(Season 5, Episodes 10-12)
Wouldn’t you know it, but William Hinks continued to wreak havoc even after his death. Michael Emerson is just too good. I mean, I know he was only reading the lines that someone else wrote for him, but he’s too good. Of course, had he been just a bit better he could have brought Bobby down, which might have spiraled into Lindsay committing suicide and our getting a really great cast going forward, but that’s asking him to be super-human. He falls just short of that, but he still rides pretty high.
5.10 “Friends and Ex-Lovers”
Bobby’s too much. Completely blinded by his guilt over Scott Wallace’s predicament, he barked at Jimmy for being honest, and at Richard for doing his job. I’m no Richard fan, but I can understand his thinking that a guy who shot someone at point blank range, in front of witnesses, might be guilty of murder. Instead, Bobby put the blame on “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts!”, embarrassing both himself and me. And, I imagine, everyone who watched the episode when it first aired.
Helen faced an interesting situation, up against a former ADA turned drug lawyer. When the defendant approached her and asked to be put in witness protection so that he could testify against the big fish, Eugene got hauled onto the case, first as the defense’s shadow council (is that like British Parliament?), and then as defense council for the plea negotiations with the DA. Is there any reality to how often these attorneys get forced onto cases? Anyway, the defendant got witness protection, and the lawyer wound up dead. Will this one be coming back to haunt Helen?
Meanwhile, William Hinks returned with yet more subtle threats, first with a visit to Lindsay’s favorite coffee haunt, and then by murdering the dog he had bought for Lindsay and stuffing its lifeless body into Lucy’s desk drawer. I can hear faint dramatic music….
5.11 “An Early Frost”
I feel as bad for Scott Wallace as the next viewer, but a not guilty verdict on the charge of murdering his former employer and friend? With two witnesses who watched him ruthlessly slaughter the guy? Can the argument even be made here that this is the good guy winning out in the end?
William Hinks continued to spin further off the Earth’s axis, and Bobby finally had enough. He called in a favor from an old client, Alan Neel (Jeremy Roberts), an all-around thug who’d been acquitted of multiple murder charges thanks to Bobby. The request? Put the fear of God in Hinks, but don’t kill him. The result? Hinks’ head sitting in his own freezer — so we’re told … it was all off-camera! That’s just cold.
5.12 “Payback”
Unfortunately for Alan — and it turns out for Bobby — William Hinks had security cameras at his house, and he’d managed to turn on his answering machine before Alan attacked him. Sucks for Bobby that Alan claimed Bobby had sent him to kill Hinks, but Bobby was definitely culpable to some extent, having sent a man he knew to be a murderer to deal with a psychopath. The DA tasted blood, and of all people, Richard tried to pull back the reigns and make sure the case was only about the facts. Since when has he not played vendetta with Donnell and Associates?
Bobby made a production of naming Eugene “pro temp senior partner,” after he was arrested and charged with multiple counts stemming from Hinks’ murder, because he was about to have a baby AND would be dealing with this whole trial thing … is he living in a fantasy land? Did he really think he was the one making that decision?
Rebecca, meanwhile, took on the case of a friend who sued her husband’s firm after he committed suicide. After an easy $500 thousand settlement offer, Rebecca figured out that her friend was actually extorting the involved partner at the firm. When Eugene brushed it off, Rebecca questioned his leadership abilities — sorry, but would Bobby have reacted any differently? Has the firm ever handled these things with more ethics?
A passing mention of Lindsay is necessary here. She actually went to Helen about Bobby and informed her that she had to “make it go way.” Yes, “way.” Are we in junior high? I’m betting Lindsay’s going to be insufferable as we chew our fingernails through Bobby’s sham of a trial, which will obviously end with a not guilty — if he wasn’t set to leave the show yet, how else could this end? How about some real suspense?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 07, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
This is something of a bittersweet entry for me, as I enjoyed reading it but it also means I’m all caught up on the virgin diaries and as such, have nothing else to read for a few days. But now that I’m current, perhaps I will have more comments to offer. I watched all of The Practice, though not every single episode, online last year, so your experience is fairly similar to mine. I don’t remember being as nit-picky about the legal stretches, though. (-: These have been a good read, so keep it up! And get on whoever does the Buffy/Angel and House entries to get back on track as well. Until next time…
*POST AUTHOR*
Glad to hear that you’ve been following and enjoying! :)
I’m actually bumping up to an airing problem with the show. They went from four episodes a weekend to two, so I have to see where that leaves me from week to week. But there should always be something fresh every Thursday.
I just enjoy legal stuff, so I’d say I focus on it a lot more than some viewers did. I certainly did not watch Boston Legal that way, though — very different show.