Ally McBeal (1997)

Ally McBeal, 28, and a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, is harassed on the job by a senior associate. When she confronts the partners, it backfires and she loses her job. On the street, she literally bumps into an old classmate, Richard Fish, who offers her a position working for his new firm. She accepts, despite her misgivings about his ethical standards. While being introduced to her new fellow associates, she receives the shock of her career.

Fish's partner, John Cage faces fines, jail, and public humiliation. To her dismay, Ally is assigned to be a litigator. Fish invites Ally along to dinner with a very wealthy potential client, Ronald Cheanie. Unbeknownst to Ally, the dinner is really a double date with Fish and his girlfriend, Whipper. Ally is furious, but Cheanie turns out to be handsome and intelligent.

Ally senses Cheanie is withholding something when he neglects to kiss her goodnight after their first official date. Georgia asks Ally to assist her in trying an age discrimination case when the opposing litigator turns out to be Billings, the guy Ally tried to sue for sexual harassment at her old firm. Fish admonishes Ally for putting her emotional life above the firm's financial welfare while telling her to grow up.

Ally is asked to be a pallbearer at the funeral of her ex-law professor. The widow, Katherine Dawson, invites her to give the eulogy, but Ally's initial reluctance betrays the reason. In a moment of complete vulnerability, she confesses to Billy who supports her by agreeing to attend the funeral with her. This unnerves Georgia, and Cheanie, who are both feeling threatened when they realize Billy is helping Ally out during a difficult time in her life. Georgia confronts Billy, and Cheanie confronts Ally, who refuses to tell him why she's been upset lately. He doesn't understand why she chooses to confide in Billy over him.

Ally is arrested for aggravated assault and attempted shoplifting. Renee bails her out, but word spreads quickly, and Ally is brought before the State Bar Review Board. A litany of her recent travails is read aloud, and Ally must contend with her unconventional past catching up with her.

Ally has to defend a friend of Whipper brought up on solicitation charges. She is serving as second chair to Cage, whose idiosyncrasies become increasingly apparent and mystifying to Ally as well as the other attorneys. At the same time, on a different case, a severely rotund attorney passes out from a near heart attack just outside the courtroom and Ally has to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Ally represents a Jewish woman who needs her Rabbi to grant her a spiritual release from her marriage to her comatose husband. Ally goes personally to the Rabbi's office to find out why he is being so rigid. Meanwhile, Georgia is the target of a senior partner's wife's insecurities.

Billy and Georgia are faced with a crisis of confidence in their marriage. Elaine threatens to sue the firm for sexual harassment if Fish and Cage don't meet her demands for improved working conditions. Ally, Georgia, and Cage take on a lucrative divorce case. Fish uses some tactics, which causes a debate between the two parties as to which side is the most amoral.

The attorney, Caroline Poop, who represented Elaine in her short lived suit against Fish and Cage regarding the constant gawking directed at a beautiful delivery woman, returns. This time she is representing the beautiful delivery women, Jennifer, who now serves Fish and Cage with her own lawsuit for same-sex sexual harassment. Meanwhile, Ally makes a bet with Renee that she can tell a dirty joke and get more laughs. The duel is set for the bar downstairs in her office building.

Judge Whipper Cone asks Ally to take on a pro-bono case of a young prostitute up on her third solicitation charge. Fish, meanwhile, wants to sue his uncle's church for discrimination, due to his uncle's overt bigotry towards vertically challenged people (short people). The church's contention is that they cannot support bigotry of any kind and allowing the uncle a service and proper burial is tantamount to endorsing the appalling views. Fish promises he will not propagate the attitudes in his eulogy. Renee talks Ally into double dating with the salad-dressing-on-the-chin guy if the Biscuit is invited.

Three intelligent, successful and motivated adults approach Judge Whipper Cone about the possibility of getting legal representation in their quest to have the courts approve a legal, binding, three-way marriage. Fish assigns Ally and Cage to the case, knowing Ally's incurable romanticism and Cage's legal acumen is a potent combination with Whipper assigned to the case. Ally is opposed, claiming the three-way relationship is morally repugnant, but Georgia, feeling punkish around the holidays, points out that the clients' triangle isn't very different from the one in which Ally, Georgia, and Billy find themselves. Georgia accuses Billy of being more relaxed and open in their marriage ever since Ally re-entered the picture. Whipper, herself experiencing an annual bout of Holiday Blues, causes Fish to propose marriage, even though both know he really doesn't want to.

Ally is shocked to discover that her biological clock is ticking, unleashing strange libidinal impulses in her. During a sculpting class with live nude male models, she and Renee become enamored by one particular model with obviously generous endowments. Meanwhile, Ally has taken on the case of the 19-year-old son of an important client, who has been charged with assault because he slugged a guy in a bar who was verbally harassing his date. The boy tells Ally he felt justified because he warned the guy first, which serves to increase Ally's cradle robbing interest in him.

Ally has a chance encounter with Glenn, the well-endowed artists' model, at a local Starbucks, and makes it very clear that she is irritated with him. On the legal side, John Cage takes on a wrongful death case that Fish is convinced will reap big bucks for the firm. Two adult siblings are suing an airline after their father is killed in a plane crash.

Ally and Renee are bridesmaids at a friend's wedding. They both bristle at the absurdity of the rituals performed, and swear to never do it. Richard asks Ally to flirt with a wealthy new client. To Ally's chagrin, Cage offers no protest on her behalf, admitting he's undergoing smile therapy which has renewed his appreciation for behavioral reinforcement. Ally and Georgia try a case about overturning a prison warden's decision to refuse marriage for a life-term inmate.

Fish brings in a client, an 80-something world famous artist, who is battling his heirs to regain control of his estate. Ally and Billy co-counsel the case, and as a result of spending several late nights together, separately conclude that the artist's love of his recently deceased wife parallels their own relationship in many ways. Meanwhile, Cage begins to sense that Ally is losing interest in the possibility of getting together when she behaves in an overtly irritable manner that is obvious to the entire office. Fish loses his patience and decides to get to the bottom of Cage's problem with Ally.

A high-profile case opens up for Cage and Fish when a jilted spouse plans to sue a U.S. Senator for "interfering with happy marital relations". The Senator's case perversely parallels the awkward love triangle between Georgia, Billy, and Ally. Uncomfortable with how close the case mirrors her own life, Georgia quits the case; Fish and Cage step in to try and keep the Senator from losing his job.

