Boston Legal Season 3 DVD Review
Posted by Steve Cook on 10.09.2007
There's only one thing you can say to hype the latest hit from David E. Kelley Productions...Denny Crane.
James Spader…Alan Shore
Julie Bowen…Denise Bauer
Mark Valley…Brad Chase
Rene Auberjonois…Paul Lewiston
Craig Bierko…Jeffrey Coho
Constance Zimmer…Claire Simms
Gary Anthony Williams…Clarence/Clarice Bell
Candice Bergen…Shirley Schmidt
William Shatner…Denny Crane
Boston Legal has been a favorite of television critics ever since its debut in October 2004. While the ratings have never put BL among the top 25 shows in television, it remains one of ABC’s most important properties because it draws the richest audience of any current network television show according to Neilsen Market Research. Rich viewers are exactly the kind of viewers that upscale businesses want to target their commercials towards, which equals more money for ABC and long commercial breaks during their airings of the show. Fortunately, DVDs don’t have commercials, so you can enjoy the brilliance of James Spader without sitting through billions of advertisements.
For those of you who have never watched Boston Legal, here’s a brief synopsis: Boston Legal is exactly what the title says it is, a legal drama set in Boston, specifically at the law firm known as Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Shirley Schmidt mostly runs things, as Ediwn Poole is currently in a mental institution and Denny Crane says he suffers from mad cow disease. Lawyers working at the firm include Alan Shore, a somewhat unethical man who will use any means necessary to win a case. Denise Bauer is a talented lawyer, but her social life seems to take precedence over her legal work. Paul Lewiston helps Shirley run things as the managing partner, but his attention has been more towards taking care of his daughter’s child while she recovers from drug addiction. Brad Chase is a former Marine that’s very patriotic and conservative in nature. Several new characters are introduced to the show in Season 3, and they will be covered in my look at the 24 episodes that make up the season.
There are a couple of things that happen every episode that are automatically highlights. One is Alan’s closing argument on his case, which often touch on an important and relevant political issue and present an interesting take on it. Every episode ends with Alan & Denny smoking a cigar and drinking a glass of scotch on Denny’s balcony while discussing the episode’s events and other things going on in the world. Those are usually the finest moments of any given episode.
Season 3 Episodes:
Can’t We All Get A Lung?: Denise & Shirley represent Denise’s fiancé Daniel Post (Michael J. Fox), who has purchased a lung from a fellow cancer patient. The discovery of Denise’s impending marriage angers Brad, who was sleeping with Denise when Season 2 ended. Jerry “Hands” Espenson (Christian Clemenson) is arrested after he is caught using the car pool lane with nobody else in his car other than his doll. Alan tries to help him overcome his social anxiety (caused by Asperger’s Syndrome) by introducing him to a sex therapist. This only gets Hands in more trouble. Denny introduces us to Shirley Schmidt-ho, his own sex doll that bears a striking resemblance to Shirley. There are lots of funny moments in this episode that unfortunately marks Fox’s last appearance on the show, as he was quite brilliant in his role. Hands is a popular recurring character on the show that won the 2006 Emmy award for Best Guest Actor (he was nominated again in 2007 but did not win), and this will certainly not be the last we see of him.
New Kids On The Block: BL bucks tradition by introducing their new characters in the second episode of the season, as Jeffrey Coho & Claire Simms arrive from New York. They immediately make an impact, as Jeffrey teams with Denise to represent Scott Little (Ashton Holmes), a young law clerk accused of murdering the judge he worked for. This case lasts through the next few episodes with various twists and turns. Alan & Claire meet Clarice Bell, a cross-dresser who was wrongfully terminated. While Claire initially comes off as a cold fish, she hits it off well with Clarice and tries to motivate him to come out of his shell. Denny has lunch with Bethany Horowitz (Meredith Eaton-Gilden) a woman that he met on the Internet, and offends her by calling her a midget. She threatens to sue him. This episode seems to be more of a true season premiere than the first episode was, as it set up a lot of things that would pay off in later episodes.
Desperately Seeking Shirley: Ivan Tiggs (Tom Selleck) wants a divorce, but he signed a rather one-sided post-nuptial agreement at the behest of Shirley back in Season 2. So he hires Alan to try and invalidate it. Lots of drama happens at the courthouse before Ivan & Shirley settle things over dinner. Alan finds that he’s attracted to Shirley, but Denny forbids him to act on it. There’s some more of the Scott Little stuff, and Denny agrees to back Bethany in a case against an HMO. We also see the first “look down” gag, where Denny says something about Bethany while oblivious to the fact that she’s standing right in front of him. Alan points it out and hilarity ensues. This happens a lot over the course of the season.
Fine Young Cannibal: Alan & Shirley represent a man who ate his friends’ remains while cremating him. He was homeless and hadn’t had a meal in weeks. Alan challenges Denny to a wrestling match for the right to pursue Shirley…he loses in 4 seconds. The Little trial buildup continues, as Claire gets some information out of a therapist in a way that usually isn’t recommended by law school professors. Jeffrey has a spirited exchange with Lincoln Meyer (David Dean Bottrell), and Paul warns Judge Hooper (the victim’s husband) that things might get ugly. Bethany’s case ends well and she agrees to go to lunch with Denny at a later date. The best part of this episode to me is the wrestling match and Alan name-dropping Chief Jay Strongbow.
