Boston Legal: Season Five – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll May 12, 2009, 10:32 GMT

Everyone deserves his or her day in court.  In fact, some people deserve more than one.  Take the attorneys of Crane Poole & Schmidt, whose unquestionable legal brilliance is matched only by the outrageous instability of their personal lives.  It’s a chaotic world where sexual harassment, extortion, kidnapping and attempted murder all comes with the territory… and those are just the attorneys! ...more

All court cases must come to an end.  So it goes as the gavel comes down on the popular Boston Legal.  The quirky characters get one more go round with the law before the door shuts on Crane, Poole, and Schmidt.  Grab your lawyers, I feel like adjudicating.  

Crane, Poole, and Schmidt is a Boston law firm.  The partners include the flamboyant Denny Crane (the flamboyant William Shatner), the senior and founding partner, who has Alzheimer’s disease, which he refers to as Mad Cow. Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen) was more a silent senior partner, but reappeared to take an active role in the firm when Denny’s behavior, which has always been strange, escalated and he began to shoot people.  Senior partner Edwin Poole (Larry Miller) lost his mind, due to insanity not Alzheimer’s, and was relegated to a minor role. 

The final season finds the law firm in dire financial straits and the Chinese coming in to try and buy Crane, Poole, and Schmidt.  Schmidt has been carrying on a clandestine relationship with senior partner Carl Sack (John Larroquette).  Alan Shore (James Spader) decides to take on a case that tackles “Big Tobacco.”  Jerry “Hands” Espenson (Christian Clemenson) and co-worker Katie Lloyd (Tara Summers) appears to be growing closer as Jerry begins to take on more cases.

This season sees many old, familiar faces come through the offices of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt, including the aforementioned Poole, Catherine Piper (Betty White), Denise Bauer (Julie Bowen), Paul Lewiston (Rene Auberjonois), and (my favorite) Judge Clark Brown (Henry Gibson).  This season features some funny bits and more breaking of the fourth wall.

Denny and Alan go to a dude ranch, the television industry being sued for not having shows for anyone over fifty, as well as many other hot button issues like pharmaceutical companies, abortion, and same-sex marriage.  It all comes down to the hilarious show finale and we’re sad to see our characters mosey off into the sunset (or is that share a brandy and cigar on the patio?).

It’s been a fun trip with the characters and Boston Legal has been the most entertaining show on television.  It also gave William Shatner another notch in his belt as his career just keeps getting revitalized.  A delightful cast of characters supported both he and James Spader and it’s sad to see them close up shop.  However, it’s always best to go out on top and season five just proves that the production was still on top of its game.  

Boston Legal is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features are found throughout the set.  Disc two has the 14 minute “Denny and Alan: Friends to the End” that explores the special relationship between the two (spoilers within, don’t watch this one unless you’ve seen the finale). 

Disc three has the 21 minute “Denny’s Daughter: The Untold Story” about a dropped subplot.  Disc four has the 13 minute “Closing Statement” that goes into the show finale and 20 minutes of deleted scenes.  

The final season of Boston Legal is just as though provoking and funny as what came before.  It well deserved the five Emmys it won and the Golden Globe that Shatner walked away with.  If you’re going to go out you might as well go out on top, I know that Denny would want to go out on top.  Denny Crane!  Case closed.

Boston Legal: Season Five is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK. Visit the DVD database for more information.