After all, one urgent meaning behind the hashtag is how sexual harassment and assault have been here forever.
The call is coming from inside the house, victimizing your family, your friends, maybe you.
And the bad guys have been here all along, too.
Credit: Chris Haston/NBC
Heck, sometimestheyreyour family, your friends maybe you, too.
Not a new topic, is what Im saying, and certainly not a new TV subplot.
An episode likeGirls brilliant American Bitch, which aired in Feb. 2017, feels relevant on an hourly basis.
And you could creditLaw & Order: SVUfor ripping from 2018s headlines since 1999.
But lately, youve felt the floodgates opening.
There is, arguably, a new capitalist imperative for stories in this arena.
TV episodes in 2018 that focused on this topic havent always been great, or even good.
(Though this weeksRomanoffssounds like a real winner.)
(The Romanoffsis a show!)
Theres value in that formulation, but it can also feel escapist, so much better than life.
They were driving up to Schenectady to pay their respects to Graces mom (Debbie Reynolds, R.I.P.
Martin also wanted to visit the grave of his best friend, Harry.
There was no immediate flaregun moment declaring this episode might get Very Special.
In fact, Grace and Martins journey initially felt like the B-plot given the antics back in New York.
Jack (Sean Hayes) was celebrating his impending nuptials with his two best friends.
Meanwhile, Grace and Martin stopped in a diner.
Her father casually flirted with the waitress, calling her sweetheart.
Grace complained about that, but Martin complained right back.
Men cant be men anymore, you get the picture, realLast Man Standingmaterial.
The subject of his late best friend came up again.
Her father never understood this thing you had about Harry, a dislike that dates back to Graces childhood.
There was a bit of history here.
I kept telling you he was creepy, Grace said.
Whatd he do, Martin said, Pat you on the tushy?
The conversation got heated.
Grace was edging toward something.
Martin wondered if she could be misremembering.
I remembereverythingabout that day, she said.
I dont want to talk about it!
Martin said, sensing this whole dialogue was spiraling out of his control.
I love how Messing physically played Graces reactions during this scene.
No, Grace said, Weretalking.
It was a feat of old-pro multicam performance.
Graces monologue was straightforward and devastating.
It was hot, so I had to have my hair up, she remembered.
He closed the blinds.
He pushed me up against the wall.
I tried to scream, but he told me Quiet.
Then he started kissing me, and touching me.
He begged her to stop.
Kleins performance here was great, too.
An impending commercial break demanded some kind of laugh line.
Credit Martha Kelly (fromBaskets) for giving the third great performance in this scene as the waitress Patty.
Sensing their general demolishment, she added: I know, Im disappointed, too.
Will & Gracedidnt linger long.
In the next scene, Martin expressed an internal change.
He was sad to think that he didnt protect his little girl.
How had she lived with this for so long?
You just kinda split yourself into two people, she said.
The person it happened to, and the one who gets through the day.
And then you grow up, and your life gets bigger, and that stuff gets smaller.
For Grace, the memory of her assault became a kind of B-plot in her own life.
Fascinating, too,that two of the most important figures in Graces story were already dead.
And maybe the most interesting thing about Graces Secret was how few people actually heard that titular secret.
Will, Karen, and Jack were all on the couch.
Grace kept the details of her trip vague: It was a lot of things.
But it was good, really good.
And she then she joined them on the couch.
Their life goes on, bigger than ever.
But I love how Graces Secret, in its own quiet way, suggested a slight transformation.
Though nothing was fixed, there was a genuine evolution.
I dont want to talk about it, Grace said, when Martin kept talking about Harry.
I dont want to talk about it, Martin said, when things got too real.
And then, miraculously, they talked about it.