Whose God Is It Anyway?: Alan defends Hands after he’s sued for firing an employee for being a Scientologist and openly preaching his views. Sally Heep (Lake Bell) returns to the show and serves as opposing counsel…Hands thinks Sally might be a real-life version of his doll, but Alan beats him to the punch, so to speak. Meanwhile, the therapist finds out that Claire’s been getting information out of him because she represents Scott Little, and he’s none too pleased about it. Denny tries to shut blabbermouth cable news “reporter” Gracie Jane up with some “chubby sex”, but it doesn’t get the job done. Lincoln Meyer testifies, and Scott’s father reveals that Scott is sexually attracted to his mother (Kathy Segal). This probably won’t go over well with the jury.
The Verdict: The Scott Little case finally comes to an end. After Jeffrey accuses everybody under the moon and creates enough reasonable doubt, Scott is acquitted. Unfortunately this results in a kiss between mother and son…yeah, I’m not a big fan of incest storylines. Alan is displeased because Sally always leaves right after sex. They see Alan’s therapist, and break up shortly after. Not a whole lot going on here, to be honest.
Trick Or Treat: Denise learns of Daniel Post’s passing during surgery, and it turns out that his body parts were sent to various places. Meanwhile, Hands is in trouble again because the government found out that he lied about his stance on the death penalty in order to get on a jury. Alan defends him while Jeffrey is sued by Lincoln Meyer for defaming his character. After the judge defames Lincoln’s character, Lincoln kills him. Whoops! Denny meets Bethany’s mother Bella (Delta Burke), who oddly enough had sexual relations with Denny in the past. Who hasn’t? The highlight of the episode is probably the costume party, which features Alan, Denny & Claire dressed up like the Lennon Sisters. Good times.
Lincoln: Lincoln Meyer still wants attention after he gets away with killing the judge, so he attacks Gracie Jane and kidnaps Shirley. Alan & Hands defend a woman accused of killing her ex-girlfriend who had a blackout while the event took place.
On The Ledge: Shirley is eventually freed from Lincoln’s house after much creepiness from Mr. Meyer. Denny gets jealous when he sees Alan & Hands drinking together on his balcony. Denny & Alan have a very close relationship, you see. Not like that. Just because they have sleepovers doesn’t make them gay. What?
The Nutcrackers: Alan defends a white supremacist family from getting their singing kids taken away from them due to their beliefs. Due to the outcome, Shirley dresses up as a bunny for a costume party. Denny represents a mother trying to get her daughter to eat more, and Brad, Denise & Jeffrey represent a woman that wants to sue God over her husband’s death. God. Nobody is safe in the world of Boston Legal.
Angel Of Death: Alan, Denny & Vanessa Walker (Nia Long) head down to New Orleans to defend a doctor accused of euthanizing patients during Hurricane Katrina. It’s an interesting moral dilemma that I’m not really sure there’s a good answer to…all I know for sure after watching this ep is that up is down and down is up. Clarence gets booted out of a women’s gym after showing up as himself instead of Clarice and gets Claire to help. He ends up getting a date, so not all is lost. Speaking of dates, Jeffrey asks Denise on a date and ends up being a friend with benefits. Not too shabby, and it leads to a funny scene with Paul & Shirley talking about the outrageous concept. This episode was James Spader’s submission for the Emmy Awards this year and was good enough to win him the award. So it’s pretty decent.
Nuts: Denny ends up on the No Fly List and needs Alan’s help to get off. This leads to some dumping on Homeland Security, which is always good times in my book. Shirley & Vanessa defend a teacher who had a student die in their class due to an allergic reaction to peanuts.
Dumping Bella: Denny decides that he needs to dump Bella for Bethany, hence the title. Before this happens, he defends her in a case against animal-rights activists who are unhappy with her cosmetics company testing on animals. Alan is attracted to Vanessa’s yellow dress, as it reminds him of days gone by. Brad & Jeffrey both show up at a costume party dressed as Buzz Lightyear and fight over it.
Selling Sickness: Judge Brown’s homosexuality wasn’t cured by a company that claimed to cure the “disease”, so he sues with the help of Alan & Denny. Shirley represents a girl that wants to take a “forgetting pill” to forget being molested by a rabbi. Denise finds out that she’s pregnant and makes Brad & Jeffrey take paternity tests to find out who the father is. Hint: The one who isn’t the father leaves the very next episode.
Fat Burner: Alan defends Denny after he’s accused of smuggling fat overseas to be used for fuel. It’s an original idea, that’s for sure. Clarence tries his very first case, a murder case, alongside Paul & Bethany. Jeffrey decides to leave the firm because he just doesn’t fit in…most of the show’s viewers agreed with that assessment.
