(Season 3, Episodes 13-16)
I’m still no Ellenor fan, but she’s at the core of several stories that are beginning to shape The Practice into less of a one-off law procedural, and more of a serial drama. She’s crazy, don’t get me wrong, but she drives a lot of interesting plot. And she adds the unexpectedness of fighting on a show about attorneys, so there’s that.
3.13 “Judge and Jury”
I was looking up the “Judge” in question in this episode on IMDb, and discovered something that put this entire story into perspective: Judge Roberta Kittleson is played by Holland Taylor, better known as Evelyn Harper on Two and a Half Men. I’ve never seen the sitcom, but I can only assume that this revelation supports the under-sexed older woman character that she plays here.
Judge Kittleson has an erotic dream about Bobby, tells him, and when she learns that he doesn’t feel the same she decides against recusing herself from his case, forging ahead with a negative bias towards Bobby. This might just be a woman scorned, until we see that she’s been having Bobby tailed, and that she’s drawing over Lindsay’s face in a surveillance photo … a bad judge in court they can deal with. But a psycho out of it? Is that a little too cheesy?
I seem to recall from the first season that one of Helen’s cases reared up memories of her grandmother’s decision to have her plug pulled, and Helen’s involvement in that incident. It was weakly done at the time, but Helen was also less significant back then. This episode she charged a news show with murder, for a segment they produced about a doctor who performs assisted suicides.
Besides the complete absurdity in her winning (yay, Helen won a case! But I mean absurd based on the law), she was clearly seeking some vengeance, or venting some personal feelings in all of this. And yet, I didn’t really feel it. I think it just needs a little more support behind it.
An observation, if I may: now that Lindsay and Bobby are back together, we never see them together. Was the drama only in the prior pent-up tension?
3.14 “Of Human Bondage”
A little courtroom diversion when Jimmy and Rebecca land a nasty divorce. A really nasty divorce. Sad that two people who were presumably once in love…. Anyway, the description of this episode says that Jimmy teaches Rebecca how to deal with irrational clients — she ended up being pissed at him after discovering that he and opposing council were play-acting! This isn’t the show’s fault, but what lesson?
Bobby got hit up by yet another friend to step in at the last second on a murder trial. Well, the friend wasn’t so much on trial as the friend’s major corporate client’s CEO had been with an underage hooker who was being tried for murder — they were together at the time, but he was unwilling to step forward as her alibi lest it ruin his reputation. Class act, even more so that it was clearly the lawyer friend who was really the spineless John.
Ellenor sure has a lot of clients who’ve endeared themselves to her. She has a soft-spot for a thick-headed, dopey drug dealer. Why is it that just because his pager went off in court we were meant to assume that he was guilty? Doesn’t anyone remember that the late ‘90s were the height of beepers for everyone? Still, how he was acquitted is beyond me. It would probably be really great to see these attorneys struggling with their loses, being haunted by the clients, innocent or guilty, who they couldn’t save. Yeah, I’d love to see that explored at some point.
3.15 “Lawyers, Reporters and Cockroaches”
Another spa day blown for Helen, this time on account of a cat. I’m not sure what the title of this episode had me expecting, but the cases were a little lacking this time around. Helen pushed for jail time for a kid who killed a cat (how did he end up having to serve three months?) — did she just feel badly for the lady, or did she worry that that could be her one day?
Lindsay and Bobby teamed up yet again to represent a family restaurant suing a news program for slander. Sure, they had cockroaches, but the reporter never told them he was changing the angle of the story … that won them $18 million in punitive damages? Pretty funny that the judge cursed out the jury and reduced the damages.
The real drama was in-house, as Ellenor’s discovery of a pay imbalance launched her into a war against Lindsay, and Bobby. I’ve got to say, though it’s barely that much: these people don’t look like most singles making six figures normally would. What are they doing with their money?
Also, I’m not claiming to understand the unique balance of partner share versus commission on business brought in that they use to weight salaries, but Rebecca, even as a partner who likely brought in no business in the last year, should still be making more than what appears to be straight salary. The scheming — Ellenor lining up Eugene on her side, and trying to bring Jimmy into the partner fold — was nothing compared with the brawl that erupted in the conference room and burst out into the open. It’s going to be awkward in the office tomorrow….
3.16 “End Game”
Horny Judge Kittleson returned as the defendant in a sexual harassment suit … shocking. Equally not a surprise was the fact that Bobby took on the case. What did manage to astonish me was that Lindsay did NOT implode from anger. I’m not sure who’s right here, but I’m glad not to be in the middle of their relationship.
Eugene’s been a lot like Jimmy lately, taking a backseat, rarely emerging from the background long enough to offer an intelligent opinion (unlike Jimmy) before receding into the night. Feeling okay, buddy?
And that actually takes care of all the minor stuff in the episode. The major stuff was just that: Ellenor’s drug dealer client Leonard (Clay Wilcox) opened things by running into the firm’s offices being chased by the police, and depositing drugs on Ellenor’s desk before being arrested. Her subsequent arrest for possession led to the discovery of the murder weapon from the Susan Robin murder trial in her drawer, tiding her over for another charge. George Vogelman (Michael Monks) was the intended target, and Ellenor was being used to get to him. The fact that Leonard set her up, at the behest of the police, was some interesting (hopefully) closure for the two clients with one circle.
What surprised me was how taken aback Ellenor seemed that Lindsay would defend her — just because they’re fighting about power and share within the partnership doesn’t mean that they’re not still partners. The fact that Ellenor seems to have missed that means she has no concept of how people interact with one another, either on a personal level or in business. The fact that this incident may alter the issues within the office means that no one else understands the separation between the two, either. I doubt it will wholly carry over, though, because money is money. But we’ll see what effect it has on things next time.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Oct 15, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
