Will & Grace recap: The 5 best burns in Season 11, Episode 17

Will and Grace (and Jack) contemplate a move to the suburbs for their children, while Karen seeks revenge on Stan in the penultimate Will & Grace.

You know the end is near when a sitcom’s city-dwelling stars plot a move to the suburbs. Will & Grace races to the endgame in its penultimate episode, which finds the fab four taking Blattsville by storm for a celebration in Karen’s honor. After leading her baseball team all the way to the championships, Karen’s heralded as a local hero, just as Jack’s known as a local celebrity in the suburb. While Karen gets back at the Walkers, Jack ponders a zip code change.

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), he isn’t the only member of the Will & Grace foursome thinking about leaving the city behind. Expectant parents Will and Grace drop into an open house for brownies and the bathroom, but Grace visualizes a different kind of home life for her and her son. But what about Will, his daughter, and their intention to tackle parenting together? It’s all answered in the search for a “new crib.”

Let’s recap the latest episode of Will & Grace with the gang’s five sharpest burns.

1. “This year for Secret Santa, she gave Rudy Giuliani a plausible alibi.”

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After living among their baby shower haul for six weeks, Will announces it’s time for him and Grace to sort through the stash and send out thank you notes. Karen gave them a “baby’s first martini set,” and Jack gifted their children a headshot and résumé. Useful!

Fred and Ethel burst in and announce their trip to Blattsville, where Karen will be honored with a “Karen Walker Day” celebration for taking the baseball team to victory. Looking for a reason to continue putting off writing thank you notes, Will and Grace tag along for the festivities.

2. “There’s a man rollerblading with a Frenchie in his Baby Björn. That must be the gay district.”

Once they arrive in Blattsville, Grace and Jack are somewhat taken with small suburban town charm. Grace relishes in the strip mall that offers Thai food and a nail salon, among other things she loves, and Jack spots the supposed gay district before learning he’s something of a local star.

A woman recognizes him from an ad campaign he was featured in and explains that all of the locals love him. She calls him a celebrity and an icon, which is music to his ears. Suddenly, he’s pressing his handprints into the “walk of fame” (a.k.a. getting stuck in the cement) and contemplating a move to Blattsville.

3. “Wash your hands. Other people are going to eat those brownies.”

While Jack gets charmed by locals, Will and Grace saunter off to an open house for Grace to use the bathroom and to grab a complimentary brownie. Will quips that getting the brownie, peeing, and leaving will be their Eat Pray Love, but the realtor, Ru (guest star Yvette Nicole Brown), talks them into checking out the house.

Ironically, Will gives Grace some timely hand-washing advice, and the duo decides to tour the house while playing a game of “last letter, first letter.” Their game dissolves quickly, but not as quickly as Grace starts to fall in love with the idea of the house.

4. “I’m not gonna take the rap for your pre-existing condition, Danley.”

Maybe more so than reveling in a good ego boost, Karen looks forward to rubbing her success in Stanley and Danely’s faces. She invited her ex-husband and his brother, who got her into the Millstones mess in the first place, to the celebration, hoping to humiliate them for trying to cross Karen Walker.

But when she sneaks a peek at her statue and realizes it’s no bigger than an Oscar, she opts for a new honor: renaming the town Karen Walkerland. Unfortunately, the name change isn’t enough to wow Stan. He’s still too torn up over and not over Karen… and she might be, too.

5. “This is Upstate New York, I’m like a nine here. People don’t even think I’m pregnant.”

During Karen’s ceremony, Will sees a text from Ru on Grace’s phone about the offer she put on the house. Obviously, Will reacts to her secret offer with shock and hurt. She views it from the logical perspective that she would have moved out eventually, but he views it from the assumption that they would be raising their children together, at least in some capacity.

Grace tries to rescind her offer, but Will stops her in the nick of time, and Ru convinces them they’re a family. Together, Will and Grace take the plunge on the house in the suburbs. It’s officially the end of an era.

What did you think of the penultimate episode? Sound off in the comments!

The series finale of Will & Grace airs Thursday, April 23 at 9/8c on NBC.