Ally McBeal: Minha Vida de Solteira (1997)

1 - Pilot

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.

1 - The Real World

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 20s 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-30s 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.

2 - They Eat Horses Don't They?

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.

2 - Compromising Positions

Fishs 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.

3 - The Kiss

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 firms financial welfare while telling her to grow up.

3 - Fools Night Out

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 sisters plastic surgeons office for misrepresentation of results from breast implant surgery. Georgia would love to drop the case but cant. 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 Allys progress with a mediation case between Fishs 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.

4 - The Affair

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 Allys 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 shes been upset lately. He doesnt understand why she chooses to confide in Billy over him.

4 - It's My Party

Elaine refers a client, George Madison, to the firm who is suing a prominent feminist magazine for wrongful dismissal. The new editor in chief decided to disqualify him for the job because of his religions views on women. George is confident in the firm and retains the services of Cage. Ally finds herself unmistakably moved by and attracted to their new client. Elaine lets Ally believe she and George are involved and Ally tries to back off accordingly. Ally tries to keep her fantasies about George under control until she and Renee throw a dinner party and Elaine shows up with George as her date.

5 - Story Of Love

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 Elaines 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. Hannahs case goes to the jury after a brief defense by Oren Koolie, who puts in an impassioned appearance.

5 - 100 Tears Away

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.

6 - Worlds Without Love

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.

6 - The Promise

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.

7 - Happy Trails

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.

7 - The Attitude

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 Rabbis office to find out why he is being so rigid. Meanwhile, Georgia is the target of a senior partners wifes insecurities.

8 - Just Looking

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

8 - Drawing The Lines

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 dont 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.

9 - The Dirty Joke

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.

9 - You Never Can Tell

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 dont go well when he asks for advice or gets advice when he doesnt even ask for it.

10 - Boy To The World

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 uncles church for discrimination, due to his uncles overt bigotry towards vertically challenged people (short people). The churchs 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.

10 - Making Spirits Bright

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 doesnt work. John tries to use the mistletoe to his advantage in trying to make a move on Nelle.

11 - Silver Bells

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 Allys incurable romanticism and Cages 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 isnt 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 doesnt want to.

11 - In Dreams

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 hes gay.

12 - Cro-Magnon

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 Allys cradle robbing interest in him.

12 - Love Unlimited

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.

13 - Angels & Blimps

The lawyers are shocked to discover Ling has been keeping a secret. Ally visits Dr. Butters at the hospital one day and sees hes 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 its not possible, but Ling, who was at the hospital at the same time, overhears and tells the boy not to listen to Ally.

13 - The Blame Game

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.

14 - Pyramids On The Nile

Fish announces that the most unlikely person has been hired as the firms latest attorney. Appeals to John Cage go nowhere as he feels he has no choice but to support his partners 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 dont 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.

14 - Body Language

Ally and Renee are bridesmaids at a friends 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 Allys chagrin, Cage offers no protest on her behalf, admitting hes undergoing smile therapy which has renewed his appreciation for behavioral reinforcement. Ally and Georgia try a case about overturning a prison wardens decision to refuse marriage for a life-term inmate.

15 - Once In A Lifetime

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 artists 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 Cages problem with Ally.

15 - Sideshow

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. Thats when she makes a decision not to be passive and do something about her life.

16 - Sex, Lies & Politics

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.

16 - Forbidden Fruits

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 Senators 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.

17 - Civil War

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 Allys way. But who can blame her? The adversarial relationship between the two women is played out in a most unusual way.

17 - Theme Of Life

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 theyre 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 its 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.

18 - Those Lips That Hand

Cage and Fishs 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 Billys 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.

18 - The Playing Field

Ally is a passenger in a car accident with the firms client Greg Butters, a handsome doctor to whom she finds herself attracted. She attempts to handle the doctors 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 didnt sleep with her boss.

19 - Happy Birthday Baby

Ally is in denial about her birthday but her co-workers arent. 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 dates apartment uninvited to tickle her feet is breaking and entering.

19 - Let's Dance

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 wont 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 Billys 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.

20 - The Inmates

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 hes fired from his job for not being gay.

20 - Only The Lonely

In a land where everyone has the opportunity to make a fortune, it seems that now its Elaines turn - it appears that her invention, the Face Bra, might be a hit. Unfortunately, Elaines family sues her for royalties claiming that Elaine stole the idea from her cousin Martha just before Marthas 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 companys 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.

21 - Being There

Cage prepares Ally for Renees trial. Renee is fast becoming a basket-case because shes convinced Cages 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 Renees 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.

21 - The Green Monster

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 Allys indiscretion with Billy, Greg has been ignoring Allys 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.

22 - Love's Illusions

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? Allys 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 wasnt 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.

22 - Alone Again

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 hes 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 shell take it all under advisement.

23 - These Are The Days

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 theyre 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 shes 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.

23 - I Know Him By Heart

Allys heart is broken and not by Billy or Greg. Its just one big stress fracture. Shes come to the realization that there isnt 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 Allys 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.