The Practice

Bobby Donnell fails to show up for the final toast among Jimmy, Eleanor, Eugene and Jamie. Rebecca is tied up with a complex Probate matter and Lindsay Dole is mentioned only in passing (but was not invited to attend the farewell gathering...no doubt as the result of Eleanor's animosity towards her). Where was Lucy?

All in all, a bittersweet episode, with promising plot complications involving Alan Shore and the ditsy young lawyer, Sally (Lake Bell). Tara would be much better for Alan (and he knows it), but like the proverbial moth drawn to the flame, he finds Sally much more interesting (possibly because she represents a much greater danger and potential for self-destruction).

Stay tuned!

Music at the end of this episode: "Hello Brother" by Louis Armstrong

How did Bobby get into the office for the last scene? All the locks were changed and re-changed after Alan Shore was fired.

Lenny Pescatore's role is too improbable. A "goombah" like him would simply not have made it through law school, much less passing the bar exam. Notwithstanding that, it was also incredible for Jimmy to have stood up to a guy like that; Jimmy's a straight arrow and his character may have the moral moxie to handle unpopular causes in court, but in terms of the physical confrontation, it was highly improbable.

The receptionist role was too flat and stereotyped. It would be more interesting to see how Jimmy handled himself in court without Eugene, Eleanor, or the others backing him up, and I'd like to see him go against Alan Shore at least once.

Although credited, Rhona Mitra (Tara) does not appear in this episode. She does say the "Previously on the Practice" bit and is seen in the previous scenes.

Lucy was mentioned but not seen in this episode.

Star Trek link: Andrew Robinson played Garak on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and William Shatner played Capt. Kirk on Star Trek. Shatner's character Denny Crane represents Robinson's character in this episode.

Gina Gershon played a private investigator named Glenn in Snoops which was created by David Kelley, and in this episode is playing an investigator named Glenn.

At the beginning of the episode when att. Noah Burke refers to Jimmy Berluti he calls him "Badalucco" which is the name of the actor playing Jimmy (Michael Badalucco).

When Alan Shore is fired, he states that he brought in revenue in excess of $6 million. However, when he sues the firm both he and Denny Crane state the amount at $9 million. How did he make an additional $3 million AFTER he was fired?

When Ellenor's client is found guilty of assaulting a police officer, the judge immediately sentences her to "8 years at Cedar Junction." MCI-Cedar Junction at Walpole is a Maximum Security prison in Massachusetts, but it is only for male inmates. The only prison for female inmates in Massachusetts is MCI-Framingham.

The sister of Roland Huff's best friend, Diane Ward, is played by Lisa Edelstein who is also Dr. Cuddy in House. Here she plays the lonely, unmarried, sexually repressed woman that hides in unattractive clothes and covers her face with her hair, while on House, she's the confident, maybe a little sexually repressed woman also, but dressed nicely and hair neatly fixed.

This episode and the next revolve around Ellenor trying to overturn the death sentence for Denise Freeman, who is on death row in New Hampshire for killing two young children at a playground. In New Hampshire, the death penalty exists only as punishment for capital murder and Ms. Freeman could not have been sentenced to death in New Hampshire for the crime she is said to have committed under their law.

While Lindsay is on the witness stand, she says a few times, "It was Hinks first, then Vogelman". She's talking about past clients that have terrorized her, but she has them in the wrong order. George Vogelman stabbed her in Season 3, while Hinks started stalking her in Season 5.

Eugene and Jimmy tell their client that he faces life in prison if convicted of rape because of the "Three Strikes" law. There was no such law in Massachusetts in 2002.

It's been a while since we've seen Lara Flynn-Boyle as D.A. Helen Gamble and she's obviously had some comestic enhancements since her last appearance, including a lot of Collagen in her lips.

This wasn't the only time Kelley was guilty of this --- although characters from The Practice and Ally McBeal crossed over, there is an episode of Ally in which characters watch The Practice! (The scene they are watching is about Ellenor and the infamous "head in a bag)".

In one scene, a witness said she was watching Boston Public on television. But how could that be when characters from that series were featured in an earlier episode of this show? To The Practice characters, they would not be fictional characters on some TV show. This was really nothing more than a shameless ploy on David E. Kelly's part to promote his new series.

Zoe Frutt is the name of Ellenor's daughter. Oy.

At the end of this episode, Bobby visits an unconscious Rebecca's hospital room to tell her that Lindsay has given birth and then says "you're a godmother, Bec." The majority of this episode has focused on Rebecca being a Jehovah's Witness and we know that Bobby is Catholic. A Jehovah's Witness cannot be a godparent for a Catholic child as the godparent of a Catholic child must be a confirmed Catholic.