Ally, Georgia and Renee sign up for a kick boxing class to relieve stress. Ally and Georgia wind up having to fight each other because they're both beginners. As they start to carp more and more at the office, all pretext towards civility drops in the ring and their matches in the class increasingly intensify. Ally takes on a case about an attractive surgeon accused of performing an unauthorized and controversial transplant procedure. Cage insists it's time for her to visit with his smile therapist and she agrees. Fish, meanwhile is in hot pursuit of Janet Reno, who is still in town, and is once again busted by Whipper, when she smells perfume on his wattle finger.

Ally is a passenger in a car accident with the firm's client Greg Butters, a handsome doctor to whom she finds herself attracted. She attempts to handle the doctor's case herself, but finds she just cannot. Ally confides in her "therapist" that she is attracted to the doctor and is enthusiastically encouraged her to use her sex appeal to take the initiative with him. Ally decides the therapist should meet the entire cast of characters in her life and talks her into showing up at the bar after work one night. Fish argues a case of sexual discrimination on behalf of a client who missed a promotion because she didn't sleep with her boss.

Ally is in denial about her birthday but her co-workers aren't. Elaine orchestrates a party at the bar and asks Dr. Greg Butters to sing a romantic ballad dedicated to Ally. He does, and knocks the socks off everyone in the room. Renee is especially moved, and jumps up on stage to join him in a seductive duet. Meanwhile, in the courtroom, Ally is forced to take the position for a new client that his foot fetish qualifies him as temporarily insane. Renee, as the opposing district attorney, maintains that sneaking into a would-be date's apartment uninvited to tickle her feet is breaking and entering.

A wealthy client is brutally murdered and the wife is implicated. Her only defense when caught red-handed is that she has no recollection of what had taken place. Billy, anxious to take on bigger cases, is the lone voice advocating for the firm taking the criminal case, but Fish and Cage ultimately decide it should be farmed out. Georgia, meanwhile, takes on a case about a heterosexual waiter suing for discrimination and wrongful dismissal when he's fired from his job for not being gay. The crossover continues on The Practice S02E26 Axe Murderer (II).

Cage prepares Ally for Renee's trial. Renee is fast becoming a basket-case because she's convinced Cage's untraditional tactics are going to cost her job. Georgia tells Billy that she took a home pregnancy test, and it came up positive. Ally is of course thrown by the news, but recovers just in time to reclaim Renee's defense. Ally forces Renee to confront her problem with sexual aggressiveness. Ally and Renee have a sleep over and for the first time, Ally appears to be the grown-up in their friendship.

John Cage must confront the cowardice of his convictions when he comes face to face with an ex-law school classmate who is coincidentally trying the case he's representing. It becomes obvious to Ally that John is deeply in love with this woman. Cage admits he took the safe way out, protecting the friendship versus risking losing everything if he were to be rejected by her. Ally encourages Cage to tell the woman, Hayley, that he has feelings for her, which he does as part of his closing arguments. Meanwhile, Georgia and Fish take on a case about a jilted bride-to-be who sues for emotional and physical damage. The judge for this case is Whipper Cone, who finds it difficult to hide her bias against her ex-lover, Richard Fish. He takes the opportunity to confront Whipper one more time and tells her that he misses her. Whipper in return, finally smiles, leaving the door open by telling him she'll take it all under advisement.

Cage must represent his second cousin, a harmless but eccentric man with a Cupid Complex. His cousin was brought up on assault charges for swatting couples in the head with a paddle to goose them into realizing they're in love. On the way out of the courthouse, the client swats Ally and Bobby Donnell, who have grown considerably closer over a case they are co-counseling. The matter entails two men who want the court to order/force a hospital to perform a heart-swap surgery. The judge turns the tables on the lawyers and asks Ally to role-play by pretending she's the judge who must render the ruling. Billy and Georgia realize their relationship is in a rut. They resolve to be less predictable, and spontaneously decide to have sex in the conference room. Ally who always seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time inadvertently walks in on Georgia and Billy.

Feeling nervous that the firm is not making enough money, Fish and Cage decide to hire another associate, a "rainmaker" who can bring in lucrative clients. They hire Nelle Porter, an attractive, late 20's litigator from a respectable firm. On her first day, Nelle manages to irritate Ally, Georgia and Elaine, but Fish and Cage seem very pleased with her. Ally defends a woman in her late-30's accused of having sex with a minor. When the boy testifies, Ally finds herself attracted to him. Meanwhile, Cage takes on a case of a woman who is suing for wrongful dismissal from a travel agency. When the lawyers first meet the woman, they are stunned by her appearance.

Ally is feeling increasingly antipathetic towards Nelle Porter. She thinks Nelle brings out the darker side of the firm. Nelle represents a First Amendment case about a popular radio talk show host, ala Howard Stern, who is accused of inciting a hostile work atmosphere through his vulgar discourse. Nelle triumphs by implying that the talk show host has certain sexual dysfunctions, then promptly drops the case as a legal tactic. Ally becomes disgusted. Cage takes on the case of a restaurant owner being sued by a man claiming intentional infliction of emotional distress for serving horse meat to patrons. During the course of the case, Cage finds it increasingly difficult to do his job due to a preponderance of empathy for the horse in question.

Nelle is already making her presence felt in the change of office atmosphere when Fish dumps another groundless case on Georgia. Ling Woo, the unpleasant plant manager, is back to sue a nurse in her sister's plastic surgeon's office for misrepresentation of results from breast implant surgery. Georgia would love to drop the case but can't. She confronts Nelle for dumping it on her anyway, but Nelle justifies the reassignment by saying she and Ling are friends and would end up hating each other as a result of the lawsuit. Cage reflects on Ally's progress with a mediation case between Fish's minister and a jilted choir singer. Nelle moves on to Cage and confronts him about his resistance to the notion of a potential interoffice romance.

Ally gets arrested for fighting with Hannah, a distraught young woman who is struggling with her best friend stealing her boyfriend. Ally offers to represent her later in court, only to learn that Hannah has a habit of firing her lawyers. George Madison meanwhile has come back to the firm to get some legal counsel in starting up his own magazine. He hopes Ally will help him, much to Elaine's chagrin. Elaine, desperate to win George over, sits Ally down for a heart to heart talk and asks Ally not to take George away from her. Cage and Nelle have an awkward moment when she insults his pet frog, which is about to compete in a jumping, contest, which Cage is set on winning. Hannah's case goes to the jury after a brief defense by Oren Koolie, who puts in an impassioned appearance.

