The Practice “Part V” (April 1, 1997)

In this quintessential early segment, writer (and former lawyer) David E. Kelley mapped out all the major concerns of his legal drama.  The “A” plot takes us through an arcane legal maneuver with a real insider’s feel of authenticity, as hotshot lead lawyer Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott) orchestrates a “jury nullification” defense (that is, encouraging a jury to ignore the law and release a transparently guilty client) under the glaring eye of a disapproving judge (a perfect Philip Baker Hall).  The “B” story builds a sturdy foundation (with the race issue as its cornerstone) for the show’s best character, brilliant African-American lawyer Eugene Young (Steve Harris), whose Achilles’ heel is his ego; here he wins a robbery case and a side bet by epically dismantling a witness on cross-examination, only to realize to his chagrin (and Kelley delivers this sucker-punch just right) that he never asked whether his client, a young black man, was guilty.  But the heart of the episode is buried in the “C” storyline, on its surface a comic throwaway in which overweight lawyer Eleanor (Camryn Manheim) blows off a blind date with a bald, dorky guy (Michael Monks) because of his looks.  One of Kelley’s specialties as a writer is his extraordinarily specific insight into the mindset of the lonely and disenfranchised, and another is the sudden emotional twist that flips a situation just when it seems to have played out to a predictable end.  Here the two skills dovetail brilliantly in the moment when Eleanor vents, to a pretty, disapproving friend, about how, as someone who’s been considered unattractive all her life, she should have every right to turn the tables.  That the blind date (Michael Monks) would return the next season to offer an equally wounded and poignant rebuttal is one of the joys of Kelley’s world.