't love Beverley the way she loved Stan. She tells Jack that he can stop what he's doing, even though Beverley has just made Jack his sole beneficiary to his vast fortune. The two leave together, just as Beverley emerges from the bedroom, searching for Jack. He wanders out onto the balcony -

- and is blown away by a gust of wind.

Later that night, Will and Grace are talking with their spouses about what's happened. Both reveal that they always believed they were destined to be together, ever since they moved into rooms across from each other at college. But now they aren't so sure about destiny. They each feel as if that part of their lives is over now.

The girl is Lila.

The boy is Ben.

They decide to head off to get a cup of coffee before their parents show up. A moment later, Grace and Will come down the hall, carrying a load of boxes that block their sights. They knock on their respective children's doors, calling their names, and they realize just what has happened. They put the boxes down and turn to face each other.

Time has been far kinder to them than in Grace's dream. A few extra wrinkles, a few more grey hairs, but otherwise, the same Will and Grace. They are surprised that their children are going to the same college, and are across the hall from each other, just like they were at that age.

It's like destiny.

Time has also been kind to Jack and Karen. Jack has greying hair and a few wrinkles, and Karen looks exactly the same. Rosario is in a wheelchair, but is no less feisty, and verbally spars with Karen before being wheeled out of the room.

Jack and Karen have settled into a life of comfort, luxury and (platonic) love, living together in a gorgeous penthouse. Karen realizes that the two of them have been living together longer than they were ever with any of their husbands or boyfriends. She feels a song coming on, and she and Jack head over to the piano.

With Jack playing, Karen begins to sing "Unforgettable". She sings one verse, Jack sings the next verse, and both look at each other lovingly. The song cumulates in a beautiful duet, and at the end, they touch stomachs.

Several months (or years) later, Will and Grace have a telephone conversation. Lila and Ben are getting married (and Grace is paying for it). They are both amazed at how their lives turned out. Feeling nostalgic, Will asks Grace to meet him at the bar they went to in the Pilot, and Grace agrees. They call Jack and Karen as well, and the four toast each other and their friendship.

WILL: I was gonna propose a toast, to family. Family that loves you, and accepts you for exactly who you are.
JACK: Bor-ring.
KAREN: Too real!
WILL: You know what's funny? We haven't changed a bit.
GRACE: It's kinda nice, isn't it?

And as Queen's "You're My Best Friend" plays, the four down their drinks and we're back in the present, with Jack, Karen, Grace and Will. Will and Grace kiss, Jack and Karen kiss, and we fade out.

Quotes
WILL: You kept saying "bacon" and "huge ass". It's scary to finally make that connection, isn't it?

Did You Notice...
~In Grace's dream, her son is named Warren, though she had promised Will that she'd name the baby after his father George (since it's a dream, it's not really a nitpick, just an observation).
~Will had the first line of the series and Grace had the last line.
~The man in the body cast is played by Jere Burns, who starred in "Good Morning, Miami", another sitcom created by "Will & Grace" creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick.

Pictures

Articles
From EW.com: The 'Will & Grace' finale: Aw. by Michael Slezak
- Nope, I didn't get choked up, but Will & Grace ended last night on a sweet, and sweetly amusing, note.
- Far more important, the hourlong episode allowed the titular duo to finally find love with their long-running romantic interests (Vince and Leo), and contained at least a half-dozen laugh-out-loud punch lines, including Karen's advice to Jack on becoming a kept man: "Oh, you'll do it. You'll do it the same way any other self-respecting woman does. Get on your back, point your heels to Jesus, and think of handbags." Not only that, Jack and Karen's duet of "Unforgettable", and the last-act toast among the four lead characters, provided nice meta closure to a long-running (if somewhat inconsistent) sitcom staple.

Fan Opinions
Cyn Don: "I stayed home from school. I made a huge poster of the ending then when it was 8:00pm me and my uncle sat together and watched and suprisingly we both cried then we fell asleep on the couch and at night I woke up with emotional pains; that's how much I love my Will and Grace."

Jesse: "I don't think I can really explain how I felt watching the finale. First off, on finale night I was sitting in my college's performing arts center singing Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at the top of my lungs in dress rehearsal. I had left the house that morning with a giant note taped onto the TV and the VCR on and ready with a blank tape. The note said "THERE IS A TAPE IN THE VCR. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRESS RECORD AT EIGHT. Will and Grace finale!!!"

