Season Three of Ally McBeal marked a downward trend for the popular show. Its ratings were flagging and it seemed its audience was tiring of Ally and company's surreal shenanigans.
Season Four changed all that. The two sock-o romantic stories which opened the season didn’t hurt. First there was Ally’s emotional breakup with Brian, then her rebound romance with an older man AND his son. But true love reared its head the minute Larry Paul entered the picture. Their relationship got off to a fabulous start with Ally mistaking Larry for a therapist setting up his practice in her law firm’s office building. Her assumption inspired her to confide her relationship troubles to him before discovering he was a lawyer, just like her. So began the most fun, romantic, heartbreaking romance in the history of the show.
Robert Downey, Jr., who up until this point was exclusively a film actor, played Ally’s love interest, Larry. These two had chemistry with a capital 'C'. Their scenes crackled and sizzled and lit up the screen; it wouldn’t have been a total surprise if they crashed and burned. Eventually their end did come but it wasn’t nearly as explosive. It might have been better if it was.
The season had its share of strangeness: from Mark Albert (James LeGros) falling for a transexual (played with astonishing believability by Lisa Edelstein), who revealed the truth about herself to Mark in a subtle yet powerful way. John Cage, the shy, nose whistling wimp (except in the courtroom, where he was powerful and eloquent) attempted to impress his love interest, Kimmie, by acting the rock star on the stage of the local bar. Talk about going against character! John later took up with Melanie (Ann Heche), who suffered from Tourettes.
Barry Manilow and Sting made appearances: Barry as one of Ally’s hallucinations, and Sting as a client of Larry Paul.
As in past seasons, music played a big role. Vonda Shepard was the house diva, while members of the cast took their turn at the bar’s mic. Then there was Larry Paul at the piano turning in a version of Joni Mitchell’s "River", which was poignant and heartbreaking, foreshadowing the sadness of the season finale.
Through it all, the best scenes belonged to Ally and Larry. The fact that Larry missed his son, who lived with his ex in Detroit, was a major obstacle in the Larry-Ally relationship. Eventually they worked it out and the producers planned to have the couple wed during the season finale. In the end, the title of that finale episode, The Wedding, was all that remained of the producers’ good intentions. Robert Downey, Jr.’s sudden departure from the show (stemming from his drug problems and subsequent arrest) forced the writers to come up with an alternate ending at the eleventh hour.
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Article comments
1 - El Bicho
"who up until this point was exclusively a film actor"
except for the season he was a cast member on SNL
2 - Mindy
Yes, thanks, El Bicho, I stand corrected.
3 - gina
Mindy, just out of curiosity, why is a storyline where man who's attracted to a trans woman characterized as "strangeness?" Do you mean that you're personally somehow uncomfortable with it... is that why it's 'strange?' Also, how is Lisa Edelstein's performance as a trans woman character "astonishingly believable?" Are you saying she looks like a trans woman? I'd be curious if you were to explain what such a person looks like? Are you saying she didn't play the character like a stereotypical drag queen or as a caricature? What is it exactly you are saying... this trans woman would love to know? BTW, while I think Edelstein is a wonderful actress, sadly, I found some of the "dick" humor in the writing of the story line pretty immature and cheapened the impact of the episodes, even if it was supposed to somehow be making fun of those characters' narrow mindedness.
4 - Mindy
Gina: The strangeness stemmed from the reaction of Mark's co-workers, how their immaturity and prejudices played out to make the whole thing just odd. Perhaps if those in Mark's world were more mature and knew how to handle the fact that relationships of this type can and do exist, the strangeness factor would not have been so blatant. Lisa's performance was astonishingly believable to me because of the subtlety she cast into the role. Another actor might have broadcast her 'origins' in some way. This is TV, after all. But the character was comfortable with who she was, despite all she had to go through to just be herself.
5 - Miss Lisa
I never even watched Ally McBeal till recently when my curiosity of Robert Downey Jr appearing in season 4 made me watch. As much as i adore Robert i'm surprised i waited this long to watch those episodes. He is incredibly HOT and the ONLY thing that i ever enjoyed Ally McBeal for. Without Robert i could give a rat's a--!
6 - Veronica
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Ally McBeal. Truly a great dramedy, with great performances by all of its actors. Season 4 was soooo good! I wish RDJ woldn't have messed imself up so they could've married, that would've been amazing and would've kept their rating up, so the show might hava lasted longer. They should do a reunion episode, or something and finally have them end up together!!!
7 - Mindy
Killing Billy killed the show!! They did a great job reviving it with Larry though, and then he left!! Stupid writers!