Boston Legal – Happy Trails

ABC

(Season 5, Episode 6)

The formula was certainly shaken up this week to accommodate Denny’s and Alan’s trip to a dude ranch. I have to think this was done in large part due to William Shatner’s love of horses. After all, it’s the last season of the show and why not have some fun. It was fun seeing Melvin Palmer at the dude ranch. He’s someone who’s always driven me crazy, that’s what he is. Every time he’d appear opposite Alan and call him a hoot. I’d never realized that Denny hadn’t met him ever before tonight.

The small cast continued to be a bit jarring at times. Particularly with Denny and Alan out of the office, it only left Katie, Jerry, Carl and Shirley, and then when Shirley got called to trial to help out Catherine Piper (Betty White) again, we got a somewhat odd and forced little discussion on “the little kid inside.” I really wish they’d fleshed the cast out a bit again this year, like they’ve done in every previous year, so we could get a more natural flow between the characters.

As disappointing as it is to have to say this, the Piper trial was actually pretty boring. We’ve already trotted down the big pharma path with Alan and I don’t think Shirley hit upon anything new. I think it was just an opportunity to bring Betty White back in for a swan song on one of our favorite characters. Perhaps the same thing was done with Melvin. After all, ’tis the season as it’s the last season, so get your goodbyes in now.

The dude ranch scenes took up more screen time than I thought necessary. Sure, it was great to see Alan so out of sorts and Melvin enjoying every second of it, but they could have spent a little less time setting up the whole thing and a little more time in the Utah courtroom, which is when it got fun again. Don’t get me wrong; there were some gems during it all, like Denny swooning over a sheep and then slipping into bed with the married woman.

Melvin nailed it on the head there when he told the judge that Alan was just itching to get his day in a Utah court — polygamy. You know how Alan loves his soapboxes — polygamy — and the chance to jump all over a social or political issue that he hasn’t yet tackled — polygamy — in a Boston courtroom was just getting him all excited — polygamy. Alan shines when he’s in front of a judge or a jury. That’s when Kelley’s rich dialogue sings and the show soars.

While the whole storyline with Jerry showing up in costume on the wrong day, getting lectured by Carl for not being a grown up, Carl getting lectured by Katie for being too grown up, and then all three showing up in costume at the end was a bit empty, it did set up a nice moment at the end for Denny. Katie was dressed up as a sheep, as Jerry was Little Bo Peep, and Denny just couldn’t contain himself and apparently bit her.

I do think this was setting up a bit more of the psychological downfall of Denny Crane. As tragic as it potentially could be, BL has gone to dark places before, and I still think it would be an incredibly powerful way to end the series by having Denny succumb to his illness in one way or another. It would also help to make the end of this fine series more acceptable, as the show is built around the Denny-Alan dynamic. Take that away and you have no show.

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Oct 28, 2008 @ 15:53 EST5EDT