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Slo-Mo Ling Fling

Tonight's episode was a highlight of this Ally McBeal season, with a type of case we've never seen before on the show, a high-chemistry pairing between Ling and Jackson, and some clever use of music and special effects - most notably, Ling seeing Jackson in slow motion as her crush on him deepens; Ling seeing Fish in fast motion as the superficiality of their relationship is revealed; and Robert Downey Jr. (a wonderful, Chaplin-esque physical comedian) miming slow motion himself later, merely to fake out Ling.

There are even a few funny background references to Internet sex , as Fish watches Cindy Margolis; Elaine is revealed nude on Ally's desk, apparently engaged in chat sex; and Nelle continues to address her frigidity by restricting her relationships to strictly online. The only stale touch: repeated references to Cage's Barry White fixation, something viewers have seen too many times before.

Every time the show seems to be careening downward, it revives itself - whether by the additions of Robert Downey Jr. and (to a lesser extent) Anne Heche or, now, by some smart new writing. Whoever this show's writers were this week, they should definitely be invited back next season. Or maybe it's simply the same writers, getting a sorely-needed second wind.

A Clone of His Own

In tonight's legal case, a man seeks to clone his wife, who died in a car crash, so that he can have the child they planned together, but never had. Her sister opposes the cloning, however, and she seeks a preliminary injunction so Cage (representing the man) and Larry Paul (representing the sister) show up in court.

Cage has his doubts about the case, so much so that he presses Ally for some inside information about Larry's litigation style. Still sore from losing to Larry in court last week, she fesses up: As Larry likes quick speech rhythms, interrupting them will throw him off. As a result, interruptions are Cage's constant courtroom tactic.

The only effect of Cage's interruptions is that the judge gets annoyed at both lawyers. That's a serious problem, because the judge, in this injunction hearing, is the only decisionmaker - as the judge himself reminds the lawyers when they get out of hand.

Meanwhile, Ally, feeling guilty, fesses up to Larry that she's betrayed him to Cage, and they bet another footrub on the clone case's outcome. Not smart, Ally: The "Chariots of Fire"-like music in the background means my bets are on Larry.

A Clone Or Alone?

The man who seeks to clone does relatively well on the stand. He points out cloning is the only way to carry on his wife's "genetic legacy," and that he doesn't want to use cloning for eugenic purposes. He also claims his wife would have wanted to be cloned. Larry makes some good points on cross-examination, though - getting the man to admit that his wife didn't like genetically-engineered foods, which suggests that she might actually have opposed cloning.

The deceased woman's sister also claims that she would not have consented to being cloned. She says that not only did her sister oppose genetically engineered food, but she also did not like the practice of choosing among fertilized eggs to create a child of one's choice. Despite Cage's efforts on cross-examination, the idea that the deceased woman would have favored cloning seems more and more unlikely.

Is consent really the issue, though? It's hard to know because there's little discussion of what law governs this case. The judge conducts a hearing on the facts, and at the end, hears summations, but everyone concerned seems to be arguing policy, not arguing law.

What about claiming that if one's consent is clear, there is a constitutional right to be cloned, or not to be cloned? The right to be cloned could be seen as part of the right to procreate; the right not to be cloned could be seen as part of the right of privacy, since tissue samples must be taken from the corpse for cloning to occur. None of these arguments are made - nor is the current moratorium on human cloning in this country even discussed, though presumably it must have been lifted if this case is going forward in the first place. The rights of the person to be cloned, in addition, are never mentioned, though some ethicists believe a person has a right not to be born a clone.

Cage admits that we all fear that "someone might cross a pit bull with Mike Tyson." The unfortunate example complicates his character's relationship with African-American men even more: apparently he sees them as both the source of all potency, calling on Barry White, and the source of violence, as in the Tyson comparison. He also seems to have trouble respecting their intelligence and authority, if his rude courtroom behavior in front of the African-American judge is any indication. Pretty stereotypical, Cage.

In any case, Cage urges the judge to allow cloning to occur despite this fear, since in this case, it will allow childbearing. In addition, Cage claims that a surviving spouse can decide about organ donations for a deceased spouse, regardless of his or her prior consent. If true, that seems to be a good analogy, but I suspect it's not true; I assume that in the event of death, a wallet card refusing to donate organs would trump over a surviving spouse's decision that donations should occur.

Larry's summation is stronger than Cage's, as he sketches a parade of horribles in which people revive all their dead relatives - even those they've never met, but are curious to meet. He also effectively points out that Cage's invocation of the benefits of cloning (such as creating new organs) is inapposite here, where a new person, not a new organ, is at issue.

Despite the help of "disco behemoth" Barry White, as Fish calls him, Cage loses big time - as the judge, amazingly, invokes not any law or policy, but his own "ethical sense" to grant the injunction and stop the cloning.

She's A Ho for Slo-Mo

Poor Ally loses a footrub as a result of Cage's courtroom loss. Rudely, Larry even chooses to work on a laptop as he receives the rub, as if Ally were his own private spa. Maybe this is how their relationship will end; she'll increasingly resent being treated like his masseuse.

Other Reviews  Law & Order  The Practice  West Wing  Ed

While Ally and Larry's chemistry seems mostly verbal, despite the footrub, Ling and Jackson have sizzling physical chemistry. Only when they stop fighting and insulting each other, based on the embarrassing one-night-stand that brought them together, do they really connect. The slo-mo after that seriously speeds up.

When they do connect, they connect well. The actors have terrific chemistry together, too - Lucy Liu, as Ling, seems genuinely both hurt and smitten; Taye Diggs, as Jackson, seems genuinely both prideful and smitten. As a couple, they seem right together. Seems like Richard Fish is going to be stuck with his Cindy Margolis fantasies for a long, long time.

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