Back Ally
Yesterday, I mentioned that one of my most-favorite things in the series Ally McBeal was the deep, profound, ethereal – almost unearthly – love that Peter MacNicol’s character had for Barry White, and the song, “My First, My Last, My Everything.” Every once in a while, the show would find clever ways to work that mystical love into an episode. when there was something special, very important going on his character's life. As I wrote, the music would begin thumping in MacNicol’s head, and in his head alone, but the rest of the characters would know he's gone off into Barry White Land. Sometimes it would last for just a few seconds, but often the show would go into Full Barry White. The clip I posted yesterday – with MacNicol, Taye Diggs, Robert Downey Jr. and, at the end, Callista Flockhart dancing to the song in the bathroom – was one of the very best.
As wonderful as the scene is, I said it was just “one of” the best. That’s because today's scene is the topper. It may not seem that way out of context, but it may (the entire law firm has gathered after work for what is a big McNicol birthday), but just know that the series had been using the Barry White song and MacNicol’s enthralled love for it repeatedly for years. MacNicol would psych himself up with the music that only he could actually hear, though others metaphysically glommed on to it, as well, understanding what was going on just in his head. So, this is pretty much the granddaddy culmination of them all. And is how the episode ended. Because, in baseball terms, this is a "walk-off homerun." The game is over, there's nothing else to add to it.
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