Will & Grace: The Series Finale

The tale of gay lawyer Will and his straight interior designer best friend Grace came to an end this year and closed a chapter in sitcom history along with it. The finale of this taboo-shattering series showed that Will and Grace still has the power to make us laugh, cry and then laugh some more.

The one-hour series finale wraps up the final season's on-going storyline. Grace is pregnant with her estranged husband's baby and she and Will have decided to raise the child together. But will their agreement last? And, more importantly, will their friendship last?

All of these questions and a whole lot more are answered in this bittersweet finale's travel through time. In flash-forwards we learn that Will and Grace have grown apart over the years and led separate lives. At first it seemed unrealistic that their strong bond would have kept them away from each other for so long, and it kind of bummed me out. But ultimately, as this episode showed, Will and Grace did have a destiny. And that's the sweet part.

Without revealing too much, I will say that we end the series knowing that Will and Grace will always be connected, which is a satisfying and fulfilling way to go. The in-the-future ending also leaves a spin-off out of the question, thank goodness! We all know what happened with Joey from Friends. Will and Grace knew enough to bow out gracefully while it was still ahead.

In addition to Will and Grace ending up back together (how could they not?), the two both reunite with their respective love interests. I was extremely happy that Will ended up with handsome police officer Vince (Bobby Cannavale). It was nice to see that the writers didn't cop out on Will's love life as they had done in the past. We actually got to see him settled and happy"”he deserves it after all these years! Plus, I've always loved Vince. He's charming and even though he's slightly dimwitted at times, he's just right for Will.

On the other hand, I've never been crazy about Leo (Harry Connick, Jr.) but Grace rightfully ends up with the father of her child.

Surprisingly, it's Jack and Karen"”not Will and Grace"”who have never parted. In the flash forward, they have been living together for 20 years which is, as Karen observes, longer than they have ever been with any of their spouses or boyfriends. I loved how Rosario was like their own bizarre love-child, just as feisty as ever.

Karen doesn't change a bit either. Literally. After 20 years she looks as fabulous as always! Having Karen never age was pure comedic genius. The only thing I didn't quite understand was Jack and Karen's impromptu musical number, but it was endearing nonetheless. Plus, it was probably the most emotion we could get out of these characters known

In this episode's glimpse into the future, a lot has changed for the foursome but their hearts have remained the same. Even though the finale was a poignant episode, it still managed to retain that Will and Grace humor I've come to love and appreciate (Karen chugging an entire bottle of vodka was a personal highlight!).

Oh how I wish this DVD's special features celebrated this amazing series with a little more enthusiasm. The show is ending forever; you'd think they would give us some more extras to remember it by! Instead we get The Final Bow Featurette which is supposed to be a behind the scenes look at the final episode. It's more like a mishmash of pointless footage that hardly shows the actors at all. The one other feature is called The Last Words and it includes interviews with cast. The cast was interviewed separately though, and I would have liked to see a group interview to catch a glimpse of that glowing chemistry which kept the show alive and kicking for eight years. I definitely would have liked to see cast members joking and reminiscing with one another, but instead we get semi-boring solo reflections.

As always with comedy shows, I look to forward to tons of outtakes and bloopers. Seinfeld got it right by showing a chunk of these priceless unscripted moments along with its series finale. But sadly, no Will and Grace outtakes made it onto this DVD. There's no montage of the best moments from throughout the show's eight seasons either. The one hour retrospective show which aired before the finale on NBC didn't even make it onto this disc. Here's hoping that when the Season Eight DVD set gets released it includes all of these things and more! Maybe it would be better to save your money for the box set instead. This is a lackluster DVD for such a sparkling gem of a show.

Show Grade: A

DVD Features Grade: C

Overall Grade: B+