An overworked woman lets her kid stay up all night and day playing a video game, until the kid collapses and dies from lack of food or sleep. As a gamer, at first this looked like it would be a story about a distraught mother filing a frivolous lawsuit to avoid taking responsibility for failing to be a good parent. My opinion was apparently at odds with the author, who, in an attempt to make their hamfisted drug analogy work, wrote into evidence that the video game designer had hired a researcher to study levels of brain chemicals released by playing the game in order to make it physically addictive.
While it's silly to complain that Boston Legal featured a preposterous lawsuit, that premise proved too much for me to swallow.
There's a nice continuity nod to Rachel as Brad makes a strong closing argument that he knows a meth addict (Rachel) in rehab and that people when people say they are "addicted" to their Blackberry, etc., it's an insult to people with real physical addictions. When victorious Brad tells the mother he's sorry for her loss, she gets the last word, saying she's sure he'll be sorry the next time it happens. Brad looks serious and conflicted as she walks away, because we in the audience are intended to believe that a plague of kids playing a video game until they die is a realistic expectation.
The other case of the week, between a perfect polygamist triad and the DA breaking their ideal family apart, got an even more one-sided presentation. That case, however, is mostly played for comic relief.
The best part of the episode was Denny and Alan's tiff and reconciliation reinforcing the bond of their close friendship. Though there were parts of the dialog which seemed not quite true to the characters, the actors made the weak material work.moreless
AIRED:
After beginning to speak gibberish in court, Alan turns to Denny for help in curing his new, debilitating condition.
Meanwhile, Paul and Brad defend a video game company when a mother claims the company's addictive game killed her teenage son, and Denise challenges the polygamy law.
 Candice Bergen |
Shirley Schmidt |
 James Spader |
Alan Shore |
 Julie Bowen |
Denise Bauer |
 Mark Valley |
Brad Chase |
 Rene Auberjonois |
Paul Lewiston |
 William Shatner |
Denny Crane |
 Steven Eckholdt |
A.D.A. Richard Kelton |
Guest Star |
Francesca P. Roberts |
Judge Jamie Atkinson |
Guest Star |
 Romy Rosemont |
Stephanie Beller |
Guest Star |
Ron Canada |
Judge Willard Reese |
Recurring Role |
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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TRIVIA (1)
ADD TRIVIA-
Rene (Paul Lewiston) Auberjonois's daughter, Tessa, plays Evette Richardson (one of the wives) in this episode.
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QUOTES (6)
ADD QUOTES-
Denny: You can't walk because you think you have to be there to protect me, to save me from myself.
Alan: That's certainly not it.
Denny: For the first time in your life, you feel trapped, and I'm the reason.
Alan: Why can't we just leave it at, "I'd miss you, Denny"?
Denny: Denny Crane has never needed anybody.
Alan: And that's a tragedy. One for which I empathize as well as sympathize.
Denny: I will never be anybody's charity project. If that has something to do with our friendship, I no longer want it. -
Alan: Wow...
Denny: Double wow... -
Chris: The game is called "Hellborn". You start out as a ghost fighting your way out of hell, and when you finally reach the surface, you need to track down your lost soul in order to become human again.
Paul: Sounds like a typical day around here. -
Denny: (fighting with Alan) I'm going home.
Alan: Denny...
Denny: (grabs suitcase and starts packing) Don't talk to me.
Alan: Please don't leave.
Denny: (throws clothes in suitcase) I said do not talk to me!
Alan: It's just that's my suitcase, you're packing my things. -
Denny: I'm going to take you to my spa. I'm going to empty your bucket.
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Brad: Okay. We're required to turn this over to Ms Beller. As per the rules of discovery, we'll provide it with the one hundred thousand other pages of documents that pertain to their production request.
Chris Mott: So you're going to bury it?
Brad: No, that would be unethical. We'll simply comply... fully.
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NOTES (3)
ADD NOTES-
Original International Air Dates:
Slovakia: October 8, 2010 on JOJ -
Steven Eckholdt who A.D.A. Richard Kelton in this episode played A.D.A. Chris Kelton on The Practice.
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The actual medical term for "Word Salad" is Aphasia. It's often associated with, though not exclusive to, schizophrenia.
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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