A Televisual Feast

There’s something decidedly lackluster about the first season finale of “The Practice.” Lackluster enough for me to use the passive voice. The supporting members of the firm disappear–Ellenor and Lindsay have an argument, otherwise they’re all background (and Rebecca interrupts the argument again). Rebecca and Eugene have a “black” adventure (Eugene’s defending a nineteen year-old with a pregnant fourteen year-old girlfriend) and it’s odd how Kelley is willing to separate them from the rest of the firm based on skin color the last couple episodes, when otherwise he hasn’t acknowledged it.

As for Bobby’s case (the big murder trial). Not too exciting. Jimmy’s got some funny moments with the press but otherwise… this episode and the previous one really could have been combined, with subplots for other characters thrown in. “The Practice” works much better as a law procedural than as a serial, because Kelley’s making the serial out of prolonging cases (something he still does on “Boston Legal”).

It’s a fine enough episode–Kelley’s got two huge crowd-pleaser moments in it–but really, I can’t believe the show got picked up with such a weak close. More, I can’t believe Kelley let this episode be the last in an audience’s memory for a summer.

Holy crap… David E. Kelley didn’t write this one? What was he thinking, not handling a first season finale himself?

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