I ended up getting in at four in the morning and running straight to the VCR... and found it still at 00:00:00. My note was still on the television, and I can't even describe the sinking feeling I had in my stomach at that point. Some part of me had expected it; my family never liked the show. And the spoilers I had read were less than promising: no one mentioned that the ridiculous Karen-and-Rosie marriage and Grace-as-crazy-fat-lady thing was a dream sequence. So I crept into my room and slept, hoping to be able to download the finale somehow.

But then I found, to my relief and delight, that the finale was online at NBC.com, bless their little hearts. So I sat down Friday morning with my laptop and some popcorn and just watched.

And I did laugh. Parts of it were very, very funny. I loved, absolutely LOVED Ben and Lila. I loved that Grace showed Lila how to get a Cheerio off the table with no hands (I actually said aloud, "Way to teach the kid bad habits, Deb!").

But most of all I loved how everyone ended up with who they were supposed to be with. Will and Vince ended up together, Grace and Leo (however tortured that was) ended up together, and best of all Jack and Karen ended up with each other. That was the most satisfying part; to see Jack and Karen settle down and just realize that soulmates are soulmates and sometimes it's good to just let it be.

The very best part, though, the part I will never forget, is the duet Sean and Megan sang. I have been wanting to hear them sing together for as long as I can remember, and it was a total and wonderful surprise to hear them in the finale. I was thrilled. I watched that scene with a hand to my heart.

And for me, it wasn't about Will and Grace. It was about Jack and Karen. Will and Grace never had my heart the way Jack and Karen did. And to see them finally, finally get a plot together that meant something was... almost unreal. In fanfiction, we can have whatever we want. But to see the writers and creators get smart about Jack and Karen was a real thrill. It almost hasn't sunk in for me, that the plot brought two people so meant for each other together.

Ever since the first season, it's been a treat to watch Jack and Karen. Although the plots have been less-than-stellar these past few seasons, there was always something undefinable about Jack and Karen that said volumes to me; whatever ways Will and Grace might go, these two were sticking around. And it was nice to see the more Will-and-Grace-like side to them revealed; the part of them that was simply, "We love each other and we need each other and that's how it is."

The end scene was great. It begins with them all fast-forwarded to their aged selves, and once they put the shot glasses down, they're back to their young selves. And Sean merely leans over, kisses Megan softly, and she takes his hand. Which was perfect.

What a send-off."

Karli (webmistress): "Well, it’s officially over. 'Will & Grace', I mean.

And yes, I cried. I’m usually not sensitive when it comes to TV shows, and I was pretty good for the most part of the episode. But when Jack and Karen sang "Unforgettable" together, I wept like a little baby. Because in the end, for me anyway, it wasn’t about Will & Grace, it was about Jack & Karen.

As for the finale in whole, it was the perfect way to wrap everything up. It was great to see both Grace and Will finally get the husband and families they always dreamed of. It was wonderful to see Jack and Karen set to spend the rest of their lives (platonically) together. It was a hoot to have Rosario there, still cracking wise at Karen. And in the end, it was the best thing ever to see Will, Grace, Jack and Karen the way they should always be: together.

It’s been a long 8 years (and 7 years for this website). We’ve had our ups and downs. We’ve loved the show at times and at times wondered what the hell the writers were thinking. We’ve celebrated marriages and births for some cast members, mourned the passing away of other cast members, and through it all, made bonds of friendship. It’s hard to believe that 'Will & Grace' started as a sitcom that received mixed reviews and mediocre ratings, and ended tonight, leaving behind rave reviews and an ever loyal fanbase which will always remember the friendship, laughter and love."

Bernie D.: "Basically I thought it was a little lame in places. Most fans, I think, hoped Will and Grace would end up raising her baby. I guess Will must have somehow begged forgiveness from Vince, but it was nice to see Will really at last found a stable love. I also think Grace taking Leo back so easily was a bit of a cop-out, but at least her baby had a stable household. That was really coincidental that Will's son and Grace's daughter had dorm rooms across from each other at college and ended up engaged! I liked how Jack and Karen stayed together although their social roles had reversed. The best part of the show was their duet."

Send me your own opinions on the finale!

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