(S03E06) Ewwwww! If you watched this week's episode of Boston Legal, then you absolutely know what I'm talking about. If you haven't watched it yet, well, let's just say the reaction is from something that happened at the end of Scott Little's trial. I'll reveal it at the end of the post. So, beware the spoiler alert!
Before we continue with Jeffrey Coho and the trial of Scott Little, I want to talk about the subplot of this week's show, which involved Alan Shore's feelings of sexual insecurity with Sally Heep (guest star Lake Bell). It had absolutely, totally no redeeming value to this week's episode. It just seemed to be filler to what the meat of the episode was about. If they had nothing better than that to fill the remaining time on the show, then they should have taken the subplot out and focused on the secondary characters. Being a fan of the show, and a fan of James Spader's Alan Shore, I was disappointed with the whole thing.
Now that I have that out of the way, let's talk about the trial.
All illusion of Jeffrey being the next Alan Shore went out the window with this episode. The man is ruthless! He grilled everyone on the stand who he needed to cross-examine. When he crossed Dr. Zachary Simon, the man who gave the police a tape of Scott Little saying he wanted to kill the woman he was having an affair with, he asked if it was true he had kissed Gina Gershon (something he had told Claire Simms). Coho actually got an affidavit signed by Gina Gershon saying that she had never met Simon, which pretty much shot down the doctor's credibility.
He even went a bit Perry Mason on Scott's mother. While on the witness stand he accused her of being in love with her son, having sexual relations with him, and then killing the woman Scott was having a relationship with. When it all occurred I really thought Coho believed it was all true. Turns out, it was all staged between Coho and the mother. Pretty savvy, yet dangerous, on his part.
Okay spoiler alert here! By planting the seed that Scott's mother was the murderer, and adding that the police did a terrible job at investigation, the jury ruled Scott not guilty on all counts. Well, um, it turns out that Scott wasn't as innocent as we thought, because his mother did murder the woman he was having an affair with (which you kind of saw coming) and was, er, in love with her son. They proved this with a open-mouth kiss that took place while Jeffrey was out placating the press. Ewwww! Okay, spoiler over.
Very few laughs this episode, which was just fine. The only real significant one was at the end of the show between Denny and Alan. Once again, Bethany Horowitz turned up without Denny even knowing she was around. They can do this for the entire season and it will still be funny.
All right, next week it looks like we lighten things up a bit. I'm going to take a shower now to wash the image of mother and son in an open-mouth kiss. Brr!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-25-2006 @ 12:36AM
Fahad said...
That was messed up at the end, I still cant get over it. Me and my sister were both creeped out the only thing that made it forgot was the nice moment with Denny and Alan,priceless stuff right there.
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10-25-2006 @ 9:16AM
Harish said...
Most priceless line ever: "I think I have mad penis"
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10-25-2006 @ 9:19AM
David said...
That episode sucked.
It had the new charaters doing an extremely important trial, the secondary charaters were doing nothing, Captain Kirk was hardly there,and Odo and Murphy Brown weren't at all. The episode was just kind of pointless.
And I hate how they are bringing back Hands again, he is no longer funny. They need to bring back Mrs. White, she's great. :)
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10-25-2006 @ 9:34AM
Porchland said...
The creepy next door neighbor character has been fantastic the last few episodes, and it looks like he's going to be back next week. (Suing Jeffrey Coho maybe?)
IMDB says his name is David Dean Bottrell, but I don't recognize him from anything else listed on his page. A quick Google says he's also a playright/screenwriter.
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10-25-2006 @ 10:10AM
Forrest said...
I agree with everybody else...the kiss was disgusting and should have been left out. The episode did lack humor during most of it but we did get the classic "mad penis" line as well as the ending commentary when Denny has the talking doll stuck in his pants. I agree as well that the Bethany joke can be pulled out once an episode and you'll never see it coming. The ending commentary is the last place I thought I would see her as that is Allan and Denny's time together. Very good writing for that moment indeed.
Denny - "You wanna pull my string?"
Allan - "Maybe later..."
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10-25-2006 @ 12:22PM
tb said...
The best part is the savage Nancy Grace sendup that they keep going to!
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10-25-2006 @ 12:46PM
Karen said...
Wow, Richard, you're a little on the squeamish side, aintcha? Be sure never to watch the David O. Russell film, "Spanking the Monkey."
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10-25-2006 @ 1:02PM
James said...
This episode was the most like DEK's "The Practice" in a long time, including pushing the humor into the background. I'm not sure that's the show I want Boston Legal to become, but that's how it seemed.
I think the kiss was justified dramatically. The dialogue revealed to us that the mother was the killer and that the son was an accomplice to the cover up. But was it just the act of a dutiful son? With just dialog, we would never know. After the kiss, we definitely know. Now, if the door hadn't opened, I wonder how far this scene would have gone---into Nip/Tuck territory? Brrr.
It's probably a sign that the episode was working well that people were so creeped out by the kiss. The actors aren't mother and child, but people (including me) reacted viscerally as if they were.
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10-25-2006 @ 1:12PM
Jimmy said...
The first stumble of the season for this usually great show. I miss all the liberal ranting while Alan and Denny are totally neutered this season. Where's the fun of the previous couple years? Bringing Lake Bell on for this episode was a complete waste of a good actress. Hey, at least Mark Valley got a little more screen time, even if it was worthless. You're right, the running gag of Bethany always being there when Denny least expects it never stops being funny. Especially with the Gracie Jane doll in his pants. And next week Delta Burke shows up!
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10-25-2006 @ 5:21PM
MacGuffin said...
I think there are too many characters on this show.
I find it a little confusing when you have near-iconic characters, such as Denny Crain and Alan Shore, and they aren't used better.
Not the best episode I've seen, but I know there are always more on the way.
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10-25-2006 @ 11:18PM
Miryam said...
I guess I'm the only person who is getting tired of the "is Bethany in the room" joke. I'm pretty done with it. I LOVE this show. But I agree with others that they are not using their characters well. I thought it was fun that Allen was "the girl" in the relationship, but I really miss some of the depth that he's had in the past. It's funny when he acts shallow because he usually does very meaningful things when you least expect them. This season has not given him that depth. Too bad. The main characters have all been very flat so far.
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10-28-2006 @ 1:22PM
Josh said...
I don't typically watch this show, but caught the last 15 minutes and have to say... Wow. I can't recall anything so ludicrously written as that make out scene at the end. Did they just do that to shock people? Otherwise, it was so outlandish and stupid that the mother would start kissing the son in a room where someone could walk in or spy them from plenty of entrances. It completely negates any of the "cleverness" involved in the defense and the probable reality of a "situation" like that. STUPID.
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