Customer Reviews

Ally McBeal: Theme of Life/Playing the Field [VHS]

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In the entire set, this tape offers two episodes that aired almost back to back! They involve Tracy Ullman (hilarious as the therapist) and the early stages of the romance with the doctor! I own all three tapes, and have to say this one is a worthy addition to any collection. What a great way to enjoy this show all over again, or for the first time.

This set of episodes from the first season of "Ally McBeal" includes the one that ended up being my personal favorite, Episode 17 "Theme of Life." Written by David E. Kelly, of course, this is the one where Ally (Calista Flockhart) and Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith) go toe to toe in kickboxing class and where Ally tries out "Tell Him" by the Exciters as her theme song, which makes crossing the street on of the great moments in the history of the quirky series. The episode begins with Ally finally giving in to Cage (Peter MacNicol) and visiting his therapist, Dr. Tracy Clark (Tracey Ullman), who offers the sage opinion that kickboxing Georgia is great therapy: "She's a beautiful, smart woman married to the man you love! Smack her!" Meanwhile, Ally's client du jour is the handsome Dr. Greg Butters, who is being sued for offending a patient by performing an operation to save her life (it mean putting a hog liver in her body, which is not strictly kosher). I would say that if you watched one episode of "Ally McBeal" this would be the one to watch, but you sort of have to watch the rest to understand the context of such things as Cage's new smile therapy.

Episode 18, "The Playing Field," also written by Kelley, finds the dancing baby is becoming aggressive (he plays street hockey now). This is not good news for Ally who is defending Dr. Butters from a lawsuit being brought against her new love interest by Oren Koolie, a nine-year-old genius who is practicing law until he is old enough to go to medical school. What can Ally do against a lawyer who cries before he demands $125,000? Meanwhile, Cage/Fish is also representing a woman who is suing her boss because he only promotes women who have slept with him. The title comes from Ally's conversation with Georgia, who once won a sexual harassment case against her old bos (he transferred her because she was beautiful) and complains that she wished she had fought him on an even field: he gave up when she threatened to make a claim. Ally takes this as a sign that she should ignore the sex-role conventions that stop her from speaking first in a romantic relationship. "Playing the Field" is only a notch below "Theme of Life" but has another great moment when Ally makes the mistake of following Dr. Tracy's advice and treating the Dancing Baby like a hockey puck the next time she sees him--or thinks that she does.