Whether you like this popular TV dramedy will largely depend upon how much eccentricity you can tolerate.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
Whether you like this popular TV dramedy will largely depend upon how much eccentricity you can tolerate. For me, three puffy-faced, middle-aged white guys with weird fetishes is just too much. And with "Boston Legal," I think David E. Kelley isn't able to maintain the tricky balance of eccentricity, humor, and drama that he juggled so successfully in "Ally McBeal" (the first two seasons, that is) and, to some extent, "Picket Fences" and "The Practice."
There's so much emphasis on quirkiness and aberrant behavior this season of "Boston Legal" that when serious moments finally surface, they seem superficially inserted, and it's tough to actually take them seriously. Because the show has a near-cult following, I know there will be more than a few juries out there that will disagree with me. But that's how I see it.
The tone (and level of outrageousness) is set with the first episode this season, which has attorney Jerry Epenson (Christian Clemenson) pulled over for driving in a car-pool lane and the full-sized female doll he had strapped in the passenger seat was confiscated. Turns out Jerry has quite the thing for this doll, and reacts when the cop touches her thigh as if he and the mannequin were in "Crash." But that's nothing compared to the senior partner at Crane Poole & Schmidt. Denny Crane (William Shatner). Jerry's doll is "Platonic," and his problem a fear of intimacy with females, which is treated by a sexual surrogate arranged by lawyer Alan Shore (James Spader), who has used the surrogate himself. But Denny? His doll is custom-made to look like his law-firm partner, Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen), and he's caught bumping away on the doll in a supply closet. Funny, or just plain creepy? You be the judge.
For some, moments that that will add zest and life. For others, like myself, they detract from a show that could have benefited from a little more restraint when it comes to the insertion of quirky details. This season, newcomer Jeffrey Coho (Craig Bierko) joins such regulars as Paul Lewiston (Rene Auberjonois), Brad Chase (Mark Valley), and Denise Bauer (Julie Bowen).
Twenty-four episodes are included on seven single-sided discs that are housed in double-sided clear plastic keep-cases and tucked inside a sturdy cardboard slipcase. Full episode descriptions and airdates are included on the backs of the keep-cases for easy reference.
1) "Can't We All Get a Lung?"--Denise and Shirley defend a cancer patient (guest star Michael J. Fox) when his plan to buy a healthy lung collapses. Meanwhile, Alan defends his attorney friend Jerry, who has been caught in public with a "sex doll."
2) "New Kids on the Block"--Jeffrey Coho jumps into the deep end by taking on a high-profile murder case. Meanwhile, Alan represents a transvestite who was fired for taking a maternity leave, and Denny has his own quasi-parallel problem.
3) "Desperately Seeking Shirley"--Alan is hired to invalidate a postnuptial agreement that Shirley drafted, Jeffrey flaunts the law while gathering info, and Denny faces his diminutive nemesis, Bethany Horowitz (Meredith Eaton).
4) "Fine Young Cannibal"--A murder case is grabbing city-wide headlines, but Alan and Shirley are busy trying to defend a homeless man who's accused of cannibalism. And Alan and Denny wrestle over Shirley's bones.
5) "Whose God Is It, Anyway?"--Jerry needs help again, this time because he fired a Scientologist. While Alan's defending him, Denny finds himself falling a bit for his nemesis.
6) "The Verdict"--Jeffrey's murder case is still grabbing headlines, and this episode finds him rocked a bit by new allegations from Scott Little's father. Alan, meanwhile, takes up with Sally (Lake Bell).
7) "Trick or Treat"--The trick is that Jerry is on trial again, this time for perjury, and while Alan defends his friend yet another time Denny meets Bethany's mother, and it's no treat either.
8) "Lincoln"--So, in the aftermath of what we learned in the last episode, Denny is impatiently waiting to find out if he's really dating his daughter. And Jeffrey and Brad (Mark Valley) come to blows over the murder trial.
9) "On the Ledge"--Shirley is abducted by Lincoln Meyer, a client who began behaving erratically in the previous episode-though with so much aberrant behavior, how can you tell?
Average user rating (1-5):
Not yet rated.
Not yet rated.
[release]22149[/release]