Renee bumps into an old flame from high school and must decide if she wants to reignite the love of her life that happens to be married. Ally represents a Nun who lost her job because she broke her vows of celibacy. Stefan, the frog, re-appears but nearly dies in the process, leaving Cage sitting vigil over the comatose tree frog.

Ally finally shakes the pesky Wallace. Ling rescues Stefan the frog from a suicide jump only to have him served up as dinner. The gang at the firm mourns the untimely death of Judge Happy Boyle.

A group of mothers against pornography is trying to shut down Ling's female mud-wrestling club. Ally gets herself into a strange predicament just before a big date with a handsome former flame of Georgia's. Fish and Cage go undercover at the mud-wrestling club to do 'research' for the case.

The whole firm is angry at Richard for accepting another ridiculous lawsuit that Ling has come up with, but as usual, Richard has no problem telling it as he sees it. Renee inadvertently sets Ally up on a blind date from hell, and this time during the date, Ally gets herself stuck in another tight situation. John is continuously fraught over his relationship with Nelle, and things don't go well when he asks for advice or gets advice when he doesn't even ask for it.

Richard throws his annual Christmas bash as Ally and Billy get drawn into a high stakes case involving a wealthy bond trader claiming wrongful termination. Renee and Matt consummate their affair but with painful consequences. Ling tries out Christmas cheer but it doesn't work. John tries to use the mistletoe to his advantage in trying to make a move on Nelle.

Upon discovering her favorite high school teacher is terminally ill, Ally seeks a court order to allow the women to spend her remaining days in a drug-induced coma, happily dreaming of her imaginary lover. Cage must gather his courage to confront Nelle after Fish tells him she thinks Cage has not had sex with her because he's gay.

Ally defends a woman coming out of a nine-year marriage whose husband, claiming mental incompetence, wants to have the marriage annulled. Nelle and Cage are having rocky times in their relationship. Ally and Dr. Butters come to a new understanding after he hears her impassioned defense of a client in court.

The lawyers are shocked to discover Ling has been keeping a secret. Ally visits Dr. Butters at the hospital one day and sees he's treating a terminally ill little boy. The little boy, Eric Stall, sees Ally in the doorway and finds out that she is a lawyer. He asks if he can retain her services because he wants to sue God. Ally tries to tell him it's not possible, but Ling, who was at the hospital at the same time, overhears and tells the boy not to listen to Ally.

Fish announces that the most unlikely person has been hired as the firm's latest attorney. Appeals to John Cage go nowhere as he feels he has no choice but to support his partner's decision to hire her. Sun Company, in an attempt to minimize their liability and exposure to potential sexual harassment suits when office romances go bad now require romantically involved employees to notify their supervisor of the relationship and sign a "Love Contract" which holds the company harmless if things don't work out. In the heat of the behind-closed-doors argument, Billy reveals his anger over losing the case has more to do with other feelings he is having than with the case itself. He begins to have feelings of jealousy.

When we last saw Ally she was in shock over her encounter with Billy. Ally realizes her life is in crisis and that everything she does from this moment on could mean a lifetime of happiness or bitter disappointment. That's when she makes a decision not to be passive and do something about her life.

Ally is guilt ridden by her encounter with Billy and she stresses over her relationship with Georgia. Should she confess all to her or keep her dirty little secret? Everything tells her to hold back, but where will she find comfort and forgiveness? John and Ling are working on a case in which they represent the plaintiff; a bookstore owner who lost her business after a conservative State Senator running for re-election targets her establishment, as an outlet for pornography. John trains Ling on his usual tricks.

Word that Billy and Ally came perilously close to an adulterous affair is spreading through the law firm. What is most uncomfortable are the icy stares and cold shoulders Georgia is throwing Ally's way. But who can blame her? The adversarial relationship between the two women is played out in a most unusual way.

Cage and Fish's firm gets a capital case to defend a man accused of murdering his comatose wife. He insists he fired up the chainsaw and cut off her hand after she was dead. Renee, who is prosecuting, has the testimony of the coroner who thinks the wife was alive and that the amateur surgery gave her a heart attack. Meanwhile, Billy and Georgia continue to patch up their marriage after Billy's indiscretion with Ally. Both of them are working on a case in which they are representing a man suing to get his job back with an insurance company who fired him over a bad hair day.

Cage continues to ride the high of his birthday gift from Nelle. It was a life changing night and has had a profound effect on his view of himself and his self-esteem in regards to women. The firm is defending another law firm, Johnson Biblico, in a suit alleging sex discrimination. Elaine is distraught that she won't be able to compete in the swing dance competition since her partner pulled his Achilles heel. Her hopes are raised when Ling reveals that she can dance swing and offers to enter with Elaine. Billy and Georgia continue to work on their relationship as part of the aftermath of Billy's almost-affair with Ally. They have started to see a marriage counselor, Dr. Hooper, who thinks it would be a good idea if Ally were to make an appearance.

In a land where everyone has the opportunity to make a fortune, it seems that now it's Elaine's turn - it appears that her invention, the "Face Bra", might be a hit. Unfortunately, Elaine's family sues her for royalties claiming that Elaine stole the idea from her cousin Martha just before Martha's untimely death. Ally agrees to represent Elaine but when depositions appear to nail Elaine, Georgia is the first to suggest they settle. Elaine is crushed: first her family turns on her, now her colleagues are ready to abandon her. Billy and Ling are defending a computer software firm on sexual harassment charges emanating from the company's "Day at the Beach" casual days at the office. Even though participation is voluntary, Vicky Sharpe, a slightly overweight employee felt she had no choice but to participate or risk being singled out as a non-participant. John Cage remains a man transformed by his thirty-fifth birthday.

Fish and Cage find themselves representing the soon to be ex-wife of a philanderer who is suing not just for divorce but for property damages as well. The case has loser written all over it and Cage is insisting they settle while Fish is convinced they can win it. Since Ally's indiscretion with Billy, Greg has been ignoring Ally's phone calls and spending more time in the company of other women. Ally feels terrible that a great guy seems to be getting away. Billy does not like the attention that Georgia is enjoying form the other men in the office since she changed her wardrobe appearance.