The Good Lawyer: Alan tackles two cases this episode, and is up against a new and improved Hands in one case. With a wooden cigarette in his mouth, Hands becomes more assertive, aggressive and assholish, as well as more self-confident. Alan does his best to get the old Hands back, but hurts him in the process. The overly shy Clarence is pre-occupied with an invitation from Claire to dinner at her house, and retreats into his Clarice persona for a short time. Denny goes to Temple with Bethany and of course it doesn’t end well.
The Bride Wore Blood: Alan defends a woman wearing a wedding dress and covered in blood that’s been accused of killing her fiancé. Claire defends a man accused of stealing a cell phone…it turns out that he merely picked up the wrong one and decided to keep it. Hmm. Denny’s views on Israeli politics offend Bethany, who’s Judaism tends to make her somewhat biased towards Israel. Lots of things about Denny seem to offend Bethany.
Son Of The Defender: This is my favorite episode of Season 3. It features Denny & other employees being kidnapped by a crazed man who is still mad at Denny for ensuring the acquittal of the man he believes killed his mother some fifty years or so ago. He forces them to reenact the case as Denny remembers his very first trial alongside his father. Scenes from a Studio One presentation called “The Defender” are incorporated into the episode to show what the case was like…this show was filmed fifty years ago and featured a young William Shatner as a lawyer. It’s really quite brilliant how they managed to make that show into something that serves their purposes in letting us see what a younger Denny Crane was like. The only complaint I have with this episode is a sidebar storyline with Alan that just serves the purpose of keeping him away from the offices.
Brotherly Love: Alan & Denny defend a fellow lawyer who obstructed justice to protect his brother after he murdered his wife. While that’s going on, there’s lots of romantic strife at the firm, as Claire catches Clarence meeting with an escort…turns out it’s to overcome his shyness. Denny is distracted by thoughts of Raquel Welch, but ends up with Phyillis Diller. Brad is furious when Paul wants him to sign a “love contract”
Guise ‘N Dolls: Alan takes on Evil Hands once again in a case about inappropriate dolls being sold to children. This episode is made by the character of Evil Hands, which is just totally awesome. Denny offends a potential employee (Jaleel White) with some racial comments. That’s a shame because I was hoping for Urkel to become a regular on BL. Stupid Denny! Shirley spends her time dealing with that and trying to get Denise to decide if she truly loves Brad or not.
Tea And Sympathy: Judge Weldon has Alan defend her from charges surrounding illegal possession, which leads to them getting together. Not before Denny makes a fool of himself and tries to get with her, of course. Shirley & Claire defend a man who healed from HIV and wants to sell his blood to a pharmaceutical company instead of letting the government patent it. Also, Hands battles Clarence in a case where a girl sues a sorority for kicking her out due to social awkwardness. These two characters work pretty well together, and continue to do so today.
Guantanamo By The Bay: Alan & Denny defend a man who was wrongfully imprisoned and tortured for two years at Guantanamo Bay. Hands begs Shirley for his job back and sings along to the BL theme song in one of those great “breaking the fourth wall” moments that BL does so well. All ends well, as it usually does.
Duck And Cover: This is a pretty busy episode…Denise & Brad’s wedding is broken up when the priest is arrested for housing illegals in the church. Denise then gives birth to their baby, and Brad has a judge marry them just before the baby’s born so it isn’t a bastard. Alan defends the priest, Hands defends a woman who’s being kicked out of her apartment due to her pet duck, and Denny plays with the Stanley Cup and kills the duck. Fun times are had by all, but Shirley is growing tired of Denny’s antics.
Trial Of The Century: Alan & Denny defend two brothers accused of killing their father in an interesting way…having them accuse each other of doing it. Denny Crane might have mad cow, but he still has moments of brilliance. Clarence & Hands defend a woman who wants to sue a casino for taking her money…Shirley is skeptical, but the oddball team does a better job than she ever could have expected. This was a good way to end the season.
Special Features:
Out of Order?: Shelley Berman (Judge Sanders) & Gail O’Grady (Judge Weldon) talk about their roles as judges on Boston Legal. They put over the writers and actors as you would expect for about 6 minutes.
Character Witness: Christian Clemenson (Hands), David Dean Bottrell (Lincoln) & Meredith Eaton-Gilden (Bethany) discuss some of their experiences on the BL set in this 12 minute short.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m used to watching DVDs that have a rather large array of special features. Couldn’t they get Spader & Shatner to do some guest commentary, or anybody else for that matter? The show’s good, but when we purchase a DVD for a large amount of money, we’re usually looking for a little bit extra. Two short features just isn’t enough, especially when you consider there’s 7 discs to work with here. Surely they could fit some more stuff on there…couldn’t they? Disappointing. And shocking!
The 411: Boston Legal is still one of the finest shows on network television, but it seems to be following in the footsteps of other David E. Kelley shows by increasingly relying on outlandish characters and hot-button issues instead of well-written storylines that make you care about the characters. Too many of their long-running plots this season fell flat, and sometimes it felt like the writers were more interested in making political statements or writing amusing scenes than writing a compelling television show. That all being said, Boston Legal still features some of the most superb acting on television and is worth watching solely for the performances of people like James Spader, William Shatner, Christian Clemenson & others. I must say that Season 2 was much better, but I still recommend purchasing Season 3 of Boston Legal.
