Creator David E. Kelley shows there's life yet in Boston Legal--as Denny Crane is "Larry Craig-ed"

Poor Denny faced a fate worse than, well, whatever
happened to him last week: people thinking he's gay!

Ooh, that David E. Kelley! Just when you're ready to write Boston Legal off as having turned completely into yet another of Kelley's oddballs 'n' freaks extravaganzas (the guy has this genius for creating interesting and involving characters, but that seems to bore him; the seeds of the eventual self-destruction can usually be seen in his shows at an eerily early stage), he stops you in your tracks. Last night he even brought back supercilious Paul (Rene Auberjonois) to manage the latest fine mess Denny Crane (William Shatner) has gotten Crane, Poole & Schmidt into.

Denny, in case you didn't see the episode, has been "Larry Craig-ed," as his inseparable sidekick Alan Shore (James Spader). Poor constipated Denny went into a courthouse men's room, carefully chose a stall, set down his briefcase, hummed to help with the--you know--business at hand, and was summarily ordered out of the stall and arrested by a trio of plainclothes cops for you-know-what.

Naturally it fell to the soon-on-the-spot Alan to steer Denny through the crisis, including flatly refusing to settle the matter quietly by having Denny plead guilty to a lesser charge and pay a fine. That sounded awfully like extortion, Alan pointed out, producing an indignant response from Officer Whistler and his men's-room SWAT team.

I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't watched the episode, which also had a fine plot line with Shirley (Candace Bergen) defending an old shock-jock pal played by Robert Wuhl, who's been fired for being, well, shocking on the air. Nevertheless, the episode gave us an extended glimpse of the screamingly obvious defense the hapless Larry Craig could have mounted if he hadn't been so terrified of the publicity of yet another taint of gayness.

Kelley's solid script--naturally he had the case tried before the single worst judge in the history of jurisprudence, Henry Gibson's daffy Judge Clark Brown (who you'll recall has had his own legal brush with gayness)--touched on all the things wrong with the kind of sting poor Larry and Denny were caught up in:

* the absence of any kind of crime, since even if the lads had been soliciting sex, that's simply not a crime

* the absence of any proof even of sexual solicitation, since the cops' idea that their "known" series of "signals" constitutes "definitive" proof couldn't possibly be taken seriously in any law-abiding American courtroom

* the failure of the prosecution even to hint that money was offered, let alone changed hands, which would at least elevate the activity to a possible crime--and never mind that meanwhile rampant real heterosexual prostitution in public places is routinely ignored by law-enforcement officials

Finally, with regard to homophobic Denny's revulsion at even a hint that he might be gay, in the best friends' ritual closing scene Alan actually got him to see the matter from a different angle. Why, it could be a whole new way to pick up women!

Thanks, David. I think I'm going to watch the episode again tonight.

#