ALLY MCBEAL: FOOL'S NIGHT OUT (TV)
Summary
One in this whimsical comedy/drama series about the personal and professional misadventures of Ally McBeal, a neurotic young lawyer living in Boston. Georgia feels threatened by Nelle, since Georgia always considered herself the "fairest" of anyone at the firm. Ally overhears this conversation and takes offense to Georgia's line of thinking. Richard's minister, Reverend Mike Newman, comes to him for help: he was in a relationship with Lisa Knowles, the church choir director, but broke it off two months ago. She didn't take it well and now Reverend Newman feels that her song selections at the church are directed at him. He fears that their relationship might become known amongst the congregation, although Lisa has not been obvious enough to alert them. Meanwhile, Ling wishes to get the firm to help her sue a nurse; she explains that she went to a doctor to purchase breast implants for her sister, and the doctor used the nurse as an example of his work. Ling feels the doctor botched her sister's breast implants and later discovered that the nurse's breasts were actually not artificial. Since the doctor went bankrupt soon thereafter, Ling decides she wants to sue the nurse for misrepresentation. Richard convinces Georgia to take the case. Richard, Ally, and Renee attend one of Reverend Newman's services and witness Lisa's song choice. The congregation is highly enthused by her performance; despite its subject matter being love and loss, Richard feels the song was not overtly directed at Reverend Newman. He and John recommend finding a mediator between him and Lisa in order to resolve their issue. Richard chooses Ally as the mediator, confident that she is fluent in the "language of loneliness." Meanwhile, Ling gives her deposition while the nurse, Jackie Silverman, claims that she did not know of the doctor's true intentions and that he lied to her, although she suspected the truth sometime later. Georgia and Billy believe they have a case based on misrepresentation, but the opposing lawyer argues that his client was not a willing part of the scheme and accuses Ling of being overly litigious. He and Billy decide that they must be allowed to see a comparison of both women's breasts and arrange for it over Georgia's vehement objections. Billy believes Georgia is using this incident as an outlet for her rage against Nelle and Georgia denies it. Nelle literally bumps into John in the hall and expresses an attraction towards him, indicating that she wants him to take her on a date. John is too flustered and shy to respond. Reverend Newman brings Ally to a choir rehearsal to further demonstrate his claims about Lisa's song selection being directed against him. She speaks to Lisa, who claims that her songs are the only way she can cope with her pain from the breakup. Lisa explains that Reverend Newman left her because he said he had a "change of heart," the suddenness of his departure greatly affected her. Ally goes back to Reverend Newman to ask him why he never discussed the breakup with Lisa and goes on a tirade about him not making an effort to discover the exact reason why he fell out of love with Lisa. She admits that she is beginning to take Lisa's side over his. Lisa enters, saying she was hurt because there was no warning to Reverend Newman's departure. Ally suddenly realizes that when Billy left her years ago, it was in a similar manner to that of Reverend Newman's breakup with Lisa. The breast examination is underway and Billy and the opposing lawyer can find little difference between them. Georgia, disgusted by the whole affair, tries to declare that the case is over. John seeks advice about Nelle from Richard; ultimately he decides to ask her out. Georgia comes upon Ally while she's deep in thought about Billy. She says she realized that Billy went to Michigan specifically to get away from her, and deduces that his specific reason for going to Michigan was to be with Georgia. Georgia says she didn't know about Ally when she met Billy. Nelle tells Ling that she may be too quick to take legal action against others and believes it is her way of coping with being "unpopular." This assessment seems to have an effect on Ling, who walks out. Richard catches up with her and compares himself to her, then asks her out to dinner. Georgia accuses Billy of being attracted to nurse Silverman. Billy believes Georgia is once again being insecure due to comparing herself to Nelle, but Georgia points out that Billy instantly fell in love with her while he was still with Ally and is worried that something similar might happen to her. She asks him to seek some closure with Ally, who still harbors pain over that incident. Ally proposes to Lisa that she start singing at the local bar to help her alleviate her pain without interfering with Reverend Newman. She also recommends that the two of them sit down together and talk about why exactly their relationship fell apart. Later, Billy and Ally encounter each other in the elevator but neither of them have the will to speak to each other. Ally gets Reverend Newman and Lisa to sit down with each other and Reverend Newman admits that he considered Lisa to be perfect for him and thought he would instantly fall in love with her, but he didn’t, even though he desperately wanted to. He says it would have been "practical" to marry her but that he felt no "passion" for her. Lisa seems hurt by this revelation. Lisa decides to go through with Ally's idea for her to sing at the bar in order to relieve herself of her pain. She realizes that while it hurts, she is better off knowing how Reverend Newman felt and realizes she would have married a man who didn't love her. Billy speaks with Ally alone and admits that he met Georgia while visiting Michigan and instantly realized she was going to be the woman he would marry. Ally is still hurt and wonders aloud if Billy simply lied to her and never loved her. He assures her that isn't true and says he wishes he could have done things differently. The episode ends as Lisa sings at the bar with Reverend Newman in attendance. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: FOX
- DATE: September 28, 1998 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:47:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:56531
- GENRE: Drama, legal
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, legal; Asian American Pacific Islanders Collection
- SERIES RUN: FOX - TV series, 1997-2002
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- David E. Kelley … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Jonathan Pontell … Co-Executive Producer
- Jeffrey Kramer … Co-Executive Producer
- Pamela Wisne … Producer
- Steve Robin … Producer
- Mike Listo … Producer
- Robert Breech … Co-Producer
- Kim Hamberg … Associate Producer
- Roseann M. Bonora-Keris … Associate Producer
- Peter Burrell … Coordinating Producer
- Peter MacNicol … Director
- Vonda Shepard … Music by, Theme Music by
- Danny Lux … Music by
- Calista Flockhart … Cast, Ally McBeal
- Courtney Thorne-Smith … Cast, Georgia Thomas
- Greg Germann … Cast, Richard Fish
- Lisa Nicole Carson … Cast, Renee Raddick
- Jane Krakowski … Cast, Elaine Vassal
- Peter MacNicol … Cast, John Cage
- Gil Bellows … Cast, Billy Allen Thomas
- Portia de Rossi … Cast, Nelle Porter
- Lucy Liu … Cast, Ling Woo
- Jennifer Holliday … Cast, Lisa Knowles
- Harrison Page … Cast, Reverend Mark Newman
- Gerry Becker … Cast, Attorney Myron Stone
- Kayren Ann Butler … Cast, Jackie Silverman
- Lydia Look … Cast, Leigh Woo
- Eric Cohen … Cast, Dancing Twin
- Steve Cohen … Cast, Dancing Twin