(Season 3, Episodes 9-12)
Seriously, The Practice uses dead babies as their tiny violin. As well they should play like that, don’t get me wrong, but how much more can I take? Why not give us a good, mutilated, absolutely horrifying, fully grown adult murder victim for a change? Please? But hey … at least no Anderson Pearson this time!
3.9 “State of Mind”
Newly sworn into the Bar, Rebecca gets to make her official bones by defending her kid bike-thief again, in his attempt to get reinstated to his school. He was bounced for sexual harassment, i.e. passing a note to a girl that her mother found too explicit. I’m not clear on where the law was in rejecting the motion, but as long as it teaches kids about respecting one another…. That’s me being facetious. These types of weird, one-off cases abounded on Boston Legal, but usually with some better story to them. Maybe David E. Kelley is just getting his feet wet?
Bobby and Lindsay took their baby shaker case to court … their client is a real nut job. God won’t let her be convicted? Huh? So what does it say that the jury came back guilty on murder 2?
And, what’s this nonsense about Lindsay and Bobby getting back together? First of all, I actually liked him with Helen, and Lindsay knows that Helen still has feelings for him, and vice versa. Second, they weren’t a good idea the first time around. Why go for round two?
3.10 “Love & Honor”
The firm goes to trial on their defamation suit (or whatever exactly all of the charges were). Jimmy could not possibly be a worse lawyer; I suppose I can understand where he was coming from in saying that Eugene came off poorly in his testimony (although I don’t agree), but attacking him did what? And why couldn’t he defend Ellenor while she was being crossed?
Yes, obviously, they were found innocent on all charges — there couldn’t be a show otherwise — but that doesn’t make Jimmy good. It just means the outcome was predictable, even if a monkey tried the case. Besides, he’s way too sensitive a person … how many times does he need everyone to coddle him and make him feel better? Whatever. Don’t be a stranger, Tony Danza!
It was funny seeing old clients return for the firm’s Christmas party. George Vogelman hitting on Rebecca’s kid client’s mom was amusing, as was Helen making a joke about his carrying around heads in his bag. The mom could not have run away faster.
Is Lucy really still around?
3.11 “Split Decisions”
It was inevitable that a case like an asbestos class action would come knocking on the firm’s door. Although not, as Ellenor assumes, because she and Jimmy are their kind of people … what, bad lawyers? The idea of building out a litigation department is an interesting one, but I’m guessing this is not meant to be like Boston Legal, where much of the firm is vast and unheard from. The Practice is just what that implies, small and familiar. It is, however, rather ridiculous that Bobby in essence gets three votes (two to everyone else’s one, plus a tie-breaker) — where’s the partnership?
Am I crazy, or is Lindsay holding a grudge against Ellenor on Helen’s behalf, for the stunt that Ellenor pulled on Helen in the Vogelman trial? She may be righteous in her anger, but firm should come before friend (and foe) in firm business.
Eugene defends an old friend who was arrested while cross-dressing, for prostituting himself. The John? The DA’s opponent in the upcoming election. So of course Helen gets pressed into doing some dirty work for her boss. Seriously, with how often she betrays her office, refuses orders, and crosses the line, she really should no longer have a job. Everyone talks about how good a lawyer she is, but we generally see her losing. Am I missing something?
In a weird twist, Lucy asks Rebecca if she’s a lesbian. Now, the thought never occurred to me, and it still appears to have no merit, but it did make me realize that we’ve never seen her so much as show interest in, or have interest shown in her by, a man. Not a woman, either, but it is puzzling. Her bad haircut aside, Lisa Gay Hamilton is a beautiful woman. She doesn’t need a love life to exist on the show, but it made me think, nonetheless. Oddly, it appears to have made Rebecca think, as well. They better not try to convince us that her sexual orientation is something Rebecca overlooked about herself.
3.12 “A Day in the Life”
It’s amazing how many old friends of television lawyers get themselves into jams. This time Bobby was at bat when a friend’s daughter gave birth to a baby that no one knew about in her room, and it subsequently died. Did she kill it when she stuffed it in her closet under some clothing so that her father wouldn’t hear it? Turns out Mom did it, because she thought that Dad had molested and impregnated their daughter…. Not a family I want to spend the holidays with. At least Eugene was repulsed.
Sadly, Rebecca has already joined the ranks of the criminal defense attorneys who lament their work. So what if her client was actually guilty, and had turned himself in, in order to use the absurdity of the situation in his favor? Suck it up and cash those checks!
Helen and Lindsay butted heads a little, as Lindsay’s stepping in during Jimmy’s probable cause hearing against Helen caused the case to get kicked, and the two to miss their spa date. I very much think we were meant to get something from this episode regarding the two roommates and friends, but I still can’t figure out what. That Lindsay holds some grudge because of Bobby? That they’re starting to drift apart? I’m not trying to denigrate; I really think there was something happening there that I missed. Anyone?… On second thought, I’d rather be surprised!
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Oct 08, 2009 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
