'Boston Legal' gets sheepish

Out of all the recurring characters Boston Legal has brought forth over the years, the best is Betty White's Catherine Piper. The woman is truly hysterical, a murderer, but hysterical. How that woman has avoided jail for all these years simply amazes me. I know that a large part of the reason she's not in jail is because this is a TV show, but it still amazes me. The woman is a stone cold killer.

But, that's not where tonight's episode started. It started with Alan and Denny off at a dude ranch wearing outfits reminiscent of the one Doc Brown got Marty back in 1955 (the outfits would be made fun of later in the episode). Sure, the fashion was horrible, but Alan probably didn't care too much about that what with his not being able to ride a horse terribly well and Melvin Palmer showing up.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Denny opted to make potentially unwanted advances towards a married woman at the ranch. The woman acting disgusted and the husband yelling at Denny didn't do anything to curtail the advances, Nor did the rest of the folks at the ranch voting to send Denny and Alan home because of Denny's actions (the vote apparently was non-binding as they stayed).

Things never got any better for the guys. They were mocked by Melvin for their light-up cowboy hats at a sing-along, and later that night Denny confessed to Alan that he'd had an erection lasting many an hour and was a little worried about it. Denny did see a sheep outside and contemplated... well... you know, but Alan was right there to stop him.

Fortunately, Denny did find a way to alleviate his problem, he hooked up with Irene (the woman he had made advances towards earlier). After their deed was done, Denny got caught in the tent when Ian, the husband, came in completely drunk and fell asleep (Irene had gone goodness knows where). Alan was unsuccessful extricating Denny from the situation. Irene returned when Alan was in the tent, screamed, and Ian woke up and saw what was going on.

When Carl found out that Denny and Alan had been arrested -- Denny for adultery and Alan for aiding and abetting Denny -- he told Shirley that something absolutely had to be done about Denny's losing his mind. Carl was angry, but he would have been far more angry had he been in Utah for Alan and Denny's arraignment. Alan went off on the State of Utah (where the dude ranch was) in general and its not prosecuting polygamy in particular. It took Melvin Palmer explaining to the judge that Alan would relish a fight against the State of Utah for the judge to dismiss the case and ban Alan and Denny from Utah for life.

So, with Alan and Denny "busy" this episode, it fell to Shirley to go visit Catherine Piper who was in jail. Catherine had been charged with attempted murder for almost blowing a doctor up. It wasn't her intent to blow him up, she just wanted to torch his office and when the doctor got there he ran inside to try and save some files.

As Catherine explained the events, a drug the doctor had put her on for anemia had caused her to have a mild heart attack. It wasn't that serious, but could have been and while that miffed her somewhat, the fact that the doctor was getting kickbacks from the drug company that made the anemia drug really steamed her.

During the trial, Catherine talked on the stand about how doctors get rebates from drug companies for buying drugs and then turn around and sell the drugs at full price to patients. To my untrained ear, that sounded like double-dipping. It was definitely a fair thing to bring up, as was the prosecution pointing out that the psychiatrist Shirley put on the stand to testify about Catherine's temporary insanity was paid for his testimony. I don't think the two are quite equivalent, by it was a nice counter.

It was Carl Sack who framed the argument on both sides fairly. He explained that with rising malpractice premiums and lower HMO reimbursements some doctors couldn't afford to practice without payments from drug companies. He also implied that if the doctor didn't tell Catherine that he was being paid by the drug companies it may have been incorrect ethically.

Shirley made the point along with some others in her closing, the jury agreed, and Catherine was let off the hook. Catherine was thrilled that the jury "bought it." What a great character she is, and Betty White is absolutely perfect in the role.

Other bits and pieces tonight:

• Jerry was dressed as Little Bo Peep for a time tonight. His smart phone incorrectly informed him it was Halloween. Carl was not amused, but after some mocking by Shirley, Carl found his inner child again and dressed up as a French maid even though it still wasn't Halloween (they were allegedly going to a party).
• Poor Katie, during the same scene where Carl was dressed up, she was too, but as a sheep, and with Denny just returning from the dude ranch the man was feeling frisky. He grabbed her, kissed her, and possibly even bit her.
• Here's my question for the week -- out of all the recurring characters on the show who is your favorite (mine, as stated above, is Catherine Piper)?

The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - where it's always Halloween.

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