Ally is having weird dreams about moments from her childhood, some good, some painful. But each compels her to wrestle with the question of true love. Can it be real or must it inevitably be just an illusion? Ally's latest case is calling the issue into question as she and John Cage are representing a woman charged in Criminal Court with fraud. Barry Philbrick has testified that his wife, Kelly Philbrick married him solely for his money. He claims that at the time of their marriage, she wasn't in love with him, that her wedding vow was a lie and that she admitted it in a letter to a close friend that Barry found. Kelly readily admits to her lack of feelings for Barry: she loved him but she was never in love with him. On the stand Kelly admitted that she had been writing to an imaginary friend: the man of her dreams, who then became the standard by which every real man in her life had to measure up too.

Ally's heart is broken and not by Billy or Greg. It's just one big stress fracture. She's come to the realization that there isn't anyone out there for her. She has her image of the perfect man, but is beginning to believe that he does not exist. Surprisingly, a pep talk from Fish leads Ally to become more proactive about her love life. Working on the, "you have to kiss a lot of frogs before finding Prince Charming theory", Ally decides to go on a dating frenzy. She also decides to go for a total hair and fashion makeover. Nelle is starting to become annoyed with John Cage because he seems to be the only one in the firm who understands Ally's imaginary love life. Nelle is worried that John and Ally feed off each other and now that she and John are a couple, she would really prefer her man to face life head on.

Without ever engaging in conversation, Ally has a steamy fling with a guy who works at the car wash. Back at the office, Fish assigns her to a case in which a big client's daughter, Risa, is trying to save her wedding. Her minister refuses to perform the service (which is two days away) because he walked in on Risa having sex with a man who is not her fiancé although Risa claims it was just one last fling. Now Risa fears that she will have to tell her fiancé everything. Because of all the female sexual activity in the office, John becomes insecure about his sexual ability. As a result of his insecurities he "loses" the spirit of Barry White. Meanwhile, Renee quits her job to open her own practice. Inspired by Renee's new freedom, Whipper joins the firm as counsel.

Ling's curiosity is piqued when she dreams about kissing Ally. Under the pretense of becoming better friends, Ling and Ally go on a "date". Meanwhile, John overhears Nelle talking about her fantasy, which sends him back into the depths of sexual insecurity. It seems everyone in the office is pre-occupied with the topic of sex and Billy and Renee feel they are the only people actually working. Renee defends a woman who is accused of sexual harassment by her female co-workers. The co-workers claim that she has turned the office into a sexual arena and is suing. Billy represents the company, but finds that he and Renee do not see eye to eye on the case or on the issue of a woman's sexuality in general.

Ally is plagued with hallucinations of Al Green. She talks about these hallucinations with Dr. Shirley Flott, who is seeing patients while Dr. Tracy is away. Shirley has no patience for Ally's daydreams and wants desperately to put her on Prozac. Wrestling with the idea of going on medication leads Ally to question what is so wrong about hallucinations: they bring her comfort and keep her in perspective? Meanwhile, Nelle and John defend a boy suspended for impulsively kissing one of the most beautiful girls in his class. During all this, Billy has had a series of "off the book" appointments and refuses to tell anyone, including Georgia, where he's going.

Risa, the bride whose wedding Ally destroyed, decides to sue Ally for intentional infliction of emotional distress; Georgia expresses outrage when Billy hires a sexy twenty-year-old as his new assistant; Ling tells Fish that she has been faking in bed.

Ally's Thanksgiving turns into a debacle when she invites her colleagues and her parents to her apartment for dinner.

Richard and Ling officially break up. Billy and Cage represent a sexy, middle-aged woman who's suing her employees for sexual harassment. The woman, Robin Jones, claims that the staff of her magazine held a "sick out" and delayed the May publication because they didn't want to work for a "nymph," which led to her being fired. After they lose the case, she and Billy argue over his chauvinism, but settle their differences with a kiss... just as Georgia walks in on them.

The first case Georgia brings to Renee's new firm pits them against Cage and Fish. Georgia defends Newman's, an upscale department store against Steve Mallory, who worked as the store's Santa for seventeen years. Cage represents Mallory, who claims that he was wrongfully fired because Newman wants to hire a younger, thinner Santa. Meanwhile, Ally is haunted by visions of herself as a little girl. Ally manages to bring Georgia and Billy together to talk, and Billy sees that he wants Georgia back. But Georgia is not as eager to work things out yet.

Elaine finds a real, live six-week-old baby in a nativity scene manger and wants to keep him. Cage and Ally represent Elaine in her fight to gain custody, while the rest of the office (full of child-less lawyers) become enchanted with the baby. Even Ling considers having children. Billy attempts to reconcile with Georgia. In preparation for the Christmas party, Elaine convinces Ally to sing a sexy song but Richard and Billy have their reservations.

Ally befriends a homeless man and they hit it off, but just when Ally starts to think the man could be Mr. Right, she is stunned by what she finds about him. Meanwhile, Ling is arrested for running an escort service as a brothel. While defending Ling, John's past with a hooker comes to light and upsets Nelle. Billy, still on his pro-testosterone kick, hires six of Ling's escorts to follow him around and be his "assistants."

Ally has a romantic dream about Cage and wakes up thinking that he may be the one for her. When she finally gets up the courage to tell him, he admits that he often thought she might be the one for him also. Meanwhile, Elaine goes on a date with a great guy only to learn that he asked her out because his friend said she was easy.

Georgia blames "Cage & Fish" for the new Billy, and is suing the firm for the break-up of their marriage. She cites many issues as leading to Billy's breakdown and the ultimate dissolution of their marriage. However, during the court hearing they discover that the root of the problem lies elsewhere.

Ling defends a dear old friend who is asked to leave his retirement home because the director finds his exuberant imagination disruptive for other residents. While Ling tries to decide whether her friend truly believes in his make-believe world or just pretends to, he suffers from a hallucination that has fatal results. Meanwhile, Ally spots a potential cute guy and proceeds to go after him.

Ally is pursued by a barista, but she is turned off by his forwardness so she dumps coffee on him. Later she meets him in court, where he is presiding as a judge, and after a heated exchange of words Ally finds herself in jail. After the two of them work things out, they end up on a date. Meanwhile, John is upset by Nelle's snobbish elitist attitude towards the "small" people and Billy finally kisses his assistant Sandy.

