TVSquad

(S3E10) So, after a few murders, missing body parts, incestuous love between a mother and her son, and the kidnapping of Shirley Schmidt, we get back to the normal absurdity that is Boston Legal. This week features a custody case involving two white supremacist singing sensations, a woman who wants to sue God because her husband was struck by lightning, a pro-anorexic girl who is seeking emancipation from her mother, and Shirley in a bunny suit. In other words, just a normal couple of days at the law firm of Crane, Poole and Schmidt.

All that, plus appearances by Clarence, Bethany, Bethany's mom and Jerry (Aaaaarrrrgggghhh!) and yet another alum of Star Trek. So, let's get comfy and press ahead on the last new episode before the holiday break.

The pro-anorexic case first. The pro-ana cause, along with the term 'thinspiration', is actually a real-life movement. I don't understand how something that has been determined as a mental condition could be considered an inspirational ideology, but that's just me. Anyway, Denny actually handled this case solo, which is something you don't see very often. That's a good thing because he seems to have lost the fire that he once had. It was so bad that his client actually ended up going to Alan to see if he could come up with a solution. I didn't like this, especially coming from Alan; he has as much man love for Denny as J.D. does for Turk on Scrubs. All was forgiven at the end of the episode, but I wouldn't be surprised if the plot thread of Denny's deficiencies in the court room returns. By the way, Mr. Shatner was vintage Denny Crane this episode, even mentioning to the judge in his case that he went for chubby sex every so often.

Now over to Alan's case involving the double-good, double-supremacist singers. This was an interesting one because, after he understood the gist of the case, it seemed like this was an automatic loss for Alan. I mean, the little girls' parents were definitely bigoted (even though they said they weren't racist), and the girls themselves were being home-schooled to believe the same thing. Plus, Alan was definitely offended by the entire clan. But, as usual, Alan won with one of his patented closing arguments, which scoffed at the opposing counsel's statements that it was a matter of national security that the girls' aunt be given custody of the children. Oh, that's why Shirley was shown wearing a bunny suit; she lost the bet that Allan would lose the case. By the way, opposing counsel was Michelle Forbes, whom we all know as Ro Laren from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Hey, David E. Kelley, how about getting some bigger Trek names to appear. Come on, bring on Picard and Sisko!

Moving on to suing God. Really, the client didn't want to sue God. She was just angry that people were categorizing the death of her husband as something that was meant to happen. In the end the attorneys were able to turn this case away from the church and over to the cell phone company that sold the departed man his phone. The phone that probably channeled the lightning strike into the victim's body. That wasn't the main part of the case, though. The main part was the continued animosity between Brad and Jeffrey Coho. Why do these two hate each other so much? Could it be that Brad sees a younger version of Allan Shore in Jeffrey and he is feeding his feeling about Allan towards Coho? Whatever answer they had another girl fight right after presenting their arguments to the opposing consul in the case. However, by the time of the holiday party they seemed to have come to some sort of truce. At least for now. Another request for creator David E. Kelley: can you please give Julie Bowen's character a meatier role on this series. Gosh, Craig Bierko was brought on just this season and has had more prominent screen time than Bowen. He even had a large profile murder case to work on. I like Julie and want to see her do more on the show.

A brief mention on the return of Clarice Bell, otherwise known as Clarence. If you remember from the first episode of the season, Clarice Bell hired Crane, Poole and Schmidt in a sexual discrimination suit. Well Clarice was actually Clarence. In this episode Clarence disposes of the wig and the sassy attitude in order to work for Claire Simms. It turns out that Clarence went to law school and passed the bar. It looks like we may be seeing more of Clarence in later episodes.

Finally, courtesy of Shirley Schmidt Denny and Alan pass bodily fluids between them for the very first time. Don't ask me to tell you how . . .I'm trying to get the image removed from my brain.

Gosh, there was plenty to talk about this week. I hope I covered most of it. Have a good holiday and we'll talk again next year.