He can really give those ridic situations the gravitas they deserve, after he pokes fun ;-) Seriously, before Eli came on the show it was still good, but it wasn't GREAT.

I think the best thing Will ever did to show he loved Alicia was to let it go when it appeared to him [that pesky Eli interfered of course] that she didn't want him to keep trying. I actually really enjoyed the relationship he got himself into right after that.