By Kelly
Did you know that Robert Downey, Jr. is in an entire season of Ally McBeal and it was the best season ever? Sure you’ve probably heard the rumors, he was written out of the show twice due to drugs and jail, but that still doesn’t change that Jr. is incredibly talented, does a great job in this show, and you desperately, desperately want Ally and the charming/witty/eccentric Larry Paul to end up together. (I suspect they might have if real life hadn’t gotten in the way.) Though admittedly, the ways they write him out are a little thin, it seems that the writers were pretty stuck and did the best they could. (But the first way they wrote him out was much better and made more sense than the second, and when he got written back in suddenly, that didn’t really make sense.) But I’m just glad the writers had the sense to have Jr. and Taye Diggs spontaneously break out in a dance together to imaginary Barry White music in the unisex bathroom. What other show has that? But do be ready to have your heart broken by season’s end.
Until I decided to cherry-pick this season, I had only seen parts of Ally McBeal while flipping channels and found it pretty entertaining (aside from the dancing baby. That’s a little too weird for me.) But it’s a very odd and amazing show with a lot of things going for it, many that will surprise you. It’s also very empowering. (I love how Ally constantly shoves men on the street who walk into her and don’t apologize.) And Calista Flockhart is captivating. I’m not surprised that this show won an Emmy, and now that I’ve seen the famous season four, I just might start it from the beginning. But I’d skip season five. Though Jr. in actually in it once, it’s a hallucination and not worth it, and I just don’t like the direction the whole show goes that season or the very underwhelming conclusion of the whole series.