Will and Grace's plan to win over Will's new Columbia department head goes awry when he drops dead in their apartment - and they use his phone to text his full recommendation of Will. Karen and Estefan's dislike for each other puts Jack in full damage control mode when he must keep them separate at his birthday dinner.
In 2018, there were 495 scripted shows airing amongst the linear channels and streaming services. The way people are consuming content now is so different than it used to be. It happens according to one's own schedule. As such, there is less necessity to provide ample coverage of each specific episode in any given season from a show. Moreover, it is simply impossible to watch everything. As such, this site is making the move to shorter episodic reviews in order to cover as many shows as possible. With all of that being said, here are my thoughts on the next episode of NBC's Will & Grace.
"Dead Man Texting" was written by Jordan Reddout & Gus Hickey and directed by James Burrows
It makes perfect sense that Grace has no idea how to check someone's pulse to see if they are still alive. She just assumes that when Will's new boss passes out in their apartment. They do the right thing in calling 9-1-1. However, first responders don't come to handle the situation quickly. Will and Grace don't do anything in the hopes that the professor may still be alive. Instead, they are very focused on their own selfish interests. That has always been a core part of their characters. Will wants to remain teaching while Grace wants to win her campaign which isn't as political or serious as she would like to believe it is. That makes them both comfortable with stealing the professor's phone and unlocking it with his eye in order to send a message approving Will's continued employment at the university. Sure, they are grossed out by the whole thing. But they are still willing to do it. And yet, they don't receive any major consequences for that action either. It turns out the professor isn't dead after all. He just passed out because his blood sugar dropped. It's a condition that he has and is incredibly embarrassed about. He wants to keep it a secret because he doesn't want it to change people's perception of him. Of course, he has the sensible reaction of immediately firing Will for this clear invasion of privacy too. The only reason that Will still has employment at the moment is because he makes an impassioned plea about how much he loves this job. It has made him fall in love with the law again. He loves shaping the minds of young students instead of being out there in the corporate world doing all of that trivial paperwork. This is a position that hasn't gotten a whole lot of screen time this season. But this episode does confirm that it remains something Will is passionate about. He doesn't want anything to change it. That is enough to impress the head of his department. Sure, he doesn't get a permanent position at the university. But he will remain a professor just to see how this relationship continues to work out. That ending means that everything returns to a solid status quo while also dipping its toes into a moment of seriousness for only a second. There is really no weight to it at all though. It mostly just showcases how Grace's natural impulses may not be the best and Will shouldn't listen to her in these kinds of matters. Elsewhere, Jack is celebrating his birthday by trying to keep Karen and Estefan apart because they hate each other. It's just a simple case of name-calling that has them at odds with each other as well. Karen calls Estefan a sky waitress while Estefan calls Karen a hag. Both are offended by these comments. But there is more going on beneath the surface as well. Jack is celebrating getting married which is something that Karen no longer has in her life. Her divorce has been finalized. She fears being all alone. She may potentially be losing her best friend too. Sure, the solution here may be too simple especially after the story builds to a fight in the middle of a restaurant pool. But at least Jack and Karen are committed to not letting anything change their friendship despite their constantly changing lives. That's sweet and genuine.
