Will & Grace: The Complete Fifth Season

Ok, we don’t know one another very well, but you’re gonna have to trust me on this one. This is how your weekend is going to go: Give the bar a break, get some tortilla chips and dip of your choice and get comfy on the couch with your DVD remote control. After one episode of Will & Grace Season 5, you'll wonder how anyone else could be possibly having a better time than you.

Now, for all of you who have been living under a rock and have not watched this show"¦or all of you who have been sleeping on Willie and Gracie for eight years, wake up fools! Take control of your life; remove the rock! It's never too late, for example: my funny bone must have been missing all these years because I just recently got hooked on the sitcom. That just goes to show that some mistakes can be corrected through the power of the DVD. Oh, by the way, guys and gals, here’s a tip: hold your thirst until the credits role after each episode. If you don’t listen, you’ll remember me when you’re spitting out your drinks due to sudden bursts of laughter.

Here’s the back story for all the current, but only temporary non-viewers: Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing) met at a college roof party…Grace fell for Will… they shortly started dating. Everything was cool until Will dropped the gay bomb. Many couples would have broken up and never spoken to each other again; however, Will and Grace took the opportunity to become the kind of best friends that make you wish your boyfriend was gay so you could have the best friendship ever!

This show has strong comic and dramatic actors. Their individual talents compliment each other, and make them better as comedians. Megan Mullally as Karen, the "uppy," sarcastic, truth-telling member of the clan, helps big-time in putting the funny in Will & Grace. “Ohh, somebody got some flowers, huh? Or as I like to call them, poor people’s jewelry," she says cunningly with a sarcastic smirk. Her impossibly high-pitched voice and well-timed facial expressions will make you wanna pee in your pants.

My hat goes off to the writers. They turned a taboo into a well-respected and received show. This show makes being “out” in, and that's sexy. It shows that gays and straights are both just human beings trying to live life and make the best of it. The show allows homosexuality to finally be recognized on television as a real lifestyle, but it also has a light-hearted side. Sexuality is not the main focus of the show; even

though two of the main characters are gay. The topic of sexuality is frequently made light of, for example: Karen and Grace are both straight, but they kiss on the show. And then, there's Jackie!! Jack (Sean Hayes) is the most flamboyant gay character on the show, but he also kisses Karen passionately. Hayes is another great comedic actor; he never has a dull moment on the show. The writers seem to always know the right line to give to Jack, and Hayes always delivers.

This season starts off with Will and Grace trying to have a child through artificial insemination. They both make a pact – which we know is unlikely to last longer than three minutes – that they won't date anyone for a while. (Maybe it would have worked if they pinky-swore…nah, probably not.) Anyway, Grace does her best not to date, but it's not everyday that a Jewish doctor in shining armor rides into your life on his horse, at least not in today’s society, and not in New York City. Grace instantly falls into temptation with Leo (Harry Connick jr. ) and is suddenly reevaluating having Will’s child. This leads to the biggest fight of the season, which includes many way-below-the-belt low blows.

Watching the two best friends ditch out borderline true and false statements about each other makes you wanna look away from the television and cover your ears, but you just keep on staring. You know that they will make up but it’s still kinda hard to watch. Then, of course, watching them make-up in the next episode is better than watching make-up sex, well not quite but almost 20% there…

The show is best when Will freaks out about Grace's moving on. Grace's new direction in life is like bait for the show. We want them to fix things and have nothing really change about their friendship.

A must see episode is the two weddings episode, which is "Marry Me a Little, Marry Me a Little More, part 1&2" If you're overly sentimental and cry at movies, then you should have some tissue nearby. Grace gets married to Leo spontaneously in the park without any of their friends present, and Will freaks out like a mother whose only daughter eloped to Las Vegas. It seems like Grace is too busy being a girlfriend (I mean wife) to Leo that she isn't being too good of a friend to Will. Can we blame Will for being jealous? He is used to being the man in Grace's life, and now Leo's the man in her life. But between you and me, Will is her real soul-mate.

Of course,

they aren't soul-mates in the traditional sense, but their love seems to go beyond the borders of friendship while her relationship with Leo seems more like sixth grade butterflies than marriage. You're almost tempted to wish that Will was straight so they could be together, but then you instantly take it back because you know their relationship could never reach the magnitude of their enormously beautiful friendship.

The two finally patch things up and have the wedding reception of Will's dreams; however, everything comes crashing down when Grace realizes that they know nothing about each other but it's at this point that Leo shows his strongest emotions, giving his poignant speech: "Remember Tuesday, we woke up I said morning wife, and you said morning husband, remember that, remember how great that was, I want everyday to be Tuesday." Aawww, Leo.

Then, the real wedding happens. This is where the tissues come in. Grace's father hurts his back, and she wants Will to walk her down the aisle. "Giving Grace away" is something, which is difficult for Will to do literally and figuratively. There is a touching scene on the roof, in which Grace and Will have a great moment in Will & Grace history. After Grace tells him that their friendship will last forever, sings to him, and they dance, Will says, "Don't tell Leo I had the first dance."

Overall, the season is very entertaining. When things are boring between Will and Grace, the two conceited characters, Jack and Karen, spice up the storylines with adultery, stalking, changes of identities, sex jokes, etc. The guest stars, (Kevin Bacon, Madonna, Minnie Driver, Andy Garcia, etc.) are all very good at keeping up with the pace of the actors which is no small task.

Over the years, the show has become a fashion icon. The stylists on the show always keep Grace looking gorgeous. Nothing prepares the audience for when she comes out in her tightly tube-topped, smoothly fitted, long trained white, Couture looking wedding dress. Even her cotton soft, long velvet white cloak, which she puts on over the dress, is something to see. There is no character on the show who does not have a fashion sense, and that is something rarely seen. Good job to the stylists.

Since this is a DVD, and it has been purchased by fans, there is a goody bag here for them. After watching Karen pour Bourbon into trick-treaters' bags, the concept of goody bags will never be the same, will it? Anyway, there are some special features, which include: funny bloopers and collages from the show. Something that caught me off

guard was Megan Mullally speaking normally. That, I guarantee, will bug you out. Anyway, the montages are fun to watch, but honestly, I expected more. Perhaps some audio commentaries or interviews would have been interesting to watch. Anything to hear Megan Mullally talk!

This show makes you feel good from its catchy salsa theme song to its heartwarming message. So after you're done with that extra stuff, pop in disc one and do it again. Come on, you know you want to.

Show Grade: A-
DVD Grade: B

Overall Grade: B+