“Last Ex in Brooklyn,” Will and Grace (w: Alex Herschlag; d: James Burrows)
Will and Grace isn’t a particularly human comedy. It might have started out that way, but soon enough it was pushing even the leads into the lands of caricature. So it works only if the writing works, if the plotting is nimble enough, if the jokes are smart enough and if the actors are able to take the writing and run with it. And here… everything is pitch perfect. “Last Ex in Brooklyn” is modern sex farce at it’s finest. The cast is firing on all cylinders: particular kudos to Mullaly, Messing and Sorvino. Mullaly’s Karen suffered at the hands of the writers’ whims as the series progressed, but here she’s amazing; the upping the ante re: Karen’s omnivorous sexuality. Sorvino proves she’s game for anything and Messing grabs the bull by the horns with a commanding performance. Jokes that would fall flat in lesser hands become hilarious with her (the “kabobs” scene in particular). The way the writers allow the jokes to escalate to absurd heights is hilarious (Diane’s drinking, the Chompers bits) and even the jokes that would annoy (Jack’s talkshow host) don’t. If the show was regularly creating episodes like this during the last half of the run, I think it would be held in much higher regard.