Boston Legal (TV Series) Change of Course (2004) User Reviews

Boston Legal-Change of Course

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 26 June 2011]

"Change of Course" shows how Alan(James Spader) can destroy a potential key witness in a kleptomania case involving one of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt's most profitable clients, a CEO who swiped a scarf! The victim works in retail, a "nobody" considered pathetic by those who make high dollars in a law firm. Alan has Sally(Lake Bell) to fish for information about this man by using her beauty as a means to secure his trust, their dialogue used against this witness. It's Alan at his worst, when he uses what Sally gave to him from her talks with the man against him when the two of them have a "heart-to-heart" (well, Denny Crane(William Shatner) is asked by Alan to sit in the room and use his name "Denny Crane" as an intimidating factor, as well as Sally, "calling her out" by setting up this "chat" in her office). Alan gets results from this, but with a price: Sally. Meanwhile, Edwin Poole (Larry Miller) "escapes" from the mental institution and accepts a case with a murderer (Jeremiah Birkett) who has exhausted every public defender in the city of Boston just so he can keep from going to prison. Lori(Monica Potter) is to assist Edwin (well, more like "first chair" since Poole admits to Paul that he was told in a dream to take the case by Perry Mason!) on the case, learning that Warren Litch(Birkett) was coerced (he was told that he was dying, a falsity used to gain a confession)into admitting his guilt. While still quite loony, Poole has this brilliant moment of lucidity when he argues the possibility that his client was delusional and that the confession was faulty. Lori, not comfortable with criminal cases, performs well, including closing arguments where she points out that the confession is all that the prosecution has, questioning the burden of proof, "Beyond a reasonable doubt" due to the fact that no other evidence was found to convict her client. The episode closes with Sally "moving forward" and ending her relationship with Alan who told her earlier on that she should leave the profession behind due to the heinous nature that oftentimes comes with winning a case by "all means necessary." One wonders if Alan can function in a real relationship with a person since he always seems to drive women away due to "flaws in his character".

So Much Ugliness

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 12 July 2022]

Fiirst, I want to thank Scarecrow-88 for the insightful commentaries. I wish I were half as good. I think this episode began to show us how big the cracks in the armor are. I never watched this show but heard it praised. Perhaps they have finally gotten to the meat of this. So far the courtroom drama is minimal. It has quick cuts and movement for the short attention spans. But we are getting at some of the personalities. Imagine being Alan Shore, with all his gifts, probably as rich as one can be, living in a hotel room and basically mistreating anyone he meets. Not just the court people. He's nice to beautiful women until he drives them away. The way he set up and then treated that clerk is repugnant. I could go on, but I am interested to see where this show takes me.