Cage and Fish represent four people who lost their jobs for being too odd. The case hits very close to home for John and he is determined to at least raise everyone's spirits. Meanwhile, Ally and Elaine enter a dance contest in which the winner gets to perform as one of Tina Turner's back-up singers at the bar and, in the end, both ladies win. Despite their differences, Billy and Ally agree to move their relationship in a different direction.

Cage's 'oddball' client (from the previous episode) is accused of murdering his old boss and the firm gets involved in their first murder trial. Suspecting he's been set up, Ally plays detective and goes snooping for additional information. Meanwhile, back at the office, Nelle has a few surprises up her sleeve.

Billy represents a woman in an annulment action case, who's deeply religious husband wants out of the marriage due to the fact that she has surgically modified her body. Meanwhile, as John gets trapped in an elevator, Nelle pulls another sleazy stunt.

After the recent tragic events Ally is being stalked by disco and an imaginary Gloria Gaynor, who sings "I Will Survive." Meanwhile, Richard hires a new lawyer to replace Billy and assigns him to Billy's cases, which causes Ally to feel extremely conflicted and lash out. Also, the new guy has some interesting quirks of his own.

The firm defends a woman accused of murdering her eighty-nine-year-old husband by suffocating him with... her breasts. Meanwhile, Ally struggles with turning thirty. She goes to church to find God, but instead finds an angry Reverend Newman who has a pet peeve about women who only need God between relationships. Ally's next stop at a plastic surgeon has even more devastating results.

Ally engages in a little virtual sex, with a guy she's been writing to online for the past few months. At Renee's prompting, Ally tries to arrange a meeting. Eventually, she does. By this time, Ally, or "Lover Lips" as she calls herself, thinks she's found her "Thunder Thighs". Upon seeing Brian, the opposing counsel in a case she and Mark are trying, she immediately is drawn to him. Later, Ally is in hot water when she realizes she's been chatting with underage kid.

Nelle schemes to leave Cage & Fish in order to start her own firm and it leaves both Richard and John furious. She also recruits and convinces Elaine go with her, but her plan backfires. Meanwhile, Ally dates Brian Selig.

Things go awry when Ally introduces Brian to her parents, resulting in conjuring up old pains and hurt feelings. Meanwhile, Nelle regrets her decision to leave Cage and Fish, and takes steps to rectify it. Also, it's John's birthday - emotional, entertaining, with lots of musical numbers.

Brian asks Ally to move in with him, but she questions the entire relationship mostly because their sex life is lackluster. She turns to Renee and a new therapist, who has oddly taken over Tracy's office, for advice. The therapist is weirdly understanding of her problems. She eventually decides to break up with Brian. Then she learns the new therapist isn't really a therapist at all, but a lawyer. Sparks fly between them nonetheless. At the firm, Cage and Fish represent a woman who wants her six-year-marriage annulled because she suspects her husband married her for her money. The woman, who is unattractive, says she and her husband were always great friends and she believed he just had no interest in sex. However, after she catches him cheating on her with a model, she changes her mind about him.

Richard and Ling take Cindy McCauliff's case. She was fired for refusing to take a physical, afraid people would find out she's a man. Richard and Ling, although a bit sickened with that, win the case. Cindy meets Mark at the office and they go out. Richard feels Mark has to know the truth, but Cindy says he'll know in the right time. Meanwhile, Ally organizes a models night at the club to attract men. Brian walks into the bar and is hurt by the sight of Ally dancing surrounded by men. He takes the microphone and thanks Ally for moving on so quickly. John and Nelle handle a case about a woman being sued for sexually harassing a man. They're up against Georgia and Renee, and John wins. He sleeps with the client and is a bit disappointed to find out he was a one-time-only thing.

Mark's girlfriend finally reveals "her" secret; Ling and Nelle represent a woman suing a relationship guru whose advice ruined the woman's marriage; Ally is dating two different men who end up being related.

Ally runs into Kimmie Bishop, an old friend of hers from college. Ally makes fun of her in front of her fellow puritan friends, and Kimmie is so outraged she decides to sue Ally for defamation. Instead of having someone from the office to defend her, Ally hires therapist/lawyer Larry Paul. When Renee tells her he's married, Ally freaks. At the bar, while trying to decide if she would date a father or a son, she sees Larry with Nelle. Turns out he's divorced, and so Larry dumps Nelle to go out with Ally. Meanwhile, Mark is having a hard time at the office because nobody approves his relationship with Cindy, so he breaks up with her.

Kimmie comes to Cage & Fish looking to hire Ally. She's suing her old firm for wrongful termination. They fired her for being too puritan, and the opposite lawyer is Larry. Now Ally and Larry have to face each other in court. Meanwhile, Ally is nervous about her first kiss with Larry and seeks for advice with Ling, who demonstrate on John how a good kiss should go. This makes Richard insecure of himself, and Nelle tells him to find a theme song for himself. John loses the case to Larry, but he and Kimmie go out on a date.

The Christmas season is approaching, and while Ally is thrilled about it, Larry has nothing to celebrate. He confesses to her that he has a 7 year-old son who lives in Detroit with his mother, and ever since they split Larry finds Christmas sad and lonely. Meanwhile, Kimmie insists that John sings at the bar after he lies about his college band, and he doesn't do as bad as everyone thought he would. Elaine is lonely and performs at the bar to regain self esteem. Mark asks her out on a date. John and Ling handle a case about a news anchor who was fired for saying on TV that there's no Santa.

Elaine gets sued by a former office clerk because she called him "peanut" due his size. John thinks Larry was ridiculing him by making fun of his relationship with Kimmy and her mother. Nelle and Ling compete about who will have the most bids from the charity auction dinner date and Cindy (Mark's ex-girlfriend the transvestite) has plans for Richard for charity auction.

John and Nelle defend her father who was fired from his job as a teacher because he claims he's Santa Claus, Ally feels threatened when Larry's ex comes to town. Richard and Ling lip synch at the office Christmas party.

The Nicholas Engbloom comes to Cage & Fish looking for John to help him with a murder case. Melanie West suffers with Tourette's syndrome and accidentally ran over her boyfriend. She claims to have done it on purpose, only not to be humiliated as she has been her whole life. John convinces her to tell the truth and they win the case. While handling the West case, Nicholas finds himself involved in a divorce case. His wife wants to end their long time marriage because he won't retire and she feels like she can't compete with his work. After his wife almost dies, Nicholas abandons the practice, this time forever. Meanwhile, Richard teaches Mark how to use a "sex song" in order to please Elaine in bed, and John asks Melanie on a date.

