Will & Grace continuity questions and spoilers too maybe?

Cafe Society
1

I’m a dope. I watch Will & Grace in syndication every day, but I don’t even know what day or time the first-runs air, nor have I felt the need to look it up. They’ll get to syndication eventually, I figure.

So when Gregory Hines passed away, I admit I wondered what would happen to the Ben character. Out of idle curiosity, I looked the show up on IMDB.com and was startled to see it listed him as appearing in the 1999-2000 season. Even more startling, it claims the Nathan character portrayed by Woody Harrelson appeared after Ben. Evidently my affiliate is all messed up, because I was sure Ben came after Nathan.

And what about the episode where Will runs off to the tropics and Ben tracks him down and gives him his job back? It ends in a cliffhanger, with Karen wanting Will to set up an off-shore holding company, and I’ve never seen part two, so I assumed it was resolved last season (2002-2003). Am I wrong? Is it older than I thought? How does it end? And if Ben is no longer on the show, where does Will work?

I need a timeline here.

Finally, Stan is dead? What happened there? Spoil it for me.

2

Well, I guess I posted too soon; it didn’t occur to me to just look on tvtome.com for an episode guide.

But you can still help me out. Is it understood that Will still works at Ben’s firm, they just never show Ben ever?

And if you want to spoil Stan’s death for me, go ahead. I haven’t read that far ahead yet.

Finally, isn’t that Karen a kick in the pants?

3

Will works at Ben’s firm, but Ben’s old partner (played by Gene Wilder) – fresh out of the loony bin – is officially the boss there now. He has appeared in a few episodes.

Stan started cheating on Karen while he was in jail – and after they separated (and that storyline went on several episodes), Stan kicked the bucket. During sex with the mistress.

4

or maybe it was after he got out of jail – but somebody he MET while there (perhaps worked there? I forget the details).

Anyways, the mistress is played by Minnie Driver