The Practice virgin’s diary – It’s Shawn Hunter!

by Aryeh S.

(Season 3, Episodes 17-20)

Eugene battles his ex-wife for custody of their son, Helen floats further and further away from sanity (and legal acumen), Jimmy finds a gal, and Donnell and Associates gets hustled onto cases that are too big to be limited to just one episode. And my guess is too big for just one arc, as well. A lot should be coming back to haunt them sometime soon.

3.17 “Target Practice”

I guess it makes sense … after suing big tobacco, dancing with asbestos class action suits, and going after cancer-causing utilities companies, Donnell and Associates represented a plaintiff suing a gun manufacturer because one of their guns was used in the murder of the plaintiff’s daughter. Sympathy should really be barred from the courtroom, at least in a trial where it outweighs fact, legal precedent, or legal superiority. Negligence for manufacturing a product that could potentially be used to perpetrate a crime? Come on.

While Jimmy and Lindsay were busy angering the NRA, Eugene’s son Kendall (Billee Thomas) was being arrested for intent to deal drugs. I realize it couldn’t have been easy to hear that not only was a client of Eugene’s supplying Kendall, but Kendall was also quoting Eugene to rationalize how he was above prosecution. However, it’s not clear what Eugene was suddenly struggling with — if someone’s perverting what you do, does that mean what you do is somehow perverted?

Eugene’s ex Sharon (Aunjanue Ellis) certainly thought so. She filed for a change to their custody agreement, citing Eugene as a bad influence on Kendall.

3.18 “Crossfire”

Who was Bob Russell (Gary Cole) before he was accidental vice president to Jed Bartlet? Why, he was Sharon Young’s attorney in her custody battle with Eugene. That was a dirty fight, but I do see where Sharon was concerned for Eugene as well. The thing is, since when does being a defense attorney necessarily sink you into a pit from which you can never climb out of? Plus, Eugene plays a man bearing too heavy a burden from time to time, but that’s not him in general. Why isn’t it okay for him to enjoy his work?

Helen prosecuted a man accused of sexual assault and stealing a car. It was a little bit of a strange case, considering the woman didn’t seem to have feared for her safety while in the car with her alleged attacker, and his story — at least the sexual encounter part — sounded a lot more plausible than hers. But Helen needed a win, so she got one. Only she also thinks the girl was lying. Swinging and missing on the guilty and the innocent alike, huh Helen?

3.19 “Closet Justice”

Okay, this is really what being a defense attorney is all about. A man is arrested after the police find the hacked-up body of a nun in his closet. They arrived at his apartment after receiving a call from a woman who thought he was holding her captive, and they searched his closet after she told them that he had claimed to have guns in there. Enter the Fourth Amendment violation.

Now let’s take a step back. Lindsay actually got hijacked onto the case when Judge Hiller (Linda Hunt) determined that the public defender wasn’t up to task. Suddenly Lindsay was citing conflict because Helen was representing the DA’s office. Isn’t that convenient? I loved Hiller’s reply to Bobby, after he cited his prior relationship with Helen as cause for conflict: “Bobby, if I was to recuse you every time you slept with the other side….” True story.

Lindsay determined the illegality in the search of the closet, and Hiller sought advice from her buddy Judge Kittleson (Holland Taylor); I loved how Zoe and Roberta were pals! It was a nice side to the show that we’d yet to see, even on Boston Legal, but it makes sense, right? They also make for a good pair.

And Kittleson played another role, as Jimmy appealed to her sensibilities on a case he was defending before another judge: prostitution entrapment. Are Jimmy and Roberta about to start dating?

3.20 “Home Invasions”

Superstar alert! At least as far as I’m concerned … Rider Strong guested as a kid testifying against his father in the murder of his mother. I loved Boy Meets World, and Shawn was one of my favorites from beginning to end. And his father’s defense counsel was Saul Rubinek, or Donny Douglas from Frasier (he’s not the superstar, just Rider). It was very mid- to late-nineties sitcoms in the courtroom.

When Rider recanted his testimony, Ellenor got dragged in by Helen to be his lawyer, only to watch as Helen charged him with murder after his father was found not guilty. I’m thinking the nun killer case is hanging over Helen’s head a bit on this one.

Back in the office, Jimmy discovered that Lucy was the victim of a hidden camera in her bathroom. More than almost anything else on the series thus far, this story upset me to no end. That she could be violated so, and the law prevents her super, the perpetrator, from being properly punished because there was no audio on the videos? How is Lucy supposed to feel safe in her own home ever again?

But the discovery led Lindsay to find that photos of Jimmy and Judge Kittleson were online, too. Kittleson blew her top, and wouldn’t you know it, but Lucy’s pervert super got none other than Judge Kittleson as his trial judge. I wonder how he felt having to stand in court sans his pants (while going commando). He deserved it.