Larry's ex-wife asks him for his permission to take their son to Canada, where she is moving. They argue over why can't one of them move closer to the other so their son can grow with his two parents around. Jamie asks Larry why can't they get back together and Larry says because she's not Ally. They kiss. Larry tells Ally, who overreacts about it until he explains her that Jamie is and will only be the mother of his son. They make up. Meanwhile, Ling's ex-fiancee comes to ask her if they still have a chance, but Ling doesn't want to destroy her girlfriend's happiness. Melanie is fired from her job for scaring the children and John takes it to court.

Melanie takes John to her tiny apartment (actually it's an old service elevator) and introduces him to Mr. Bo, a homeless man Melanie cares deeply for. Mr. Bo starts to stalk John around and he files a complaint against him. After Melanie convinces him to drop the charges, she reveals that Mr. Bo is in fact her father and John will have to wrestle him in order to go on seeing her. Meanwhile, Richard organizes a twist contest at the bar and while Elaine freaks with the possibility of losing to the babe lawyers, Nelle only enters the contest after Ling introduces her to a very hot twist instructor. And Ally takes a case of a woman who fired her secretary because she was slightly overweight and is shocked when she discovers that Cage & Fish only hire hot female lawyers.

Larry's son flies in from Detroit and goes to Cage & Fish looking for Ally. He wants to sue his parents for emotional damage. Ally and Sam bond, and Larry has to take him back to Detroit. He doesn't want to say goodbye to Ally, who suffers with his departure. Larry promises to return. Meanwhile, Nelle is representing her dance instructor/lover Sam Adams in court. He's suing his ex-partner for stealing his dance moves. Cindy McCauliff returns to the office looking for Richard. (S)He wants to marry a man, but after the court denies it Richard offers to perform the ceremony at the office.

Ally has hallucinations with Barry Manilow. Richard assigns Ling to work with Jackson Duper, the firm's newest lawyer. When they meet, Ling discovers that Jackson slept with her in the past under a fake name. They have to handle a double case of a man who wants his marriage annulled because his wife is a nymphomaniac and cheated on him 106 times and is suing the minister for having a torrid affair with her. Between the unisex bathroom, Elaine's vibra and Melanie's Tourette, Jackson is going crazy with his new job and questions his future in the firm. Meanwhile, John proposes to Melanie. But Melanie doesn't want to be institutionalized (even if that institution is marriage)...

Richard and John's relationship grows more tense than ever and so they attend couples therapy; Jackson's presence has a profound impact on Elaine; Jackson represent a woman being sued for firing all her male employees.

Jackson and Renee's one night stand turns into something more; Ally visits several therapists to get over her hallucinations of Larry, who eventually appears in the flesh; John represents a man who wants to annul his marriage after his wife decides she doesn't want to have kids, a case that carries over into John's relationship with Melanie.

To escape their ruined love lives, Richard and John go for a vacation to Los Angeles. It turns into a working vacation however when John not only must get Richard out of legal trouble but also helps a woman divorcing her wealthy husband who paid someone to seduce her. Meanwhile Richard helps a struggling actress leave her agent who is in fact using her to run an escort service.

Elaine cheated on Mark and now she's trying by all means to find a way for him to forgive her. She even takes advice from Richard! But in the end she has a serious talk with Mark and she tells him she cheated because he never fully trusted her. They break up. Meanwhile, Jackson is assigned to do the pre-nup for a rich, fat and bald man. Ally puts Larry to defend to soon-to-be wife's interests, which leads into a more personal dissension between Larry and Jackson. And Ling takes the case of a man who's being sued by his own son because a blood clot has left him perpetually happy which is ruining the family business.

Cassandra surprises John when she suddenly shows up at the office. She wants to continue the relationship they started in LA, but John doesn't want to go on seeing her, because they're 3.000 miles away and he's not completely over Melanie yet. Ally takes the case of a man who's being sued because he didn't reveal to his internet date that he was a dwarf. Larry is representing the woman suing, and the case ends up reflecting on their own relationship as Ally questions Larry if they would be together if she was 3 feet tall. Ling and Jackson take a case of a woman who's suing her old boyfriend for interrupting her wedding ceremony. Jackson reveals his true feelings towards Ling, who is confused and torn between him and Richard. Caught in the middle of this is Renee, who feels used by Jackson.

John loses his ability to channel Barry White while going up against Larry in a case involving a man who wants to clone his late wife; Nelle hooks Elaine into on-line romance; Ling's feelings for Jackson grow more intense.

Larry defends Sting when a man sues him for breaking up his marriage; a Streisand impersonator sues over his nose job; Richard flirts with Cindy Margolis to make Ling jealous.

Sydney Gale hires Cage & Fish to represent her in court. She's been sued for wrongful termination, and Richard and John take the case. An employee is suing Sydney because he doesn't want to 'serve' her anymore. In her firm, she only hires men who desire her, and thus make the company a lot like a beehive and Sydney their queen. John and Richard are driven crazy with lust, but they win the case. Meanwhile, Reverend Mark Newman is once again having problems concerning Lisa Knowles's performance at church. Now she's musically attacking Rev. Mark's new girlfriend, who's also a member of the choir. After Jackson's strategy fails, it's in Nelle's hand to fix the situation.

Ally becomes extremely jealous over Larry's easy friendship with his ex-wife; Richard tries to stop a magazine from publishing photos of his LA friend, Jane.

Malcolm Wyatt hires Ally to take his case. He's suing a girl for not going to the prom with him after she said yes in fall. The opposing lawyer is Larry Paul, and Ally is nervous about meeting him in court. But he never shows up, and his partner Coretta tells Ally he left for Detroit. Richard hires Jane Wilco as the office's new secretary, but after she gets the cold shoulder from some people, Richard wonders what ever happened to the friendly workplace he once built. Ally talks to Billy's ghost and decides to go to Malcolm's prom as his date and convinces him to sing solo and never stop believing in love.

It's a new year at the firm, which means changes - big changes! Still getting over Larry and renewing her faith in love, Ally decides to start fresh and let nothing get in her way. That is until she barrels into a woman on the street with her Razor Scooter. She runs into Jenny Shaw (Julianne Nicholson) and instantly bonds with this new broken-hearted stranger. In the time it takes to walk the rest of the way to the office, Ally finds out that Jenny's best friend is her ex-boyfriend, former co-worker and that Jenny is a lawyer without a firm and with a class action lawsuit housing 72,000 plaintiffs! Ally brings Jenny into the firm and announces that she's hiring her. Of course Richard is surprised because only he has hiring authority. He then lets Ally know that he already hired the latest addition to the firm.

