By Jennifer Larson

Tonight on BOSTON LEGAL, Alan (James Spader) is asked to do something he’s never done, which is saying a lot considering Alan’s vast and strange experiences in life. When a woman whose daughter was murdered comes into the office, she seeks Alan’s advice on how to murder the man who killed her. Unfortunately, the man in question was acquitted of the murder by reason of insanity. Doesn’t the fact that he killed a human being already tell us he’s insane? Why would he be able to walk away a free man because of that? I’m sure this is not a new argument, but whether or not the mother of the victim should be allowed to kill him is. Let’s face it, we all know Alan is usually a sucker for a sob story, but helping out in this circumstance is really pushing the envelope, even for him. Meanwhile, Katie (Tara Summers) and Jerry (Christian Clemenson) have been paired up on yet another case.

The way the office keeps pushing these two together is very cruel, since we know how smitten poor Jerry is with the newest associate. Still, they have had some major success as a team. Unfortunately, Katie doesn’t share Jerry’s romantic interest, which is so sad because this is the first time we’ve seen Jerry go after a living, breathing woman. The last time he was so taken with a female she was a blow-up doll; and I’m not talking about the one Denny (William Shatner) so lovingly drags around, whom he named Shirley Schmidtho. But something tells me if Jerry is patient and just bides his time, he may get a chance with the fair lady at some point in time, at least I’m rooting for him. But, back to the case the two are working on. This one is a doozy, because it involves trying to overturn a child-molester-registry law to save a falsely accused client. That’s a very slippery slope and could lead to many problems down the line. But, I guess they have to stay focused on the case at hand.

It turns out Katie and Jerry were teamed up again because the client was the same man they got acquitted of murder. It seems he has this pesky rape charge hanging over his head from a dalliance with a 16-year-old girl, oh and he was only 17-years-old at the time. That’s the loophole in a rape charge, because 17 is considered an adult while 16 is not. So in order to allow this man to live a life free of false accusations and harassment from people who find him on a sex registry, Katie and Jerry need to try and overturn Meghan’s law. These guys may be good, but I don’t think they’re that good. Besides, that would turn back women and children’s rights and protections by 20 years or more. And I’m curious, where was the law when Alan’s would-be client’s daughter was murdered? It’s apparent there are a set of laws for the poor and a different one for the rich.


But, that doesn’t mean her story isn’t sad and compelling. While Alan couldn’t and wouldn’t help give her advice on how to get away with murder, he did help her out when she went ahead with her plan and was in need of a lawyer. However, she seemed to be very knowledgeable and capable of taking care of herself, but Alan couldn’t resist and went ahead and took the case. Come on, you knew that one was coming. You also had to know that there was no way any judge was going to hear a case involving overturning a law that protects children, which means Jerry and Katie had to go another route. Their alternative plan sent them in search of their client’s former girlfriend to try and get her to admit she wasn’t raped. That’s a little hard to do, considering the fact that she could be sent to prison herself for lying on the stand. But, these two always seem to come through in the end, and the girlfriend/witness decided to do the right thing.

While Jerry and Katie may have won the battle for their client, they didn’t win the war. After being exonerated of the rape charges, he was politely asked to leave the town; when he wouldn’t. he ended up dead. As for Alan’s shifty new client, her case will be a tougher nut to crack, and we’ll all just have to stay tuned to see what happens there.