Product Description
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Led by an Emmy Award-winning cast (James Spader, Denny Crane and
Candice Bergen), "Boston Legal" tells the professional and
personal stories of a group of brilliant but often emotionally
challenged attorneys. Fast-paced and darkly comedic, the series
confronts social and moral issues, while its characters
continually stretch the boundaries of the law.
.com
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Impressive in quality and quantity, the 27 episodes of Boston
Legal's second season (2005-06) are a dazzling showcase for one
of TV's greatest ensembles. Everything that made season 1 so
entertaining is refined here, often to the point of perfection:
As the resident bad boys of the prestigious Boston legal firm of
Crane, Poole & Schmidt, senior partner Denny Crane (William
Shatner) and maverick attorney Alan Shore (James Spader) continue
their campaign of rampant indiscretion, combining unabashed
sexism and political incorrectness with Denny's egotistical
-cat sense of entitlement (and a touch of "Mad Cow") and
Alan's passion for justice and courtroom theatrics. The departure
of his girlfriend Tara (season 1's Rhona Mitra) has left Alan
pensively lonely, so his male-bonding with Denny becomes the
series' emotional core, even as it reaches new heights of
hilarity in episodes like "Finding Nimmo," an instant classic in
which Denny introduces Alan to the pleasures of fly-fishing. Back
at the office, semi-regular cast member Betty White turns from
murder to robbery, only to find herself redeemed as the new
"sandwich lady" at C, P & S. And while senior partner Paul
Lewiston (Rene Auberjonois) juggles the firm's ethical dilemmas
and a rocky reunion with his drug-addicted daughter (superbly
played by Jayne Brook), founding partner Shirley Schmidt (Candice
Bergen) dodges advances from her soon-to-be-remarried ex-husband
(Tom Selleck) while suspecting Denny's soon-to-be-sixth-wife
(Joanna Cassidy) of high-stakes gold-digging. In the midst of it
all, Denise (Julie Bowen) faces threatening competition from a
new attorney (Parker Posey) and elusive love with a dying
billionaire (Michael J. Fox) while playing "friends with
benefits" with colleague Brad (Mark Valley), who's only too
willing to indulge their arrangement.
Expanded roles for Bowen and Valley are just two of this
season's welcome improvements; along with Bergen and Auberjonois,
they add engaging counterbalance to the Spader/Shatner
juggernaut, while newcomers Justin Mentell and Ryan Michelle
Bathe (as legal assistants) add youthful appeal in roles that
necessarily remained marginal for most of the season. As always,
series creator David E. Kelley (aided by a new writing staff)
maintains a constant flow of outrageous behavior (most of it
Denny's) and compelling courtroom trials based on hot-button
issues including assisted suicide, the war in Iraq, private
school discrimination, medical malpractice, tax evasion and a
variety of other cases in which belligerent judges (played by
Henry Gibson, Anthony Heald, Howard Hesseman, Shelley Berman, and
others) play antagonistic foils to Alan Shore's impassioned
defense. (It's here where Spader excels; Shore may be a
lascivious lothario, but you offend his moral conscience at your
peril.) A stellar array of guest stars, impeccable editing and
cinematography, and glossy office production design make Boston
Legal a constant feast for the eyes and ears, with breezy
emphasis on the farcical goings-on at Crane, Poole & Schmidt.
(The series' writing and production values are explored in brief
but enjoyable bonus featurettes included on the final DVD in this
seven-disc set.)
With Denny and Alan's season-ending visit to Los Angeles (where
they defend a sexy celebrity played by Star Trek: Voyager's Jeri
Ryan), it's delightfully obvious that Shatner and Spader are the
heart and soul of Boston Legal, which is ultimately about the
mutual affection of two men whose viewpoints are often as
polarized as their friendship is compassionately co-dependent.
Bolstered by clever allusions to Shatner's Star Trek legacy and
throwaway references to their own status as characters in a TV
show (as Kelley and his writers deliberately demolish the "fourth
wall" of TV for comedic effect), Spader and Shatner quickly
turned their episode-closing balcony scenes into an honorable
tradition, where differences dissolve in the taste of fine scotch
and slowly-savored cigars. They're bringing us the finest
"dramedy" that primetime network television has to offer, and
we'll gladly follow them as their crazy lives continue. --Jeff
Shannon