Jenny insists that Ally should go out with Glenn, and Ally insists she doesn't have a crush on him. The three are assigned to chair the telemarketing case. They have a very hard time with the main plaintiff, Claire Otoms, a purple-haired, flashy-looking lady who lives in a 'colonial house'. Raymond, knowing that if the judge listens to her he'll rule in his favor, takes the deposition to the court. Claire keeps drifting from the questions, for Ally's desperation. But what appeared to have gone so bad turned out good. Coretta convinces John that he must look good to cause a good impression, and John ends up dressing a fake muscle suit to try to get rid of his weird-women magnetism. Ling and Nelle 'compliment' twin babies on the street. The mother of the babies - the Massachusetts governor - is so flattered by the compliments that she offers Ling a judge position. Overwhelmed, Ling makes a purple robe and starts to give more-than-quick sentences.

Ally has a dream about Raymond and Glenn. She thinks it's a sign they'll lose the phone company case, and Glenn sees it as a secret attraction of Ally for him. After Raymond makes a 125,000 dollars offer for the phone company case, Ally decides to make an infomercial using Ling's TV show crew and Claire Otoms as the announcer. They threat to run the infomercial nationwide on primetime, and the threat of losing hundreds of millions of dollars scares Raymond's client. Cage & Fish settle for 15 million dollars, the biggest settlement ever, which makes Richard cry of happiness. Meanwhile, Ally is still divided with her feelings for Glenn and if she should date him or not. Glenn says he's not interested in her, and Raymond asks Glenn if he should date Ally. To make things even better, John decides to confess his feelings for Ally and is very disappointed when she says they will never be more than just very good friends.

Ally and Glenn continue their flirtation, which leads to their conscious avoidance of each other, which does not go unnoticed by the others at Cage and Fish. She insists he's too much of a "boy" for her, but continues to be attracted to him. He's drawn to her because she's a little older. Both use Jenny's feelings as an excuse to not date as well. John takes off for parts unknown, which worries the ladies of the firm, especially Nelle. Richard takes it in stride, and takes over John's abandoned hole off of the unisex. Raymond is sued by a former coworker for sexual harassment, and asks Jenny to represent him...

Jenny's mother comes to hire the firm to take her wrongful termination case. She's being fired from her job for dating a 20 year-old. Jenny wants Ally to purposely lose the case but Ally can't do that. The case ends up serving as a mirror to Ally and Glenn's relationship. Ally's closing makes Jenny change her mind and she accepts her soon-to-be step-father. Glenn tries to reach Ally, but Ally, as always, is afraid she's going to end up broken hearted. Meanwhile, Ling looks for more exciting cases for her show and brings an entire orchestra to her court. Richard obsesses with Ms. Shaw's waddle, but Francis shows him he's way out of her league.

John makes a surprise return and is shocked after hearing from Raymond that Richard threw a party in his "hole". After confronting Richard, John gives the office a speech, in which he reveals the reason why and where he left to. Raymond gets Glenn and Ally to double date with him and Jenny. It's Jenny's birthday, and everyone forgets it. Glenn is the only one who didn't get her a present, so he sings a very romantic Elvis song at the bar for her. He asks her back, and she accepts. Ally wonders if she should hook up with John, but the ghost of Larry is still present in her thoughts. Meanwhile, Ling poses nude to boost her TV character; Corretta and Richard find themselves involved in a police investigation on a woman who used to marry rich old men for the money

Ally helps a minister who was fired from his church for not believing in God. Ever since his wife was brutally murdered, he has been questioning his beliefs and he asks Ally to talk to his son. Ally is surprised to see Malcolm again and encourages him to sing at his father's service after he is hired back. Meanwhile, John takes a case opposite a mayor who cancelled the Christmas parade of his town due to a disaster in which people died. Very moved, John proves that Christmas is what they need the most in this time of deep grief. Back in the office, Jenny and Elaine confront each other about Elaine's performance with Glenn in the office's Christmas party.

Jenny's mom's wedding is approaching, and Ally is shocked when Tim gives her a certain look that suggests a move. She talks to Jenny, and they decide to test him. Ally makes a move on him, and he offers her to have an affair. Surprisingly, Jenny's mom is ok with that, which only confuses Ally more. She's been hallucinating with a 7-year-old boy who keeps saying she's killing him. The boy is a version of Ally from when she believed in love (a conclusion made by Richard), before Billy died and Larry left. Meanwhile, John and Coretta help Kimmie Bishop, who's back suing a matchmaker for saying she's "unmatchable".

Ally impulsively buys a house, to which Dr. Milter concludes is a way of her to take care of herself, since Ally sees herself as a 'work in progress'. Richard gets the others to help paint the house as a surprise for Ally, who hires the handyman Victor to fix the house for her. Meanwhile, Ally handles a case of a man who spent too much money buying gifts for his wife until they went bankrupt. And Jenny has some back problems, to which Coretta recommends a chiropractor who has a special chair. Glenn gets extremely jealous that a chair is giving Jenny more pleasure than him, while Nelle tests the chair.

Ally defends a man who broke into his old house to jump out of his old bedroom window. Harvey Hall believes he can fly using wings he made himself. The house owner allows him to jump from the roof, and Harvey accomplishes his life long dream of flying, at the cost of his own life. Meanwhile, Harriet Pumple tries to find a match for Elaine, Coretta, Richard and John. She matches Elaine with Victor, who would have dumped her if it wasn't for Ally asking him not to. But Harriet can't find a match for John, so the entire office sings "we have to get you a woman" for him. John is profoundly insulted.

10 year-old Maddie Harrington shows up on Ally's door saying she's her daughter. She's the result of a mixup on the egg bank Ally deposited her eggs ten years ago. Since Maddie's father died six months ago, she's been living with her aunt, who sings TV themes on nightclubs for a living. After a lot of talking, Maddie decides to stay in Boston with Ally on a trial basis until they resolve where she will stay. Meanwhile, Richard takes the case of a man who killed his wife after kicking her in the head when he mistook her for a soccer ball. John doesn't think he'll be able to win the case because he can't litigate, but Richard surprises him when he wins.

