I'm not sure whether I like Boston Legal. I still remember in my first year, right at the beginning of law school where everyone was a stranger and we had to do some introduction and say a thing or two about ourselves, someone said that he wanted to be the next Alan Shore. And the class broke into a laughter. The tutor then made some witty comeback, and another laughter ensued. Of course, I cracked a smile and laughed along, and lordly lord, I really thought that Alan Shore was some bigwig in the legal fora: a Chief Justice, a stellar judge, a minister, or someone of that stature. It does sound ludicrous but it may be surprising for you to know that right from the get-go some people did already have their legal chip plucked into them, which made me think there for a moment how come I didn't get the memo. Sometimes-- if not most of the times-- it did feel like I was in a secret club with a secret handshake. Only last week then I finally met this legal myth Alan Shore-- just in case you are like me then, he's the main character of the show-- and he was, well, okay. James Spader is definitely the best actor on the show (or poised to appear that way), and perhaps together with William Shatner and Candice Bergen they make the holy Boston Legal trinity. The rest just appear as pretty faces, accessory to these characters' larger-than-life (to say the least) closings and caricatural quirks. I think the biggest problem with the show is that it is very clear even after having watched just a few episodes how formulaic the plot is. Every episode will end with one or two closing statements (i.e. heroic lawyer attempting to convince the nodding-at-strategic-moments jury that their client deserves what they sue for), which more-often-than-not begin with a rendition of some statistics (which would have been dismissed in real court setting for want of relevance), followed by an argument (delivered with such a bravado, it borders on a melodramatic recitation), and end with a sound bite that necessarily triggers a couple of nods from the jury. Always. To be fair, the show tries to present an array of interesting (read: make-believe) cases to spice things up, and the same formulaic pattern is also noticeable in other cop shows or doctor shows, but something about it just does not connect. Perhaps it's the set (they simply jump from the lawyers' office, which is not exactly the happiest place on earth, to the court room, which is definitely not the happiest place on earth), or William Shatner's character Denny Crane, whose behaviour is harder to understand than is algebra. It's sad though because I really want to like the show, but I can't bring myself to do so. And bummer, there aren't that many lawyer shows out there anymore. Then again, I only watched half of the second season, hopefully it would get better in the following seasons.
