Sunday, March 3, 2013

15 favorite Ally McBeal episodes (part 2)

(to see part 1 click the image below)
After having a very hard time in the last few months Richard and John decide to spend few days in L.A. Things don't go well, obviously, as Richard is being his typical self on the airplane which gets him arrested. John represents him and Richard is freed but then he gets arrested yet again...this time for solicitation. During their stay both Richard and John both meet women who are seemingly perfect for them.We also get to see John rip yet another attorney to pieces with the use of his wisdom, water pouring trick and the bells.
One of my all time favorite situations in the show is whenever Richard is in the court. The only thing he knows about law is Constitution and he fills in the blanks with his crazy theories and bigotry. In this episode the firm is defending the senator who was accused with interfering with martial relations. Richard stands up in the court and starts talking about the supreme court judges being old and stupid and blowing up the Clinton ruling which even gets applause from the people in court and obviously face palms from John, Ally, Georgia and Billy. The episode also features some of John's great stunts including him asking Ally to dance with him in the open court as the opposing counsel cross examines the witness. In this episode young woman is suing a wealthy guy who snack into chat room, gathered information about her and used them to sleep with her on their date. Since he is the son of the firm's big client and Ally already took the case of the girl, Richard comes up with the idea - the firm will be on the both sides, Richard teaming up with Georgia and Ally with John. The whole thing is filled with tension as it's on the heels of Ally kissing Billy. John, worried about Richard's reaction to the result of the trial, warns him that no one beats him in court and Richard won't beat him for sure. This results in hilarious situations mainly when Richard appears lost during his closing argument and John stands up triumphantly announcing - "He's forgotten.". The situation with Georgia actually leads to the fight in the unisex, when Ally and Georgia starts fighting, Nelle wants to separate them and then Ling walks in, sees them fighting and gets in there with the war cry. John, Ally and Georgia take the case of siblings who lost their father in plane crash. The case in addition to being high profile is also difficult since it's not clear why the plane fell off the sky. Richard is increasingly worried whether or not the firm will get the only thing he cares about from the case - money. Meanwhile Ally is reunited with Glenn, male model with gigantic penis which greatly bothers Billy. One of the highlights of the episode is John asking Ally to pretend to be him during the meeting with the opposing counsel. Ally is acting strange and confident as Cage usually does during his legal meetings. At the same time we see John whispering the words that come out of Ally's mouth, to Georgia's amusement. In this hysterical episode Georgia sues the firm for the collapse of her marriage with Billy. Richard is shocked and appalled as he doesn't understand how can she sue the firm and hold it responsible for Billy changing into chauvinistic pig. Georgia's claim is basically that the firm is sexually charged and it didn't help her marriage. When Richard is testifying he talks about the unisex and his fetishes so Nelle suggests they should put John on the stand as he is the one who is the decent senior partner. While he is testifying Georgia's lawyer asks him about the time he spanked Nelle with hairbrush to John's outrage. He stops speaking because he is so appalled, until Nelle suggests settlement. Then John says he won't have any of that and he wants to get Georgia. His cross examination of her is just amazing and it's one of the show's most memorable scenes. One of the most enchanting episodes are Christmas episodes. Season 4 had few of those but this one is my favorite.Larry reveals to Ally he is sad around Christmas because he has a son in Detroit. At one point of the episode Larry sings River in a truly heartbreaking scene and Ally realizes how much pain he is in. Elaine, after encouragement from Larry, sings in the bar and there is another singing moment in the episode - one that will forever be one of my all time favorite TV scenes. John has been dating conservative Kimmi and after finding out all of the boys she was seeing were singers he lies and tells her he sang in collage. Richard coaches him a little and gets Nelle and Ling to flirt with the whole bar when John will be singing. And then....he sings. He gets out on stage in Rock'n'roll attire, met with Nelle collapsing on the chair in shock and Ling slow clapping in astonishment, and actually manages to be quite good. The bar goes wild and Richard is genuinely touched with how well John did. After Nelle is refused partnership by Richard and attacked with spiteful remarks by John on daily basis, she quits the firm, stealing the clients. Richard and John are both furious - Richard because she stole wealthy clients, John because he hates her. Nelle is represented by attractive lawyer (Alicia Witt) who suggests arbitration. The judge chooses man hating lawyer to do that but Richard is attracted to her (don't ask why). The proceedings are hilarious as Nelle pretends and lies and John after blurting "balls!" for most of the episode actually says "you, lying, conniving manipulating bitch!" in the middle of arbitration - that leads to hilarious fight between him and Richard in the unisex. This episode will forever be my favorite one. John takes the case of a man who wants to clone his dead wife, because they always wanted a child together and that is the only way he can do that. John's reaction to the client telling him he wants to clone his wife is priceless (picture above). John takes a case after hearing that Larry is on the opposite side. Ally gives him advice on how to break Larry's rhythm in court which results in one of the show's all time funniest moments when Cage keeps making objections to distract Larry. The title refers to John being unable to access Barry White - he used to be great in court because he could hear him sing in his head. He finds him eventually but the true appeal of the episode are the showdowns between John and Larry which are absolutely hilarious.

6 comments:

  1. I was so little when I watched Ally.. Can't even remember much about it. Only the dancing baby and Robert Downey Jr come to mind. Don't know if I'm gonna re-watch it any time soon but I remember it being fun so maybe some day in the far future.

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    1. I hope you will I think even today the show is way ahead of the time and it's just hilarious!

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  2. I've never seen this show -- it never really piqued my interest. Maybe I should reconsider.

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    1. It's really fun, one of the funniest shows I've seen :)

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  3. Wow, what a post Sati, I love all the graphics and quotes you've put together. It's been ages since I saw Ally McBeal but it's really so much fun. It's so bizarre at times but in a good way. I love the supporting cast, esp Downey. All the Barry White references are a hoot, and I was in stitches every time John is having his uncontrollable stutters. Kudos to David E. Kelley for creating so many memorable characters! Btw, it would've been cool if Calista's then-fiance Harrison Ford had made an appearance :-)

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    1. Thank you! John stuttering was always making me laugh too it was so funny when the attempted to control it :)

      Oh yeah, it's kinda strange she didn't get him to do that :)

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