Maddie keeps testing Ally for her patience and love, something that doesn't go through Ally's mind until Victor points it out. Ally, on the other hand, is being way too protective on Maddie, confronting her school principal, teacher and classmates. She decides to hire a nanny, but can't find one that is fits her standards (liking Moulin Rouge, for example), so she ends up hiring Victor, who has developed a very good bond with Maddie. As if she didn't have enough going on in her life, Ally is offered partnership on the firm now that John is gone. After a lot of consideration, Richard decided to ask her and change the firm's name from Cage & Fish to Fish & McBeal, which upsets Nelle, who thinks she should be the next partner, not Ally. After going through the firm's books, Ally discovers that they're losing money and have to fire someone to avoid problems. Since neither Richard nor John had the guts to fire anyone, Ally decides to do so. Meanwhile, Coretta and Raymond face each other in

Ally decided that in order for the firm to get out of the financial crisis it's going through, someone will have to be let go. She chooses Jenny, who between all the lawyers of the firm had the least number of clients and experience. Glenn takes Jenny's dismissal offensively and decides to quit, taking all his clients with him. Ally accepts his resignation, but Victor convinces her to hire him back since the firm can't afford to lose any clients. Glenn and Jenny decide to start a new firm together and leave Cage, Fish & McBeal once and for all. Now the other lawyers will have to do extra work to make up for the loss. Among the changes Ally is making on the firm, she wants Nelle to be nicer and asks her to perform at the bar, something she has never done before. Afraid of embarrassing herself, Nelle goes to Ling for help. They decide to have backing vocals, a plan that backfires when the singer who was going to dub Nelle suddenly loses her voice and Elaine has Claire Otoms to replace he

Ally decides to take the DNA test after having recurring dreams where Maddie's real parents show up claiming her. Maddie doesn't take that well and escapes to NY to see her aunt Bonnie. Maddie thinks the test is just Ally's way of having an excuse not to love her, but Ally only wants a proof that Maddie is her daughter so no one can take her away from her. The test comes out positive, and they both cry. Meanwhile, a demented woman shows up at Ally's door looking for Vincent, the love of her life who owned the house before Ally bought it. She thinks Victor is Vincent, and he plays along. She has a stroke and dies, and Victor suffers from it even though he only met her for less than a day. Ally also offers Raymond a job at the firm, which he takes. And Claire decides to help Richard reunite with his high school crush, but she had a sex change operation and is now a man, something that shocks Richard deeply.

Richard and Raymond are hired to represent Serena Feldman, a 16 year-old girl who will die unless Judge Hall consents her a heart transplant from her convicted father, who is the her only match. Serena's aunt is against the transplant because Serena's dad murdered her mother , and Claire interferes with both her and the judge in order to help save Serena. The case is tough, and afraid his daughter will die after Judge Hall denies the transplant, Serena's father escapes and kills himself. Meanwhile, Maddie is caught smoking and reveals to Victor that she wanted to be suspended to avoid father-daughter day at school. She questions Ally why she and Victor can't be together, and Victor overhears Ally telling Maddie that they come from different worlds. Angry at Ally for being elitist, Victor quits, but Ally goes after him to ask him on a date. In the last minute she freaks out, and Victor is called in for help. Ally is still in love with Larry and thus can't date Victor.

Ally and Victor find Maddie's nanny dead in front of the TV after returning from their third date. At the firm, Richard assigns Nelle to a case opposite Liza 'Lolita' Bump, a bitchy, young attorney that is so feared that Richard has to get John Cage for the case. Claire Otoms announces her intention to get married.

A devastated Claire's goes to Ally for help after her fiancé calls the wedding off. Ally is still shaken with the memory of Larry and isn't sure of her feelings for Victor anymore. John and Nelle try to settle their case, but when Liza lowers her offer, John decide to take her down.

Ally is going to the Bermudas with Victor, and welcomes Liza as the firm's newest attorney. Nelle doesn't like that or the fact that she took John's office. Despite being her first day, Liza hires another lawyer, Wilson Jade, whom she was going to partner with on her own practice, hadn't she joined Cage, Fish & McBeal. Nelle and Wilson represent a woman who's suing her husband for sexual harassment, while John and Liza represent Nicole Naples, a woman who's legally married to two different men. Liza and John develop a great chemistry in court, and save Nicole from going to jail. John almost falls in love with Nicole, who's also interested in singing the mariachi with him. And back at the office, Claire is hot for Wilson, who makes an excellent settlement on the case with the help of Nelle (or should we call her Morgan, her real name, which was discovered by Liza - who's actually Debbie!)

Ally and Victor return from their Bermuda trip. Ally feels their relationship is in crisis because they weren't able to connect without Maddie around. Victor is being sued by his former girlfriend for breach of contract. Ally discovers that Victor is a painter and never told her. She's angry, but not as angry as when she sees his painting of her with cellulite. Nelle and Wilson team up against a woman who was blackmailing their client in order not to come public with a tape of their lovemaking. Richard obsesses over Liza and has Claire do the talking for him through a hearing device, afraid she's going to turn him down - and even more afraid she'll say yes to him.

Elaine auditions for "A Chorus Line", but doesn't get a call back. She accidentally bumps into the casting director, whom she finds attractive and nice. They go out for dinner and end up having sex. The next morning at work Elaine feels horrible for not giving her full self at the audition and Nelle tries to comfort her. Richard's father seeks for his help. He's being sued by his former secretary for sexual harassment. He fired her because he was falling in love with her, which damages his 40 yearlong marriage.

The lawyers at Cage, Fish & McBeal split when both personalities of the same woman hires them to represent each in court. One of her personalities is a strong woman that goes by Helena Green. She wants to divorce her husband, who years ago married sweet, warm hearted but weak Helen Green. Helena has Liza and Richard on her side – a couple who is struggling with the imminent commitment – while Helen hires Ally and John – who but those two could represent a suppressed personality of a woman who has love as her life incentive?

After Maddie passes out Ally finds out she is suffering from a nervous reaction to all the changes in her life, so Ally decides that the only way she can help her daughter is to move back to New York. While the news come as a big shock to the firm, Richard anticipates his wedding with Liza so Ally can attend the ceremony. While spending her last hours in the town, Ally gets a visit from Renee, Georgia and afterwards, Billy as a ghost...