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Ally McBeal: Friends and Lovers (2001)
Season 5, Episode 1
Unneccessary reset
7 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
It's a New Day, and a New Dawn, ... and Ally is not feeling good. She is still trying to get into this new life - no Larry (off to Detroit and just left a note), no Rene (something that is never explained). Mark also left for Good without explanation, but then, who cares?

Instead, Ally has a new psychologist, and lots to talk about after she bumps into Jenny. Jenny is like Ally, only younger. In a breakout of motherly feelings, Ally hires Jenny. Only to find that Fish has hired Jenny's ex-boyfriend Glenn. Anybody else feeling as if we know this?

So this ist the fifth season and Ally McBeal tries some kind of restart. New Charakters are introduced, old ones left behind with or without explanation, and things are still the same. Ally is as neurotic as Ally can be, but some years older and in a strange way she is sort of more grown up neurotic.

The start is quite bumpy in my opinion, as several characters seem to be mere copies, while others are not even likeable.

Another point for criticism for me is the way the producer(s) got rid of Larry and Rene. Sure, nobody else but RDjr is responsible for him violation probation. As I didn't really like Ally and Larry as a couple, I can live with him leaving the show. Still, I wonder how things had developed with Larry as Ally's husband.

With Rene, or Lisa Nicole Carson, things are different. Rumour has it that she behaved strangely on set and was fired. As of today, she is known for having been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, and considering that Ally McBeal is a show full with neurotic characters and has given a voice to the not-so-common girl or guy on the street, treating a major character and the actress behind that character in this way... it leaves a bad taste, doesn't it?
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Ally McBeal: Queen Bee (2001)
Season 4, Episode 21
Surreal
2 December 2023
Christine Lahti, known for being Dr. Kathryn Austin at Chicago Hope, guest stars as Sidney, owner to a company with male only staff.

She's creating an atmosphere of sexual arousement to challenge her staff for best results, and is being sued by a former employee.

While Richard is instantaneously under Sidney's spell, John fights the attraction.

Second story is about Lisa Knowles, now separated from the Reverend, who has to cope with her pain about seeing her ex and his new love, who is a member of her choir.

Yes, this episode has flaws. The core situation of a company with all male staff and a female boss who offers sex to her employees is surreal - least said.

Watching the singing cat fight between Lisa and Buttons is quite funny, the topic being serious enough.

What I love most about this episode is seeing Nell being emotionally involved with the separated Lisa Knowles.

So, not bad, but not exceptional either.
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Ally McBeal: Cloudy Skies, Chance of Parade (2001)
Season 4, Episode 20
Love hurts...
2 December 2023
It's Ally's birthday, and Larry is not there. Ally is in her usual blues, thinking about getting older, having a baby (YES, the Baby's back!) and fighting the doubts she got concerning her relationship with Larry. So, she spends the day thinking and doubting and her friends try to console her, until it's time to party in the bar.

Meanwhile, Larry is dealing with another couple's troubled marriage, the reason for which is Sting.

Sting is also Larry's surprise to Ally, who agrees to sing when learning that his attorney is missing his girlfriend's birthday.

Seeing Ally being confronted with old and new hallucinations, and falling back into her old psychological pattern, is quite sad though funny at the same time.

On the other side, in or out of a relationship, most of us are insecure.

Rating this episode low because of one single song featured isn't fair.
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Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023)
Watch it and make up your own mind
7 May 2020
I've been thinking a while about writing a review on STP. As there are a lot of negative reviews and comments, I felt the need to do so because in the past, I often had to realise that reviews are subjective and preferences and expectations differ from person to person.

STP is clearly not ST as you know it, it is not a TNG reloaded though it brings back some beloved characters. IMO, the many negative reviews are a direct response to the fact that STP is not easy-to-consume entertainment. We accompany an aged Jean-Luc Picard on his last mission, discovering along the way the memories of his second but last mission and see him fail and fall.

While STP could be considered a deconstruction of Gene Roddenberry's idealistic vision of the future, it is on the other hand an invitation to discuss some important questions: 1. Am I obliged to offer humanitarian aid to my enemy? 2. Is there a point beyond which technology and science should not be allowed to develop? 3. How should we treat our heroes of yesterday?

In all these questions, STP confronts Gene Roddenberry's vision with the reality of the human mind and society. It opposes morals and moral obligations with comfort and prejudice and fear. Should I do what is right, or should I take the easy way? And if the government or council or the powers that be decide to take the easy way, what are the consequences for people who wanted to do what's right? Or for the people that are left behind?

STP does not look big budget, it doesn't waste money on guys like Ferengi or Klingons. We see rather ordinary people at their home, or at places that are definitely not worth holding a diplomatic reception. But it has its charms and its style and it offers what ST-TOS also had: Characters, emotions and questions. It tells its tale without giving easy answers, leaving it to the audience to think and decide themselves. From this point of view, it is Star Trek at its best.
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